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Post by thedreadedknock on Oct 20, 2014 9:53:06 GMT -5
Our household is on a well system not city water. Which we like. No water bill. When we turn on the water in the house it kicks on the motor in the well to pump the water. So, yes no water bill. But extra on our electric bill to run the motor. We've had a huge electric bill the last 3 months. I'm not for sure it's the intense cleaning. Electric Co. did raise their rates. But the timing does sync up. Also if we push the well too hard it starts bringing up dirty water. So that's why I need any tips you may have for saving water while still trying to deep clean. Because I am nowhere near maintenence. I can't stop and I won't stop trying to dig out. Thanks in advance.
thedreadedknock
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Post by dtesposito on Oct 20, 2014 10:00:25 GMT -5
What is it that you're doing that you think is taking extra water? Is it laundry? If so, there's probably not much you can do about that, except get rid of excess clothing BEFORE you wash it (it's okay to throw it out instead of donating). You could always load everything up and take it to the laundromat, but that's expensive too.
What else are you doing that's taking a lot of extra water, and how are you doing it? If you describe what you're doing we can think of ways to conserve.
Diane
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Post by thedreadedknock on Oct 20, 2014 10:15:47 GMT -5
I'm doing dishes 2 times a day. And yes 2-3 loads of laundry a day as I make my way through what i think we want to keep. Maybe I'm keeping too much? I do need to switch back to the pan method for dishes. I wandered away from it. Other than those plus showers we don't really use a ton of water.
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Post by dtesposito on Oct 20, 2014 10:34:51 GMT -5
So it's the laundry--yeah, it would be much better to go through the stuff and make the decisions on keep/toss before washing them. I know it's hard to know what to keep when the clothes are dirty, but most people have too much anyway, so maybe go through everything once and pick out the things you know for sure will be keepers? Then evaluate how much everyone has, you might be able to let more things go if you know for sure everyone has a basic wardrobe already.
If everything has been dirty and unwearable anyway, you can probably do without a lot of it!
Diane
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Post by dtesposito on Oct 20, 2014 10:37:07 GMT -5
I also meant to say, keep in mind how much clothes storage space you have too, if you're keeping more than will fit neatly in the closet and dresser space you have, you'll eventually have to get rid of it anyway if you want everything to be where it belongs.
Diane
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Post by thedreadedknock on Oct 20, 2014 10:57:15 GMT -5
Thank you Diane. I am going to be more determined to weed through clothes. I really need to be more critical of what we need and what we actually wear. Also our closets and dressers are full. So time to go through those.
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Post by Arid on Oct 20, 2014 11:11:31 GMT -5
It's my guess that if your well brings up dirty water on occasion, you are about to run your well dry!!
We were on well water growing up, and we *ALWAYS* had to be mindful of not using too much water. We did resort to going to the Laundromat at times.
For one thing, you could cut back to doing only one load of laundry a day. (Doing one load a day is a good habit to get into anyway!)
For another, for a while, at least, you might use paper plates and other disposables as much as you can in order to cut back to washing dishes only once a day.
Also, allow the well to "rest" in between doing a load of laundry and a load of dishes--whether by hand or by dishwasher. I would hope that already you **ARE NOT** doing laundry and running the dishwasher at the same time!! The same thing goes for baths and showers. It takes some active "scheduling."
I have to tell you--having an unlimited supply of water all these past years has been one of the things that I have liked most about living in a large city. (Trust me: there are a lot of things that I *DO NOT* like about living in one!!) We have been blessed in that way. I suspect that in years to come, we, like many areas, will have to take steps to conserve water.
Arid
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Post by misssue on Oct 20, 2014 12:28:06 GMT -5
I have had a well, a well pump, and a pressure tank, for 22 years.. long as I have lived in this house. I have replaced the pressure tank since I have been on my own, and the well pump a year ago. I am a seasoned well owner! When we bought this house in 92, my ex and I went to a state class on owning a septic tank and bed, the well and maintaining it. Now you can learn a lot on line. So those are my credentials, along with a few things going wrong over the years.. including the dreaded I have no water.. which was the well pump failing. Not the well. I swear I have had everything go wrong at least once on the well, the pressure tank.. not to mention I was divorced about 15 minutes and I needed a new hot water heater. There is the water softener too to deal with. So take this a free advice, and by no means expert.
That was a year ago my pump failed. The well pump was 20 years old, but I also have had only 2 or less people living here.. I had to replace it, and the tech told me, well pumps, last about 15 years average.. but some old ones, can last more than 20. When people say to me, how great, you have no water bill.. not really. There is a bill, I have to make sure I save 200 dollars a year, so that in 20 years, I have 2000 in my "well pump" fund. Your well has to pass inspection, a water test also, when you sell a house.. so neglecting it, is nothing but trouble. I like it, and if you live in an area with high water bills, it is more economical. Down side, I worry about the septic.. another whole topic.
Because the water is dirty, does not mean that you are running out of water. That is what people think, but that is not usually the cause. There are a lot of steps in between that and failure.
Of course I do not live in the Western part of the USA, where there is a water shortage, I am in the Midwest, and I have a deep well, and here we do not usually run out of water in the aquifer. A well pump does not use that much electric, so if you had an increase in your utility bill, and from what you wrote, it may be that your pressure tank is the issue. It will make the pump is run more than it should, cycling on they call it. I had that too, it was running all the time.. you have to do some research, and or know what kind of pressure tank you have and how it works.
This is my lay persons version of pressure tank problems. Some tanks have a big balloon in there, a bladder they call it. That can get a pin hole in it, and fail, and become water logged. The best way I can explain a pressure tank issue it that it fills up, and for example it holds, a 100 gallons. When you empty that tank, to load after load of laundry, the balloon is waterlogged, and you are filling the tank more often.. because it is not holding the 100 gallons in there continually, therefore the pump is running every 50 gallons, and there fore setting the pump off. AND running continuously!
There is also air in the tank, a balance or that and water, is pressurized, and that can set it running all the time too. It is not filling correctly, keeping that balance. That is more common issue, I am suppose to once a year, make sure to check the pressure valve, and if it not a certain PSI, use my little air compressor and fill it up. My guy friend and I replaced the pressure tank, the year before the pump failed. That I was so grateful for, because that save me a lot of money, we bought the tank and replaced my old one. The well pump is not something that I or guy friend could manage, pull a well pump that is 180 ft deep. The well pump guy checked the tank, and then wrote the PSI on it, and the date to do it yearly.. and writing this, reminded me, that was about a year ago. When my pressure tank was screwed up, the well pump was running, every time I flushed a toilet or ran the dishwasher. It jacked up my electric bill.
You said when you "push" the well, you get dirty water.. that could be the residue in the bottom of the pressure tank coming up because you are draining, there is not that air barrier or the bladder balloon. My tank will also have residue in the valve, the faucet to empty the tank. I often open that with a bucket under it, and the first water out is black, sitting in that iron pipe. Good to do that periodically, and get any residue out. If the water coming in the house, before the tank is clear, and it probably is, the pressure tank is dirtying the water. If you have a water softener, that can cause problems if that is malfunctioning too.
I know this is a lot of information! I am of the fix it myself or at least learn as much as I can before I call for help/cost. I also have had most repair guys show me how to do as much as I can and that helps.
Like I said, do some research on line, see how well, well pump and pressure tank all works. You may know some of this! There are simple how to maintain my well, pressure tank, and even the hot water heater info on line. Sometimes draining your hot water heater fixes the black residue too! I have copper pipes in my whole house, after the tank.. but iron pipes might be doing that for you too. Start with the simplest fix first. I would turn on the water at a faucet and go where the tank is and see if it draining and kicking the pump on frequently...It might be worth it to call a well/pump place and get it checked out. It might be something as simple as pressurizing your tank, or a new valve on it. Better to check and save on the electric, than have to do it later and have to pay both.. if that makes sense?
I also want to add, that my electric bill went up when I was washing tons of fabric from the sewing room in my basement last year. I think that lot of laundry can add to it, along with the well pump cycling if that is due to the pressure tank. It depends if you have a gas or electric water heater. For me it was the dryer, which is not gas, but electric. I ran it lot with the fabric wash out. I try to line dry a lot fo my laundry in the summer, to offset the AC bills! A gas water heater I have and cheaper. Sometimes a life change like lots of laundry can drive up a the bill. Sorry this is bit disjointed! I am thrifty, and watch my utility use.. one area I can try and save! That includes water, the hot water costs!
AND make sure like Arid said not to do too many loads of laundry consequently to save the septic more than water usage here. If you have good water pressure, which is also related to the pressure tank, I can run a dishwasher, have a shower going and flush a toilet and not have much of a drop in use. You should be able to do that with a well if all is running right.
Hope this helps and good job on what you have got done! Keep going!
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Post by thedreadedknock on Oct 20, 2014 13:34:29 GMT -5
Arid It didn't take us long to learn to schedule the spacing needed.  I try to give it a couple hours. Switching to disposable plates etc. is a good idea at least for a little while. Thank you. I do miss the unlimited amount of water. misssue Wow you are a well expert! I won't pretend to understand half of how the well works. We did have to replace the pump 2 years ago. THAT was not fun. Took 5 grown men to get it pulled up. I will have dh check the pressure valve since from my limited knowledge sounds like that may be it. Dh knows it inside and out. So I will have him go through everything. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I appreciate it. thedreadedknock
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2014 14:36:29 GMT -5
My well went about 10 years ago. And it did start pouring grit and stuff before it went. It actually collapsed. Better start saving up to get a new well!
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Post by thedreadedknock on Oct 20, 2014 16:34:09 GMT -5
@hordfest The well only brings up silt if we use a ton of water in a couple days. After we give it a day it's fine. So I hope that means it's okay. But you are right about saving up. We need a deeper well.
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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Oct 20, 2014 23:16:09 GMT -5
I was told that sometimes a hot water heater may be trying to pump water even if you're not using it. (I'm explaining this inaccurately, but it's something along that idea.) We had an issue with our well (thankfully I'm a renter so it's the landlord's responsibility). Something about the pipes. My hot water heater is electric. I don't know if this applies to hot water heaters run on natural gas or propane, but it probably does. My landlord directed me to turn off my electric hot water heater by going to the fusebox(breakerbox) thing -- This thing: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_boardand flip the breaker/fuse that goes to the hot water heater to turn it to the "off" position. He had me keep it in the "off" position overnight or whenever I'd be not using hot water for a few hours. This greatly reduced the pumping action that the well was trying to do. I did that until he was able to fix the thing that needed fixing at the well. (I don't know how you turn off hot water heaters powered by natural gas or propane.) I don't know anything about this stuff. All I remember is that my landlord said the well was pumping [or trying to pump] whenever the hot water heater was on, even if I wasn't using hot water. Perhaps someone knowledgeable can read my post and correct my inaccuracies. Will this help reduce the amount of water your well is pumping? I don't know. When I read your post, I thought of my experience, so I just thought I'd suggest this. |
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Post by dtesposito on Oct 20, 2014 23:28:41 GMT -5
Wow, as a city-dweller, I really take my water for granted--I can't imagine having to deal with all the intricacies of a well. And a septic tank--I don't even want to think about that!  Diane |
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Post by cyn on Oct 21, 2014 13:25:38 GMT -5
I've been on a well for a couple of years now, and it takes getting used to. I've run the well dry by going on a laundry fit, and it's also happened when the toilet ran overnight. Now I stagger all my usage. The biggest change I've made is to make certain that I get the most out of what water I do use: no more tiny loads of laundry, that machine gets loaded up until not even another sock will fit. I also gave myself permission to use disposable disinfectant cleaning wipes, even though I cringe every time I use one. But with the incredible messes around here it's either that or super washing, requiring super amount of water - which we don't have, with our shallow well.
ETA: do you have cheaper electricity rates for off-peak hours? I really try to take advantage of that!
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Post by Fivecat on Oct 22, 2014 23:52:52 GMT -5
i.m on a cistern (man made well/reservoir) and have to practice water conservation. here are a few ways i know to conserve:
- no small washer loads (already said, but worth repeating).
- when showering, instead of letting water run the whole time, turn water on to get wet, turn off to wash, turn on to rinse.
- i dont really like doing this, or even recommending to people with squalor problems, but, if water is at a premium you can save water with this rule with toilet flushing: if its yellow, let it mellow, if its brown, flush it down.
- when washing dishes, if you have a double sink, put wash water in one side and rinse water in the other. dip dishes in rinse water rather than running water to rinse, then dry in a
drainer or on a towel on counter. if you dont have a double sink, use a dish pan or large pot or bucket for rinse water. (if you use a bucket, you can also use the water afterward for mopping floors).
- only run dish washer fully loaded.
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