Well and septic suggestions?

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luma7

luma7

Gold Supporter
Jun 3, 2020
108
Baldwin County, AL
Pool Size
19500
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Jandy Aquapure 1400
Good afternoon,
All the information on this site has been very helpful. Thank you to all who share your knowledge!

We have signed a contract for a pool with some contingencies that have almost been resolved. The last two items could end up being very expensive which would mean I'd need to opt out of a few of the options we have planned for our build. Any advice you have for what is the best option, long-term, not just immediate price-wise, are appreciated.

We have well water and a septic system.

Well: we are going to have our water tested this weekend. We know it is high in iron and we're planning for a gunite pool with a pebble finish so we'd need to start it with trucked in water, a slurry tank type set up to pre-treat it, or we'd need to add some sort of filtration system at the water pump so the water is treated before it comes to the pool and house. The other option is to switch to city water but that will cost us close to $3500 end to end ($2145 to connect and then we have to pay to run pipe 150-200' to the house/pool) and seems like the most expensive option. I've noticed several well related threads at the time of fill but haven't seen anyone compare these options from the very start. I am happy to read an older thread if someone is aware of it, otherwise, your suggestions for the best path to pursue are welcome.

Septic: This is one of those 'apologize after' or 'ask permission' scenarios. We aren't sure but it appears there is an (old?) septic line that crosses where we plan to install the pool. The home is very old and we have grandfathered into most of the septic related codes. If we pay someone to come out and move the line we have to pay for an all new system. So, we can 'ask permission' and go through a whole new septic permitting and install process or we can just dig and if there is a line there and it appears to still have any activity, we deal with it then. We are leaning toward "apologize after' if we hit a line and have to stop the project. Do any of you have any suggestions regarding handing this in advance or in the project, if needed?

Thanks in advance!

__All details in progress - we're calling the pool Snoopy because it resembles the outline of that character__

Snoopy's details: 16K gal, IG gunite, 3.5' shallow to 6.5' deep,

Equipment: Jandy Pro Stealth 2.67 HP Variable Pump, Jandy Pro 340 CV Filter, Jandy Purelink 1400 SWG, Polaris TR28P, AquaLink RS controller

Minutia: well water (test pending, expect high iron), pool site is in full sun most of the day

Colors: Aqua blue pebble interior, silver travertine coping and patio, waterline NPT Iridium light blue waterline tile, 2 LED lights
 
Over the life of the pool, the hassles that iron in pool water give you, that filtering iron out of well water is an imperfect process, and having your house on city water has to give other benefits, I think $3,500 for all the benefits is not a bad price.

Septic, you know your local permitting process. Since you don't know what is under the dig then deal with things once they are known.

Good luck with Snoopy. Progress reports and pics are always appreciated.
 
They found and abandoned dry well when digging mine. Everything was supposed to stop, be evaluated, inspected by the town, the whole 9 yards. The only reason they stopped was to mess with me about it. If I wasn’t home they wouldn’t have blinked before smashing it to bits with the excavator.
 
I don't know what the deal is with city water connections/meters, but when we had our house built about 14 years ago, that small little 1-foot piece of metal line with a meter cost about $3,500! The only other thing that cost more .... our septic! Ugh. :hammer: In our area, they require aerobic septics, but many older homes are grandfathered with the leach field types. If someone replaces their system,, I'm sure the entire thing would need to be re-engineered and submitted to the County's Environmental office for approval. With nothing firm to go on about a legacy system, it sounds to me like digging (exploring) would seem reasonable to me. I'm sure if there's an odd 4" PVC clean-out discharge line down there, someone will know what to do. Just sayin'. :)

As for the well and iron, it sure would be a shame to see that new thing get all stained-up. Let us know how it all turns out. Havea nice weekend! :swim:
 
I'd fill with trucked in water and top off with as much rain water as you can get. If you put solar cover on the pool when not in use you'll minimize evaporation. Perhaps that would give you time to figure out other options.

Perhaps if you can swing it Snoopy would like a little pool mosaic too-

Maddie
 
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ajw22 said:
Over the life of the pool, the hassles that iron in pool water give you, that filtering iron out of well water is an imperfect process, and having your house on city water has to give other benefits, I think $3,500 for all the benefits is not a bad price.
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Thanks, I was feeling the same way. Our PB thought filters would be cheaper upfront but I was trying to look at long term. Thank you for the recommendation!
 
Newdude said:
They found and abandoned dry well when digging mine. Everything was supposed to stop, be evaluated, inspected by the town, the whole 9 yards. The only reason they stopped was to mess with me about it. If I wasn’t home they wouldn’t have blinked before smashing it to bits with the excavator.
Click to expand...

Yeah, our PB said they find stuff all the time. He wasn't phased at all.
 
Get the city water. I just spent $3600 replacing my well pump after lightning damage. Close to $11,000 in our well over 20 years and our water is undrinkable without two filtering systems.
 
If you're considering city water, out of curiosity can you get city sewer too? I'm just thinking depending where things are if they are digging one trench they may be able to combine sewer and water in one trench and get both for much cheaper than getting one now and one later. Especially if you think they will hit the septic line anyway during the pool build. Just figured it might be something to consider.
 

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Thanks for the idea, @jseyfert3, they are separate services but we can get both. We have decided to move to city water even though a test by a local pool company seems to indicate our water is not high in iron or copper. If there is any damage to the septic then we will also switch to public sewer service. It is crazy expensive and will tear up part of the yard so it is a last resort.

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback!
 
I have septic and a good friend who lives closer to town has sewer. Over 5 years when I finally have to pump, it costs as much as his monthly bill over that time, Almost to the penny with no savings either way. I would so much prefer to have a small charge each month and not get smacked with the $1300 pump out charge when the time is up. Of course it could never happen at a worse time than it does either. Good ole Murphy’s. I would pay to go sewer if it was available.
 
City water and sewer will boost the value of your home more that the cost of installation and this differential will only get bigger the longer you stay in your home, before selling it. I would definitely go that route, even if it means stretching your finances - a very good investment in today's low interest environment.
 
Newdude said:
I have septic and a good friend who lives closer to town has sewer. Over 5 years when I finally have to pump, it costs as much as his monthly bill over that time, Almost to the penny with no savings either way. I would so much prefer to have a small charge each month and not get smacked with the $1300 pump out charge when the time is up. Of course it could never happen at a worse time than it does either. Good ole Murphy’s. I would pay to go sewer if it was available.
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$1300 to pump out a septic? It’s $150 here.
 
JohnT said:
Get the city water. I just spent $3600 replacing my well pump after lightning damage. Close to $11,000 in our well over 20 years and our water is undrinkable without two filtering systems
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Exactly that..
Your well pump will fail at some point so now is the time to upgrade to differ the cost of trucked in water.

Keep in mind that if your older septic system fails the best option will be to go with town sewer. There are many factors that determine where they hook the sewer to your house but the usual spot is to hook to your existing line coming out of the house. Just keep that in mind when placing the pool and running underground plumbing and electric.

You are fortunate the town is not insisting on getting location of septic components as part of the pool permit process, so a simple repair/ re-route is definitely the way to go with that issue. Hopefully the pool is far enough away from the leaching facility that you don't have effluent coming into the dig.
 
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Luma,

Details matter on this. Your connection costs are a LOT! Any reason for this that you know about? If you treat the iron in your well water with a real iron treatment system it will cost well over $1000 maybe over twice this depending on your iron content. You can go with green sand systems for this. It has significant operating costs for potassium permanganate to regenerate, sort of like salt that's used for softeners. The other way is through catalytic oxidation plus filtering. These cost even more. Less maintenance cost but more up front cost usually. If you have very low iron there are some other options. I think this all points to get City water and bite the bullet now. But do check their iron content too. Would be a shame to have to pay for both!

Chris
 
Hi Chris, we tested our water through a local pool store and they found no iron or copper. I am thinking about going ahead and buying the T100 test to be sure. We were shocked at the no iron result
 
Good idea to get your kit early but it doesn't test for metals. Check the EPA test results for your municipal water supply. They should be on the county or city's website. You can buy test kits for iron or send it off. You can also get it tested at a water conditioning service but I thought they were too conflicted so I used a service that uses Berkley's labs but it's expensive! $130+ as I recall..

Chris
 

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