[nickydwuk]

We have been looking at rural properties and some have spetic tanks and use well water. Has anyone had any experience of these? How often do the septic tanks need emtying and how much does it cost? With the well water how do you fill up the water tank and purify the water for drinking? What other maitenance is needed for these? Thanks in advance. :)

[dilanium]

My parents owned a house in Upstate NY while I was growing up that had a septic tank and well water. There was a filtration system built into the well water, and you just had to change the filter every 6 months.

Our septic system never needed emptying in the 6 years we lived there, but if I remember correctly it kinda composted inside itself and took care of itself...

[thezorbster]

There is generally a pump to pump the water from the well to the tank so you need to check out the condition/age of things like that if you're inspecting properties. It may need servicing occasionally.

As Dilanium said you can get a filtration system - we have one internally under the kitchen sink which filters the water before it comes out of the tap. Lots of properties that use roof water will also use these to filter out the possible nasties.

Re the septic tank we were recommended about 3 years to have it emptied but it does sort of look after itself and breaks down.

[marcia]

Sorry can't help with the well water - we have tanks but filled from the roof and filtered as it comes in to the house.

The septic tanks we are told, will look after themselves, it goes through a filtration system and runs off into our paddack - (we were actually collecting the water over the dry summer to water our plants - and boy did they grow!!!)

Best thing to do is ask the estate agent looking after the house you're interested in which system is used and you can contact them directly to ask about the system. The people who installed the one in ours came out to see us (at our request but free of charge) just after we moved in to expalin it all to us! :nice1

[Moorf]

We have been looking at rural properties and some have spetic tanks and use well water. Has anyone had any experience of these? How often do the septic tanks need emtying and how much does it cost? With the well water how do you fill up the water tank and purify the water for drinking? What other maitenance is needed for these? Thanks in advance. :)

You need to check the type of septic tank you have - some are self composting/2 chamber types which rarely need attention and others (like our one in Scotland) need a yearly empty - lots of leeching services rurally so it's not a problem here.

Same with water treatment - some (like our village one) run on ultra violet treatment, some have chlorine and I'm sure there are other forms of treatment. Sophia's family (nippapippa) havetheir own water supply and may have more info to offer :nice1

[Nathan]

I've had wells produce wonderful, sweet water that is fit for drinking straight from the well without treatment. But I had one well that needed to be continually treated with hypochlorite to kill bacteria. It was also pretty nasty (hard and smelly) water at that. I was so happy when rural water came through! :)
I think you're better off having that water tested to be sure what you have.

As for septic systems, there are several kinds that require different levels of service, and the amount you use them will usually affect their need for service. For example, if the system is designed for a large family and only a couple of you are using it, it might have a longer service interval.

[Hackswell]

I've had wells produce wonderful, sweet water that is fit for drinking straight from the well without treatment. But I had one well that needed to be continually treated with hypochlorite to kill bacteria. It was also pretty nasty (hard and smelly) water at that. I was so happy when rural water came through! :)
I think you're better off having that water tested to be sure what you have.

As for septic systems, there are several kinds that require different levels of service, and the amount you use them will usually affect their need for service. For example, if the system is designed for a large family and only a couple of you are using it, it might have a longer service interval.

Same here. Where I grew up in NE Ohio, we had well water and a septic tank.

The well water had calcium and magnesium which caused boiler scale (calcium deposits), but luckily, no smelly rusty iron. Every 5-7 years we tested water quality. We were lucky that it was safe to drink straight from the well.

As for septic tanks... it's true. The grass IS greener over the septic tank (leech field). ;) Never needed any sort of maintenance in the 16 years I remember.

[nippa&pippa]

Sophia's family (nippapippa) havetheir own water supply and may have more info to offer :nice1

hello just got that...
we have environment-type water system/waste system called oasis clearwater(I will find the link for you;) Here is http://www.oasisclearwater.co.nz/) that take water from our own bore and go through UV filteration system then through filter tank in the kitchen before we able to drink the water . We need to change the system with new uv lights etc every a year to three years depend on what is need changing. Because of previous owners, we decide to replace everything last year with new items and cost us approx $500. We buy our items from Sue Kelly (again I will look for link, so you can get idea of cost...Here is link http://www.suekelly.co.nz/). We do have septic tank that empty once every 3-5 years depend on how much waste we done but "suppose to be check by engineer every 6months" but we been at this house for nearly a year and have not seen a single person from oasis (better get my OH to contact them!) ...the water waste go onto our lands while solids waste go into tank. The catch of using this system is you need to be very careful how much bleach or chemical you are using without damage the waste filteration system, ideal not to use any ;) Also need to be careful with food waste down the drain. Same for toilet, not too much toliet papers and for female's personel thingys :o had to go into bin.
Need power to pump the water up from bore water. With power cuts, you will need bottles of water stored in garage just in case for drinks, same for shower, toilets etc, can't use it if no power but we got a small tank in the roof that hold bit of water just in case.

[Steve_B]

Have Biodigesters hit NZ yet? I had a cesspit for some 15 years before finally getting around to upgrading to one of these marvels and it's saving me an absolute fortune in emptying fees.

http://www.biodigester.co.uk/

[Drover Jess]

I've heard plocher products good for septic tanks... dont know if available in NZ, all said above about no sanitary products being flushed and little or no bleach true to get it to work properly.. we have one here and no problem,

also NEVER buy any property with own water supply WITHOUT GETTING water TESTED.... this is vital, have lived with spring water and used a ceramic filter, clean monthly, change 6 monthly ( this is an example http://www.faireyceramics.com/)

look at the source of the spring carefully, is it undeground, are animals grazing, is it covered, does it need pumping into holding tank before gravity feed back to house... does anyone share spring, ever been known to dry as in drought? etc etc

I prefer fresh spring water but you just need to be a bit canny about checking it out
and there are some costs involved also, in the past we had to build new holding tank, put in pump and lay new pipes.. and ther eis no water company to ring to do this..

good luck