Well Water

[EJ333]

Can anyone tell me if well water is bad for the operation of boilers and washers and is there negative effects to copper plumbing versus municipal city (treated )water. Or does it depend on the quality of the specific well water ?

[Howard]

Generally well water will contain more minerals, but it really depends on the well. One concern is smell, sometimes well water has odors and this can be a big problem when a customer smells it when opening a washer door.

[Adamski]

Originally Posted by EJ333

Can anyone tell me if well water is bad for the operation of boilers and washers and is there negative effects to copper plumbing versus municipal city (treated )water. Or does it depend on the quality of the specific well water ?

EJ,

As Howard said, it all depends on the individual well. My brother had a well drilled for his laundromat and the water had a lot of iron in it ... to the point he had to install an iron filter which is a lot larger unit than the name suggests. I had the same company drill a well for one of my laundromats. That well ended up 150' deep after going through 130' of clay to get to the sand. The water from my well had a lot of calcium and I had to decalcify my Ace water heaters every 6 months. I chose to not buy a water softener to remove the minerals from the water. Eventually, I went back to using city water. By the way, 20 years ago it cost me $50/month for the electricity to operate the 5 hp pump for the well.