Our lakehouse has the hardest water I have ever lived with. When we first bought this place, I took a shower and could not get the shampoo to soap up. When it dried, my hair still felt dirty. There is a jacuzzi tub in our master bathroom. This tub was one of the main selling points of the house for me. The first time I used it, I was very excited. I had never owned a jacuzzi tub before, and after a hard day of raking, I couldn't wait to soak in the hot water and feel those jets loosen my tight muscles. Of course, no jet tub experience is complete without a glass of wine and a candle burning.
I let the clean-running hot water fill the tub. After lowering myself down into it and turning on the jets, I sat back with my wine and breathed a huge sigh of satisfaction as my muscle soreness melted away. But, after a few minutes of sitting there, I looked down to realize I was sitting in what looked like oily pee. It was disgusting. I couldn't get out fast enough and, consequently, I never took a bath again. It's been eight years.
The well is in the pump house: a concrete-block little building whose roof needs replacing. Replacing this roof will be our next big project after filling in the trench from replacing the septic pipe. The well water was never filtered. Fred, the late previous owner, told us to add two gallons of bleach to the well each spring, but never told us why, so we never did. He also had a huge, funky drinking water filter that sat on the kitchen sink. Larry replaced this with a proper under-sink filter with a sleek little faucet just for drinking water. The water from the main kitchen faucet came out looking clear in the dishpan, but within a few minutes turned back into that oily-looking pee water again. The dishes couldn't get clean. In fact they got stained with oily orange stuff. Forget about removing cooking grease from pans, dish detergent didn't soap up enough to cut it.
Another thing I noticed was that divots in my fingernails and crusty benign keratoses on my skin turn orange from bathing and washing dishes in our well water. The toilets, sinks, tubs and tile surrounds all become stained a rusty orange color. The stains can be scrubbed off to an acceptable level with a lot of elbow grease, but never come completely clean. And, we just don't look in the toilet tank. That water in there is really disgusting looking.
So, Larry put in a preliminary filtration system in the pump house on the well. The first filter the water passes through is a fine filter with carbon. The second filter is a pleated-paper filter. We noticed that the first filter is always full and covered with orange sediment, and the second remains fairly clean after several weeks. I can always tell when it's time to replace the filter(s) from the dishwater and from how easily I can wash my hair. There is also a smell to the water that is unmistakable. So, now that we understand why Fred suggested adding bleach to the well, we add the two gallons. The water clears up within a very short time, but the bleach smell remains for a few days afterward. It's tolerable at best.
One day while we were in our home in Tiverton, RI, Larry was searching the web for information about well water and happened upon an article about iron-ore bacteria. Apparently, well water has some iron in it. When oxygen is introduced into that water, iron-ore bacteria can grow to cause the water to turn an orange color and be oily. He had his first "ah ha" moment, as Oprah would say, about the situation in the lakehouse well. He discovered that this bacteria is not harmful to humans or animals if ingested, but is a nuisance nonetheless.
Our plan is to have the well water tested by the state to find out it's chemical content. We just found out the building to which we bring the water is close by. We thought it was across town about thirty miles. What a relief. With the water analysis information, we can determine the type of new water conditioning system we should install in the cleaned-out pump house once the roof is replaced. As Larry said, why add softener if the water is already soft. I suspect it is not, but this chemical composition data will certainly clarify how to proceed. I certainly cannot have a clothes washer in this house until the orange water is eliminated. I'll buy orange panties if I want to were that color. So, for the time being, I trek to the laundromat. Not my favorite way to spend half a day, but so be it for now.
We bought a gallon, screw-top plastic container, and now we just have to collect the water and drop it off. It takes a week or two to analyze, but we won't replace the filtration system until our next trip down here in late June. What's another few months of minor inconvenience. We've adapted pretty well so far.
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