Mothballing deep well?

[Carl_NH]

Sorrry to hear about your mother, and we all seem to face this at one time or another.

We had the same situation - 2000SF house in central PA, oil heat, 250' well, sump pump, central A/C and when they went to assisted living in 2004 we kept the house at 50* in the winter and 80* for the summer A/C and turned off H/W tank, Fridge etc, and well pump and every few months checked on things flushed toilets etc. The house was empty for 4 years in this mode and was fine.

What you do depends on many factors and each is different. The nominal cost to keep the house in a dormant mode wasn't that much - $60 a month on average. The real estate taxes were more..

The typical assisted living entry today has a ton financial requirements (assets disclosure) and if the house is part of that one needs to take that into consideration. Then there are other things - long term planning / renting and such that others have proposed.

Its really a case by case basis given your situation to arrive at the best solution.

 

[TheGoose]

You never mentioned if her well had a submersible pump or jet pump.

If it is a submersible pump it can sit for an extended period since it's totally enclosed and under water. It can be ran just a few times a year with no problem.

If it's a jet pump it is likely that within a year or so the pump will be froze up. If it was mine I would run it every 3 months or so just to keep it exercised.

 

[boggen]

Sorry to hear your mother has to move to assisted living. I am sure she will miss her home daily. If I considering mothballing, I would obtain about a half a cup of the Chlorine Well Drillers use when they are finished drilling to treat the well head. I would pour this in the well and run the water for several minutes. You will be able to smell the Chlorine when it is circulating in the water. I would then cut the power then water to the hot water heater. Drain the heater and if possibe use compressed air to blow the water that did not drain out, out. I would then drain the storage tank, all pipes and again use the compressed air to blow water from the pipes. The Chlorine will treat the well and the pipes and prevent algae and bacteria from forming in the water pipes, storage tank and the well. Leave the pump alone, it will be good for years in the well and should start right up when power is reapplied. This way if your mother decides she wants to come home you will be able to restore electrical service, start the pump and flush the system and she will be good to go.

chlorine. = bleach. do a search for treating wells with bleach. gator explained it pretty well. but if you want to know amount to use and like. there is a good amount of websites that explain things better.

gator did excellent job about draining, the hotwater tank. and storage tank as well. i would only add just open all the faucets in the home including any outdoor garden hose hookups. and drain all water out of all water lines. up to the point were the main water line that comes form the well.

as far as the pump leave it alone, i wouldn't even cycle it.

anything below frost level of your area. should be safe from freezes. other way of stating it. once you get below frost level for your area. the ground pretty much stays a constant 55 F degrees. for me here in centeral illinois frost level is 4 feet. but it various considerable throughout the US.

and to note it, i wouldn't use antifreeze in the lines. antifreeze = poison. granted there might be some RV antifreeze out there to put directly into the water lines. but i haven't heard of it.

 

[boggen]

My cottage is winterized but to save $ I would keep the heat at just above freezing but I found that this in itself cost $ as in damage to structure in mold and expansion cracks. A house can change temperature 10-15 degrees on a daily basis when not heated. Keeping a residence at a min temp has reduced maintenance costs and labour for me. I do purge my water lines, pump rv anti freeze through the machines with pumps, dishwasher/wash machine and shut down the water pump. I take these precautions as we can lose our rural hydro for a couple of days at a time. Maybe others could pitch in on their experiences with cold weather winterizing of a residence.

on other hand. i tend to agree with bironacad. instead of dealing with draining all the water out of all the water lines. i would at min do the chlorine doing that gator noted. but leave the chlorine within the water lines. and keep house above i would say 35 to 50 degrees. trying to cut it down to 32 degrees could be dangerous if house is known to freeze water pipes.

 

[chopped]

Alsp you can make up a fitting to attach to a hose and use compressed air to vacate the water from the lines. Thats what I do every year.

 

[bironacad]

Alsp you can make up a fitting to attach to a hose and use compressed air to vacate the water from the lines. Thats what I do every year.

That's what I do, I have a compressor that I connect to a quick disconnect and blow out the lines. You need to be careful not to have the pressure to great for the water lines we don't want to create what we are trying to avoid. Water lines are supposed to be tested @100 psi when installed however this is not required to blow out the lines I use 40-60 psi. After I have cleared the lines I dump some RV antifreeze into the washer and dishwasher and run them through a drain cycle to fill the pumps with the pink non toxic juice.

 

[bironacad]

Oops, should mention to also make sure that the water heater's power is disconnected before emptying the tank as you can pop you element in an instant if it is on, ask me how I know! Fortunately they are not bad to replace, lol.

 

[Argosy]

Make sure you put rv antifreeze in the sink, tub/shower traps and toilet bowls also.

 

[2manyrocks]

She has a submersible pump. I'd prefer not to pull it as I don't know where I'd find somebody with the rig to pull it and don't really want to pull it my self (although my Dad did it once.)

Couple of problems with renting is the house is still full of my parent's stuff and generally, renters can be a headache. It would take quite a recovery for Mother to return home. It would probably make better sense to disburse some of her things among the family. If, however, she wanted to come home for a visit and her things had been moved, that would not be good. I don't bring it up with her because that would just make it more difficult for her.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. It's difficult to keep any kind of clear head about this.

 

[TheGoose]

BTW: do not add any chlorine to the system unless you plan to use it. Chlorine eats metal and it could cause problems if it is not flushed out.