Online House Hunting

Please help with house hunting questions. Well water and forced air?

Okay so I am house hunting. I'm planning on moving on a 20 acre lot (the state I am moving to allows you to have your own shooting sports on that much acres! ) , but my question is how reliable is well water? I remember being in New Jersey and found in the winter the water always froze up daily. I keep being told it's well water is reliable all the time. Now I am confused. Next is what does forced air mean for heating and cooling? I understand moving on acres like that I have to sacrifice the convenient public water supply, but just need details on how that works. I would appreciate that! I will be going to West Virginia and the well water says it's above ground. Not sure what that means either. I've lived in the city too long as you can tell ;)

Public Comments

1. I have never heard of a well freezing, I suppose it is possible. Wells are popular in my area. Usually problems with freezing are once the water leaves the well. Pumps and lines can freeze. People in my area have "pump houses" that they keep heated so the pump doesn't freeze. Wells in my area are 300-400ft deep so submersible pumps aren't that common.
2. Pipes freeze when they are either exposed, under heated or not insulated. You don't say what state you are in, but in Michigan with a well, we used a 100 watt bulb in our well house to keep it from freezing. Then we made sure our home's pipes were well insulated, especially those pipes next to exterior walls. The real downside of well water is that if your power goes off, you have no water (in a well system an electric pump is used to bring water up from the ground). Easy fix, always keep 5 or so gallons of fresh drinking water around (should do this anyway-in case of emergency), and keep a covered big bucket of water for flushing the toilet-we used to keep ours in the well house to make sure that critters & children stayed out of the water. Forced air just means a standard heating & air-conditioning system with a furnace/AC unit that has vents and registers that blow the air into the rooms. As compared to baseboard or radiators, that do not use air to move the heat around your home. Good luck in your search.
3. well water is tested by your water municipality either by law or by owner's request. Have it tested. Forced air means a pump is involved; very old term.
4. Call the local health Dept. where where you will be moving. I've included the link below. They are the responsible agency when it comes to wells and drinking water. You should be able to find out information about the well in question from the permits filed in the past when it was installed.
5. Well water is a well dug deep into the ground as the source of you water and it is pumped up. Had that in Wisconsin and never had it freeze up as the pipes are laid below the freeze line. Had forced air heat there also. It is usually oil and the furnace heats the air and a fan blows it into the rooms, same with cooling.