Well water guides

Plain answers on private wells in North Idaho. Start with whatever brought you here.

What you're seeing, smelling or tasting

Rotten-egg smell: hot water only, or every tap? That one question separates a water-heater fix from a whole-house problem.
Orange and brown stains: orange means iron, and iron comes in two forms that need different equipment. A free glass test tells you which.
White scale and spots: what the white crust is, and where your water falls on the hardness scale.
Low pressure: most well pressure problems are the pump, the tank or the switch. How to tell which one you have.
Water changed after snowmelt: cloudy water or a new taste after the melt, what it says about your well, and what to check first.

Is it safe to drink: what "safe" means, which contaminants have no taste or smell, and what a certified lab panel covers.
Arsenic: the EPA standard is 10 ppb. What removes arsenic, what doesn't, and why the form it's in changes the answer.
Uranium: the federal standard is 30 µg/L. What removes uranium and what doesn't.
Nitrate: how to read your number (some labs report it on a scale where the same water reads 45), then what removes it.
Iron and manganese: whether the metal is dissolved or particulate decides which equipment works.
Hard water and softener sizing: sizing a softener is arithmetic: people, water use and your lab number.

Buying a house with a well: what to test before you close, and what the results change.
VA and FHA well water rules: what a VA or FHA loan requires from a private well, who collects the sample, and how long results stay valid.
A new well: the driller's job ended at the casing. What to check before you drink from it.

The Water Assessment: a certified lab panel on your well, collected under chain of custody. The report is yours either way.
How pricing works: why we don't quote a system before we've seen your lab report, and what drives the number when we do.
The 30-Day Verification: your water's numbers after treatment, in writing before you buy, then checked by a certified lab thirty days after installation.
Why we're called Freehold

Not sure which one fits?