[Flashy]

Hi All,

First post so be gentle..

We're looking at  a property who's water supply is from a spring up a hill in the neighbouring farmers sheep field. The water is held in a large old brick underground tank lower in that field before piping to house. There appears to be no tank within property, but there is a (small) UV filter.

We're not experienced in this area (can you tell?) but that old tank (80+ years old) doesn't look good for drinking out of.

One option may be to bypass tank by joining the inlet and outlet of the tank together and install a tank on the premises. Can this be done? How do you deal with the overflow, which the old tank has, and looks like it can be fairly heavy at times (equivalent to 4 bathroom taps on full at a guess)?

[doganjo]

You will possibly have to get water tests done before being allowed to live in it, so maybe worth checking  before you buy, as partbof your survey. The cost is worth it.  Is it possible to have a well dug on your own land?  I'd worry about the spring being in the same area as sheep.

[alang]

When we bought our house it was connected to a local farmers private water supply. Before we were granted our mortgage we had to show test results done on the water supply. From what i remember this has to be done annually or more often if problems have arisen before (which they did big style). Because of problems with supply and quality years later we have had mains put in.

As a matter of course i would put a holding tank and uv filter in for peace of mind

[Backinwellies]

We have an old brick built water tank    ....  there is a filter and UV filter in the house so I have no worries about tank (in fact when we emptied it last year to remove sediment (and live frogs)   the water in the tank was clear as a bell .............

[Fleecewife]

We have our own hand dug well, straight through the rock.  No, we didn't dig it ourselves, but whoever did must have done something bad, because it's dug on a high spot of land.  It's had its problems and needs to be cleaned out.  We have a header tank in the attic, with a filter and UV, but recently I've been unable to drink the water. There is an electric pump to raise the water from the well to the tank in the attic, so no power = no water supply.  Ours is one of only two private water supplies in the county, so inspections are not frequent.
Our neighbours have a similar system to the one you are looking at, a muddy, sloshy collection bit in the field next door, with cattle and sheep grazing around it.  Some of the problems they have had have been refusal by the landowner to give them access to clear things up, totally blocked pipes full of frogs and toads and no access to clear them, falling out with the landowner big time, no control over chemicals sprayed around the hole, and their water supply drying up in summer.  I don't know what their water pressure is like, but they are in a 2 storey house so should be a bit more forceful than ours.  Problems of low pressure are the difficulty of finding a washing machine which can cope, piddly shower, no dishwasher, etc.
Before you buy, research putting in a deep bore, or getting mains connected.  We have no chance of mains, and we don't need a deep bore, but our neighbours really could do with one.  I did look into cost, but that was 20 years ago.  You would also need to check on the permissions of sinking a deep bore, although the company doing the work may well deal with that.

[nutterly_uts]

These people have had horrendous problems http://gentleotterblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/

[pgkevet]

My place has a bore-hole but also had a cistern system collecting run-off in a series of concrete collectors in the wooded hillside. The previous owners had warned us that it needed investigating due to supply problems. However when I traced the system and saw that it also trapped run-off from the country lane above I decided just to cap it off. The last thing I fancied was diesel or muck trailer spillage water or run-off from fields even higher up with livestock and sprays.

[Backinwellies]

This morning we have no water .....  so worth thinking about who has to sort the problems when it freezes too  (guess what I'm doing this morning!)

[alang]

Not sure which part of the country you are living but this link is valid for those living in Scotland

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Environment/Water/17670/pws

[Marches Farmer]

I recommend getting an expert (not just a housing surveyor) to look at it and make recommendations.  This sort of thing can be very difficult and expensive if anything goes wrong and if you haven't taken the right steps your insurer could refuse to pay out.

[Backinwellies]

Good time to go and take a look .... is it still running or frozen up?   

[bj_cardiff]

You can take out an indemnity policy to cover any problems with the supply, so if the supply blocked it would either be repaired/replaced or cover your connection to the mains.

I'd get the supply tested, but if its ok, leave well alone