One of the most fundamental steps that you can take towards having consistent water quality in your home or business is to take ownership of your Water Treatment System.

Most people don’t realize it, but Water Treatment Systems are not an appliance. Think about it, when you buy a new toaster Microwave, Fridge, or Stove all you have to do is plug it in and away you go for about ten years or so. That’s it, and that’s what makes those systems an appliance. Water Treatment Systems require regular attention from the homeowner in order to function properly. Whether it’s changing a Cartridge, adding Salt, or just remembering to schedule your service call, when the card comes in the mail. It always comes down to you taking ownership of your Equipment in order to keep the System running properly for as long as you own the home.

I’m not telling you to go out and study Chemistry or Hydraulics, and you don’t need to be all that handy either. Quite often it just comes down to reading the owners manual, keeping a log, staying in contact with your Water Treatment Dealer, and insisting on as many walkthroughs with your sales person/service technician as it takes, until you become comfortable with your role as the Owner/Operator of a Water System. If you would like to learn more about your Water treatment System go to our website and read up on it. That’s www.secondwindwater.com .

The last thing that you want to happen is to invest in a new Water System that becomes forgotten in life’s busy shuffle, covered over in dust like an old furnace, that you are afraid to even go near because you don’t remember what it does, or how it works. Believe me I have seen it more often than I like to remember.

Thank you for your continued support of Secondwind Water Systems. We truly appreciate your business and referrals. If you have any Water questions please visit our website at www.secondwindwatersystems.com or call 1-800-287-5767. Until next time this is Chris Saltmarsh CWS-6 saying, “Thanks for reading!, and take ownership of your Water treatment System, enjoy your great water”… : )

As the snow and ice slowly pile up outside over the course of the Winter here in New Hampshire, it’s easy to lose track of where your Well is located. The 6″ piece of pipe that normally sticks up above ground slowly disappears, which Is why I’m raising the question “Have you seen your Well Cap lately”.

Bedrock Well construction has come a long way from it’s Rustic beginning. Sanitary seals used in today’s modern Wells hold back surface Waters that may contain Bacteria and other contaminants. Modern Well Caps have a Flanged design that incorporates a rubber seal and an air vent with screen.

For proper design of a new Well Cap should be at least 18 inches above grade. This will keep the Well Cap and Air Vent above any surface water. As the Ice gets thicker and thicker and surface water run off starts to flow above the ice, that 18 inches of pipe starts to become more and more important.

I have seen many homes where the excavator has returned to the site and back filled the well so much that the Well cap is only 6 inches above grade. Also homes where the homeowner has created nice rock gardens around the Well, practically burying the Well. When the ice and snow come the surface water can enter the Well and problems start. If you would like information on how to professionally sanitize a well please visit our website at www.secondwindwatersytems.com.

If your Well doesn’t extend up high enough there is always the possibility of welding on an extension. Older Well Caps can be replaced with new ones. Many older Well Caps are only held on by 4 set screws with no gasket to seal out Water. The Air vent is also important because if it isn’t screened properly wildlife will take up refuge in the well during Winter. If a piece of black plastic pipe going to the Well Cap (usually containing wires) has become disconnected, it should be fixed as soon as possible. The hole left behind by the disconnected pipe is large enough for wildlife to enter.

So, if you haven’t seen your Well Cap lately, remember that there are things that you can do to keep your water supply sanitary even during Winter.

Thank you for your continued support of Secondwind Water Systems. We truly appreciate your business and referrals. If you have any Water questions please visit our website at www.secondwindwatersystems.com or call 1-800-287-5767. Until next time this is Chris Saltmarsh CWS-6 saying, “Thanks for reading!, have you seen your Well Cap lately, enjoy your great water”…

If you are on a Bedrock Well in Southern New Hampshire and you live in a Town known for poor water quality the odds are about 50% that you will have either Radon, Arsenic, or Uranium in your drinking water.

A couple years ago I was preparing to present information at The NHAR Convention in a round table type discussion. I thought it best to do some homework first. So I contacted a friend of mine who owns a chain of Water Testing Laboratories in New Hampshire and Maine. He agreed to summarize how many tests he had performed for Radon in water, Arsenic, and Uranium in his Labs and compare the total number of tests performed to the number of tests that came out high. Looking at the test results it was important to consider that the majority of the tests conducted were drawn from wells in Towns known for poor water quality. The interesting thing that came from the information was that the average well came out high almost 50% percent of the time for at least one of the three contaminants. The real kicker here is that included within the total number of tests performed are the Post tests following Water Treatment Systems installations. Which should always be low. So, If you remove the Post test samples the average percentage of failing tests would be even higher.

If you would like more information about Radon in water, Arsenic, or Uranium, please visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com.

If you or someone you care about has a home with a Bedrock well in Southern Maine or New Hampshire please consider having the water tested for these three contaminants. There is no way of knowing what we may have been exposed to in the past. All we can do is be certain of what we expose ourselves to in the present.

Thank you for your continued support of Secondwind Water Systems. We truly appreciate your business and referrals. If you have any Water questions please visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com or call 1-800-287-5767. Until next time this is Chris Saltmarsh CWS-6 saying, “Thanks for reading!, remember to test, and enjoy your great water”…

If you are the owner of an Ultra Violet Light System (UV) you should be aware that these systems require Annual Preventative Maintenance (PM).

Even thought you can see that the bulb lights up through the eye portal, the Bulb still needs to be replaced Annually. UV sterilization doesn’t kill Bacteria, it sterilizes it by making Bacteria unable to reproduce. As a UV bulb ages it weakens. Eventually the bulb is unable to create the high intensity UV light necessary to sterilize bacteria, although it does still produce some light.
For more information on UV sterilization visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com.

In addition to replacing the bulb it is also important to check and clean the UV Quartz sleeve and change any pre-filters. The Quartz sleeve cannot be clouded by staining or hardness scale, and cannot have scratches or pits. Anything that might block the light from shining on Bacteria as it flows through the UV is a serious problem. To assure that your UV is working properly it is best to have it serviced by a WQA certified installer. This will insure that the job is done right, and that your water will remain bacteria free for another year.

Thank you for your continued support of Secondwind Water Systems. We truly appreciate your business and referrals. If you have any Water questions please visit our website at www.secondwindwater.com or call 1-800-287-5767. Until next time this is Chris Saltmarsh CWS-6 saying, “Thanks for reading!, and remember to have your UV serviced
every year, enjoy your great water”…