Well and water advice

There are companies who will test the water for you. Be warned that some well water is potable but most isn't and is only suitable for irrigation. Mains water quality is variable; in our part of Sofia it's decidedly not potable and leaves stains on tableware, clothes etc. Some neighbours have whole-house filter systems but find themselves having to change the filters every month; years ago our water came from Vitosha and was great but "progress" caught up with us.....

The idea behind not connecting to the grid until finished is to give me flexibility to move water lines to where I need them whilst renovating, but having a source outside that I can pull from as and when needed is ideal, the house is currently bare bones, there is only 1 damaged sink in the kitchen that needs replacing and when replacing this I will be relocating the kitchen to a different room.

There is no toilet or shower/ baths to worry about for now.

It will be like camping but inside a shell of a house

Hi all,

try filtering water through a terracotta pot no hole in base it will just percolate out but paint insides of pot with collodial silver first that should do it even for rain .

hope that helps ozzy

I can not recommend enough the Big Berkey water filters. They have carbon filters, which on average will last about 10 years. They hold approx 8.5 litres, and you can filter any water through them, stagnant water, pond / lake water etc.. they retain all the important minerals, just deliver clean & fresh tasting water. Interestingly, our Bulgarian neighbours commented on what water we had given them, as they were impressed with it's clean & fresh taste ( they drink only bottled water). We've had ours for around 3-4 years now, and it's one of the best purchases we have made.

https://www.berkeywaterfilterseurope.co … ter-filter

There are various third party sellers, so it's worth shopping around for the best price and delivery price. Be sure to avoid any imitation product though,  as I came across a few during my research.

They ought to be good for that price (when they're in stock)!  On the face of it, they seem somewhat overkill, given that the mains water in BG is, supposedly, potable.  Ours no longer is, due to too much chlorine for my liking and the problem with the impurities; I have to say that we're pretty happy with the normal "jug filters" that we use, as I don't suppose that there's anything too dangerous in the supply, just the unsightly sediment.  It certainly tastes okay after being filtered and our kettles/coffee machines don't complain.

It might well be handy for filtering the OP's "well water" though...

@CarlS1986

You can still make changes to your house pipework even if your water main is on.

If your choice is potable mains water, or figuring out how to treat your borehole... I'd personally go for the former. Getting your water turned back on is probably sorted in a day or so.

All my neighbours have wells/boreholes, but I don't think there's a single one who uses it as drinking water, or uses it in preference to the mains supply. They all use it as a cheap way to irrigate the garden.

@JimJ

Exactly Jim, the chlorine content is a big worry.. yes, I see these filters have gone up in price ( hasn't everything over the past two years? ) but given the filters last for so long, and the water tastes delicious, I think it's a worthwhile investment.. I used to use a jug filter prior to this, but the small capacity, coupled with having to replace the filters every X amount of weeks was a turn off.

These will filter water from the bore hole, so when your mains goes down, there's no need to worry.

Jules999, thanks, I'll keep this in mind, but I think it's a bit overkill for what I'm after, I might just do what Gwyn suggested, use mains water if I can get the pipe replaced in time and connected to the grid.

In the meantime, ill just buy a couple of water bottles (11ltrs) and refill them, let's hope I can get connected within a few days.

I will possibly get the well water tested, just for safety and for a backup.

@CarlS1986

I would like to get my well tested, would like to use it for a whole house system. Interested to know where this can be done, hopefully by courier to test lab in a sample bottle they provide.

@Jules999

Do you know any suppliers in Bulgaria or elsewhere in the EU for the Berkey? I want one for our house and can only find the cheaper imitations for sale. Our local water supply is well known to be poor quality, plus we have problems with no supply at all whenever the water pressure drops as we're up a hill from the main pipes.

@janemulberry

The link Jules provided IS for the EU

    @janemulberry
The link Jules provided IS for the EU -@JimJ

Yes, and unfortunately they have no stock available.

As they're the main suppliers/manufacturers I guess you might be hard pressed to find alternative sources. Some of my neighbours are happy with these guys: https://home.fivo.bg/

Thanks, Jim. Those look interesting. But I've had my eye on the Berkey for a while so hopefully will find a supplier. There's a British copy by Doulton that might also be good.

    @Jules999
Do you know any suppliers in Bulgaria or elsewhere in the EU for the Berkey? I want one for our house and can only find the cheaper imitations for sale. Our local water supply is well known to be poor quality, plus we have problems with no supply at all whenever the water pressure drops as we're up a hill from the main pipes.
   

    -@janemulberry

Sorry Jane, your message appeared to have  slipped under my radar.. apparently Amazon.de has the royal Berkey in stock, a slightly bigger relative to Big Berkey.. have you tried to contact the EU company to ask when they might be getting more stock?

@Jules999

Thanks! I haven't contacted them yet, it seems they have supply problems plus even bigger issues going on in the US. Next on my list was to check Amazon.de, because the Bulgarian sites I've checked only seem to sell the plastic jug filters.

@Harry_Brown

If I find out I'll update this thread, I'm not due over for another 2–3 weeks.

I'm located just south of VT so if anyone knows any companies, I'm all ears.

@janemulberry

No water would do my head in. :-) A little pump and a storage tank should not be an expensive job, and could make a big difference to your supply problems.

There's someone I know who lives in a village near to VT who goes for  hours and days without water. Which would do my head in as well, here in my village o drink tap water but they don't.

@gwynj

Yes, I think I will need to install a storage tank before we move in full-time. I want to get rainwater tanks installed ASAP, too, though more to water the garden than for household water -- we don't have a well.

My neighbour assured me the water very rarely goes off, but their house is at the bottom of the hill and mine is halfway up it. Our water pressure is often low, and we had no water at all a couple of times last summer while their taps still worked fine. I'm told a new pump has been installed at the pumping station, so hopefully that will help..

Of course it could be that our old water pipes are clogged, too, but given that they're buried four feet deep, changing those would be a job I'd rather avoid. Even a trickle will fill a storage tank overnight.

@Kath948381

Yes, there are a few villages on hills near VT that have big problems. Also some villages in the South-west where there were supply issues due to the old pipework deteriorating.

I used to drink the tap water and it tasted great, then last summer they started chlorinating it. I don't want to be drinking that! For now I have a small personal filter bottle. But I'd like to get a big filter like the one Jules suggested that can even filter stored rainwater or well water.

Not good news that Jane, I'm just south of VT and the highest property in my Village/Hamlet, I hope the mains works well, I will still replace the old pipes for plastic from the grid connection and use that.

I'm a big drinker of water daily, the trouble I have found in the UK, I have moved to a new housing estate as part of my work and the water tastes and smells of chlorine! I can't stand drinking it. I filter 2 ltrs at a time and constantly topping it up, it isn't great, but it's a better solution than drinking the bottled crap.

When I was in BG my son and myself often stopped at the local fountains and drank the water and refilled our bottles for travels, it was so cold and fresh in the 30+ degree heat, not to mention it brought back good memories of drinking water in wales.

I will take plenty of pictures and keep you all updated on what I do out there, I'm counting down the 3 weeks, and I can't wait.

I can't drink the UK tap water either, Carl, it tastes disgusting. Our county fluoridates and uses chloramination now, so even boiling or letting the water stand doesn't remove the nasties. I use a 2L jug filter here, a good quality one (better than Brita!) but want something better again in Bg. I doubt the water has more nasties there but we have more space to get a better system set up. My kitchen there is now a blank slate, replastered, new ceiling, floor tiled, so I will have the fun of working out how to make it a good working kitchen again!

I hope your water supply is reliable. Being up high has it's disadvantages when it comes to water pressure! I love drinking the clean spring water, Unfortunately our area is geologically quite different and so isn't blessed with springs, while they're everywhere the VT area.

Grinning for you and hoping your trip goes well! Sounds like you're in for a wonderful adventure full of challenges and joys.

Until i retired two years ago I was part of the Drinking Water scientific team for a UK water company so have always taken a keen interest in the supply here. I stopped drinking the tap water years ago after seeing how much dissolved minerals were in the water, no surprise in a mainly limestone area. However my main concern was that I live on the edge of the village uphill and we are the third property in from  the village service reservoir, in the UK and wider EU these are required to be tested for E.coli and Coliforms weekly, and the supply in the community randomly daily, but I have never witnessed this ever being done.

Also following a burst in our road when they went to repair it I saw the pipe was asbestos/concrete, this has since been replaced with alkathene. The main part of the village is on a cast iron running main which is heavily contaminated with iron. Most of the villagers here will only drink the spring water or bottled water. Not telling anyone else what to drink, but make an informed choice, you can for very little money submit samples to companies like Veolia for analysis here. Do I believe Bulgarias 98% compliance figures, probably not, besides which most UK water companies would consider any annual drinking water compliance figures below 99.5% poor!

Thanks grahamstark1, when I dig up the old pipe I'll definitely be inspecting it to ensure it's to my satisfaction, I don't want to be drinking any asbestos, I'll replace my side with the blue plastic pipe as that will  be a safe bet for many years ahead.

Although, it won't be much help if I'm being serviced from an old asbestos pipe.  Fingers crossed it's been fixed prior to me buying.

On the subject of water, does anyone know where to get bulk water from in the Yambol/Elhovo area?