Well water
A starter well water system: test first, then filter
Quick answer
A starter well water system begins with a certified laboratory test, not with equipment. After that it is a flushable spin down prefilter and two stage filtration, roughly seven hundred dollars. On a private well nobody tests the water but you, and no equipment choice is valid without a result.
This list is deliberately front loaded with testing, and that is the whole point of it. On a private well there is no utility, no annual report and no operator. Nobody is checking the water but the person who owns it.
The equipment below is the part that is safe to buy before you know your numbers: a flushable prefilter and general sediment and taste filtration. Everything else in well treatment, iron, sulfur, pH and disinfection, is specified from a laboratory result, and buying it first is how people end up with a softener fouled by iron it was never rated for.
What to skip
Skip every piece of treatment equipment until the laboratory result is in front of you. That is not caution for its own sake. Iron filters are specified by the form of the iron and by pH, neutralizers by how far below 6.5 the pH sits, ultraviolet by flow and by water clarity. None of those can be guessed from a symptom.
Skip the softener specifically if the test shows meaningful iron. A softener pointed at iron it is not rated for fouls gradually and the failure is easy to miss for a year.
What to upgrade first
Whatever the test says is the upgrade. If it shows iron, the complete system adds an oxidizing filter ahead of any softener. If it shows a pH below 6.5, an acid neutralizer comes first, because corrosive water is dissolving the plumbing and that is also a lead question wherever old solder or brass is possible.
How this compares to the other systems
This system totals $700 across 7 items.
Rule of thumb Water treatment trade convention rather than a published standard. Taught everywhere, useful for planning, and not a specification. No standards body publishes it.
| System | Water source | Items | Equipment total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | City water | 6 | $233 |
| Complete | City water | 10 | $1,515 |
| Premium | City water | 12 | $2,925 |
| Starter | Well water | 7 | $700 |
| Complete | Well water | 11 | $2,443 |
| Premium | Well water | 16 | $6,820 |
Equipment only, and prices move constantly. Installed cost is a separate question covered on HouseProjectCalc.
The complete starter list
7 items, grouped by what each one does rather than by what it costs, and listed in the order the water actually reaches them. That order is not cosmetic: sediment has to come out before anything finer sees it, oxidation has to happen before a softener, and ultraviolet goes last because it needs the clearest water in the house.
1. Test. This is the actual first purchase.
$304A laboratory panel costs a fraction of any single piece of equipment below and it determines all of it. Bacteria, nitrate, lead, arsenic and PFAS are not do it yourself topics: they are invisible and tasteless, and a positive result means the local health department and usually a professional rather than a filter.
| Item | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|
| Tap Score Advanced Home Water Test Kit, Well or City A certified laboratory panel reported against the regulatory limits. | $269.00 | Check price |
| Safe Home DIY Bacteria in Water Test Kit A coliform screen with fast results. A screen does not clear a well, and a positive result is a public health matter. | $14.99 | Check price |
| Bartovation Total Dissolved Iron Test Strips, 0 to 10 ppm Reads across the range that decides whether a softener can cope or an iron filter is needed. | $19.99 | Check price |
2. Catch the grit before anything finer sees it
$60A reusable screen flushed with a valve rather than replaced. On a well carrying sand this single part is what stops every cartridge behind it being a consumable.
| Item | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|
| iSpring WSP-50 Spin Down Sediment Filter, 50 Micron Clear bowl, so sand is visible and can be blown down without opening anything. | $59.99 | Check price |
3. Sediment and taste
$323Staged coarse to fine. Going straight to a fine cartridge on well water plugs it in days, which is the commonest cause of a new filter killing the water pressure.
| Item | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|
| iSpring WGB22B 2 Stage Whole House Water Filtration System Two stages in the big blue format that passes whole house flow. | $286.70 | Check price |
| Pentair Pentek DGD-5005-20 Big Blue Dual Gradient Sediment Filter, 20 Inch Dual gradient, 50 micron stepping to 5. | $36.12 | Check price |
4. Monitor it
$13On a well the pressure drop across the filter is also an early warning that something upstream has changed, such as a rising sediment load after heavy rain.
| Item | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|
| Reotemp PD25H Home Water Pressure Test Gauge with Max Pointer, 0 to 160 PSI Note the clean baseline the day it is installed. Every later reading means nothing without it. | $12.99 | Check price |
System total
$700
7 items across 4 groups. Prices move constantly and this total is a snapshot rather than a quote. Nothing here includes plumbing labor, a drain line, an electrical outlet where one is needed, or the permit if your jurisdiction wants one. Installation cost estimating is a different question from equipment selection, and it lives on HouseProjectCalc rather than here.
Frequently asked questions
What does a starter well water system cost?
About $700 in equipment across 7 items, as listed above. That excludes plumbing labor, a drain line where one is needed, and any permit, all of which vary by region. Prices on the individual items move constantly, so treat the total as a snapshot rather than a quote.
Do I have to buy it all at once?
No, and on a well you should not. Buy the test first and let the result decide the rest, because iron filters are specified by the form of the iron and by pH, and neutralizers by how far the pH sits below range. The filtration and monitoring items are safe to buy early; the treatment equipment is not.
Why does the order of the groups matter?
The groups are listed in the order water reaches them, and each stage protects the next. Sediment comes out first, oxidation happens before any softener so the resin never meets raw iron, and ultraviolet goes last because it needs iron below 0.3 mg/L and manganese below 0.05 to deliver its rated dose.
Is the total an installed price?
No. It is equipment only. Labor, a drain line, an electrical outlet and a permit where your jurisdiction requires one are all extra and vary enormously with how accessible your main line is. Installation cost estimating is a different question from equipment selection and HouseProjectCalc covers it.
What if my water test shows something not on this list?
Then this is not the right list. Bacteria, nitrate, lead, arsenic and PFAS are not do it yourself topics: they are invisible and tasteless, the limits are legal figures, and the equipment has to be matched to a certified laboratory result and verified afterwards. Contact your local health department or a licensed water treatment professional.
Get the complete water treatment shopping list
Every item in the starter, complete and premium systems for both city water and well water, with running totals, in one printable list. It opens with the test kit, because that is genuinely the first purchase. No charge.
One list, no sequence of daily emails, and you can leave at any time.
Researched, not professional advice. This page is compiled from published standards, regulatory limits, manufacturer specifications and owner-review consensus, not hands-on testing. Nothing here diagnoses a water problem or says any product makes water safe to drink. Figures described as a rule of thumb are water treatment trade convention rather than published standards, and they are labeled that way wherever they appear. Test your water before you buy equipment: on city water start with the Consumer Confidence Report your utility publishes each year, and on a private well only a certified laboratory test tells you what you have. Bacteria, nitrate, lead, arsenic and PFAS are not do it yourself topics, they are invisible and tasteless, and they need a laboratory and usually a licensed professional rather than a product. Remember that a certification covers a specific claim under a specific standard, so "NSF certified" with no number attached tells you very little.