.webp)
Complete Well Water System
A complete multi-stage system built for wells — iron, sulfur, sediment and bacteria all handled.
The short answer
- Installed price: The complete well water system is from $3,800 installed, all-in with equipment, professional installation, a lifetime parts warranty and taxes, moving up for a long trench or rock.
- Stages in order: A catalytic air-injection dual-tank stage with Jacobi catalytic carbon runs ahead of USA-made ResinTech ion-exchange resin, and catalytic media is standard on every well system installed.
- Drinking water stage: A 100 GPD tank reverse osmosis unit with an alkaline stage sits on its own faucet, because wells run high in total dissolved solids and a tankless unit loses pressure.
- Add what tests require: UV purification at $700 and a pre-sediment filter at $500 are added only when the water test calls for them, and there is no XL build for wells.
- Full-flow plumbing: Everything is plumbed with full 1-inch lines rated to 28 GPM, so a multi-stage system does not cost you pressure in the shower.
- Annual well testing: Iowa DNR recommends testing every private well at least once a year for nitrate and coliform bacteria, and Iowa's Private Well Grants Program makes lab testing free.
Who this system is for
If your home runs on a private well, you are your own water utility. There is no municipal plant filtering, disinfecting and monitoring what reaches your tap, which is why well water throws several problems at you at once — rust staining, a rotten-egg smell, grit in the aerators, and hardness on top of all of it. This is the build we install for those homes, and it is a genuinely different animal from a city system.
Why a city system is not enough on a well
Equipment built for city water assumes the water has already been disinfected and largely cleared of iron and sediment. A well gives you none of that head start. Put a basic city-style softener on a well full of iron and grit and it will foul, clog and underperform inside of months. That is the single most common mistake we get called out to fix. Our well water treatment page goes deeper on the science.
What's actually in it
Each stage does one job and protects the stage behind it.
Dual-tank iron, sulfur and carbon treatment
A catalytic air-injection build handles iron and the hydrogen sulfide gas behind the rotten-egg smell, with Jacobi catalytic carbon in the mix. Catalytic media is standard on every well system we install — it is not an upsell here, it is simply what a well needs.
Softening
USA-made ResinTech ion-exchange resin behind a lifetime-rated ceramic-disc control valve, sized to your household, tames the hardness that well water usually carries in higher concentrations than city supplies.
Tank reverse osmosis at the kitchen sink
A 100 GPD tank RO with an alkaline stage, on its own faucet. We use tank RO and never tankless on a well — wells run high in total dissolved solids and a tankless unit loses pressure on them. This is also the stage that matters most in farm country, where nitrate is odorless and tasteless and reverse osmosis is the treatment public-health sources point to.
Everything is plumbed with full 1-inch lines rated to 28 GPM, so a multi-stage system does not cost you pressure in the shower.
Add only what your test calls for
Well water is where the typical in-home-pitch water company piles equipment on. Here is our rule, in writing: we add a stage only when your test asks for it.
- UV purification, $700. If your bacteria test comes back clean, we will not sell you a UV light. If coliform shows up, UV is the technology built for that job — and disinfecting the well itself comes first.
- Pre-sediment filter, $500. Legitimate on a sandy or silty well, where it protects everything downstream. On most city water it is unnecessary, and we say so there too.
- No XL build on wells. There is no such thing in our lineup. A large well home is handled by the dual tanks, not by a bigger single tank.
Price moves up from $3,800 for a long trench, rock, or a difficult run to the well house. We quote that from photos before anyone rolls a truck.
Maintenance and what to expect
A well-built system should feel close to invisible. The sediment filter, if you have one, gets changed on a schedule set by how much grit your well produces. A UV lamp is replaced about once a year to keep its disinfecting power strong. The softener needs salt topped off, and the iron and sulfur stage largely looks after itself. We walk you through your exact schedule at install so there are no surprises.
Test first — including the free one
Iowa DNR recommends testing every private well at least once a year for nitrate and coliform bacteria, and Iowa's Private Well Grants Program makes lab testing free for well owners. Our in-home water test is free too, and we will help you line the lab test up, so the system gets designed from real numbers rather than a sales guess. Read more on free well water testing in Iowa.
Installation, warranty and financing
Every install is handled by licensed, insured local plumbing professionals we vet, schedule and stand behind. Equipment, professional installation, warranty and taxes are included in the quoted price. Coverage is lifetime on parts, five years on media, and one year on labor, and 0% financing is available. Get your exact installed price, or compare this against our other systems.
Start with a free water test
Every well is different, even two homes on the same rural road. Book a free in-home water test and we will build the smallest system that actually fixes your water, or get an instant quote in about two minutes.
- ✓Equipment included
- ✓Professional installation
- ✓Lifetime parts warranty
- ✓Taxes included
0% financing available. The in-home water test is free, with no obligation.
Straight answers.
Why can't I just put a regular softener on my well?
Because iron and grit will foul it. Red, oxidized iron fouls softener resin outright, and sediment clogs what is left. A well needs a layered setup — sediment where required, then iron and sulfur removal, UV where bacteria are a concern, then softening — so each stage protects the one behind it.
Do I definitely need UV?
Only if your test says so. A clean coliform result means you do not need a UV light, and we will tell you that rather than sell you one. When bacteria do show up, the first step is disinfecting the well itself, and UV is what keeps it protected afterward.
Why tank RO instead of tankless on a well?
Wells run high in total dissolved solids, and a tankless unit loses pressure on that kind of water. We only put tank RO on a well — 100 GPD with an alkaline stage — because it holds up. Tankless stays a city-water option.
What does the price depend on?
$3,800 is the floor for the dual-tank well system with tank RO, fully installed. It moves up for distance, trenching, or rock between the well and the house. Well jobs are often straightforward when there is already a setup at the well, since the installer can tie in right there.
Other systems we install.
Same warranty, same install standard — a different build for a different home.
Not sure which system you need?
Start with a free in-home water test. We'll test your water and recommend exactly the right fit — no pressure, no obligation.
Book my free water test