Well Water Filtration in Gainesville, FL

If you are on a well out here, you already know the tells.

Rather text? Send a photo of the problem to 352-377-9447 and we’ll tell you what it sounds like.

Licensed Florida Plumbing Contractor CFC1430748

Locally owned, out of Hawthorne. Free water test, no obligation, no pressure. Request your free water test

The iron level where staining starts. Most wells out here run past it.

0. 3 mg/L

Typical depth of a residential well into the Floridan Aquifer here.

100 to 400 ft

What our water test costs you.

$ 0

First Choice Plumbing designs and installs whole house well water filtration across Gainesville, Hawthorne and rural Alachua County. We test your water first, at no charge, then size a system to what the test actually shows: air injection for iron and sulfur, softening for hardness, sediment filtration ahead of both. Licensed Florida plumbing contractor CFC1430748. Call or text 352-377-9447.

What is actually in North Central Florida well water?

Almost every residential well around here draws from the Floridan Aquifer, generally somewhere between about 100 and 400 feet down. That water has spent a long time moving through porous limestone, and limestone is generous. It hands off minerals the whole way.

Four things show up over and over on wells in Alachua, Putnam, Bradford, Union, Levy and northern Marion counties.

Iron. Dissolved iron is invisible coming out of the tap. It only turns orange after it hits air and oxidizes, which is why the stain shows up in the toilet tank, the tub, the sink and the laundry rather than in the glass. Above roughly 0.3 milligrams per liter it starts staining, and plenty of wells out here run well past that.
Hydrogen sulfide. That is the rotten egg smell. Sulfur reducing bacteria in the well or in the plumbing break down sulfur compounds and release the gas. You can smell it at concentrations far below anything that would hurt you, which is why it drives people crazy long before it is a health question.
Hardness. Calcium and magnesium picked up from the limestone. Hard water is not dangerous, it is expensive. It scales up water heaters, shortens the life of fixtures and valves, and makes soap quit working.
Bacteria and nitrate. These you cannot see, smell or taste, and no filter cartridge tells you they are there. Private wells in Florida are not regulated or routinely tested by anybody, so annual testing is on you as the homeowner.

That last one matters. If it is only a stain or a smell, that is a treatment question. If it is bacteria or nitrate, that is a health question and it gets handled differently.

What does a well water filtration system cost in Gainesville?

Most whole house well systems we install land between about $2,500 and $5,000 installed. A recent complete build, air injection plus softening plus sediment, ran about $4,500 with everything plumbed and running.

What moves the number is your test, not your zip code. A well with light iron and moderate hardness needs less equipment than a heavy sulfur well that also stains. Sizing matters too, because a system sized for a two bathroom house on a three bathroom house will drop your pressure and fail early.

What is in the price: the equipment, the plumbing to tie it into your main line, the bypass valves so the system can be serviced without shutting off the house, the drain line for backwash, startup and programming, and a walkthrough so you know what every tank does.

Our $69 service fee applies to the diagnostic visit on a service call. The water test on a filtration quote is free.

Financing runs through Wisetack on jobs from about $500 up, so a system does not have to come out of savings in one hit. See financing options

Anybody who quotes you a filtration system without testing your water is quoting a catalog, not your house.

Who is coming out to look at my water?

First Choice Plumbing is locally owned and based out of Hawthorne.

We live out here on well water too. That is not a marketing line, it is the reason we know what a Hawthorne well does in August versus a Newberry well, and why we do not treat every house the same.

Leaks don’t stand a chance.

Why does my well water smell like rotten eggs?

Before you price a filtration system, run this test yourself. It takes two minutes and it can save you thousands of dollars.

Go to a tap you have not used in a while. Run the cold water and smell it. Then run the hot and smell that. Where the smell is tells you where the problem is.

Only the hot water stinks.

That is almost never your well. That is your water heater. The magnesium anode rod inside the tank reacts with sulfur in the water and produces the gas. Swapping the magnesium rod for an aluminum or zinc alloy rod usually ends it, and flushing the tank helps. That is a service call, not a filtration project. Even Gainesville Regional Utilities points at the water heater first when customers call about this smell.

Cold and hot both stink.

Now you are looking at the well or the water coming into the house, and treatment is the right conversation.

Only one fixture stinks.

Check the drain before you check the water. Bacteria growing in a sink drain or a garbage disposal throws off a smell you meet at the faucet and blame on the water.

If it is the water heater, we fix that.

We would rather sell you an anode rod than a system you did not need. It costs us money today and it is how we still have customers ten years from now. If the test says your water heater is the problem, we will tell you, fix that, and leave the filtration conversation alone.

What kind of well water filtration system do I need?

A whole house well system is not one box. It is a train of stages, and your test decides which stages you get. Water moves through them in order.

1. Sediment filtration

First in line. Sand, grit and rust flakes get caught here so they never reach the equipment behind them. On a well with a lot of grit this stage alone saves the rest of the system.

2. Air injection for iron and sulfur

This is the workhorse for our area, and it is our default. The tank holds a pocket of compressed air at the top. Water passes through that air pocket, which oxidizes dissolved iron and hydrogen sulfide into solid particles, and the media bed underneath traps them. The system backwashes on its own and draws in a fresh air charge. No chlorine feed, no chemical tank to fill, nothing to mix. It handles the iron and the smell in one stage, which is why we favor it over older chlorine injection setups.

3. A gas off stage where the sulfur is heavy

On a strong sulfur well we add a stage that vents the gas off rather than pushing all of it through the media. Your test tells us whether you need this.

4. Softening for hardness

Two media tanks plus a brine tank on the typical install. This is the calcium and magnesium stage, and it is what protects your water heater and your fixtures. If your hardness is low, we skip it and say so.

What we do not install: UV disinfection

Two things we do not do, so you are not surprised. We do not install ultraviolet disinfection right now, so if your test comes back with bacteria we will point you to the county health department lab and to a well contractor for shock chlorination.

What we do not install: undersink reverse osmosis

And we do not install undersink reverse osmosis, because those units sit inside a cabinet and eventually leak, and we are not putting our name on that.

Iron and sulfur specifically are their own conversation, and we go deeper on them here. Iron and sulfur removal

What happens when you call about your well water?

Tell us what you are seeing.

Kim answers the phone and asks a few questions: stain, smell, taste or scale, whether it is hot water only, how many bathrooms, and roughly when the well was drilled. That is usually enough to know what to bring.

We test the water and show you the results.

On site, no charge. You watch the test happen. We write down the numbers and explain what each one means for your house, including the ones that say you do not need something.

You get one quote, in plain English.

Stage by stage, what it does and what it costs, with anything optional marked optional. If you want it, we schedule the install, usually a one day job. We tie it into your main line, set the bypass valves and the drain, program it, run it, and walk you through it before we leave.

No high pressure appointment, no today only pricing, no sitting at your kitchen table for three hours.

The difference is in the details

The short version: a treatment dealer sells water systems. We are plumbers who install them, which means we are also the people who can fix the water heater the iron already scaled, repipe the line the hard water ate through, and handle the septic and the hose bibs while we are out there. One company, one number, one crew that knows your house.

What you are comparing	First Choice Plumbing	Typical water treatment dealer or big name brand
Who is at your door	A licensed Florida plumbing contractor, CFC1430748, with the owner still running estimates	A commissioned sales rep, with an installer sent later
The water test	Free, on site, and we show you the numbers	Often a demonstration built to justify a package
What gets recommended	Only the stages your test justifies, and we will tell you when the fix is a water heater part	The package on the price sheet
Price on the website	Published range, published service fee	No pricing anywhere until the appointment
Chemistry	Air injection by default, no chlorine feed tank to fill	Chemical injection setups that need refilling
If the plumbing behind it needs work	We are licensed for the whole house, so the repipe or the heater is the same crew	Treatment only, and you go find a plumber
Warranty	Two year parts and labor on our installation, manufacturer warranty on the equipment	Equipment warranty only, labor billed
Who answers next year	Kim, on the same number that has been ours since we started	A call center or a rep who has moved on

Do you test my water before recommending anything?

Always, and it does not cost you anything.

Nobody can size a system by looking at your sink. Two houses a mile apart on the same road can have completely different water, because they are pulling from different depths through different rock. Sizing a filter without a test is guessing with your money.

Here is what we check on site:

Iron, which sets the stain and drives the choice of media.
Hardness in grains per gallon, which decides whether you need softening at all.
pH, because it changes how well oxidation works.
Hydrogen sulfide, the rotten egg smell, and where in the house it is coming from.
Tannins, which show up on wells near wetlands and give water a tea color.
Total dissolved solids, the overall mineral load.
Flow rate and household demand, so the system is sized to your actual water use and does not choke your showers.

Bacteria and nitrate are lab tests, not field tests. The Florida Department of Health in Alachua County runs a water lab for exactly this, and if your test points that direction we will tell you to send a sample there rather than sell you equipment. Request your free water test

How much work is a well filtration system to keep up?

Less than people expect, which is the main reason we push air injection.

The iron and sulfur stage runs itself. It backwashes on a schedule you set at install, pulls in a fresh air charge on its own, and there is nothing to refill. If you have a softener, you add salt to the brine tank, roughly a bag or two a month depending on your hardness and how much water the house uses. Sediment cartridges get changed on a schedule that depends on how much grit your well throws.

Media does not last forever. Depending on your iron load and your water use, plan on replacing filter media somewhere in the five to ten year range, while the tanks and valves themselves keep going a good while longer. Heavy iron shortens that. Light iron stretches it.

We check the system, the settings and the water once a year. If you would rather not think about it at all, the membership plan covers that visit along with the rest of your plumbing check. See the membership plan

What does untreated well water actually cost you?

Bad well water does not break anything on a Tuesday. It just quietly bills you.

Iron and hardness scale the inside of a water heater, and a scaled heater burns more energy to do the same work and dies years early. The same minerals chew through cartridges, mixing valves and shower diverters, which is why some houses on wells replace a faucet every couple of years and think that is normal. Iron staining sets permanently in porcelain and grout, so the toilet you scrub every weekend is never coming all the way back. Laundry takes the worst of it, and there is no bleach that fixes iron stains, because bleach oxidizes iron and makes them darker.

Then there is the part that does not show up on a receipt: nobody in the house drinks the tap water. You buy bottled water for a house that already has a well.

What it looks like done right: clear water at every tap, laundry that comes out the color it went in, a water heater that lasts its full run, soap that lathers, and a glass of water from the kitchen sink that nobody makes a face at.

Well water filtration questions we get every week

How much does a well water filtration system cost in Gainesville, FL?

Most whole house systems we install run between about $2,500 and $5,000 installed, and a recent complete build with air injection, softening and sediment filtration came in around $4,500. The final number depends on your water test and the size of your house, not on your address. The test is free.

Why does my well water smell like rotten eggs?

That is hydrogen sulfide gas. If the smell is only on the hot side, the cause is almost always the anode rod in your water heater and a rod swap usually ends it. If both hot and cold smell, the gas is coming in with the water and a treatment system is the right fix. Smell them separately before you spend money.

Will a water softener remove iron from my well water?

Only a little, and not reliably. A softener is built for calcium and magnesium. Iron fouls softener resin over time and shortens its life. Iron belongs in a dedicated oxidation stage ahead of the softener, which is exactly how we build the train.

Do you test my well water for free?

Yes. We test on site at no charge and no obligation, and we show you the numbers as we go. We check iron, hardness, pH, hydrogen sulfide, tannins, total dissolved solids and your household flow rate. Bacteria and nitrate are lab tests, and we will point you to the Florida Department of Health lab in Alachua County for those.

How often should I test my private well?

At least once a year for bacteria and nitrate, and any time the taste, smell or color changes. Private wells in Florida are not regulated or routinely tested by anyone, so annual testing is the homeowner's responsibility.

What is an air injection iron filter and why do you prefer it?

The tank holds a pocket of compressed air. Water passes through it, dissolved iron and hydrogen sulfide oxidize into solid particles, and the media bed below catches them. The system backwashes and recharges its own air pocket. There is no chlorine tank to refill and nothing to mix, which is why we use it as our default here.

How long does a well filtration system last?

Plan on replacing the filter media somewhere in the five to ten year range depending on your iron load and water use, while the tanks and control valves last considerably longer. Heavy iron shortens media life, and an annual check catches it before your water quietly gets worse.

Do you install UV lights or reverse osmosis systems?

Not right now. We do not install ultraviolet disinfection, so a bacteria hit gets referred to the county health department lab and a well contractor for shock chlorination. We also do not put reverse osmosis units under sinks, because of the leak risk inside a cabinet.

Iron

Sets the stain and drives the choice of media.

Hardness

Measured in grains per gallon, which decides whether you need softening at all.

pH

Because it changes how well oxidation works.

Hydrogen sulfide

The rotten egg smell, and where in the house it is coming from.

Where do you install well water systems?

We are based in Hawthorne, so the rural side of the county is our backyard rather than an afterthought. We install filtration across Alachua County and out into Putnam, Bradford, Union, Levy, Clay and northern Marion.

Hawthorne, Gainesville, Melrose, Micanopy, Waldo, Archer, Newberry, High Springs, Alachua, Interlachen, Keystone Heights, Williston, Citra, Fort McCoy.

See the full service area

On a farm or horse property, water treatment usually comes with hose bibs, waterers and outdoor lines. We handle those too. Farm plumbing

Start with the test. The rest gets easy after that.

Tell us what you are seeing at the tap and we will come find out what is actually in your water. Free, no obligation, and you get the numbers whether you hire us or not. If the answer turns out to be a part in your water heater, that is what we will tell you.

Get your free water test. Text works too, same number. Contact us

First Choice Plumbing. Licensed Florida plumbing contractor CFC1430748. Locally owned, out of Hawthorne. Leaks don’t stand a chance.

Tell us what's going on and we'll take it from there

You get a real person, a $69 visit, a flat price before we start, and a company that patches what it cuts and answers the phone when you call back. If a smaller fix is the right call, we’ll tell you that too.

First Choice Plumbing is a locally owned, owner led plumbing company working Gainesville, Hawthorne and Greater Alachua County. Leak detection, repipes, water heaters, drains, trenchless lining, well water filtration and septic. We find it, we fix it, we guarantee it.

Florida Certified Plumbing Contractor CFC1430748

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