It's starting to get colder here in New England, and many of our summer residents are packing up and heading south. Whether you're a seasonal resident or you stick it out all year long here in the Lakes Region, we have a few tips to keep your homes safe and secure through the winter months.

1) Prevent a leak in the Spring: This one applies to all residents. Before the winter arrives, we recommend that you take the hose off from the sillcock outside your house. This will prevent it from freezing and causing a leak when you want to use the hose next spring.

2) Have Your Burner Serviced: Annual burner services are crucial to maintaining the efficiency of your burner and the safety of your home. We encourage you to schedule your annual burner service as needed. Proper service and maintenance will help decrease the chances that you'll lose heat this winter. As always, remember to hire a licensed technician.

At Thursty Water, we haver a 16 point checklist to ensure that your burner is properly serviced, including the cleaning, nozzle, electrodes and fuel filter replacements if needed. We provide you with a report of your burner efficiency test results, and if you worked with us last year, we provide a comparison with last year's test. Your information will stay on file in our office for reference in 2012, and we'll provide a courtesy call to schedule your next service.

3) Winterizing your home is not as easy as it may seem. As always, we strongly encourage you to hire a licensed technician for the job: We've run into many problems before when home owners decide to close down their houses in the winter. When it's time to open again in the spring or summer, there have been leaks, burst pipes, and problems that wind up being more costly than it would have been to hire a technician to close down the home in the first place. For your peace of mind and for the safety of your home, we strongly encourage that you hire a professional.

If you would like to call and schedule your home winterization with Thursty Water, we would be happy to help. With our licenses, certifications, insurance and numerous years of experience, we are a company you can trust.

4) Keep your home safe and secure with routine Home Checks: Whether you're planning on leaving for the entire season, or perhaps just one week for a vacation, you might be interested in having your home checked while you're away. Home Checks ensure that your home remains safe and secure both outside and inside, and that all systems continue to work properly. Also, with copper theft on the rise, residential homes have been prone to this theft as well. (Learn more at www.coppercoalition.com and www.coppertheft.info)

We offer home checks for a minimal fee, and all checks are scheduled in our routine maintenance each month. As always, you can call our office to learn more!

 

This year, there are two themes, with needed donations as follows:

American Classics: Pez with dispensers, Cracker Jacks, Lifesavers, Necco Wafers, Pop Rocks, Nerds, Good & Plenty, Candy Necklaces, Candy Cigarettes, playing cards, small American Flags, squirt guns, water balloons, hacky sacks, bubbles, yo-yos

 

Breakfast or Meal To Go: Individual boxes of cereal, instant oatmeal, trail mix in individual packages, hot chocolate, tea bags, cereal bars, granola bars, single packets of coffee, microwave mac n' cheese, Hormel Complete Dinners, Ramen Noodels

 

Please come by our showroom on Route 109A in Wolfeboro to drop off your donations! You may also drop off your donations at All Saint's Episcopal Church and The Circuit Zone, also located in Wolfeboro.

 

The boxes will be packed on Thursday June 16th, and sent to our local military men and women who are currently serving. We hope to see you in our showroom, and we thank you in advance.

Here’s a problem scenario for all you homeowners and renters that rely on private wells for your water supply:

First, you move into a lovely new home in need of a new well. So, you hire a well drilling company, putting your trust in the technician’s expertise. After all, we can’t just “see” down a well without the appropriate technology. The well company tells you they will provide both you and your neighbor each with a 300’ well, for a deal you can’t refuse. It’s an expensive job, but it’s certainly a priority as you move into your home.

Soon after, you find that you have sediment in your water. As many wells have this same issue, you hire a licensed technician to install a sand separator. The separator is easy to maintain since the only maintenance required is to change the sediment filter as needed. You can do this easily. Problem solved.

Years later, you have no water. This issue may be harder for you to diagnose since there are various reasons you could have no water. For example, you may have issues with your pump, lightning may have struck during a storm, a breaker has tripped, or maybe your well has simply run dry. Knowing this, you hire a technician to come to your home and diagnose the problem.

But what if the issue was much deeper than you thought?

We recently ran into this issue with a customer of ours. Their well was only 15 years old. What was an initial “No Water” call has now turned into a much deeper issue: the well casing stops at 15’, with the bedrock beginning at 18’ down. This leaves a gap of 3 feet where the casing fails to meet the bedrock, letting in more than just groundwater. The pump, originally down at 75’, is completely buried under sand and mud.

It turns out that our customers’ well was never 300’ down like they were told, but instead the well stops entirely at 95’ down.

We found out this was the issue when we had tried to pull the well pump. The wire for the pump snapped, and so did the cable we had used to pull it. Once this happened, we went ahead used our camera to drop inside the well. At just 15’ we noticed that the casing opened up and created almost a shelf underground where it failed to meet the bedrock. As the camera reached to the water, we could see murky, muddy water sitting in the well. We dropped the camera further to about 75’, where mud had collected and buried the pump underneath. The camera could not go farther.

After preparing to leave the jobsite, I walked around the well. To my surprise, I sunk in the ground about three feet up to my waist. The ground around the well was unstable because it had been caving into the well, creating another potential danger.

After talking with our customer and explaining the situation, they called our office with some interesting information. Our customer remembers working with the well company that put in their well. The company told our customer that it would provide a deal for our customer and their neighbor. The company would drill two 300’ wells for a great price. It turns out that the company did not hold true to this deal, but instead lied. The company did indeed drill the well, but once we did our research and reviewed our footage from the camera, we found out that the well was only drilled down to 95 feet.

Now, our customer has numerous problems because of the well company’s dishonesty and poor workmanship.

To solve the problem, we worked with a well drilling company that we trust, to ensure that our customer will receive what they paid for: quality, guaranteed workmanship – no lies, no gimmicks, but instead a well that will last. They now have a new well, and the old well has been decommissioned.

So what can you do to try and avoid this problem for your own home? Be sure to hire LICENSED TECHNICIANS that have received good recommendations and reviews from people you trust, and pay attention to your water quality.

No homeowner should have to deal with this situation.
 

Here’s a problem scenario for all you homeowners and renters that rely on private wells for your water supply:

First, you move into a lovely new home in need of a new well. So, you hire a well drilling company, putting your trust in the technician’s expertise. After all, we can’t just “see” down a well without the appropriate technology. The well company tells you they will provide both you and your neighbor each with a 300’ well, for a deal you can’t refuse. It’s an expensive job, but it’s certainly a priority as you move into your home.

Soon after, you find that you have sediment in your water. As many wells have this same issue, you hire a licensed technician to install a sand separator. The separator is easy to maintain since the only maintenance required is to change the sediment filter as needed. You can do this easily. Problem solved.

Years later, you have no water. This issue may be harder for you to diagnose since there are various reasons you could have no water. For example, you may have issues with your pump, lightning may have struck during a storm, a breaker has tripped, or maybe your well has simply run dry. Knowing this, you hire a technician to come to your home and diagnose the problem.

But what if the issue was much deeper than you thought?

We recently ran into this issue with a customer of ours. Their well was only 15 years old. What was an initial “No Water” call has now turned into a much deeper issue: the well casing stops at 15’, with the bedrock beginning at 18’ down. This leaves a gap of 3 feet where the casing fails to meet the bedrock, letting in more than just groundwater. The pump, originally down at 75’, is completely buried under sand and mud.

It turns out that our customers’ well was never 300’ down like they were told, but instead the well stops entirely at 95’ down.

We found out this was the issue when we had tried to pull the well pump. The wire for the pump snapped, and so did the cable we had used to pull it. Once this happened, we went ahead used our camera to drop inside the well. At just 15’ we noticed that the casing opened up and created almost a shelf underground where it failed to meet the bedrock. As the camera reached to the water, we could see murky, muddy water sitting in the well. We dropped the camera further to about 75’, where mud had collected and buried the pump underneath. The camera could not go farther.

After preparing to leave the jobsite, I walked around the well. To my surprise, I sunk in the ground about three feet up to my waist. The ground around the well was unstable because it had been caving into the well, creating another potential danger.

After talking with our customer and explaining the situation, they called our office with some interesting information. Our customer remembers working with the well company that put in their well. The company told our customer that it would provide a deal for our customer and their neighbor. The company would drill two 300’ wells for a great price. It turns out that the company did not hold true to this deal, but instead lied. The company did indeed drill the well, but once we did our research and reviewed our footage from the camera, we found out that the well was only drilled down to 95 feet.

Now, our customer has numerous problems because of the well company’s dishonesty and poor workmanship.

To solve the problem, we worked with a well drilling company that we trust, to ensure that our customer will receive what they paid for: quality, guaranteed workmanship – no lies, no gimmicks, but instead a well that will last. They now have a new well, and the old well has been decommissioned.

So what can you do to try and avoid this problem for your own home? Be sure to hire LICENSED TECHNICIANS that have received good recommendations and reviews from people you trust, and pay attention to your water quality.

No homeowner should have to deal with this situation.
 

Justin Bieber turns 17 today, and he's not just asking for birthday presents and fan mail. This year, he's hoping to raise $17,000 for clean water projects around the world. Fans, friends, and people who don't even know Justin's Hollywood status are donating anywhere from 17 to 170 dollars. And Justin isn't the only star to work towards this cause.

Matt Damon is the co-founder of water.org, a world-wide non-profit working to bring clean water to more than 8 countries. You can watch a video of an interview with Matt about the water crisis by visiting this link on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CezkRO3_r0c

Thursty Water Systems supports all efforts to provide quality water around the world. Our water quality directly relates to our health. We encourage you to check out some of these organizations to see what's happening around the world. If you feel the pull to donate, we certainly encourage you to do that too.

Remember, changing your water today can change your health for life. And helping to change someone else's water - or, even GIVE them water - will significantly change their health too.

Learn More:
mycharitywater.org
Water.org

We at Thursty Water Systems have bid on a number jobs and provided more water analysis to our customers than we can count. Of those estimates, some have been for homeowners while others have been for general contractors or large business remodels.

We know that most times, customers choose the bid with the best price. We know that a “good” price is important to our customers, and it’s important for us to know that we are supplying you with a reasonable price.

We also know that the cheapest price doesn’t always mean good, quality work. We saw a sign once that explained the situation perfectly: “Good parts are not cheap. Cheap parts are not good.”

We’re not saying you should break the bank every time you want to have work done in your home. We’re homeowners too, and we get it. But we are saying that quality workmanship, warrantees, guarantees, proper qualifications and dependability are just as important, if not more important than finding the cheapest price.

Think about how much your home is worth to you. Every time you let somebody into your home to perform repairs, installations, or maintenance, it is crucial to know that you can trust their expertise; that they have the proper qualifications; and that they guarantee their work. The safety of your home is important.

Okay, so back to pricing. What about a good worker, who uses cheap parts? Just remember that you get what you pay for. Cheaper parts now may mean more repairs in the future, less efficiency, or other problems.

When it comes to providing quotes and estimates, we don’t always “get the job.” But when a customer chooses to work with us, we provide the quality work with materials we have used and trusted for over 25 years. We maintain the most up to date and current licensing. We are certified and insured, and we guarantee and warrantee our work.

In this industry we have the option to use cheap materials, quality materials, or overpriced materials. We choose quality.

The sun shined beautifully as residents and visitors from across the lakes region came to Meredith NH on Sunday for the 23^rd Annual Chowderfest with 98.3LNH, a fundraiser for the Lakes Region Conservation Trust.

 

Chowderfest attendees sampled chowders from lobster to clam to corn, and voted for their favorites among the six participating restaurants. They also sampled filtered water when they stopped by our booth and said hello.

 

For our second year in a row, TWS provided on-site filtered water for thirsty participants. We always have a blast meeting all Chowderfest goers and the restaurants vying for the title of the Lakes Region's Best Chowder!

 

A HUGE congratulations to the Christmas Island Steakhouse in Laconia, NH for winning this year's Best Chowder and the Chowder Bowl!!

 

We are happy to have been able to contribute to this great cause and hope to see you next year!

 

 

If you want to sample some of our filtered water in the mean time, we invite you to swing on by our showroom off Route 109A in Wolfeboro!

In our fast-paced world of developing technologies based on our need for instant gratification, it's no wonder that Thermos has successfully collaborated with iPhone for a really cool application: leading thirsty people to water fountains, across the United States!

Thermos' goal is to reduce bottle water waste and encourage the use of reusable water bottles. Use the new app to view pictures of and locate a nearby water fountain, fill up your bottle, and don't forget to rate your experience.

Rick Dias, President and COO at Thermos, LLC said, "Thermos has been making products that help people lead healthier lifestyles for over a century. With our insulated hydration bottle offerings and the OasisPlaces app, we want to make it easier than ever to enjoy a refreshing and healthy drink of cold water."

Now how about that for a way to stay cool!

Click here to read the full article.

We always encourage those with private wells to test for contaminants in their water, because sometimes what appears to be safe or clean water is not safe water. Some of the most harmful contaminants are undetectable and do not change the way your water looks or tastes. One of these contaminants is arsenic.

Arsenic is a major health concern, and is very common in New Hampshire. Long-term exposure to arsenic is linked to an increased risk of cancers of the liver, bladder, kidney, and skin, as well as vasuclar disease and other health problems.

So where does arsenic come from? Arsenic is a metal-like element that occurs naturally in New Hampshire bedrock. It also exists in runoff from manmade substances such as pesticides, pressure-treated lumber peservatives, and more. Over 500,000 homeowners using well water are estimated to have arsenic in their water.

The EPA has set standards and guidelines to help us determine what are safe levels of all contaminants in our drinking water. The only way to ensure that your drinking water quality is acceptable within EPA standards, is to have your water tested by a state certified laboratory.

The Union Leader recently published an article to warn NH residents of arsenic. The article is very comprehensive, and you can read it here: Water in some NH wells is worrisome

 

 

We LOVE this story. Simple acts of kindness definitely impact the community!

For the last three weeks, teens in Knoxville, TN have been pulling a wagon downtown to bring water to their thirsty neighborhood. As the summer heat beats down, they work hard every day to quench the thirst of Knoxville residents.

Read the Article Here