Plumbing in Hockessin at a glance
- ZIP codes served
- 19707
- Water supply
- Private wells common; public supply in some developments
- Wastewater
- Septic systems common
- Typical housing stock
- Mixed, including large-lot and estate properties
- Distance from Newark
- approx. 8 miles north of Newark
You own the whole system
Hockessin sits north of Newark toward the Pennsylvania line, on larger lots where public infrastructure was never extended. Many properties here draw water from a private well and discharge to a septic system on their own land.
That is not a rural inconvenience — it is a different relationship with your plumbing. On City of Newark supply, a utility treats your water, tests it, and publishes the results. Here, the well is yours, the pump is yours, the water quality is yours to discover, and the wastewater treatment is a tank and a drain field in your garden that you are responsible for maintaining.
Most plumbing companies serving this region are set up for city water and city sewer. The work below is a substantially different trade.
The well side
Four components, and the symptom usually identifies which one is in trouble.
| Component | Typical life | How it announces itself |
|---|---|---|
| Submersible pump | 10–15 years | No water, or pressure that will not build |
| Pressure tank | 5–10 years | Rapid on/off cycling while a tap runs |
| Pressure switch | Variable | Pump will not start, or will not stop |
| Check valve | Variable | Pressure bleeds away when nothing is running |
The one to act on fastest is short cycling. A pump switching on and off every few seconds is almost always a waterlogged pressure tank. Caught early that is a modest tank replacement. Ignored, the accumulated start count destroys the pump — and pulling a submersible pump out of a well is where the real expense sits. This is the clearest case in all of plumbing where a small repair prevents a large one.
A well also gives you one diagnostic that city customers do not have. There is no meter here, so the standard leak test does not work — but the pump is a substitute. If it runs when nobody is using water, something is drawing from the system. That is a leak, and it is worth chasing.
The water quality side
Well water in this area varies property to property. Two houses on the same road can draw from different depths through different geology and produce genuinely different water. There is no average to rely on, which is why every treatment recommendation has to start with a test result.
Test annually for bacteria and nitrates. Run a broader panel every few years. Then treat what the result actually shows:
- Scale and poor lather → hardness → ion exchange softener
- Orange staining → iron → oxidising filter, not a softener
- Dark staining → manganese → oxidising filter
- Rotten egg smell → hydrogen sulphide → aeration or oxidation
- Grit in aerators → sediment → pre-filtration ahead of everything else
- Fixtures corroding fast → low pH → neutralising filter
- Positive bacteria result → shock chlorination, then UV
Note how many of those need oxidation rather than softening. A softener fitted to an iron problem fouls and fails. Sequencing matters too — sediment filtration goes first, or it destroys what follows. Badly specified systems here are usually correct components in the wrong order. See water treatment and well service.
The septic side, and what it forbids
A septic system works by bacterial digestion. Solids settle, bacteria break them down, and liquid discharges to a drain field. Everything that goes down a drain either helps that process or interferes with it.
Things we will decline to install
Garbage disposals. They load the tank with solids it was not sized for and shorten pump-out intervals substantially. Replacing a failed drain field runs into five figures. We would rather have the awkward conversation.
Softener discharge routed carelessly into the septic field. The backwash brine is a real volume of salty water arriving at a biological system. Where it goes should be decided at installation, not discovered later.
Also worth knowing:
- No chemical drain cleaners, ever. They kill the bacteria the system runs on.
- Nothing labelled flushable. Wipes do not break down, in a septic tank or anywhere else.
- Watch your water volume. A leaking toilet can quietly overload a drain field — and with no meter, nothing warns you.
- Know where the tank and field are before any excavation, landscaping or driveway work.
The houses themselves
Hockessin housing is varied, including substantial large-lot and estate properties. Bigger houses mean longer pipe runs, more fixture groups, and frequently a plumbing system that has been extended more than once — which produces transitions between materials, and transitions are where leaks start.
Long runs also mean waiting for hot water, and on a well with elevation change the pressure tank settings matter more than they would on flat ground.
We cover Hockessin in the 19707 ZIP, roughly eight miles north of Newark, along with neighbouring Pike Creek where well properties also appear.
Plumbing questions from Hockessin homeowners
Bacteria and nitrates annually, without exception, and a broader panel covering hardness, iron, manganese, pH and sulphur every three to five years or any time taste, smell or clarity changes. Test immediately after any flooding near the wellhead, after work on the well itself, and before buying a property.
The reason annual testing matters here and not on city supply is simple: nobody else is doing it. There is no utility sampling your water, no regulator reviewing results, and no annual report arriving in the post. The Delaware Division of Public Health can point you to certified laboratories.
Chemical drain cleaners, first and foremost — they kill the bacterial action the entire system depends on, and a septic tank without live bacteria stops processing and starts filling. Also avoid grease, coffee grounds, wipes of any kind including those labelled flushable, paint, solvents, and large volumes of bleach.
Garbage disposals deserve a specific mention. They load a septic tank with solids it was never sized for and shorten the interval between pump-outs significantly. We will tell you this rather than install one, which occasionally disappoints people — but replacing a failed drain field costs many times more than the disposal you did not fit.
That is short cycling, and it is nearly always the pressure tank rather than the pump. The tank holds a cushion of compressed air above the water so the pump does not restart every time you open a tap. When the internal bladder fails the tank waterlogs, the cushion disappears, and the pump starts and stops every few seconds.
Act on it quickly. The tank is the cheaper component by a wide margin, and while it is failing the pump is accumulating start cycles that will destroy it. Caught early this is a tank replacement. Left alone it becomes a pump replacement — and most of that cost is pulling the pump out of the well rather than the pump itself.