water well drilling info

[747driver]

We are looking at 16 acres on a mountian top in east tenn. The well has been drilled, so i called the well driller for info. He told me it has 300 ft of casing and 105 ft more to get to the water for a total of 405 ft. It is 6 inch casing.

Asked about GPM and told me it was 25 gallons per minute. Is this a good flow rate ?

I will just need to get a pump installed if we buy the property. Any suggestions on type of pump and the do's and don'ts !!

Thanks

Chuck

 

[Deere Dude]

I would just get a plumber install the pitless unit in along with the pressure tank and pump and piping. They won't put in a junky pump. I had the well driller do all that stuff for me and didn't lose a bit of sleep over it.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Goodnight! 400 ft!? I think mine is 200 and I have a 3/4 hp pump for the barn. A Good pump was around 550. Best thing to do is look up goulds pumps and look at the pump curves. Don't forget to ADD the head to the house. How far away would the house be from the well?

 

[smstonypoint]

The 25 GPM flow rate is fine. A good plumber will advise you as to the appropriate filters (and softeners if needed).

Steve

 

[Billrog]

The well should be tested for the draw down and where it holds at eg. 6 gal. per min.before you can make any sound decisions. If all works out buy a good pump ( goulds as mentioned is good) that works on demand so you can eliminate the cushion tank , the more taps you open the more it pumps.

 

[747driver]

The well should be tested for the draw down and where it holds at eg. 6 gal. per min.before you can make any sound decisions. If all works out buy a good pump ( goulds as mentioned is good) that works on demand so you can eliminate the cushion tank , the more taps you open the more it pumps.

Thanks for the advice....didn't know about draw down,

 

[747driver]

Goodnight! 400 ft!? I think mine is 200 and I have a 3/4 hp pump for the barn. A Good pump was around 550. Best thing to do is look up goulds pumps and look at the pump curves. Don't forget to ADD the head to the house. How far away would the house be from the well?

The top of the property where the house will be is around 200 ft above the main road entrance, hence i guess they had to drill so deep. House will be 150 ft from the well. The drilling company said around $2500 for complete pump install.

 

[Billrog]

Some thing else I would do is install the pump with a liner because the casing stops at 300' if there's a tremor or shift in the rock below that once the pumps down there it will never be retrieved. Whether or not $2,500 is a good price will depend on the type of pump ( with liner) and if the controller is included I'm sure there's many here with more of an idea of price then me.

 

[PILOON]

While not a plumber or well installer I have been involved with a few dozen installations.

Yes, look at the pump charts as all the specs are called out.
Many good brands out there and all driven by Franklin motors and so far all are USA products.
You want heavy duty poly water line, probably 1", a bladder type pressure tank and a pressure controller.
While not rocket science, depth, distance, friction, fittings all need to be taken in consideration and the pump charts cover the basics info needed.

2 styles are available: 2 wire or wire systems.
Th 3 wire has the relays and start capacitator above ground while the 2 wire incorporates them in the pump body.
The big difference being the somewhat impressive cost of copper wire on a deep installation, but a downside is if or when the relay or capacitatpr fails you are then faced with pulling the pump which is not a DIY job for most.
Replacing a cap or relay (or complete control box) is a piece of cake.

One other point:
Use ONLY brass fittings and do not even allow a single steel one to be in the system as that will be the one that will corrode and choke up your system with rust over time.
Also always use 2 collars on each side of every fitting.
I like to lightly heat the poly just as I insert my fittings as when clamped the line really conforms to the barbs of the fitting.

 

[Silvic]

Did not see what the static water level was. Should be on the well report. Also if they are saying 25 GPM what is the dynamic water level at that flow rate for 1 hour. (i.e. after pulling 25 gpm for an hour what is the water level in the hole.) Measured 25 gpm sustained over what length of time? For short periods, lots of wells with high static water levels can do it but sustained 25 gpm is another thing. What is the recharge rate? If the dynamic water level at 25 gpm is high enough that may not matter. Liars figure and figures lie. (not saying that anyone is trying to mislead you but fully understand what you are looking at.) Without full data you can make anything seem like something else.

I would agree with looking at running a liner for the uncased portion of the well. Where I am at they don't case the well once they are in consolidated formations. My casing is 21 feet then I have a liner for the next 300 feet. My county made me do a 2 hour sustained flow test to determine the real dynamic flow capability.

 

[747driver]

Thanks for all the info guys ! This really helps me understand wells much better. The current well we have at the house has no pressure tank or filters. Comes straight out of the ground to the home....found no reason to install filters or pressure tank. Am i missing something as this was the way it was installed and works fine.

 

[Dennisfly]

Thanks for all the info guys ! This really helps me understand wells much better. The current well we have at the house has no pressure tank or filters. Comes straight out of the ground to the home....found no reason to install filters or pressure tank. Am i missing something as this was the way it was installed and works fine.

It's my understanding that you want a pressure tank with a diaphragm to cut down the number of pump cycles and make the pump last longer. A particulate filter is cheap and can only improve the quality of your water. You should have your water tested and then conditioned in accordance with the test. If you are lucky you won't need conditioning. But if it is hard, or contains iron, or is acidic, etc, it could ruin your plumbing, fixtures, and water related appliances if not conditioned.

 

[300UGUY]

A local plumber can set you up with the right filters, tanks or whatever you need. Around here, a 200 ft well is around $5k. That's a 5 inch well.

 

[Ed of all trades]

I would have the company that drilled the well install the pump. My neighbor just built two big chicken houses and had a well dug for them. The water was a little brown and they thought it would clear up. In about a week it started pumping mud. My neighbor tried to pull the pump and it was stuck. the well co. came could not pull it. the well co. brought in the drill rig and tied again and the pump was still stuck and they could not get the pipe loose from the pump. They tried using the "drill" to push it down and they got 100' of drill rod stuck in the well. after working two days and getting some kind of 'air hammer" thing they got out 20' and quit for the day. The guy was just worn out trying to get it figured out. The farmer has two houses full of chickens and is hauling water in a semi tanker.

I go into all of this to say If you have problems even small problems it is better to have one co. to deal with instead of two blaming the other and you paying the bill. Ed

 

[KevT]

WOW!!! My well is at 40 foot with pump at 35. 4" casing and get 38 gpm. Just had it put in last year at a cost of $3300.00

 

[Xfaxman]

Thanks for all the info guys ! This really helps me understand wells much better. The current well we have at the house has no pressure tank or filters. Comes straight out of the ground to the home....found no reason to install filters or pressure tank. Am i missing something as this was the way it was installed and works fine.

That is the way ours was, then I found out it had a stainless steel Inwell Pressure Tank and a Cycle Stop Valve down in the 6 inch casing.

I have replaced it with a CSV and small pressure tank in an underground box, here is the thread: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/271589-water-well-pump-monitor.html

 

[Garycw]

That's a deep well for sure. And require a heavy duty pump. Being from Greeneville I know you'll have some good quality water in east tn. Are there any good springs near the homesite?

 

[Cord]

That's a very deep well, but it has good flow. At 25 gpm, what is the water depression? In other words, what is the recharge rate without dropping the water level? At that point I'd go shopping for a pump that will match that gpm at the pressure you want. I try to match the calculated delivery rate of the pump to the recharge rate of the well. This way you won't run out of water. Personally, I like high pressure because everything works better. 80 psi is the max so I set my high cut off switches at 78 psi. A standard pump can't make that kind of pressure so with your lift you'll be looking at an expensive pump. Personally, I don't like it when the pump setters pick a pump for me. I don't know what I'm getting. Yea, they throw around 1/2hp or 3hp, but how many gpm at what pressure? That's what really matters! When you look at the pump charts you have to cross reference your friction loss to the pressure to the lift to determine the gpm.

Yes, you will want a pressure tank. And not a undersized one shown in the picture above. Frankly, you really can't go too big on the tank. The bigger the tank the longer the pump run time and the fewer the starts. Starts is what kills the pumps, they can run all day without damage (so long as they stay submerged). Also be sure to have the correct sized pitless, drop pipe and lateral pipe installed. I have 1" on my pump at the friction loss at 17gpm is off the charts. If you want to hit 17gpm, go no less than 1.25". 1.5" would be even better and required if you are over 17gpm.

This depth is really beyond your ability to set the pump. It will get very heavy and only gets worse the deeper you go. The problem is that many pump setters make money off their pumps so they don't like it when you give them the pump to install. I've used Tuhorse pumps off Ebay with very good results in the past.

 

[4570Man]

My Grandpa had some oil drillers want to drill on his land. After they worked out a contact he agreed to let them drill. The hole was dry, but they drilled to 1800 feet and capped it at 700 feet. He had someone come do a survey of the ground water level, and use dynamite to blow a hole in the casing at about 400 feet. He set the pump at 200 feet, and never could pump it dry. He left the pump running all night once, and used it to fill up 500 gallon tanks.

 

[Xfaxman]

------------------------------------------
Yes, you will want a pressure tank. And not a undersized one shown in the picture above. Frankly, you really can't go too big on the tank. The bigger the tank the longer the pump run time and the fewer the starts. Starts is what kills the pumps, they can run all day without damage (so long as they stay submerged). ------------------

I guess you have never had a Cycle Stop Valve. Our pump is over ten years old. If you are running a lot of water, like three sprinklers on new sod for two hours, the pump only starts one time. :thumbsup: