Replace or extend slab around water well?

[ning]

The water well at my property has a very small concrete slab around it - about 2' x 4', 3"ish thick - with the well casing, electrical conduit, and pipe going to the house being encased in it (there's a T in the pipe which provides water to chickens & garden between the well and the outflow-to-house pipe). There is a small structure surrounding this, mostly for aesthetics.

The pressure tank and water filters for the house are currently in a very inconvenient crawl space, and I propose to relocate those to a newly constructed well shed at the well location. The pressure tank is 30 years old and the stand is rusted out and I'd be surprised if it functions near 100% and it's definitely not going to last a lot longer; it'll be enough of a pain to get the old tank out and I'd prefer not to put a new tank into the same spot and also need to add a large water filter which may or may not fit in the available height!

Issues: the slab is way too small to add a pressure tank and a couple water filters.
In addition, in the rare cold winter it would be nice to be able to have always-on electricity for a pipe heater / space heater (even more necessary if the water filters are there). Last time I needed heat there, I had to run an extension cord from the house.

Q: Should I remove the old slab and pour a new one? Or should I pour an addition around the current one?

(There's also about a 12' elevation increase over ~180' run that the new pressure tank location would need to account for - about +5psi - but the tank at the house is currently set for 30/50 so this should not be a problem.)

 

[ChuckT]

I think it may be that your local authority _ might_ have an opinion on the slab around the well casing. But only to insure that nothing can sleep down along the outside of the casing to the water layer you're tapped into.
We're it me I'd form and pour a large enough slab to build your well house around the casing but do consider - iff you ever need to pull the well (to replace a submersible pump as we just did) you need to make the roof structure either removable or make the house small enough to be moved out of the way to service the well, the pressure tank, softener, etc.

 

[Rebeldad1]

i vote for a seperate building for all your above ground needs. ours are inside a shed. keeps the tank warm during freezing.

 

[ning]

I think it may be that your local authority _ might_ have an opinion on the slab around the well casing. But only to insure that nothing can sleep down along the outside of the casing to the water layer you're tapped into.
We're it me I'd form and pour a large enough slab to build your well house around the casing but do consider - iff you ever need to pull the well (to replace a submersible pump as we just did) you need to make the roof structure either removable or make the house small enough to be moved out of the way to service the well, the pressure tank, softener, etc.

Great point - the current structure I built ages ago is fully removable but I'd kinda forgotten that point.

Last time I pulled the well pump myself (its impellers had gotten impacted with clay over the years - same reason I want better access to filters now) I rigged up a roller system and pulled out out using my truck more or less horizontally; this didn't require much vertical space. I'd want at least 7' to avoid cobwebs when servicing filters and other plumbing issues though.

 

[ning]

i vote for a seperate building for all your above ground needs. ours are inside a shed. keeps the tank warm during freezing.

I'd like to, but that space between the well and the house is pretty much the main yard so I'd prefer to incorporate it all together there, remote from the house. There's nowhere adjacent to the house it could go either due to the layout.

 

[3Ts]

I have all my well stuff in one building that looks kinda like a miniature church. It's 4'x8' with the electric, pressure tank, heater, and filters. And in the early days also had the washing machine in there. The submersible pump is in the 2'x2' "vestibule" connected to the pump house and is fully removable for access to the well. They did not pour a concrete surround for our well but we incorporated it when we poured the pad for the well house.

 

[beowulf]

My wellhead, control box, pressure tank, pressure switch and gauge, a fuse box, and electric outlet are all contained on a slab - guessing it is about 7 x 7. I poured it about 34 years ago. A large slab to seat all your equipment is really nice. We just added a second well for a second house (daughter and son-in-law) on our property and the well has been dug and pump is in the ground, but nothing else yet done but I have already staked out a 6' x 9' area where I will pour a slab.

Re the well house - 1) With a couple of bolts removed my well house can be completely tipped on its side (takes two people) which is very important when you need to service things, and 2) it has walls on two sides only (with a adequate 2x6 horizontal bracing for the other two sides - so not dark inside), and 3) the walls start about 12" up from the slab. This last point is important as I do not have spiders or other insects in there and no critters have decided to make it a home. And very easy to hose out.

 

[ning]

I have all my well stuff in one building that looks kinda like a miniature church. It's 4'x8' with the electric, pressure tank, heater, and filters. And in the early days also had the washing machine in there. The submersible pump is in the 2'x2' "vestibule" connected to the pump house and is fully removable for access to the well. They did not pour a concrete surround for our well but we incorporated it when we poured the pad for the well house.

I like this vestibule concept and will steal it.

 

[ning]

My wellhead, control box, pressure tank, pressure switch and gauge, a fuse box, and electric outlet are all contained on a slab - guessing it is about 7 x 7. I poured it about 34 years ago. A large slab to seat all your equipment is really nice. We just added a second well for a second house (daughter and son-in-law) on our property and the well has been dug and pump is in the ground, but nothing else yet done but I have already staked out a 6' x 9' area where I will pour a slab.

Re the well house - 1) With a couple of bolts removed my well house can be completely tipped on its side (takes two people) which is very important when you need to service things, and 2) it has walls on two sides only (with a adequate 2x6 horizontal bracing for the other two sides - so not dark inside), and 3) the walls start about 12" up from the slab. This last point is important as I do not have spiders or other insects in there and no critters have decided to make it a home. And very easy to hose out.

I'm a bit lost on the "walls on only two sides" bit - you're saying it's somewhat open on the (presumably away from most weather) other two, and this is to reduce spiders etc? (I get black widows in mine; I take a portable propane torch with me when I need to do something in there now and crisp anything that moves)

 

[skipmarcy]

When I built mine 15 years ago I used 1/2" anchor studs in the slab so I could remove the nuts & washers and lift the "house" up & off with my FEL on my tractor.

DON'T use one leg of your 240v off your pump for running any 120v items like a heat light etc. I ran a separate 120v wire from my shed underground for my 100w flood bulb and have a wall switch in the shed to turn it on (pumphouse has very rudimentary door screwed closed). I built my little pumphouse using R13 batt insulation so I don't even need the light until it gets into the low teens for an extended period. My well driller said the state encourages a slab around a wellhead to help seal from contamination.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

When I built mine 15 years ago I used 1/2" anchor studs in the slab so I could remove the nuts & washers and lift the "house" up & off with my FEL on my tractor.

DON'T use one leg of your 240v off your pump for running any 120v items like a heat light etc. I ran a separate 120v wire from my shed underground for my 100w flood bulb and have a wall switch in the shed to turn it on (pumphouse has very rudimentary door screwed closed). I built my little pumphouse using R13 batt insulation so I don't even need the light until it gets into the low teens for an extended period. My well driller said the state encourages a slab around a wellhead to help seal from contamination.

I mounted a sub-panel in the pump house and use it to power 120v. stuff like lights, UV bug killer, and a 600w heat lamp. The sub-panel lets me balance the load on the legs. The 200' wire to the house has plenty of ampacity to run the pump and other stuff.

 

[ning]

I don't understand how a sub panel helps the loads balance on the legs (though I had it in mind to put a panel there) unless you're running more than one 120v circuit in addition to the 240v pump; the only thing the sub panel provides is better circuit isolation and protection?

I figured a 100w light wasn't going to hurt coming off of one leg, but I'll check the distance & gauge of wire to make sure.

 

[34Willys]

Here's my pumphouse. 8 x 8 feet with a 2 x 2 feet 'dog house' extension covering the well itself. The dog house lid is held on with deck screws. No need to move the building for pump removal, and there's a slab under all of it. I built the walls and trusses at home and hauled them up to the property on my truck/lumber rack before we built our house 25 years ago.
Patrick

 

[oosik]

Dirt or concrete - tight to the well casing and sloped away in all directions. Main idea - no ponding right around the well casing. That's why recommendations are - above ground well house. A pit well house poses a potential problem.

 

[ChuckT]

34Willys I like your pump house! Ours is a 12x12 roofed corral made of 1x6 ranch boards and was done with fence paint. Ugly and dark inside.
If I redo it, not in the budget just now, I'll use your doghouse idea. Also we need to run electric out to wife's horse stalls so probably will install a sub panel to feed well house, shop shed, carport (yet to build) and stalls/tack.
As to using 220/240 to power lights etc. it's common practice around here to tap one leg for water softeners.

 

[Valveman]

The slab does nothing to protect the well from contamination. The seal for the well needs to be in the annular space between the well bore and the casing and extend down for 10'-25'. A well should be sealed properly because a slab does not seal a well. Big pressure tanks are a thing of the past. Constant pressure pump control systems like the Cycle Stop Valve PK1A use only a 4.5 gallon size pressure tank where the tank and all controls will fit in a 24X14X14 inch box. The PK1A delivers much stronger constant pressure to the house and eliminates pump cycling, which makes pumps last many times longer than normal.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I don't understand how a sub panel helps the loads balance on the legs (though I had it in mind to put a panel there) unless you're running more than one 120v circuit in addition to the 240v pump; the only thing the sub panel provides is better circuit isolation and protection?

I figured a 100w light wasn't going to hurt coming off of one leg, but I'll check the distance & gauge of wire to make sure.

Exactly. The constant 120v. load is the 75w. (0.65 amp) UV antibacterial tube, which also feeds a 10w. LED bulb, so that's one leg. The big 120v. load is a 600w (5 amp) heat lamp on a temperature cube that cuts in when well house temp drops below 39 degrees. There is always a small unbalanced load, which kicks up to about 4 amps in cold weather. The feeder is 8 gauge copper, with a 40 amp ampacity, so you see the maximum unbalanced load is small compared to the capacity of the circuit. If I need to run power tools in the pump house, I have a GFI breaker protected outlet. The panel also allows me to shut off the pump locally, which I do if I am running a 15 amp Skil 77.

 

[ponytug]

I would think about just pouring a slab adjacent to the existing one, but out of the way of the driller's access for your booster pump / filter setup.

FWIW: Our main pump house has a lift off roof, walls that lift off, and a power panel that is attached to the slab and not the walls. All are corrugated iron for fire reasons. Our sediment filter is in with the main pump house prior to the water heading up to our main tanks that gravity feed the ranch. It all fits, just. The piping is so convoluted that if anything ever broke, we would probably have to rip it out and start over. The pipes are insulated, which seems to be enough in this climate, though our other well has foam insulation in the roof. I am reluctant to put insulation in the walls due to rodents.

The lift off roof has come off only once, in sixty or so years, in a recent 60+mph windstorm that toppled more than a few trees locally. The tractor had the roof back on in about three minutes with a pair of forks. I figure having the roof come off beats having the structure pull on water pipes.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ning]

Here's my pumphouse. 8 x 8 feet with a 2 x 2 feet 'dog house' extension covering the well itself. The dog house lid is held on with deck screws. No need to move the building for pump removal, and there's a slab under all of it. I built the walls and trusses at home and hauled them up to the property on my truck/lumber rack before we built our house 25 years ago.
Patrick

In the final picture, is that an easily-removable one on top that can be used to hook up a fire hose? What do you call that (and a link, if you still have it)?

 

[ponytug]

Fire hose threads can be somewhat local. If you want to make sure that your local fire department can also connect to your standpipe, I would check with them before buying.

I have bought from Fire Hose Supply | Buy Fire Hose & Adapters Online FireHoseSupply.com My local fire department wants a blue reflector on it as well. If you are connecting to a tank system, I would suggest a high flow fire valve as well.

A friend found out the hard way the importance of having a metal standpipe when a grass fire came through and melted his PVC standpipe...

All the best,

Peter