Ugh!! Water Well contractors...

[gsganzer]

Update: I got the bill from the well guy yesterday, along with his recommendations. The price was reasonable for a new pump and control box.

In his notes, he says the pump was lowered to 1 foot off the bottom and to start planning on having a new well drilled. I have confidence in the well guy as he really has little to gain from me having a new well drilled, as it's something he doesn't do himself. I kind of figured this might be the case, the well has always been an issue in the 25 years I've lived here. The well was drilled back in 1967 and has always been low flow. The water quality is good (soft water), but the volume has never been there.

The pump sits at approximately 400' and has less about 20-30' of drawdown (obviously dependent on season and water table). To put it in perspective, my neighbor had a well drilled last year and he believes his well is 860' deep. The cost was $16K, all inclusive. With all the people moving to TX, I certainly don't expect the water table to rise. There're obviously some other options, such as a lower flow pump and a water storage system, but I'm not interested in going that route, especially if I plan to sell at some point. Water storage is just not something you see or expect in my area and would be a realtors red flag. It's the old adage, pay now (put in a new well) or pay later with a lower selling price.

 

[Nutcracker]

Update: I got the bill from the well guy yesterday, along with his recommendations. The price was reasonable for a new pump and control box.

In his notes, he says the pump was lowered to 1 foot off the bottom and to start planning on having a new well drilled. I have confidence in the well guy as he really has little to gain from me having a new well drilled, as it's something he doesn't do himself. I kind of figured this might be the case, the well has always been an issue in the 25 years I've lived here. The well was drilled back in 1967 and has always been low flow. The water quality is good (soft water), but the volume has never been there.

The pump sits at approximately 400' and has less about 20-30' of drawdown (obviously dependent on season and water table). To put it in perspective, my neighbor had a well drilled last year and he believes his well is 860' deep. The cost was $16K, all inclusive. With all the people moving to TX, I certainly don't expect the water table to rise. There're obviously some other options, such as a lower flow pump and a water storage system, but I'm not interested in going that route, especially if I plan to sell at some point. Water storage is just not something you see or expect in my area and would be a realtors red flag. It's the old adage, pay now (put in a new well) or pay later with a lower selling price.

Definitely time for a new well. I know in our area, wells that were drilled 50 plus years ago have mostly been replaced. They really were not deep enough to begin with. In areas with a lot of minerals in groundwater, the water entering wells just gets choked off. You are right about above ground water storage, just a red flag & a detriment to resell value. Goodluck on your new well..

 

[ponytug]

Update: I got the bill from the well guy yesterday, along with his recommendations. The price was reasonable for a new pump and control box.

In his notes, he says the pump was lowered to 1 foot off the bottom and to start planning on having a new well drilled. I have confidence in the well guy as he really has little to gain from me having a new well drilled, as it's something he doesn't do himself. I kind of figured this might be the case, the well has always been an issue in the 25 years I've lived here. The well was drilled back in 1967 and has always been low flow. The water quality is good (soft water), but the volume has never been there.

The pump sits at approximately 400' and has less about 20-30' of drawdown (obviously dependent on season and water table). To put it in perspective, my neighbor had a well drilled last year and he believes his well is 860' deep. The cost was $16K, all inclusive. With all the people moving to TX, I certainly don't expect the water table to rise. There're obviously some other options, such as a lower flow pump and a water storage system, but I'm not interested in going that route, especially if I plan to sell at some point. Water storage is just not something you see or expect in my area and would be a realtors red flag. It's the old adage, pay now (put in a new well) or pay later with a lower selling price.

That's interesting that there is a local bias against water storage. Here it is the reverse; you have to have a minimum amount of storage to build/sell a place. It is framed as fire reserves. I think that new home construction includes 10,000 gallons of storage, if sprinklers are installed, or 30,000 gallons if they aren't installed.

Have you thought of augmenting the flow you have with rain water storage? The folks down under use it quite a bit to extend supplies, and have some nice setups where both rain water and well or city water is plumbed together at different pressures so that there is an automatic rollover from rain water to pumped water for things like toilets or irrigation.

All the best,

Peter

For those who have animals, it is peace of mind that you have time to fix things.

 

[grsthegreat]

Some areas here in idaho require a concrete underground tank if there are no fire hydrant nearby. Cost $$$, funny thing is the fire dept doesnt want to hook into them because they dont know condition of water supply, and afraid it will hurt their rigs. Typical govt garbage.

we have hydrants nearby.

 

[PILOON]

In my area we've developed 'Dry Wells' for the dept to get water.
Actually the first one was installed by our association and the dept had occasion to use it to fight a minor forest fire.
A dry well is basically a permanently installed pipe on a lake shore with a matching hose fitting that the truck can rapidly pump from.
Most of the rural fire trucks have a deployable pool like affair that they can replenish by the pumper and they draw from that while a second truck hauls pumped water to refill that 'pool'.
Now days just about every lake or waterway near a road has a 'dry well' or 'dry hydrant'.
Simple, but it works!

Must also add that these 'dry wells' are recognized by the insurance firms as well.
Most will want increased premiums should U be too far from services and water sources.

 

[ponytug]

For more than fire reasons, I would love to have a lake nearby!

 

[PILOON]

For more than fire reasons, I would love to have a lake nearby!

Yeah!

We call ours 'paradise', only one hour north of Montreal, 20 mins to great skiing, all kinds of wild lfe from moose, deer and even once saw a bobcat.
Oh, and water so pure as it is all spring fed and at the top of the watershed.
Lake is about 1 mile long and we banned all powered watercraft and had it enacted as a federal law.
Added to that 70% of the surrounding is a nature preserve so no more development permitted.

And, back then I was gov't 'lease to buy land'
In the '70's I paid $25/yr to lease and purchased as soon as I met the conditions..

LOL, even a Cosco is a mere 1/2 hour south and a Walmart 1/2 hr north.
Can't be better.
Oh, and is the air pure and fresh.
Downside is a lot of snow come winter.

 

[civilian]

Downside is a lot of snow come winter.

So how much snow to you get in a year? Just wondering, and comparing to northern MI which is about 140", where Arly in the UP gets maybe twice that? Jon

 

[Egon]

That's interesting that there is a local bias against water storage. Here it is the reverse; you have to have a minimum amount of storage to build/sell a place. It is framed as fire reserves. I think that new home construction includes 10,000 gallons of storage, if sprinklers are installed, or 30,000 gallons if they aren't installed.

Have you thought of augmenting the flow you have with rain water storage? The folks down under use it quite a bit to extend supplies, and have some nice setups where both rain water and well or city water is plumbed together at different pressures so that there is an automatic rollover from rain water to pumped water for things like toilets or irrigation.

All the best,

Peter

For those who have animals, it is peace of mind that you have time to fix things.

There will be some places where the “Right to Water Laws” will not let you use or store rainwater.
In Sw Alaska there are many storage tanks that are filled with rainwater For domestic use.

 

[PILOON]

Put it this way, my drift cutters on my blower are 48 inches high and many intersections are so high that seeing oncoming traffic is often impossible.
I was thinking of adding mirrors on the front of my fenders to kind of see around the corner B4 pulling from an intersection.
Last winter a pickup was parked in his driveway but all U could see was a roof top ladder sticking out into the traffic lane, not even flagged.