Another Well question

[GarthH]

Our well is actively most strangely!!

Over the past couple months it has had about 10' of water in it - slow to recover but was enough to get by. The temperature has been -20's and sometimes as low as -30.

It is slowly warming up - today it was 26 F.

I went out to measure the well; it was down to 1 foot. It acted like this in December but we did not connect the water level to the temperature but now it seems pretty clear that as the temperature remains in the deep freeze we were OK but as it rose the level went down.

Anyone have a theory of why the well would act like this? Any ideals of how to fix it?

Other info is the well is 33 feet deep, we bought the property just a year ago and the old owner said he never had any troubles.

It is about 10 feet from our dugout. We are beside a major river which is likely at the same level as the well.

Thanks

Garth

 

[Hammy]

Interesting...I have a buddy that lives next too a river near by and when they lower the water in the winter months, his well dries up.

Wish I could be of more help.

Craig

 

[WayneB]

Hi Garth H, I am assuming this is a surface well? How deep is the well, what is the diameter? During the summer months is the water level low?

I have a surface well that is extremely old. It is about 15 feet deep and feed by (surface water) and a spring in the back hill side). During the past 30 some years it has gone dry about three times, all were our fault too many loads of washing, toilet constantly running while we were away, and once too much outside watering and washing with power washer. Recovery has all been about 24 hours. This past summer we had a very dry period and many wells in the area dried up. We were lucky to make it through the period by conserving water.

Although nothing I have written means nothing at all, just thought I would mention our surface well problems.

It seems really strange that your well would be at 10 feet and then go to one foot unless there was some heavy use such as clothes washing, multiple showers, etc. I am just concerned that nearly 90% of the wells normal capacity was used up in a short period of time.

Heck, call Al Gore he might have an answer. But, on a serious note keep us informed about the levels.

Wayne

 

[GarthH]

It is a surface well - total depth is 35 feet; well casing is 30".

This our first year on the acreage so do not have much history other than the old owner said it was a great well something that Al Gore would say.

We did a well check just with a local well company in August 06. The level from the top of the casing was 8'.

We had trouble around Christmas - actually ran out of water. Since then I've been monitoring at least weekly when the level was around 23 feet (about 10 feet of water). That level was very common while the temperature was around 0 F. Over the few warm periods since christmas I have seen the level has been down to 3 feet. Weve used the water very sparingly over the past couple months. We will not wash clothes unless I have check the level and have seen at least 7 feet of water.

The well is beside a dug out. I suspect the old owner filled the dugout from the river a few times a year. When we saw the well in Aug 06 the dugout was full which is likely the reason for the high water level.

Today the well had gain about 6" - enough to survive on for another day. I'm working on installing some tanks so I can haul some water

I think the solution will be to make sure the dug out is full throughout the year.

Thanks for the thoughts. I think the connection to the temperature is very strange.

 

[RayH]

I dont know too much about shallow wells, as mine is a deep well (600') but it sounds like shallow wells draw their water from the surface as opposed to undergraound aquifers. Im guessing what is happening is the ground water and surrounding ground is freezing so its not perculating down through the soil to your well.

 

[sandman2234]

It sounds like what RayH said is plausible.
Realizing that different soils make different well character differences, take this with a grain of salt.
I grew up with a well that was 110', drilled behind the house (in Arkansas). The house sat on top of a hill that we always kidded about being 100' tall. The well casing had about 15' of water above the level of the foot valve, but when the 7 of us started using it regularly, it would draw down below the foot valve faster than it would replenish itself. When we added 200 head of breeding sows to the well use, we had a disaster. I got more pump experience than I ever wanted. Finally cured the problem when city water was offered, 30 years later.
I had a shallow well at my last house here with the same problem during the summer months when the water table dropped, it wouldn't produce enough water to run the sprinklers, so I had to rezone the system to split the heads into smaller groups. Then during times of high water table, the sprinklers would tend to be a little more powerful and would wet things that were set up to be just outside the range of them. I finally had a guy with a large compressor come out and drop an airline into the bottom of the well and run it for about an hour. The air somehow displaced the water, bringing it to the top(and out the well casing opening) With it came a large amount of sand and particles of limerock that surrounded the area around the tip of the well, thus opening up that area, giving more of an area for the water to collect and also enlarging the area for the water to filter into. I am not sure if this would work in your area, as different soil compositions would seem to react differently to this.
I would think the best thing to do for the well is to use it, especially during times of warmth, to open up the well cavity up so that you might increase the output of the well. The biggest problem is being able to monitor the level of the well during use, to prevent drawing the water below the level of the pipe.
This is my 2,000 post on this board. I have enjoyed being a part the forum and hope to be around for some time to come.
David from jax

 

[KYErik]

I have an idea for easier monitoring of the water level-

A year or so ago, I was at Lowe's and bought a little electronic device called a "watch dog" it was about $10 and it is meant to sit in the catch pan beneath your water heater. When the water heater leaks, the water makes contact between two terminals and the thing makes a smoke alarm sound (it takes a 9 volt battery). I use it for my septic ejector pump under my house to alert me if the basin is getting close to overfilling because there is a problem with the pump.

I wonder if you could extend the wires on the detachable "probe" down into your well at a "safe water level" height. Then you could momentarily hook up the battery- if it beeps you know its safe to use because the water level is up high enough. An issue could be if there was residual water or condensation on the surface of the probe which may trigger a false positive alarm.

 

[chh]

33' is not a very deep well at all, you could increase your storage capacity by having it drilled deeper. Even just having it open up to 50' or 60' in your situation would a big increase in the storage capacity. The last I check in our area well drillers charged $10 to $12 a foot. As long as you didn't exceed the capabilities or your pump the only other expense would be new well pipe and wire (if its a submersible pump). Just thought I would throw that out. It really does sounds strange how the water would fluctuate with the temp.