New Well at 1.5 gal per min.

[hunterridgefarm]

I had my new well drilled today for the new house. I went out at lunch today and they were at 400' and 1.5 gal per min. The guy running the truck said at 300' he was also at 1.5 per min.

Fast forward to this afternoon and they call and say they are at 625' and 1.5 gal per min. The owner tells me I should have minimum of 2000 gal of water a day. That I could pump 500 gallons in an hours time and not worry about running out. He also said the average household of 4 people use around 500 gallons a day. He also said he has many wells just like mine that have had not problems for 30 years.

He just said I should not run a sprinkler all night long and I should have plenty of water.

He is the same guy who bored my well at our current house 20 years ago and we have had no problems but it was bored not drilled and was only around 300' deep.

Anyone have a drilled well? And if so how many gallons per min?


I also have a free tap from the county for giving them a easement to cross the river on my property with the county water line. But the county does not think I will be able to get pressure on top of the ridge where we are building. I am going to have the tap put in at the bottom near our drivway since it won't cost anything and use it for the future greenhouses. And if needed I can always add a pressure pump to get it to the house if needed.

 

[BarryinMN]

I drilled in MN in '03. Water table is 30' ish. My cousin Witches wells & said I'd get 5gpm @ 100'.

Driller comes out & gets 3gpm @ 30' Said I could stop here & be like everybody else, I said keep going. He kept going thru 100 and ended up at 150' @ 20gpm. Happy camper

 

[MadReferee]

My well is 360 ft deep. Static water level is within 20 ft of the top of the well and pump is just off the bottom. That gives about 500 gallons in the 6" hole. Recovery rate is just about what yours is at 1.5 gpm. In over 30 years, with a family of 5 we have never run out of water, and thats doing plenty of laundry and taking plenty of showers, etc.

If your static level is near the top of the well then you should have 800-900 gallons in the hole. More than enough to not worry about. Relax.

 

[Jimbrown]

Well there are lots of wells in this part of the country that do not do any better than that. You have two choices. One put the pump deep and use the well for storage. I am not sure how much water is in 500 ft of a 6 in casing but considerable. Or two pump into a storage tank. My well runs on solar power and only pumps 2 gal a minute during daylight. i pump into 1500 gallons of storage and only run out when I do stupid things like leave a hose running all night long. But for what that well cost you I believe that i would have put a storage tank at the county water tap and then used a boost pump for my water.

 

[RayH]

I had my new well drilled today for the new house. I went out at lunch today and they were at 400' and 1.5 gal per min. The guy running the truck said at 300' he was also at 1.5 per min.

Fast forward to this afternoon and they call and say they are at 625' and 1.5 gal per min. The owner tells me I should have minimum of 2000 gal of water a day. That I could pump 500 gallons in an hours time and not worry about running out. He also said the average household of 4 people use around 500 gallons a day. He also said he has many wells just like mine that have had not problems for 30 years.

He just said I should not run a sprinkler all night long and I should have plenty of water.

He is the same guy who bored my well at our current house 20 years ago and we have had no problems but it was bored not drilled and was only around 300' deep.

Anyone have a drilled well? And if so how many gallons per min?


I also have a free tap from the county for giving them a easement to cross the river on my property with the county water line. But the county does not think I will be able to get pressure on top of the ridge where we are building. I am going to have the tap put in at the bottom near our drivway since it won't cost anything and use it for the future greenhouses. And if needed I can always add a pressure pump to get it to the house if needed.

Ask them to Hydrofract the well. thats where they pump water and air into the well at high pressure and fracture the surrounding rock to open the seems. Its good for a couple more GPM and doesnt really cost much more if they are still on the well.
Our well had about 1.5 GPM at 700 ft. They hydrofract it and got 3GPM and opened a seem at about 150 ft. So I dropped the pump down to 600 (so I wouldnt have to splice wires or tubing) and have about 450ft of reservoir.

 

[MadReferee]

I am not sure how much water is in 500 ft of a 6 in casing but considerable.

A 6" diameter hole holds 1.47 gallons of water per foot. So therefore, a 500 ft hole will have 735 gallons assuming the hole is filled to the top.

 

[JoeL4330]

This is not my field, but if you can pull more than 1.5gpm at the county tap and the county tap is a comparable vertical distance from your house as your current well bottom then why wouldn't it be advantageous to simply pump up from the county tap?

 

[RobJ]

I thought 8-10 was minimun. I[d want to water my yard and plants if needed.

 

[MadReferee]

I thought 8-10 was minimun. I[d want to water my yard and plants if needed.

There is no reason you can't do that with a well that recovers at 1.5 gpm.

The biggest concern a low yielding well owner should have is how much water is in reserve. If your well is deep enough or you have external storage tanks you can pretty much rest assured that you will be able to anything except for maybe fill a large inground swimming pool. I have never run my well dry, even in the dryest of summers and we have never been conservative with water usage.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

He kept going thru 100 and ended up at 150' @ 20gpm. Happy camper

Show off your sitting on a underground lake!

 

[stumpfield]

My well was drilled just a few months ago with only 2gpm. 245' deep. The pump is set at 235'. The initial static water level was at 20' but now it has dropped to 75'. My driller didn't want to go any deeper afraid we might loose the well. He was right about that. Saved me a few bucks. I got about 1000 gal per day with a solar pump.

 

[hockeypuck]

I had a well drilled to 505 feet and i was only getting 10 gallons an hour! Ouch. the static would not come up to more than 150 feet. Driller hydro fracked and I now have 8 plus gallons a minute and the static is at 10 feet. If you are getting 1.5 gpm, I would set the pump at 500 and use the well as reservoir. If that does not work for you, you can always frack latter. fyi I believe you have 1.5 gallons of storage per foot of 6" well.

Puck

 

[hunterridgefarm]

My well is 360 ft deep. Static water level is within 20 ft of the top of the well and pump is just off the bottom. That gives about 500 gallons in the 6" hole. Recovery rate is just about what yours is at 1.5 gpm. In over 30 years, with a family of 5 we have never run out of water, and thats doing plenty of laundry and taking plenty of showers, etc.

If your static level is near the top of the well then you should have 800-900 gallons in the hole. More than enough to not worry about. Relax.

Thanks Mad, I am a little more relaxed now. The water level is near the top and the pump will be set close to the bottom. He got the 2000 gallon figure from the recovery time.


Jim Brown,

I am thinking about a storage tank but will wait and see. The cost is $9.00 per foot for the drilled well. I am still not sure what the cost for a boost pump for county water would cost. I am 400-500' off the road and on top of a ridge the is flat over a couple acers.

RayH

Too late for the Hydrofract the well was capped and they were gone when I got out there this afternoon.

Joel4330,
I just don't like county water. I have always had well water, like the taste and how clean it makes me feel in the shower . And as I said before I don't know how much a booster pump for the county water would cost. And before I went that route I wanted to try the well since the driller said I should have no problem finding water.


RobJ,

He said I would have plenty of water to wash cars, water a small garden, wash clothes, etc. Just don't leave the water running all night and don't try to use it with the green houses.


Thanks to all for the replys my blood pressure has now dropped to normal. It was just the fact that 1.5 gallons per min did not sound like a lot of water. But I feel better now...I think I'll go wash the tractor, cars,soak in the tub and then take a shower

 

[turnkey4099]

Show off your sitting on a underground lake!

Same here. Well 65', 20gpm, static level 10ft from top. Yes I, and most of my neighbors, are sitting on on top of a lake - a big aquifer.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

I am thinking about a storage tank but will wait and see. The cost is $9.00 per foot for the drilled well. I am still not sure what the cost for a boost pump for county water would cost. I am 400-500' off the road and on top of a ridge the is flat over a couple acers.

RayH

---------------------------------
Pressure tank, pump, pipe, wire should come in well under $1000. Under $500 if you weren't having to string so much pipe/wire. My original source was a community well 1/4 mile away and other than having a 3 hp pump the installation was nothing special. I drilled my own well 10 years later to get away from being an unpaid well maintenance man and the arguments about who was using too much water.

Talk to your pump dealer for needed pump/motor sizes when you do go that route. He will need the elevation difference and your projected "gallonage" use to size the pump properly.

Harry K

 

[InlineDieselFan]

Hunterridgefarms,

I would think the same along the lines of Madreferee, you should have plenty of water stored up inside of the casing. If you happen to run out of water that is when I would then put in a storage tank. Certainly in the meantime figure out everything that you need now so if you do run out of water you can just go get it done.

I guess living in the wet enviroment pays off, the well was drilled in July during a long dry spell and we got 42 or 45 gallons per minute.

steve

 

[Ronbo]

I live 12 miles from the gulf of Mexico. I have three wells. One 65ft, one 75 ft. and one 456 ft. The two shallow wells are hard water, full of iron and sulfer. I received a HUD grant. Told them if I could not get a new well, I did not want anything. Got the bids. 5900 down to 475 ft. They stopped at 456. 50 gpm. Soft water, pump at 120. Love the taste and the feel.

Ron

 

[tommu56]

you could add plastic systern to your well thats what i'm planing to do.
my well is 0.5 gpm at 450 ft but i dont trust well driller and thats an whole nother story i was looking at 1200 or 1500 gallon ones from norsweco
solar pump to tank pumping when sun is up and 24v pump to cabin from tank as needed

tommu56

 

[SteelDust]

Hunterridgefarms,

I would think the same along the lines of Madreferee, you should have plenty of water stored up inside of the casing. If you happen to run out of water that is when I would then put in a storage tank. Certainly in the meantime figure out everything that you need now so if you do run out of water you can just go get it done.

I guess living in the wet enviroment pays off, the well was drilled in July during a long dry spell and we got 42 or 45 gallons per minute.

steve

Adna WA, huh???

Hey neighbor.... Adna here as well.


Wet environment plays no part in well yields, it's a function of geology, not climate. I'm living proof of that. I'm at 80 feet and 3 GPM. The property behind me drilled to 375 feet and yielded 0.75 GPM, their water came in the top 100' also. I could have drilled deeper, for storage volume, but in doing the calculations the tank was cheaper to install than digging at $26/foot. Plus, it gives me the ability to access that water without any electric power (bucket on a rope). It also gives the Fire department a place to drop a suction if need be.

I installed a 1500 gallon storage tank, with a float switch cutoff at about 250 gallons remaining in the tank. This purpose of this was to avoid floating the tank in ground water should I run it empty (poly tank). I water 4 horses, am able to water lawns, and do normal daily activities without fear of running out of water. (Unless I forget and leave it running....hahaha).

Another side benefit of the storage tank is your ability to aerate it. I have the discharge to the tanks plumbed above the water level, this allows for the incoming water to break the surface tension and cause aeration. Should you still have unacceptable iron levels they can be further reduced by putting a pond aerator (on a timer) in the tank and then mechanically filtering out the now oxidized iron particles.

 

[CurlyDave]

Let me give you a different way of looking at this.

When we put in our septic field, I deliberately made it as large as possible. Given our soil, the county would only lets us go to one sized for a 4 BR house, but it rated at 450 gallons per day.

Now that works out to 0.31 gpm.

Unless you intend to irrigate, 1.5 gpm is a lot of water. Sure, you and I both would like to have 40 or 50 gpm, but Santa didn't bring that. What he did bring is 5 times as much water as you really need.