New Well Drilled Yesterday

[wjmst]

We had a well drilled yesterday and I wanted to give everyone the results. We currently use spring water, which is good until late August, then it dries up. The other problem is in the winter when it freezes. So we opted for a well to hopefully solve both problems. We are located in South-West-Central Rural Pennsylvania.

Yesterday they came out and drilled it. You can check out the photos at:

Flickr: Photos from wjmst

The results and costs are:

120 ft deep $6.75 a foot = $810
20 ft of Casing $5.50 a foot = $110
1 Well Cap = $25
1 Ben Seal = $18

Total cost was $963

The process took two guys about 3.5 hours. They found water around 40ft, which was 3 gallons per minute and then more water at 90 feet, which was about 5 gallons per minute. That should give us about 8 gallons per minute, which should be enough water for us.

After we dig the trench to the house, they will come back and install the pump and connect everything up. They estimate the cost for this will be about $1200 to $1500.

Does anybody know what the (approx) storage capacity of the well will be? If I remember right the volume involves multiplying by pi or something. Maybe there is an online calculator somewhere.

Wes

 

[gotrocks]

The formula I think you want is area of circle pi times r square.
It looks like your well is 6 inch dia.
If that is correct then 3.1416 x 9 = 28.2744 sq.inches.

One cu.ft = 7.48 gal. = 1728 cu.inches

One foot of 6 inch pipe 12 x 28.2744 = 339.29 cu.inches.

Looks like a little over 5 gal per foot of 6 inch pipe.
Now how deep is the water going to be when it levels off?

Question: Well 120 deep only 20 feet of casing????
I guess if it is in solid rock then no casing needed?????

 

[schmism]

vol of a cylinder

pi*D^2/4 * depth of water

makes shure you keep your units the same.

so for a 6" well (.5 ft)

3.14*(.5*.5)/4 =.1963 *depth of water in ft.

90' well 10-15' below surface for top water level... pump sits 10' off bottom?

~60' of water? = ~12 cubic feet = 90 gal..... (1cuft = 7.48 gal)

but if it can sustain 8gal/min then the amount of water you have in "reserve" doesnt really matter.

 

[InlineDieselFan]

gotrocks,

not to be rude but something went wrong with your math. 5 gallons per foot is way too much, it should be closer to 1-1.5 gallons per foot.

Alright I just found the info I think I needed.

1 US gallon equals 231 cubic inches

volume of a 6" pipe is 339 cubic inches

339 (volume of pipe/well hole diameter in cubic inches) divided by 231 (the volume of water in a gallon using cubic inches), equals 1.46 gallons per foot.

Now for the next math wizard to come alongand correct me.

steve

 

[BillG_in_TX]

I think the answer is approximately 1.5 gallons per foot in a 6" ID cylinder.
Is there a prize for the first correct answer?

edit: Dang! Steve beat me to it!

 

[3RRL]

Who cares about the volume (1.46 gals/ft is right) but with 8 gals/min flow that is really good news. That should serve all your needs. Your pump will most likely pump less than that anyway?
Another thing, I'd be thrilled to death if that was all it cost to drill the well. Those rates are half of what they are out here in CA.
Great photos too...
I am very happy for you.

 

[Kendall69]

Those rates are half of what they are out here in CA.

I went down 575 ft. and it cost me 20k, another 5k for the Aquavar set up and pump.

You should be doing the jig for only spending what you spent.

 

[VA_Joe]

I agree - that is pretty cheap compared to what I've seen. Although I've never seen it broken down like that - a complete set-up seems to run about $3,000 where I am for similar depths. I think the big savings is that he only needs 20 ft of casing.

 

[JimWalch]

We had a well drilled yesterday and I wanted to give everyone the results. We currently use spring water, which is good until late August, then it dries up. The other problem is in the winter when it freezes. So we opted for a well to hopefully solve both problems. We are located in South-West-Central Rural Pennsylvania.

Yesterday they came out and drilled it. You can check out the photos at:

Flickr: Photos from wjmst

The results and costs are:

120 ft deep $6.75 a foot = $810
20 ft of Casing $5.50 a foot = $110
1 Well Cap = $25
1 Ben Seal = $18

Total cost was $963

The process took two guys about 3.5 hours. They found water around 40ft, which was 3 gallons per minute and then more water at 90 feet, which was about 5 gallons per minute. That should give us about 8 gallons per minute, which should be enough water for us.

After we dig the trench to the house, they will come back and install the pump and connect everything up. They estimate the cost for this will be about $1200 to $1500.

Does anybody know what the (approx) storage capacity of the well will be? If I remember right the volume involves multiplying by pi or something. Maybe there is an online calculator somewhere.

Wes

Table 1. Storage capacity of well casing or pipe.
Well diameter (inches) Storage per foot of water depth (gallons per foot)
2 0.16
3 0.37
4 0.65
5 1.02
6 1.47
8 2.61
10 4.08
12 5.87

from-http://www.ext.colostate.edu/PUBS/NATRES/06703.html

 

[gotrocks]

Steve, Thanks for correcting my math paper. Not rude at all.

If I'd been thinking it would be obvious a 12 inch pipe 6 inch dia. would not hold what a 5 gal bucket would hold.

I'm still wondering about 20 feet of casing in a 120 well....

My well driller said he hit rock at 185 feet, 30 gal/min, my corn loves the cold fresh water during drought. He installed pvc casing all the way down, some solid ,some perforated to let water in.


True story, lady came into the lumber yard office and said
" I want 2 pieces by 4 "

 

[tommu56]

gotrocks
Caseing only has to go to bedrock other wise it will seal off fractuers in rock that bring in water.

JimWalch
you got a real good price on drilling mine was 14.00 a foot in up state pa
and they went down 450 ft and only got 1/2 gallon a minet but that was at 220f so i have about 250 gallons storage

tom

 

[Alan L.]

My 500 foot well drilled in 2000 cost about $14,000 with pump, control box and such. Its a 4-inch well producing about 30 gpm. I have a 20gpm pump on it.

 

[MDM]

I had one drilled a few months ago - 135 ft pounded, 8" hole, 20' casing, 120' 5" perforated liner - $3200. Water at 30 ft- 1/3 gpm. It doesn't make much water, but I have a big reserve, and I have never run out. We are have one heck of a dry summer and it is still making the same amount of water as it was in April, so I'm happy with it. A lot of people aroung here have been hauling water for months and without my new well, I would be too, so I say it was worth every penny.

 

[ToadHill]

When I bought my property my well was 127 ft and in the first 10 years it went dry 3 times. I had it drilled deeper, they went down 50 more feet at a cost of $1500, it hasn't dried up since.

 

[wjmst]

Thanks for the calculations. As long as the water keeps flowing into the well I guess I won't really need to worry about the storage capacity.

The driller said they hit solid rock around 10-15 feet down. They are required to installed at least 20 ft of casing. You could tell they were drilling through rock the whole time. Only the first few feet had dirt, then you just saw rock dust and limestone pebbles come up out of the drill.

It sounds like I got a pretty good price compared to others here. Hopefully the well will last me a long time with minimal trouble. Of course, I still don't know the quality of the water. But I am sure there is some way to filter or remove whatever is in the water that shouldn't be there.

Wes

 

[JazzDad]

All of your math is wrong:
The hypotenuse of the right angle is the sum of the bisecting angles, times the cosign of the volume of the lateral in litres. Or something like that. I'll get back to you.

 

[Keoke]

Hi folks, when calculating the amount of water per foot of well depth best to consider size of bore hole as well as casing. Water will be stored in the gravel pack voids as well as in the casing. Eg., a 11 inch hole with a five inch casing will have more water per foot then one drilled with an 8 inch hole.

take care,