water well drilling info

747driver · Oct 19, 2015

We are looking at 16 acres on a mountian top in east tenn. The well has been drilled, so i called the well driller for info. He told me it has 300 ft of casing and 105 ft more to get to the water for a total of 405 ft. It is 6 inch casing.

Asked about GPM and told me it was 25 gallons per minute. Is this a good flow rate ?

I will just need to get a pump installed if we buy the property. Any suggestions on type of pump and the do's and don'ts !!

Thanks

Chuck

Deere Dude · Oct 19, 2015

I would just get a plumber install the pitless unit in along with the pressure tank and pump and piping. They won't put in a junky pump. I had the well driller do all that stuff for me and didn't lose a bit of sleep over it.

RedNeckRacin · Oct 19, 2015

Goodnight! 400 ft!? I think mine is 200 and I have a 3/4 hp pump for the barn. A Good pump was around 550. Best thing to do is look up goulds pumps and look at the pump curves. Don't forget to ADD the head to the house. How far away would the house be from the well?

smstonypoint · Oct 19, 2015

The 25 GPM flow rate is fine. A good plumber will advise you as to the appropriate filters (and softeners if needed).

Steve

Billrog · Oct 19, 2015

The well should be tested for the draw down and where it holds at eg. 6 gal. per min.before you can make any sound decisions. If all works out buy a good pump ( goulds as mentioned is good) that works on demand so you can eliminate the cushion tank , the more taps you open the more it pumps.

747driver · Oct 19, 2015

Billrog said:
The well should be tested for the draw down and where it holds at eg. 6 gal. per min.before you can make any sound decisions. If all works out buy a good pump ( goulds as mentioned is good) that works on demand so you can eliminate the cushion tank , the more taps you open the more it pumps.

Thanks for the advice....didn't know about draw down,

747driver · Oct 19, 2015

RedNeckRacin said:
Goodnight! 400 ft!? I think mine is 200 and I have a 3/4 hp pump for the barn. A Good pump was around 550. Best thing to do is look up goulds pumps and look at the pump curves. Don't forget to ADD the head to the house. How far away would the house be from the well?

The top of the property where the house will be is around 200 ft above the main road entrance, hence i guess they had to drill so deep. House will be 150 ft from the well. The drilling company said around $2500 for complete pump install.

Billrog · Oct 19, 2015

Some thing else I would do is install the pump with a liner because the casing stops at 300' if there's a tremor or shift in the rock below that once the pumps down there it will never be retrieved. Whether or not $2,500 is a good price will depend on the type of pump ( with liner) and if the controller is included I'm sure there's many here with more of an idea of price then me.

PILOON · Oct 20, 2015

While not a plumber or well installer I have been involved with a few dozen installations.

Yes, look at the pump charts as all the specs are called out.
Many good brands out there and all driven by Franklin motors and so far all are USA products.
You want heavy duty poly water line, probably 1", a bladder type pressure tank and a pressure controller.
While not rocket science, depth, distance, friction, fittings all need to be taken in consideration and the pump charts cover the basics info needed.

2 styles are available: 2 wire or wire systems.
Th 3 wire has the relays and start capacitator above ground while the 2 wire incorporates them in the pump body.
The big difference being the somewhat impressive cost of copper wire on a deep installation, but a downside is if or when the relay or capacitatpr fails you are then faced with pulling the pump which is not a DIY job for most.
Replacing a cap or relay (or complete control box) is a piece of cake.

One other point:
Use ONLY brass fittings and do not even allow a single steel one to be in the system as that will be the one that will corrode and choke up your system with rust over time.
Also always use 2 collars on each side of every fitting.
I like to lightly heat the poly just as I insert my fittings as when clamped the line really conforms to the barbs of the fitting.

Silvic · Oct 20, 2015

Did not see what the static water level was. Should be on the well report. Also if they are saying 25 GPM what is the dynamic water level at that flow rate for 1 hour. (i.e. after pulling 25 gpm for an hour what is the water level in the hole.) Measured 25 gpm sustained over what length of time? For short periods, lots of wells with high static water levels can do it but sustained 25 gpm is another thing. What is the recharge rate? If the dynamic water level at 25 gpm is high enough that may not matter. Liars figure and figures lie. (not saying that anyone is trying to mislead you but fully understand what you are looking at.) Without full data you can make anything seem like something else.

I would agree with looking at running a liner for the uncased portion of the well. Where I am at they don't case the well once they are in consolidated formations. My casing is 21 feet then I have a liner for the next 300 feet. My county made me do a 2 hour sustained flow test to determine the real dynamic flow capability.