Water Well

kiphorn · Nov 11, 2002

The well driller finally made it to our new house. I was nervous that the house would be finished and we'd have no water. The driller was called in July but due to the drought was backed up.

They drilled the well and hit water at 150', continued to 235' where they got more water. The well is producing about 30 gallons per minute.

This is my first well. Is this a good amount of water? I've heard about pressure drops if a shower is running and someone flushes a toilet. Is this lilely to happen?

Thanks. Any advice or information from you well owners would be appreciated.

Kip

MikePA · Nov 11, 2002

30 gpm sounds pretty good to me.

I was raised on city water and all the places we've lived before our current home were also served by city water. So, I was used to an 'endless' supply of water and great water pressure. Our current home is served by a well. I think the well is about as deep as yours, but I don't know what the gpm is. We do not have a problem with running the clothes washer while someone is taking a shower. I don't notice the pressure drop. Either that, or I've become accustomed to it. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif If there is a drop, it's not like going from a fire hose to a squirt gun. Having said all this, the cycling of the pressure tank, on at 40 psi off at 60 psi, is noticable. Not irritating, but noticable when it happens.

If I could wave a magic wand, I'd put in a filter on the input side of the pressure tank and a softener on the output side. I'd also have a separate circuit for outside faucets that were not softened with the possible exception of washing cars. Our water is hard and I know it costs us more soap, etc. plus scale on the hot water heater. Although, I now prefer hard water since softened water feels 'greasy' to me now.

Have the water tested for hardness, iron content, etc. and have a water expert configure the proper filtering and treatment gear. It's easier to install this stuff now, than later.

TedLynn · Nov 11, 2002

The pressure drops you are referring to when someone flushes a toilet is an internal plumbing problem. All main supply lines should be 3/4" to the individual branch lines for each toilet or fixture (I recommend 3/4" right out to the fixture, except for toilets). You will have a regulated pressure comming into your house, determined by the pump capacity, pressure switch settings and the pressure tank itself. Supply starvation inside the house causes the variable temps in the shower. Ted

Anonymous Poster · Nov 11, 2002

Hi
Reading this thread i have become confussed, is this well water under pressure or are you talking about water being pumped from a static well.

Alan L. · Nov 11, 2002

30gpm is good flow, similar to what we have. Your water pressure is determined by the pressure tank settings. I have mine set for 48 to 68 psi. You don't notice the difference really, except sometimes in teh shower you can tell more by the sound when the pump kicks on.

BigDave · Nov 11, 2002

30gpm...WOW. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif Our well, only 2yrs old, was rated at 4gpm. I believe this happens to be our county spec for a new well: Pump 500 gallons in 2 hours after a 24hr continous flush. I don't know if the actual capacity is higher, but if a minimum was involved, our builder did only what was required to make the county happy. They hit water at 85ft, but went down to 325ft. I doubt they went any deeper than required either. I figure, we have 50 gallons in the hot water heater, 40 gallons in the pump tank and 240 gallons in the well itself sitting around for any quick demand at any time. So two showers, a few toilet flushes, a few hand washes, a pot of water for dinner prep, another pot for coffee, several of glasses of water, and 3-4 loads of laundry per week: 4 gallons per hour would be enough for the wife and me. Of course, if you have kids or an irrigated lawn those numbers would be a lot higher. In Texas, I would run various stations of yard sprinklers flowing about 6gpm for at least 1.5 hours a day. Now those were some serious water bills, but my lawn stayed green and I kept mowing throughout the long hot Texas summers. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Ooops, I forgot to wash the dishes...don't tell my wife. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

TresCrows · Nov 12, 2002

What, 300 plus feet and 4GPM? They will not complete a well for that here. My well is about 15GPM, depth is 125' here in Kansas. They were not going to complete that but I talked them into it, my money and all. Most wells here, except for in the clay bank I live on, make about 30 to 60GPM. Going deeper here apparently only produces very minerlized water. I use the well for irrigation only, running sprinklers--it will run three impact types, it makes nearly 90 PSI but I will install a pressure tank next year to regulate it down to about 40ish. Good luck. J

MikePA · Nov 12, 2002

daedong, we're talking about water being pumped from a static well into a pressure tank.

MikePA · Nov 12, 2002

While we're talking about showers...When we pull the knob up to send water to the showerhead, about half the flow continues to come out of the spigot. Is there an adjustment I can make or does this mean the valve has to be replaced?