What makes for good access in a pump house?

[tomplum]

Time to rebuild the pump house. The current one had a rotting greenhouse attached to it and I tore that out and enclosed the well components for winter. The goal is to rebuild it either as one or two buildings so that we can can have a nice clean room with a freezer and prep area on one side of things. The well is 25 years old with the pump in the casing and no issues. I've talked to 2 people this summer in other parts of the county that had to have their well lined. No clue if these things will ever be needed on ours, but I want to build a structure that whatever maintenance can be done won't disturb the freezer room if possible.
I remember a thread where people put a concrete floor in the pump house. Can that bite a guy in the butt if work needs to be done? Does a big truck ever have to get to my well head IE if they ever have to put a liner in? We were going to call the folks that did the well inspection when we bought the place, but they are no longer. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Roadworthy]

My actual well is thirty or fifty feet away from the rest of the equipment. The well itself is cased and 500 feet deep. The water feed itself is a PVC pipe with a pump at the bottom and the power cable attached to it. This goes 300 feet into the casing. If the pump dies or the wire fails the 300 feet of PVC needs to be pulled out of the casing for access. The power comes from the pump equipment room inside my garage. This is an insulated room with a concrete floor which holds my pressure tanks, breaker panel, pressure switch, water softener if desired, etc. I have a three foot wide door in the room which provides sufficient access for equipment. Any heavy work with a big truck would be accomplished in the field thirty to fifty feet away.

 

[Valveman]

Very likely someday you will need a big truck to back up to the well and do some work. Working through a trap door in the roof of a well house is a pain. Even worse when the well is in the middle or far side of the slab. I prefer the well be outside of the main well house. I build a little dig leg off the side of the well house to cover the well. If the hole between the well house and dog leg is a foot or so large, the heat from the well house will still keep the well head from freezing. It is much easier for the hoist truck to work on a well that is not under a roof.

How a Pressure Tank Works and why you need a Cycle Stop Valve on Vimeo

 

[LouNY]

My well is about 150 deep and a 100 feet from the house.
From the pitless adapter which is over 5 feet below grade to the pump is heavy wall poly pipe and submersible well power cable.
From the pitless adapter to the house is the same poly pipe and wire, that wire is run inside a 1 inch poly pipe and up to the top of the well casing.
The pressure tank and pump controller are in the basement of the house. I did tee off the main line for an outside buried hydrant.
Fairly plain and simple installation and quite common around here, the poly is to protect the wire from all the danged rocks in the ground.
The poly was sand packed 4-6 inches under and 4-6 inches above in the ditch to the house.

I edited this to add my well casing just sticks up out of the ground, no structure around it.
Just the casing and cap on it.

 

[tomplum]

Very likely someday you will need a big truck to back up to the well and do some work. Working through a trap door in the roof of a well house is a pain. Even worse when the well is in the middle or far side of the slab. I prefer the well be outside of the main well house. I build a little dig leg off the side of the well house to cover the well. If the hole between the well house and dog leg is a foot or so large, the heat from the well house will still keep the well head from freezing. It is much easier for the hoist truck to work on a well that is not under a roof.

How a Pressure Tank Works and why you need a Cycle Stop Valve on Vimeo

So that's the thing. I can make a structure that could be opened for access with an internal support. Where the other part of the building for the freezer / prep area would work the best is on the drive side of the well. It would be less visible anyways from the rear picture window of the house. Just something that would look more seamless is the hard part.

 

[Clint S]

This is how pretty much every well around here is done. I would not want concrete around my well head. If the clamps connecting line to the pitiless adaptor fail it would be a mess

My well is about 150 deep and a 100 feet from the house.
From the pitless adapter which is over 5 feet below grade to the pump is heavy wall poly pipe and submersible well power cable.
From the pitless adapter to the house is the same poly pipe and wire, that wire is run inside a 1 inch poly pipe and up to the top of the well casing.
The pressure tank and pump controller are in the basement of the house. I did tee off the main line for an outside buried hydrant.
Fairly plain and simple installation and quite common around here, the poly is to protect the wire from all the danged rocks in the ground.
The poly was sand packed 4-6 inches under and 4-6 inches above in the ditch to the house.

I edited this to add my well casing just sticks up out of the ground, no structure around it.
Just the casing and cap on it.

 

[3Ts]

As you read the replies, you should note the location of people making them because the weather will affect the answer. I'm farther south than anyone so far and I do not have a pitless adapter. It does freeze here from time to time, about once every other year. I do have concrete all the way around the well head. The pipe comes up out of the well about 6", makes a 90* turn to run horizontal to the pressure tank.

When my well was put in, the driller said to be sure he can get his truck to the well head for repairs if need be. Otherwise, it will be much more expensive.

 

[JasperFrank]

I made my pump house with a removable roof and the ability to lean the whole structure on to one side, exposing the well head. People always see the eye bolt on top of the roof apex and say something about teletubbies. Turns out this was not really needed unless I had to redrill the well. Knock on wood, hasn't needed that. Had to replace the pump a few years ago, 190 feet, and used Poly tube which I could feed through the door way. Did this entirely by myself with very little difficulty. Would have been a breeze with two people.

 

[oosik]

Well head at least two feet above surrounding ground. Ground sloped away from well head in all directions. Good NSF sanitary seal on the top of the well head. Pitless adapter coming out of well casing - 6 feet below ground level. Supply line and power line running to the basement - buried at six foot depth. Pressure tank and all necessary controls located in the basement.

Then build whatever kind of building you want but keep it at least 25 feet away from the well head.

 

[turnkey4099]

My actual well is thirty or fifty feet away from the rest of the equipment. The well itself is cased and 500 feet deep. The water feed itself is a PVC pipe with a pump at the bottom and the power cable attached to it. This goes 300 feet into the casing. If the pump dies or the wire fails the 300 feet of PVC needs to be pulled out of the casing for access. The power comes from the pump equipment room inside my garage. This is an insulated room with a concrete floor which holds my pressure tanks, breaker panel, pressure switch, water softener if desired, etc. I have a three foot wide door in the room which provides sufficient access for equipment. Any heavy work with a big truck would be accomplished in the field thirty to fifty feet away.

Very good and sane. Why people think all the 'works' (tank, power, controls)_ have to be at the well head in a hole is beyond me. Mine is all in the basement 60ft away from the well (6" pipe with a cap one it sticking out of the the ground. Easy access for a rig to pull the pipe&pump out when service is needed.

My neighbor, not exactly a rocket engineer, had a new well dug right next to a shed. Put the tank, etc in the shed then spent a lot of money insulted that room. He did it in spite of advice to the contrary and the amazing thing is that the original installation had all of that in the basement of the house.