run a new water line or dig a new well?

[RedTailHawk]

I have a cabin with a well water system. I have a barn that I'm going to add in a workshop, game cleaning station, etc. However the barn is a good distance from the cabin so porting water to it manually gets old real fast. I want to install a faucet in the barn, and I'm considering a couple options:

1) tap into existing well that feeds cabin and run a line straight to the barn
2) tap into water from cabin and run a line to the barn
3) dig a new well closer to the cabin

Besides cost differences of running a line vs digging a well, here are some of the disadvantages of each option.
1) can you put 2 pumps into 1 well?
2) though it will tap into the water that has been softened and aerated, not sure if that is necessary for cleaning my ATVs, processing game (i.e. venison), or washing oil spills off the barn floor. Also, going from cabin to the barn goes very close to the septic field.
3) not sure if there is a good spot close to the barn.

Another point that affects options 1 and 3. The ground water does have a lot of iron, so taking the filtered water from the cabin may not be a bad idea for cleaning game meat as I'm processing it in the barn.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[davesl708]

You can put two pumps in a well but do you need it? Will the demand for water in the barn interfere with the cabin's demand?
If the barn is low demand then I would tap the cabin line and not add a second pump.

 

[ch1ch2]

PVC is cheap.
Run a line.

 

[RedTailHawk]

if I run straight from the well, how will the barn trigger the well pump? I believe the pressure tank under the cabin currently controls the well pump.

 

[Soundguy]

option one is what?80 yards of pipe? then you can get un-softened watrer to the barn from the well.

that's what I'd do. 240' of pipe is nuttin.

On my farm i come straight off of my well, and run over 100' and then hit a T that goes 100' off to each direction, with stub lines to faucets from there.

took just over half a day with 2 helpers starting at first light using a walk behind trencher that rented for 85$. i and a helper laid all the lines out and glued them while the other guy walked behind the trencher ging about 36" down. we left the T union unglued and rolled the 3 long lines in and made our connections, I pressurised it with air while we wend to drop the trencher off by noon to get the half day rate. had lunch, came back, air was steady, so we burried her and attached water at the well end. by 2:30 had all lines cleared and troughs hooked up and went home.

you can likely do the same assuming no roots or rocks cause problems.

 

[handtools]

if I run straight from the well, how will the barn trigger the well pump? I believe the pressure tank under the cabin currently controls the well pump.

It doesn't matter where you tap the line, the pressure switch will keep the whole system pressurized.

 

[Billrog]

Run a line from the cabin to the barn with a shut off on it. That way if there's a failure to the barn the cabin always has water.

 

[oldpilgrim]

Originally Posted by RedTailHawk
if I run straight from the well, how will the barn trigger the well pump?

It wont. You can't just tap into the line from the well to the cabin, without another pressure tank and a second switch to activate the pump. You need to run from the cabin where it is pressurized when it comes from the well. You need the house pressure tank to push the water to the barn.

 

[CobyRupert]

It doesn't matter where you tap the line, the pressure switch will keep the whole system pressurized.

I believe it's the pressure tank that keeps the whole system pressurized. This involve a backflow preventer/check valve so the pressure doesn't just push the water back into the well. But like you suggest, any tap doesn't necessarily need to be downstream of the pressure tank, only downstream of the backflow preventer/check valve.
Question is: Is your check valve built into the well pump or located near your pressure tank?

 

[CobyRupert]

Run a line from the cabin to the barn with a shut off on it. That way if there's a failure to the barn the cabin always has water.

:thumbsup:

Shut-offs and an ability to isolate segments are key!!
Don't ask me how I know.