Well House

[Alan L.]

Well, as I said earlier I now have a well. I still don't have any power, but I need to pour a slab and build an insulated well house. I have an idea what to do - I need to leave access to the well shaft in case service is needed on the submersible pump. I can't find any advice anywhere on the internet. I guess its not a very pressing problem. Any of you guys that have wells have any suggestions?

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Alan L. on 7/15/00 00:31 AM.</FONT></P>

 

[TomG]

It gets cold here in Northern Ontario. For many years, the dug well at our camp was covered at ground level by foam insulation on plywood with an old truck hood over the top. Not a good arrangement since surface runoff goes into the well. The pump/pressure tank was in the cellar of a house, and the feed was cut into the casing 4' - 5' below grade. We recently added a half tile and cover to get the casing above ground.

The people I know around here who have dug wells just have covered half-tiles above grade level. I've haven't heard of a well freezing up solid, so I think that either a feed-hose or submersible pump on the bottom should be OK. The uses for insulated structures I've seen are to house surface pumps and pressure tanks. I think that just keeping cold air intrusion out of the casing is enough, provided the feed line is below frost level.

Although I don't think dug wells freeze solid, people's feeds do sometimes freeze. The camp feed was run through clay tile 4' - 5' below grade. The idea was that the hose could be pulled out of the well if it froze or broke. I heard the former owner also thought he could blow hot air from the cellar thought the feed tile and into the well casing. Nobody else thought that would work. In fact what happened is that the spring water table is above the level of the feed line. Water ran down the feed tile and into the cellar. The house rotted from the bottom, and that's the main reason we had to demolish the house. I know another person who had to put a concrete plug in a feed line tile to keep well water from running into his cellar.

A more conventional arrangement is to install two feed hoses. One hose is a backup, and I believe it doesn't have a foot valve. If the feed freezes or breaks, the backup can be connected to a surface pump. I think that, without a foot valve, the water siphons back into the well so the backup line doesn't freeze. The pump's prime may be lost, but at least you've got water until spring thaw.

Some surface runoff still gets into our camp well by draining down the outside of the casing and through the tile joints. It's a 30" casing so you can't go into the well to parge the joints from the inside. I'm going to dig around the casing and install vapour barrier slopping away from the casing. The idea is to force surface water to purc through some sandy soil before it gets to the casing.

 

[Cowboy]

Alan L,

After having our new well drilled some 4 years ago. I opted to take the advice of a friend, we poured a 4'x6'x4" concrete slab around the well head. leaving the well head in a corner of the slab, and plumbing in several 6" pvc pipes in the opposite side of the slab, to run outlet piping through plus, a 1" electrical conduct. Also added were, wall anchors around the perimeter of the slab, then we had a 4x6 (floorless) portable building built and moved in. Pilot holes were drilled around the 2x4 bottom plate of the building to align with the concrete anchor's and then,the building was bolted to the concrete.
The pump house has 8' walls on two sides (with a doorway on one wall) and, 4' walls on the opposite two walls, with a (for lack of a better description) country barn style roof. The wall studs are 12"o.c. with double 2x4 reinforcing plates through out. when the well needs service, they wrap a binder strap around the exterior of the pump house, unbolt the anchor's and lift the building off the slab. (it has been moved twice with no noted damage).

Another option is about the same except, install a cistern type lid in the roof of the pump house, just above the well head, which will allow access to to the well. This option works good and is most often the one used. I just don't care for the finished look.

Good luck, hope the water is too.

Cowboy

 

[Alan L.]

Cowboy: Is that roof style your are referring to a gambrel? That sounds like a good idea. Fortunately down here in north central Texas freezing is not a real big problem as long as the well house is insulated and there is a light bulb in there.

The well driller suggested a 6 by 6 slab next to the well head with a 2 by 2 extension around the well head. He said build the well house 8 feet tall for the tank(s) and then put a 4 foot tall lean to over the well head, with a removable roof. He said to insulate both.

The fact that that you have had to move the well house twice in 4 years is a little scary. I hope didn't have pump problems that soon after drilling the well.

 

[gordon]

Different plumbing codes will also apply as to how you construct your pump house if you in fact are dealing with a plumbing inspector.

My pump house is about 50' from the well and it contains the expansion tank and electrical for the well. That way if the pump goes bad and I need to get a well truck to pull it I have no problems. Just remove the cap on the well and your there.
At my last house The supply pipe sprung a leak in the well looked like my own little fountain. So the pump had to be pulled to replace the pipe. No problem nothing was in the way. The pump house was about 30' from the well at that house.
At both houses the pump houses were already built but the one pump house had a removable wall to acess the expansion tank and lines going to the well. It also had an insulated enclosure around all the plumbing and acess door from inside the shed. Pretty well thought out.
Gordon

 

[Alan L.]

Its funny how things are done differently in different parts of the country. It makes perfect since to me to separate the well from the tank, but it seems everyone around here puts them together, but leaves access to the wellhead via a removable roof or whatever.

I will have a shop building within 30 or 40 feet of the wellhead. It would seem like a good idea to put the tank in there, but I don't see anybody doing it that way.

One thing I want to do is insulate the building housing the tank not only against freezing, but to retain as much of that COLD temperature as I can. Right now if you try to get a semi-cool drink from the tap (city water) you would think it is coming out of the hot water heater. It is warm - never cool. Since my well water will be coming from a 500' hole in the ground I figure it should be pretty cold water and I would like to keep it that way going into the house.

Also something that concerns me is the water lines I will run through the slab. I don't have anything to run them to right now really, but I hesitate to leave a PVC joint under the ground. I guess there's not way to avoid it, and really all water lines have seams anyway using 20 foot pieces of pipe.

 

[W5FL]

You asked for advice, so here goes.

I live in North Central Texas.

Plumb the well head to either your barn or garage and put the tank INSIDE (and the control wiring including pressure switch). Make a tight fitting foam insulation that fits down on the well head and goes to the top. Stuff any remaining area with Fiberglass insulation. I would probably put a 40W drop light in it if they said the temperature was going to get down to 10 deg F and stay there, but I would do the same in a well house.

To be in compliance with electrical codes, you have to have a disconnect switch within VIEW of the well head so you can see if someone tries to turn it on while you are working on it.

Wellhouses are expensive and good for nothing that I can think of. They collect wasps, yellowjackets, crickets, mice, snakes, and other bugs. If you happen to build one within 25 feet of your propane tank then you have to vent it which kinda does away with the insulation. There is no good way to work on a pump without tearing it down or at least removing the top. Doors are expensive to hold up. It is a high humidity location not suitable for storing anything. North of the Mason/Dickson line, the rules probably change. I understand their idea of cold is different than mine.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Alan, One well that I have is located in our sap house. Its a shallow well (50') so we use a jet pump instead
of a submersible. The pump and expansion tank are situated at the well head. To prevent freeze ups during the winter, we framed in everything using 2x6 lumber and insulated. The whole thing measures about 4' deep by 6' wide by 3' high. Its used at a counter top to finish our syrup on. In addition, I added two work
lights wired to a thermostat. Other than replacing an occasional bulb, we've had no problems.

 

[Alan L.]

Thanks for the valuable advice guys. Since I am in North Central Texas also, I know that wen is right about storing stuff out in our humidity. Although its not quite like Houston its still pretty bad.

Since my building is not built yet I wonder if I could have the driller set the tank temporarily and then move it into the shop.

right now I have a $2 styrofoam ice chest covering the well head. I guess that might be a little on the cheap side.

 

[MarkV]

Alan, We had our well man hook up the tank near our house site while we built and then moved it to the crawl space under the house. I am in Georgia so we have like temps and have not had a problem. The well head is a good 200' from the house.

This is the first time I have used a well for water. Can anyone tell me a disadvantage to having the tank remote from the well head? Mine is sure better protected under the house than it would be in a well house.