Need help with Water well.

[valley]

Greetings, We just bought a house with a well less than a mile from a home own, it should be that same water table. There is no pump in the well. The well was said to be dry, another store was that the well pulled down and wouldn't hold pressure and burned out the pump.
We dropped a line in the well, there is 45' of standing water, and the well is 310' deep.

I'm thinking the slots in the casing could be rusted over or clogged. I have heard of vinegar and chlorine being used to clean the slots and clear bioclogging. Sure would like to hear what you know.

The house hasn't cleared escrow yet. I plan to install the pump. Thanks, Richard

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Are you saying static water level is ~260' down the well? One can never know water availability based on another well in the general area.

Yrs ago where I worked, it was one the valley floor, ~200' elevation and several of the folks I worked with all but had no water on wells that were approx 200' deep yet another worker lived up in the hills outside town, about 500' higher elevation and he had plenty of water from a well no more than 200' deep. Ya just never know.

How much knowledge do you have about this well? Cased all the way down? Some kind of screen at the bottom? If you're not REALLY sure, you may need to contact a well driller. They'd have the best knowledge about water availability in the area, and how best to get the well flowing again.

Personally don't have a lot 1st hand knowledge about deep wells. Have been blessed with water depths a lot closer to the surface. Prior home, ground water could be had a ft down during the winter ( 1 shovel deep and hole would be full of water within a min or two) and 20' in late summer (well was a lot deeper but that is where the water level was).

 

[valley]

Yes, there is water standing at 45' above the bottom of the well. Cased all the way down. This well would be, I'm sure, in the same water table. I can see the house from here. There is a house next to it, also with a well, haven't talked to him yet.

But, you haven't heard of using vinegar and chlorine.

 

[Cpjlube]

I use chlorine pellets to keep my well clean but I'm not sure how reliable it is to clean one that is clogged. If it were mine and I was going to plan on using the well. I would just put a pump in it and run it flat out. This will be the only reliable way to find out the condition and flow. You will know really quick. If its anything like my area, you have to have a well, there isn't an alternative. So it's either this well or you drill another. Buy the pump and try the existing well.

Chuck

 

[The kid]

Yes, there is water standing at 45' above the bottom of the well. Cased all the way down. This well would be, I'm sure, in the same water table. I can see the house from here. There is a house next to it, also with a well, haven't talked to him yet.

But, you haven't heard of using vinegar and chlorine.

Casing is normally down to the rock layer and used primarily to keep dirt from filling the hole. It would be unusual to have a 300 ft well with casing all the way down. I have an 800 ft well and casing only to the rock layer. My pump sat at 650 ft. Wells that deep are called Knox wells and seldom go dry. My water was at 60 ft. How did you determine the well is clogged? Check your local enviormental laws before pouring anything down the hole.

 

[jpm1]

I'm not one for dumping chemicals down a well. I would try something less drastic, Check with a local well driller and see if they can "Blow the well" They put a cap on it above ground and put compressed air in and blow the crud and water out the top. Several people on my road have had this done with excelent results, and with a resonable cost at that. Just a thought . . .John

 

[hosspuller]

Yes, there is water standing at 45' above the bottom of the well. Cased all the way down.

Get a well driller out pronto. Before you close ... Casing a well 300 feet is unusual. Is there contamination of the water table in this area? I was required to case a well 100 feet because of ground water contamination. Not a good situation if so ...

 

[boggen]

water contamination can be a problem. make sure you get the water tested. a couple times each year, if you can use it.

wells even within 1/4mile of each other, can be in completely different veins of water. or in different layers of were they get water.

pending on were the water comes from that feeds the well. your water can change drastically every couple months throughout the year.

it has been way to long ago. to remember, but i want to say, you should be able to find records of when the well was drilled. and who drilled it. it is one of them goberment offices.

to note it, the well may need to be exercised. as in pump water out of it. let it refill, pump water out of it, let it refill, and repeat and repeat, over a couple weeks. pumping the water out, causes a low pressure in the surrounding water table. and it can take time for the water seeping into the well. to create larger cracks, and work its way around things. other words kinda like how run off water can cause erosion on a hillside, same like thing in exercising the well can happen. and the exercising, is trying to cause the slight erosion within the ground. to let more water flow into the well.

as far as what to dump down the well as far as chemicals... get water tests done first. and go from there. until then ya just guessing and assuming.

 

[CurlyDave]

In our neck of the woods, well drillers will often put their own pump down a well and pump it to determine flow rate.

This seems a lot better than your own pump, because theirs are frequently very high capacity. They will match the depth and flow rate to recommend a pump/motor combination. This worked very nicely for us.

 

[Egon]

Drop in a pump and see what happens. Then make decisions based on observations.

 

[valley]

Thanks for getting back with your thoughts. As I mentioned, hasen't closed escrow yet. Half of the pittless adapter, the part not bolted to the casing is gone. Don't know if I can find out what make and get one to match, I most likely have to dig down and install a new one.
The house is a repo, no clear information about the well. I don't know of any contamination in the area.
Wifey talked to a couple well drillers, both want $1500, one mentioned they would use an acid first.
I plan to get a pump not sure what kind yet. Think I'll go up and talk to the neighbor.

 

[Pete Judd]

I recall dropping a stick of dynamite with a weight down a well years ago, (when we could buy it at the feed store). cleared, or restored wells around here. I also recalling that sometimes the roof of the pump house ended up a couple of properties away.:laughing:

 

[valley]

The deepest well I have installed a pump in is 80feet.
Can Poly pipe be used in a 300foot well? Has any of you done that?

Well guy says they use PVC with stainless couplings. what do you think?

 

[CurlyDave]

Our well is ~710 feet. They used schedule 80 PCV with threaded ends and stainless couplings.

At the very top of the well is a galvanized T, which holds the weight of the entire well string. If I had it to do over, I would also make the top section of pipe galvanized. One time I hit the T hard enough to break the PVC pipe below it. This cost several thousand to fix. If the top section had been galvanized there would have been no problem.

This is not really a DIY project. If you drop the well string, you are in a world of hurt, and it gets heavy with the pump, the wires, and all the pipe.

If you decide to do it yourself anyway, look up how to do it before you start. The wires need to be very heavy gauge, they need to be tied together every 5' or so, and they need to be wrapped around the well string as you lower it.

 

[TheGoose]

Actually, wells are cased all the way down sometimes. We case ours 500-600 ft. It depends on the ground. When you're in rock, you don't always need casing. If the borehole won't stay open on it's own, it will be cased all the way down.

 

[tpulley]

Its no biggie to put a pump in. Anytime you pull a deep well pump you should pour a 16 oz or so of bleach in there. This will shock the system and clear any dangerous stuff that you may have introduced from the topside. This is what the well installer folks do around here and have been doing so for 20+ years.

As for the pump. 45 ft of standing water in a 6 inch cased well isn't an awful lot of water. To start with you should not put the pump on the bottom. So the normal above the bottom is approx 20 ft. This leaves you with approx 25 feet of reserve. you can determine that 25 ft * 1.347 per foot equals roughly 33 gallons of water. Lets say you put a 10 gallon per minute pump. You have about 3 mins of running time before going dry. That is only for the reserve. You also need to factor in the rate the water will come in. say 5 gallons a min. This equates to roughly 4.5 mins of run time.

In essence if the rating (check the side of the well it should have the rating on it) is close to this you do have a basically dry well.

 

[Carl_NH]

The deepest well I have installed a pump in is 80feet.
Can Poly pipe be used in a 300foot well? Has any of you done that?

Well guy says they use PVC with stainless couplings. what do you think?

200PSI 1" Poly Pipe will work in a well - here in the east they use it to about 400' with pipe and 10Ga submersible pump wire. Our well is 400' deep and 1.5HP pump is at 365 on 1" 200PSI poly pipe.

The cost for a pump at that your depth (I would get at least a 1 or 1.5HP) will be roughly $1000, pipe $400, wire $400, then torque arrestors and pipe spacers a few $, then a pump tank $400 and switch setup (do a low pressure cutout type to stop the pump in case it runs dry). You will have $2000 or so in this setup and can test it out.

If you get 400' of pipe and wire you at least have enough to put in another well or if its decided to drll this one deeper you have enough pipe and wire to run a new well.

Personally I would have the well co come out and test your well with the agreement/understanding that if it doesnt produce enough water you want a solution (new well/fracking/drilling deeper) to your water issues. Essentially find a well company not just to drop $1500 but to provide a solution.

Here's a link to a site where you can spec out costs pumps, piping and stuff for a well Aqua Science, the Most Trusted Name in Well & Water Treatment Systems

 

[turnkey4099]

That you can see a neighboring well does not mean you will have good water. I live on the east side of a highway - drilled well, 65' 24gpm. Neighbor right across street went over 90 ft and got barely enough gpm to be useable. Same deal a mile up the highway. New well was artesian, ran for a week before he could cap it. right across street again barely enough to be useable. Highway runs down the bottom of a shallow 'valley'.

Harry K

 

[valley]

OK! I talked to the well guy who was paid to check out the well by the real estate broker. He says the well is: 335-340' with the water at 256'. He said he would put in the pump and tank at around $3500

Not sure if our measurement would be off by that much. We'll check it out again with a string, that has a knot every 10'.

You people have given me a lot of good information. I thank you.

 

[dmccarty]

OK! I talked to the well guy who was paid to check out the well by the real estate broker. He says the well is: 335-340' with the water at 256'. He said he would put in the pump and tank at around $3500

I forgot how much our well cost to be drilled but it was around $3-4K. That included drilling, casing, grout, pressure tank, pump, etc. Our well is around 250 feet deep and the static water table is at 21 feet. $3,500 seems like a high amount to drop in a pump and install a pressure tank.

Later,
Dan