Check with your local building office, or possibly a health / water district office. Someone must have information that was submitted when the well was drilled to show its total depth and the depth of the casing (along with the type of casing being used). My property has a 300' well with 20' of casing. The rest is through bedrock. All the information is on file with the local Health District Office.
- In the case of "frac'ing"... The intent of the procedure is to open / re-open small fissures that will allow water to flow more readily, thus improving the recovery rate of a well. It is typically done by inserting equipment into the ground (not necessarily into the well itself), and then "blowing" large bursts of pressurized air into the ground. The bursts of air have to "go somewhere", and they end up making little cracks / fissures in the ground. If your well is cased all the way down, this process doesn't stand to help you much, if at all (likely, not at all).
- The level at which the water exists in the pipe is not as important as how quickly the well can recover the water to that level after being emptied. In VERY rough terms, 10' of 6" well casing can hold about 15 gallons of water. If you place your well pump 50' below the water level, that means you have approximately 75 gallons of water "above" the pump (and available to be removed from the well in any one pump cycle). This information becomes very important when you are considering how large of a pressure tank to install in your home (assuming you will use one). My 85 gallon tank holds about 21 gallons of water at high pressure (bladder type tank). In order for me to ensure that there is enough water in my well to fill this tank from empty when necessary, the pump can be no less than 15' below the water line.
You have to add additional depth below the water line to compensate for slow recovery versus use rate. 22.5 gallons of water are consumed by a low-flow shower head in 10 minutes time. If your well doesn't replenish at this same rate, then you have go deeper with the pump.
- How your well performs versus how your neighbor's well performs has nothing to do with anything except the EXACT LOCATION of each well independently. My well works great. I have a neighbor that routinely has water splash out over the top of their wellhead. Not that that is a problem, but it happens to them. Our houses are 750' apart. We're both at the top of a fairly large hill.
- "Pouring checmicals" in your well is not a problem if you understand what you are doing. Chlorine (in the form of pure household bleach or even tablets for swimming pools) is routinely used by well companies to sanitize a well. Research it and you'll find LOTS of information on how to do it, including how to cycle the bleach into the plumbing in the house, how long to let it all stand, and then how to flush it out so you can go back to drinking the water again.
