How did he measure how much flow you are getting out of the well without a pump in the well? Did he put it in and then take it out? Have you been robbed? It's kind of hard to comprehend that they just left the well empty. Getting that pump into the well with all the pipe and wiring is a big job!!!!
The flow is measured while the drill rig is drilling the well. It’s done by making a temporary dam to collect the water that compressed air is pushing out the top of the casing. Make an outlet in the dam with a piece of pipe and time how long it takes to fill a container, such as a 5 gallon bucket. One minute to fill bucket=5/gpm well output. It’s admittedly a fairly crude measurement, but that’s how it‘s done. You can hire a hydrologist with the right equipment and run a long term test measuring the output and the water level, but that will cost you.
That casing appears to be 6” PVC. The 10” probably refers to the hole they drilled to drop the casing in to where they hit bedrock. Once they hit bedrock the well is drilled in solid rock, no casing. That’s the way it works with the local geology east of the Blue Ridge Mountains where you are in Free Union. If you were in the Shenandoah Valley it would be a different story, bedrock is roughly 1000’ down there. Black poly pipe is a better choice than Pex for your drop pipe, use 250 psi, they made the wall thickness of poly pipe thinner a couple of years ago and the lighter pipe tends to crimp. Pump choice has more to it than meets the eye, the higher gpm the pump is for a given horsepower the cheaper it is since the fewer stages the pump has the less pressure it can build. A 1/2 hp 10 gpm pump might be ok for a well that 100‘ deep, but you’ll need a 1/2 hp 5 gpm pump for a 200’ well. You’ll want to know how many gpm your well puts out and total head pressure to choose the pump. You’ll want to set the pump 15’ or so off the bottom of the well. I’d use a two wire pump in your situation where the pump will be 195’ down, it’s not that terrible to pull a pump up by hand from that depth. The 3 wire pumps have the relay and capacitor in a box near the pressure switch so you can replace some parts without pulling the pump, but my experience is it doesn’t help often enough to justify the extra wire and expense. On a deeper well, it makes more sense. If you were generally happy with your driller, it’s worth considering having him install the pump, pressure tank and associated pipe and cable, he has the equipment to get it done quickly and you no doubt have plenty of other things on your plate. If you do it yourself, I wouldn’t buy the materials from Lowe’s, Driller’s Service out in Zion’s Crossroads will have everything needed and they have people who know what they’re selling—Lowe’s, not so much.
