</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I work for our counties health depatment, we require a minimum 5 gpm. Sounds like many areas of the country are cheaper to drill than here. We average $8 per ft plus casing. When they drilled my well 5 years ago, they were bone dry at 400'. I was worried but not surprised, as the neighbors well is 705 feet deep. I asked the well driller when I should start worrying? He said that at around 600', you want to considewr a new hole because it takes a heck of a pump to draw from 600 feet deep. Luckily at 415' we hit the geyser, 40 gpm. In fact , he said they had a hard time keeping the drill head on the rock, the water came up out of the hole like old faithful.
If you only get 1-3 gpm on a well, you may want to try hydro fracking the well (somewhat common around here). They pump nitrogen into the well, freeze it solid, and try to open new seams in the rock. Every bit helps and some have gone from 1 to 4 gpm. Also, if it's an old well, shocking the well can help because over time, iron bacteria can build up in the veins and clog some of the water supply. A well driller did this for my brother and he increased water volume in his well dramatically.
Good luck with the well, but I would inquire what your lacal health regulations require for a new well and then ask your guarantee to be at that as a minimum. )</font>
Egads! It's $19 per foot here plus $25 per foot for the casing! Our well's 245' but it's drilled through solid granite so the casing is only 25' with no liner required (solid granite makes a heck of a pipe!) We ended up with 15gpm of perfect water. It's a little hard but smells and tastes great! My late wife's dad hit artesian pressure. The water's needs filtering though because of sulfer and mild salt. He doesn't need a pump though.
One thing of note and most certainly an arguable point is, no one's mentioned using a water witch. I'm serious here, the old guy that did my place has done others since, even on a property where the expert drillers declared the property dry. It works. I don't know why it works but it does. I wouldn't consider hazarding a dime until I at least had one with good reference give it a read. They're very inexpensive, and it can't hurt.
You folks not in the Sierras get by with not having a big reserve! I was required to put in a 4500 gallon tank. It's 135' up the mountain on the end of a 4" header. At the bottom down by the house, we have a hydrant that could fill a pumper in seconds.
I just ordered one of these
Scale Blaster Believe me, I've done water treatment as part of my job for 25 years so I'm skeptical to say the least. I'll post my review of this gadget as soon as I know one way or the other. I dislike softeners and fervently hope this is a good product.
On shallow water and high flow wells: They worry me. Half my uncle's property fell in a giant sink hole!
On big wells: My dad's well was sucked dry by a neighboring industrial farm. Luckily, he had enough depth to sink the pump further. The water underground is like a river. I can't imagine unfettered access to it at the hazard to those around me. I guess in other parts of the country, it's not so critical.
Great topic!!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
