jack of many, master of none....

[tomshouse]

I just joined this site. I do a lot of DYI projects. Even if it cost more than having someone else do it. It seems to always takes a lot longer to complete. Nothing is more rewarding than doing it your self. Question, I had a 4' deep well installed. I had a well with a above the ground pump that was here when I brought the house a year ago. The well was appox: 125 ft deep. what I could get from it was clear good tasting water. The new 4" well is apox" 90 ft deep. It is the worse water anyone could get. It smells, and has put iron rust color everywhere. Great pressure and using it at this time for lawn sprinkler system. I think if the well was deeper maybe it would be better water,but no way to know. Can I drill the same well deeper? I looked into filter etc. but the cost can get way up there. Any ideas? Thanks, Farmer Tom stuck in the city.

 

[Muhammad]

Welcome to TBN.

 

[skspurling]

Welcome. As far as the well, I know from experiance when I was a kid, that you have to line your well to prevent it from picking up calcium and iron, as well as many other minerals. In the area I lived in as a kid, there were a lot of these cheaply drilled wells, where they did not put casing down far enough in the well. They would run okay for a few days and then the water would be as hard as could be imagined, and would stink something aweful. You need to talk to your local extention agent and ask them how far down they have to drill in your area. Then ask them how far down the well should be cased.

 

[Briana03]

Hello & WELCOME to TBN!

I moved your thread to the Build-It Yourself Forum.

 

[BHD]

welcome,

most well drillers will not re drill a well, unless it is a very larger casing to Begin with,

and some would depend on what they used for or if they plugged the bottom of the well,

and the water from the upper level would still most likely get into the water being pumped, and you would not be able to put a sub pump to the bottom, as most would be to big for a 3" casing,

 

[Carl_NH]

Tomshouse,

Welocme to TBN. Several questions:

1. You had/have good water from your 125' deep well - why did you abandon this well? Was it low producing or running dry?

2. What is the flow rate of your old well versus your new well?

3. What region of the country are you? FL and the south (or high water table areas) seem to have 4" wells thru sand where in the Northeast we have 6" wells thru granite..

4. What are your neighbors well depths - do they have good water? At what depth?

5. Do you have enough land to move a well to another area? I think if your neighbors (if in a 500-800' radius of your place) have good water you should be able to get good water too.

 

[tomshouse]

Thanks all, My well is a 4' and is 90 ft deep. I dont know how far the casting is. The well I had at 125ft was an old well that the person I brought the house from knew nothing about. She never messed with it. The pipe coming up was bent over and trying to fix it I cracked the pipe at the first joint which was appox. 8ft down. I dug to the first joint by hand. After I hooked up the pump, which someone gave me, I just couldnt get the well to keep its prime. The people I talked to that live near me hit good water at 45 ft. and 125 ft. With a lot of work, my wife wanted me to have a new well put in. I am sorry I ever had it done. I was also thinking I had iron bactria. I havent had this tested yet. I have looked around for some way of filtering this well. At this point we are just using it for lawn and garden. We were hoping to use it in the home.

 

[SSdoxie]

I put one of the Whirlpool central filter units in. Whirlpool Central Water Filtration System
Works great to remove sediments and some types of bacteria. Got mine at Lowes.

 

[Short Game]

Can you drop a submersible pump down the old hole? It's always easier to push water than to pull it. If you are sure you've sealed up the broken joint, and you still can't keep a prime, then the old pipe is probably rusted out somewhere below the new break. Good water is beyond price. I wish you nothing but good luck with this.

 

[psj12]

I would vote for the submersable pump in the old sweet water well.

 

[tomshouse]

Tomshouse,

Welocme to TBN. Several questions:

1. You had/have good water from your 125' deep well - why did you abandon this well? Was it low producing or running dry?

2. What is the flow rate of your old well versus your new well?

3. What region of the country are you? FL and the south (or high water table areas) seem to have 4" wells thru sand where in the Northeast we have 6" wells thru granite..

4. What are your neighbors well depths - do they have good water? At what depth?

5. Do you have enough land to move a well to another area? I think if your neighbors (if in a 500-800' radius of your place) have good water you should be able to get good water too.

*** Carl< Thanks for the reply. The 125 ' well is a 11/4 " gavlnize pipe well. Its been there mostlikely 40 plus years. I think if I install a pump that I know is good I might get water. I ran 125' of 3/4" copper pipe and washed the well out. I got dirty,leaves, and then some grey looking sand. I have a neighbor about 300' plus who has a 4" deep well and his water is good. It is appox 130 deep. I live within 500 to 600 ft from a deep creek. I live in Virginia on the east coast. I am so disappointed on the money spent to get such BAD water. I have looked into a filter system. Among many I found a company called buget water. The reviews look good and I talked to someone from there. Appox $1,000.00 for a system. We had the well put in the month of may of this year. The pump is below ground. My house,drive way,flowers, doors and everything this water has touched has turned rusty red brown looking. There no way to know what kind of water you are going to get, but it looks like I am the only one having this problem. Wells at at 45' to 145' in my small neighbnor hood. I am sorry this is so wordy. Thanks for your replies...Tom

 

[beeforty]

I have high iron content in my well too but a water softener takes out the most of it, so is not too bad. A freind pumps his well with hi iron into a tank with a slotted cap on his discharge line to spray into the tank. The aeration he says helps and he draws off the top half of the tank. Also if you go with a tank make sure you have a Fire department compatible connector so you can tell your insurance agent that you are ready for an emergency:thumbsup: helps keep the rates down since most of us don't have hydrants around the area.

 

[smiley]

I've been having a go around with wells the same way you are. The property has two 4 " drilled wells heavy with iron, for which we are in the process of installing an iron filter.
The third well is only 16 feet deep with 1 1/4" pipe and has great water, but the point plugged up and we have to replace it, or get a bigger excavator to dig another well. All we had was a 3/4 pipe inside the 1 1/4 to the pump but, you're at 125 ft and my understanding is that a shallow well pump will only lift about 26 feet. What kind of pump are you using with 1 1/4 pipe to lift that far? Can you run a 3/4 pipe down the 1 1/4 and pump it with the pump you have. The flow would be cut down but might get you by with a large pressure tank.
Just a thought .
Smiley

 

[Carl_NH]

Tomshouse,

So, you put 3/4 " copper inside the 1/1/4 pipe and got brackish water with leaves etc in the old well?

Is it not covered with a cap? But anyway, by the sound of things I would pull the 1 1/4" galv pipe out (will either take a tractor or a pulling rig) and put in a 1/2HP submersible set at 115' or so.

This is not really a DIY job pulling galv pipe - I did a 2HP submersible 30 yrs ago on 1 1/2" galv pipe down 260' that was a job.. even with the right rigging and clamps to hold the pipe.

The rationale of putting in a new pump in the old well is 1) if the flow rate and water is good then you are better off with this well, 2) the cost of a 1/2 hp pump is around $500 and you probably have a tank now.

The other option of filtering your new well for $1000 isnt a bad one, but over the long term filters and media for treatment will cost you a fair amount..

So my suggestion is if your old well is productive and a good quality water, and you can get the pipe out that would be my first choice..

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Just a thought... How do you know the well is 125 ft. deep?

 

[pat32rf]

Around here we would drop a new submersible pump on poly pipe down the old well casing. If the well is 125' deep then the pump would probably be 115' (or more) down.

 

[sandman2234]

I've been having a go around with wells the same way you are. The property has two 4 " drilled wells heavy with iron, for which we are in the process of installing an iron filter.
The third well is only 16 feet deep with 1 1/4" pipe and has great water, but the point plugged up and we have to replace it, or get a bigger excavator to dig another well. All we had was a 3/4 pipe inside the 1 1/4 to the pump but, you're at 125 ft and my understanding is that a shallow well pump will only lift about 26 feet. What kind of pump are you using with 1 1/4 pipe to lift that far? Can you run a 3/4 pipe down the 1 1/4 and pump it with the pump you have. The flow would be cut down but might get you by with a large pressure tank.
Just a thought .
Smiley

Hey Smiley,
I can answer part of your question, about a shallow well pump only pumping 26 (to 29 MAX)feet. The depth of the well doesn't matter, just how far it is to the water down in the well casing. One way to determine the water depth is to put a small (rounded corner)weight on the end of a long string and lower it in the well casing. When you hear the "plop" of it hitting the water, pull it back up and measure how far down it is. Then drop the same string back in and let it go down until you get slack in the string, which tells you the weight is on the bottom of the well, which will give you the depth of the well. (might as well do both so you know what you have.) The biggest problem you might run into, is if you are pumping water out of a well with a shallow well pump and the water level drops as you pump. (meaning the well isn't producing as fast as your pumping) If the water level in the casing drops below the 29' mark, the shallow well pump isn't going to handle the job. Not sure what the symtoms might be if this should happen, just know it would have to be a problem.
To the O/P,
I would seriously consider putting a PVC liner in that old well, or something similar. I am sure a GOOD pump/well guy could advise you on it. I would have stayed away from drilling a new well, but since you already did that, it is done. The copper pipe you dropped in the old well was a good start, but I would think a pvc well liner might give you a little better results in flow rate. If you can drop a liner pipe into the existing well with some sort of foot valve on it, you wouldn't even need to go the full depth of the well, just needs to get to below the operating level of the water. The deeper you drop it, the least likely you will run into problems with the well drying up when water levels recede.
David from jax

 

[Short Game]

I knew someone who had issues using copper because their water was too acid. Too much copper is not good for you.