Just had a well put in. Thoughts appreciated

[1930]

158 feet of casing and crystal clear water which is uncommon for my area. Driller thinks I tapped into a spring.

Now I have to deal with the contract I signed authorizing them to use galvanized pipe. Didn't know at the time that poly pipe was really a better option.

They haven't installed anything and I'm assuming poly pipe is cheaper than galv steel so maybe I can talk them out of the steel.

Part of the contract also includes a bladder tank. I need the water at this point only to fill my 275 gall ibc totes so I can water the trees I'm planting. ( I have a truck/trailer/pump)

I don't plan to start the actual building process for a year or 2.

Do you guys think it wise to just put the bladder tank in storage for the time being rather than letting it sit out in the weather?

Water table is about 55 ft. Anything else I should consider installing? Might as well do it right the first time.

I need to get water down to the other end of my property eventually which is about 600 feet and then over another 300 feet ect.

People have told me to use a 2 inch pipe

 

[fruitcakesa]

Poly pipe for sure; if you ever have to pull the pump, you will need a derrick and hoist to pull galvy pipe.

 

[aczlan]

If you're running a pump and you have any kind of shut off valve, you will need a bladder. Otherwise you could be spiking pressure at your pump and damaging it.

Aaron Z

 

[JimR]

158 feet of casing and crystal clear water which is uncommon for my area. Driller thinks I tapped into a spring.

Now I have to deal with the contract I signed authorizing them to use galvanized pipe. Didn't know at the time that poly pipe was really a better option.

They haven't installed anything and I'm assuming poly pipe is cheaper than galv steel so maybe I can talk them out of the steel.

Part of the contract also includes a bladder tank. I need the water at this point only to fill my 275 gall ibc totes so I can water the trees I'm planting. ( I have a truck/trailer/pump)

I don't plan to start the actual building process for a year or 2.

Do you guys think it wise to just put the bladder tank in storage for the time being rather than letting it sit out in the weather?

Water table is about 55 ft. Anything else I should consider installing? Might as well do it right the first time.

I need to get water down to the other end of my property eventually which is about 600 feet and then over another 300 feet ect.

People have told me to use a 2 inch pipe

I would hook up the tank and install it in a small shed or something so thieves do not steal it. I can't answer the casing question other than I never heard of them using that before, at least not up here in New England where we have lots of ledge to go thru. The first thing that I would do once it is hooked up and running is to make sure that your well does not run dry. I would run that well straight out wide open for as much as you can and I am not kidding. We built our house in the 70's. Our well is 565 feet deep. We were told and have paperwork that says it was pumping 5 gallons per minute for 3 hours. In the 80's two kids came along. There was more water usage, laundry, baths, showers, etc. A few times we noticed the water pressure dropping off to the point where we needed to shut the well off until the water level recovered. Then in the early 90's we got a lightning strike that blew the pump out. We had a pump company haul the pump unit out of the well. We found out that there was only 300 feet of pipe in the well. They also figured out that our static level was around 150 feet down. We now have 500 feet of pipe in the well and a bigger pump. We can still run that well out of water with not much more than normal usage. We are going to have it hydrofracted this Summer in hopes of fixing this issue or we are going to have to drill a new well. The moral of this long story is to make sure you got what you paid for. Down the road you will have no recourse on that expense.

 

[i7win7]

The steel casing prevents the hole caving in. The pump will have the poly pipe. Get a fiberglass tank and have it buried. You will have an above ground access to service the well pressure switch and an above ground pipe for well access. Some people have added a "simple pump" to the well access pipe.
This Simple Pump Will Blow Your Mind (Official Video) - YouTube

 

[nybirdman]

Poly pipe for sure with torque arrestors;you will need a bladder tank,pressure switch and check valve(above ground) to work properly.Protect with a simple well house for now(drain in winter if no using).All will be used in your permanent set-up.

 

[unimog_jason]

My father is the well driller in the family, not me, but based on what I've seen in the past you should be able to hang a standard submersible off of poly. I'm going to guess you are going to set the pump around 100', but that would be dependent on the flow rate of the well too. If you're flow is on the low side, I would think you would set the pump deeper to provide more reservoir capacity.

In most installs I've seen the pump is hung off some nylon rope to keep the strain off the wires and poly.

I've only heard of using steel pipe to hang a pump in cases where you're really deep (500') and you're installing a large pump.

From a service perspective, using poly make the job a lot easier, a single person could haul out a poly system by hand, if it's steel, you're going to need a service truck with hoisting gear.

If you're only filling IBCs, I wouldn't bother with a tank, I'd just take a line off the pitless adapter, apply power to the pump and when the tank is full, disconnect. When you're ready to connect to the house in the future, connect the house supply line to the pitless, wire in your pressure switch / control box and you're good to go.

Jason

 

[1930]

If you're running a pump and you have any kind of shut off valve, you will need a bladder. Otherwise you could be spiking pressure at your pump and damaging it.

Aaron Z

I did not know this. So whats difference between shut off valve and simply unplugging the gen that I'll be using to run the pump?

I would hook up the tank and install it in a small shed or something so thieves do not steal it. I can't answer the casing question other than I never heard of them using that before, at least not up here in New England where we have lots of ledge to go thru. The first thing that I would do once it is hooked up and running is to make sure that your well does not run dry. I would run that well straight out wide open for as much as you can and I am not kidding. We built our house in the 70's. Our well is 565 feet deep. We were told and have paperwork that says it was pumping 5 gallons per minute for 3 hours. In the 80's two kids came along. There was more water usage, laundry, baths, showers, etc. A few times we noticed the water pressure dropping off to the point where we needed to shut the well off until the water level recovered. Then in the early 90's we got a lightning strike that blew the pump out. We had a pump company haul the pump unit out of the well. We found out that there was only 300 feet of pipe in the well. They also figured out that our static level was around 150 feet down. We now have 500 feet of pipe in the well and a bigger pump. We can still run that well out of water with not much more than normal usage. We are going to have it hydrofracted this Summer in hopes of fixing this issue or we are going to have to drill a new well. The moral of this long story is to make sure you got what you paid for. Down the road you will have no recourse on that expense.

When they were digging my well they bent the casing approx 100 feet down. Negligence on their part in my opinion.

They told me they would run a liner the remaining depth which basically meant going down to a 3 inch casing.
LSS I told them no way and I'd fight it.

They ended up moving over 5 feet and starting all over again.

Morale is everyone has too be watched.

The steel casing prevents the hole caving in. The pump will have the poly pipe. Get a fiberglass tank and have it buried. You will have an above ground access to service the well pressure switch and an above ground pipe for well access. Some people have added a "simple pump" to the well access pipe.
This Simple Pump Will Blow Your Mind (Official Video) - YouTube

My contract is clear. Galvanized drop pipe

 

[WranglerX]

You need to think of the needs down the road a bit, go with plastic/PVC pipe... Galvanized is fine but will fail many years down the road where the plastic won't....As for tank.. If you just want a drink of water or run a small sprinkler it's probably a must... And probably cheaper to install now and do a "complete" setup then to piecemeal it down the road with little bits at a time.... And yes built the pump house and put tank and controls inside the shelter....

Dale

 

[WranglerX]

Poly pipe for sure; if you ever have to pull the pump, you will need a derrick and hoist to pull galvy pipe.

For ease of doing it for plastic too....

Dale

 

[JimR]

I think there is some confusion here on the pipes. You mention a Galvanized casing. A casing pipe is the large pipe installed in the drilled hole to keep the ground from falling into the hole. The well pipe is the actual pipe that your pump is attached too that the water comes out of at the top of the well. That pipe is usually straight threaded plastic 20 foot sections or plastic flexible pipe.

 

[Reb954]

If your contractor is insistent on galvanized pipe just go with that. In 10 to 20 years you can change it when the pump goes out.

As was stated, you need the bladder tank and automatic shut off switch to help protect the pump.

In 1980 I bought some property, built a house and drilled an 80 ft. well. 15 to 20 years later the pump went out so I had the pipe changed to poly pipe when the pump was changed. At some point, I don't remember the year, I buried a 6 ft. diameter by 6 ft. tall tank (scrap yard find) around the well casing so only about 6 inches of the tank was above ground. I then moved the pressure tank from the basement to that well house and added a hydrant just outside the well house.

A year or two after that the community put in a water system. I was able to run that water system into the well tank so I could switch the house back and forth from the well to the community system as needed. Eventually I just left the house on the community system and watered the lawn from the well so I could keep it active. It worked really well and I noticed some of the neighbors did the same thing after they saw what I did.

 

[blackd]

I will 2nd/3rd/whatever the count is that you need the bladder tank to protect the well pump. Otherwise every time any spigot is opened the pump will be required for pressure. That wears the pump and if doing big pumps can over heat the pump. Pumps can last decades, but that life can also be drastically shortened by overusing them. Mine is 20+ YO, and neighbor who didn't watch tank pressure lost his at ~12 years.

Keep the bladder pressure maintained to specs. Lost or low pressure also makes the pump run too much. This maintenance is infrequent. Check quarterly and recharge when low.

 

[aczlan]

I did not know this. So whats difference between shut off valve and simply unplugging the gen that I'll be using to run the pump?

If you don't have any kind of shut off valve on the end of the pipe, I suppose you could probably do without a pressure tank. If you have any kind of shut off valve, you will want a pressure tank and a pressure switch.
If you don't use a pressure tank when the valve gets shut off, the pump deadheads and pressure can spike which can cause water hammer and all kinds of other excitement.

Aaron Z

 

[RalphVa]

158 feet of casing and crystal clear water which is uncommon for my area. Driller thinks I tapped into a spring.

Now I have to deal with the contract I signed authorizing them to use galvanized pipe. Didn't know at the time that poly pipe was really a better option.

They haven't installed anything and I'm assuming poly pipe is cheaper than galv steel so maybe I can talk them out of the steel.

Part of the contract also includes a bladder tank. I need the water at this point only to fill my 275 gall ibc totes so I can water the trees I'm planting. ( I have a truck/trailer/pump)

I don't plan to start the actual building process for a year or 2.

Do you guys think it wise to just put the bladder tank in storage for the time being rather than letting it sit out in the weather?

Water table is about 55 ft. Anything else I should consider installing? Might as well do it right the first time.

I need to get water down to the other end of my property eventually which is about 600 feet and then over another 300 feet ect.

People have told me to use a 2 inch pipe

Cannot imagine not using poly pipe. Our well is about 1986 vintage and absolutely (knock on wood) no problems. Everyone around here has a well, and I'll bet it's 99-100% poly.

I needed water from rain tanks down the hill; so, I rolled 3/4" poly down the hill to my garden then and then another 500 ft or so to a little stream. Our well pump only does about 2 gpm; so the 3/4" was fine for even getting it down the hill.

If you want 3-5 gpm, you'll want 1" and 1 1/4" for around 10 gpm. Two inch is huge, only if you need near 50 gpm.

Ralph

 

[Williy]

the steel pipe is for the casing and then you put in the poly pipe to suck water out and you don't pull the casing out ;just the poly pipe to change the pump if its kaput

 

[WranglerX]

In my area we use a lot of 6 inch poly piping for casing...... And a lot of threaded poly for water delivery....

If you are not going to use a pressure switch and bladder tank... At least put a pressure relief valve at top of well, so if hydrant out on end of piping gets shut off, at least pump will not deadhead and will indicate there is something amiss....

Dale

 

[TheGoose]

A lot of well Driller’s think of poly as amateur stuff. It’s unheard of here for wells. We use sch 80 pvc threaded pipe in 20’ joints. I have installed many many pumps on steel and pvc. You trust your driller today install the well why not trust him to install the pump. I don’t use galvanized pipe anymore but in the right application it can last many years and is very strong should the pump need to be pulled. You can put a lot of force on galv pipe, not so much on poly.

 

[TheGoose]

If you’ve got a pump that is anything other thAn open flow you need a tank and switch.

 

[1930]

A lot of well Driller痴 think of poly as amateur stuff. It痴 unheard of here for wells. We use sch 80 pvc threaded pipe in 20 joints. I have installed many many pumps on steel and pvc. You trust your driller today install the well why not trust him to install the pump. I don稚 use galvanized pipe anymore but in the right application it can last many years and is very strong should the pump need to be pulled. You can put a lot of force on galv pipe, not so much on poly.

I dont trust my well driller, in the process of drilling the first hole they bent the casing. They bent it so badly that the 4 inch drill bit they were using wouldnt pass thru it, they tried driving the casing further than the hole they were boring ( Im assuming cause they just didnt give a **** and thought it would be fine and had got away with it a hundred times prior ) They admitted to me that they often drove the casing without even drilling the hole.....just pounded it into the sand.

They then tried to force the bit thru, they were bringing metal shavings up with the slurry bigtime, they called their boss, he told them too push thru.....one of the drillers suddenly got a conscience and said enough was enough and if they continued this they would drill right thru the side of the casing, said they would come back tomm with a flexible bit.

They lied, no flexible bit, they came back with a much shorter bit and much shorter section of drill rod, they said they had no flexible bit ( so many lies they lose track of whats being said ) they told me that if this didnt work they would have to go with a 3 inch liner, that means they would start using a 3 inch bit and hopefully get that thru the kink and start drilling......finish with a 3 inch casing.

I told them no way, I was paying for a 4 inch well and thats what I wanted.

They told me I had a 4 inch well.....look VERN a 4 inch pipe IS sticking out of the ground and if I continued to decline the liner Id be on the hook for 128 feet of casing already in the ground. If I didnt believe it look at my contract.

Sure enough my contract states that if a well has to be abandoned basically for almost any reason Id be on the hook.

I told them Id fight it with my CC company.

They said lets just see what happens, I said OK.

They drilled down and long story short they ended up snapping off this bit and 30 feet of drill rod ( they continued to try and force it )

They couldnt get that drill rod out, its still down there.

They moved rig over 5 feet and drilled the hole properly and now I have 4 inch casing all the way to limestone.

Not to sound negative but NO ONE can be trusted to do whats best for me. I am trying to figure out whats best for me in the long run.

Maybe its true that Marion County only allows galv pipe, I DO understand your comment about well drillers seeing poly as amateur stuff, there are alot of things in my line of work that are done now that we see as amateurish ( but in fact really is a better way sometimes )

Not sure what Im gonna do at this point. I need to address your comment about making sure the pump is open flow. All I know at this point is that it is a schaefer 1.5 HP or equivalent.

They put or equivalent on everything within the contract so that they dont have to be accountable to anything on the contract. They have better lawyers than I do.

Just trying to get whats best