Well for pond setup

[rogerius]

Unfortunatelly our pond doesn't want to fill up to the top so we decided to put a solar well. Below is my plan to setup the well but I appreciated any comments or ideas. The well will provide water for pond but in the same time I wish to have option to use it for irrigation. Because the frosting line in our area is 4 ft I must install the pittless adaptor at that level and put all the pipe in the ground. In order to save some work and not digging, I was thinking to install the pittless at ground level and add a drain inside the well at 4ft. Do you see any issue with this?

 

[Firemanbuck]

I think you run the risk of a backflow condition that could contaminate the well and the aquifer with bacteria.

 

[rogerius]

I think you run the risk of a backflow condition that could contaminate the well and the aquifer with bacteria.

I forgot to mention that the well is at 250ft away from the pond and at 20ft above.

 

[boggen]

if an inspector saw any sort of issue with backflow of water back into the well, you would be paying heavy fines,

come out of the well with pitless adapter, come up and out of the ground, then a check valve, then a tee and then one to a tank, and another pipe to pond.

assumption pump down in well also has a built in check valve, if not place check valve as well clear down beside pump. a foot valve normally are check valves as well, ((other words 2 check valves before you goto any thing else))

check valves do go bad over time, "wear and tear" to simple build of crud (hard water for example). so when installing them, make sure you can easily service them / replace them. without having to cut everything out and replace it all with new.

 

[muddstopper]

I forgot to mention that the well is at 250ft away from the pond and at 20ft above.

distance from pond wont stop siphoning back to well. You state that the well is 20ft above the pond, but what is the static water level in the well. If the static water level inside the well is lower than 20ft from the top of the well, siphoning can and will occur without a check valve or air gap to prevent it from doing do. Water levels do vary inside a well. The water level will lower when the pump is pumping water and can cause a pretty good drop from the surface of the water to the top of the well. When the pump stops pumping the well will naturally refill back to it normal static level. One would expect the well to refill from inside its own depth, but if the water line is hooked to a external water source, such as your pond, the water can be sucked back into the well contaminating the ground water. Install some sort of airlock or check valve or dont use the well for the purposes you intend.

 

[oosik]

rogerius,
Your diagram does represent a direct cross connection between the lake and the well. Most jurisdictions will not even allow any type of check valve in this proposed diagram to correct the cross connect because of the likelihood of failure of the check valve. What you want to do can easily be accomplished - you just need to obtain the advise of a competent well driller or engineer.

I strongly advise to NOT install a system as you have pictured. Contamination of ground water aquifers is serious business.

 

[Fossil Farm]

Figure out why your pond will not fill up before spending time and money on a well just to have a full pond. If the pond leaks, then pumping good, clean drinking water into it is a waste of good water. It will never stay full. If you need more surface area to drain into the pond to keep it full, a diversion ditch can accomplish the same thing without wasting precious drinking water.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've thought of doing something like this too. Have a solar panel supply power to a pump when the sun is out to cut down on the amount of water lost to evaporation. But when I do the math, I just don't get enough water to make much of a difference.

As for the water flowing back into the well, why not just have the discharge be above the pond level? The splashing of the water entering the pond creates oxygen and there isn't any way for the water to go back down the well. I would also pump the water to a storage tank and attach a manifold with valves to drain it to where you want the water to go. As long as it's gravity fed from the tank, you shouldn't have any problem. Then in winter when everything freezes, just turn off the pump and drain the tank. You don't really need the water then anyway.

Eddie

 

[oosik]

Ha, ha - - Eddie, I thought of doing the same thing for my lake(5 acres of open water, 5 acres of shallow water & cattails). I did the math and found that the total volume of my house well would be like standing on the cliff, over the lake, and spitting in the lake. And my house well produces 75 gpm. So, I gave up on that long ago. Besides, my lake fluctuates only 12 inches over a year period.View attachment 382549

And your suggestion, called an air gap, IS the easiest method to handle the situation.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Have you ever considered using your well water for air conditioning then dumping the waste water into the pond? They make a variable displacement well pump that would works good for this, isn't going to help you out much in your climate. The well pump is a whole bunch cheaper to run than the AC compressor.

People around here use the same water coil in there forced air furnace as they do with there wood burner. Need to use a water to water ex-changer but it works.

Could use a geothermal heat pump running an open loop and dump the waster into the pond? Just some thoughts, don't know your whole situation, and some of the above is pretty expensive.

 

[rogerius]

Just to clarify as I see most of you have a concern about contamination of the well. I'm planning to install the pipe above the maximum pond water level. No physical contact with the pond water so not a chance of backflow in the well, even I don't understand how the water can climb the hill. I attached some pictures for reference to show where is the well relative with the pond.

The crew finished digging on Friday and the depth of the well is 120ft, the static water level is at 28ft and the bedrock at 40ft. I asked them why they dag so deep, and they said, they were looking for a flow over 15GPM. I have to trust them as I don't have any experience with wells. I hope they didn't do it as a money grab. Anyhow, quite expensive well so far at a cost of 40$/foot but the good think is they suggested to use the same well for house which we are planing to be at 200 ft from well.

On Monday they will finish to clean the well but they have a concern about the bedrock quality because at the first flash a lot of debris was coming out. The recommendation was to install a liner up to the bottom but that is quite expensive; quoted at 25$/foot. Hope I don't need it, as already this well is over the budged, so I'm planning to install the pump above the bedrock where the flow is around 10GPM.

As we are off the grid, I'm planing to use solar well pumps and so far the candidate is Grundfos, series SQFlex model (Well Pump, Solar Pump, Wind Pump: SQFlex | Grundfos). Just wondering if somebody has any good/bad words about this brand.

 

[EddieWalker]

Unfortunatelly our pond doesn't want to fill up to the top

Looking at the pics of your pond, I'm wondering how it holds water with all that rock? Is this normal for ponds in your area and if so, do they hold water?

Eddie

 

[rogerius]

Looking at the pics of your pond, I'm wondering how it holds water with all that rock? Is this normal for ponds in your area and if so, do they hold water?

Eddie

Yeep, it's clay with rocks. So far it's just 6ft deep and I need another 4-5ft to fill it up. My east and west neighbors have filled ponds up to the top. For mine, I think the water table is quite low and not a chance from rain or snow. We have just two major rain this year and the pond gained maybe 3".

 

[oosik]

Nice looking pond. If your pond gained from rain water, at least you know the bottom is well sealed.

I have experience with Grundfos pumps - around here they are the Cadillac of pumps - and quite expensive. They are used where longevity is a concern.

 

[rogerius]

around here they are the Cadillac of pumps - and quite expensive. They are used where longevity is a concern.

Cadillac of pumps you said. Yep, they quoted at 3200$

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

Ha, ha - - Eddie, I thought of doing the same thing for my lake(5 acres of open water, 5 acres of shallow water & cattails). I did the math and found that the total volume of my house well would be like standing on the cliff, over the lake, and spitting in the lake. And my house well produces 75 gpm. So, I gave up on that long ago. Besides, my lake fluctuates only 12 inches over a year period.View attachment 382549

And your suggestion, called an air gap, IS the easiest method to handle the situation.

Beautiful pond. Pictures are obviously deceiving. It doesn't look like 5 acres. Lots of fish in it? Looks like a great place to wet a line.