Well problem. Worth $2300?

[dodge man]

I have no idea what exactly he did to test things. He was in the basement, I assume checking the electrical, the pressure tank is fairly new, and then he was out at the well checking things with a volt meter. I also have no idea how much work it takes to pull the pump, I assume more than then the $49 service charge. He said it would take most of a day to put in a new pump, new piping and new wiring. Figure a pump is $600 and maybe a labor rate of $200 an hour for two guys, I see $2000 adding up in a hurry. We have lived here for 23 years and had the pressure tank replaced and a wiring problem corrected. The online data shown the well drilled in 1973.

I wouldn’t exactly say we irrigate with the well. Most days less than 10 gallons of water. I’ve planted some grass seed in some small areas so it might be 20 gallons a day lately.

 

[Clint S]

I have replaced in well pumps down to about 80 feet with 1 guy helping multiple times. The biggest trouble is the weight of the piping added to the pump. I have used a loader to help pull.

 

[newbury]

Many factors should be considered -
How reliable is your rural water system?
Mine had been poor for several years, they got in new management and it's fairly reliable now. But a cousin about a mile or so away got frustrated with it years ago and had a well drilled.
How does the quality of your well water compare to the rural water system?
What do you have for an alternate source of water if the rural water system goes down?
I've a 250 gallon IBC tote that collects rain water, I've had to resort to that a couple of times.

Your well reads like a good backup plan IF you need it.

 

[PILOON]

2 good guys could hand pull a pump from 140 ft as long as it was on plastic piping, OK 3 might be better.
Been a while, but for 140 ft I'd rough guess $4-500 for a new pump, $100 or so for Poly B piping.
The pump wire (copper) will cost more than the piping.
Control box, maybe $100 or so.
You did say tank was relatively recent so labor would make up the difference.
Actually if you are handy enough it can easily be a DIY project.

Not there to check the system but I've been involved in my fair share.
Most often problems are control boxes (blown capacitors) and pressure switches.

If U are thinking of proceeding start by those last items B4 purchasing all the rest, you might just luck out.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck.

 

[TractorGuy]

My last pump was a 1-1/2 HP stainless steel at 147 feet. Cost to install in 2010 was $1350 total. I had asked the guy to bring pipe just in case and he didn't. It had a hole in one piece and he just removed it which resulted in the well going dry 8 months later during a drought. I should have made him replace the pipe labor free but I didn't feel like arguing about it. He charged me $352.80 for seven 21' pieces of new 1" American made black iron pipe. Labor and crane truck was $350 and service call at $75. Total that trip was $777.80.

When he returned to install the pipe he just brought 21' pieces. That time he measured the depth of the well and it bottomed at 159'. With 147' of pipe I have never had another problem. The pump before that one sucked sand for 15 years so having the new pump 12 feet off the bottom has cured that issue.

I installed a new bladder tank myself in 2004. It worked okay but the installer told me I should have taken a valve out of the pipe that was there from the pressure tank.

Bottom line is 10 years ago it cost $2128 to pull the pump twice and replace with new pipe and a stainless 1-1/2 HP pump. Neither job took more than two hours. He did the pump by himself and had a helper that mostly just stood by watching when he did the pipe.

Not sure if that helps you decide or not.

 

[TractorGuy]

I have no idea what exactly he did to test things. He was in the basement, I assume checking the electrical, the pressure tank is fairly new, and then he was out at the well checking things with a volt meter. I also have no idea how much work it takes to pull the pump, I assume more than then the $49 service charge. He said it would take most of a day to put in a new pump, new piping and new wiring. Figure a pump is $600 and maybe a labor rate of $200 an hour for two guys, I see $2000 adding up in a hurry. We have lived here for 23 years and had the pressure tank replaced and a wiring problem corrected. The online data shown the well drilled in 1973.

I wouldn’t exactly say we irrigate with the well. Most days less than 10 gallons of water. I’ve planted some grass seed in some small areas so it might be 20 gallons a day lately.

If he told you it will take most of a day for two people to put the pump, pipe, and wiring in I think your trust in him may be misplaced. Unless there are some mitigating circumstances like a pump house that has to be disassembled and rebuilt that's a two hour job at best. Any well guy worth his salt will have a truck with a boom and winch to host the pump and pipe out with.

My well is partially obstructed by a tree but every time I've had anybody make a service call I limb it up out of the way before they come. If yours is obstructed by a well house or something you should probably take it down by yourself or hire someone that works for less per hour to do it for you. $200 per hour is pretty rich if you ask me.

 

[downslope]

Many factors should be considered -
How reliable is your rural water system?....

How does the quality of your well water compare to the rural water system?

What do you have for an alternate source of water if the rural water system goes down?...

Your well reads like a good backup plan IF you need it.

To answer OP'S original question, this is it in a nutshell.
300-600 gallons per month is not worth investing in your own well/pump if if your rural system is reliable and provides good water. Apparently you are using the system for your domestic needs and are satisfied with quality, so the only question is reliability.

 

[dodge man]

Thanks downslope, that was kind of the answer I was looking for. I know how this works, someone comes on here asks if a price for something is fair, and people say they had that done last week for half of what they were quoted. I kind of expected posts like that. I was more looking for good reasons to fix the well I had not thought of.

So far our rural water has been 100% reliable. It’s part of a very large system in terms of area, but mostly rural in nature. One of the water towers is within 5 miles. I do have an IBC tote I could use for emergencies but that would be a last resort. When we only had the well we were without water several times, probably once every two years on average, usually because of a lose of power.

 

[TXCYCLE]

Dodge Man, I知 in a similar situation, my well quit about 20 years ago after pumping itself dry and locking up and burning the pump and motor up. I知 also on a rural water system that has good water and is a reliable. However, I知 in a part of Central Texas that痴 always drier than wet and my feelings are you can never have too much water. I also have cattle so that痴 another consideration for me.

I recently had a well company pull the pump/motor and the pipe and give me a repair estimate. It痴 so old and in such bad shape I have to not only get a new 1/2 horse motor and pump (the old one was brass with a 1977 tag on it, well guy says it痴 an antique) but new wiring inside the well, new piping, new wire to my power pole, new control box, plus I知 having a 200 gallon water trough added next to the well and an insulated pre manufactured well house. Total was 3000.00 These guys charge 125.00 an hour labor for a boom truck and two well hands.

The well house is pricy, 650 of the 3000 total so your 2300 quote is in line with mine. I forgot to mention it痴 100 deep. They also have something called a pump saver that will shut the pump off if it pumps down out of water. The well casing has 85 of water in it, I知 just going by what these guys are telling me but they said it would be a great well for cattle pumping a few hundred gallons day.

So your question was is 2300 with it? For me yes, I知 getting another quote next week but after talking to my neighbors the price seems inline with their well repairs. I知 going to probably build my own well house and skip the 650 pre-manufactured house they quoted me.
Good luck with your well, I値l let you know how mine turns out if youæ±*e interested.

 

[TXCYCLE]

All
Sorry for the Chinese writing on that post, it was from my iPad and something was screwy. It doesn't like the word "I'm" apparently
Somebody know the fix let me know, I've seen similar on other TBN posts.