Well Questions

[Peacock]

I know nothing about wells except that you're supposed to get water out of them.

Now, here's the situation. Our house is on city water, but that's a fairly recent development. We've only been here a year and the city water was hooked up, we were told, 5 years ago. There are two wells on our property and I would like to know if it's worthwhile to get them operational again, and if so, how.

The first well was WAY in the back of the property, gosh, ~200 feet away from the house. I don't understand why it was drilled back there. The house was built first, and at the time of construction (1965), their water came from a concrete cistern (still there, pipes still attached, pump still in the garage). The well is at the top of a hill. Wouldn't it have been harder/more expensive to drill it there and run the pipes down to the house? Regardless, the previous owner said it ran dry and they had to drill a second one, which was considerably closer to the house, and is located off to the side of the front yard. We're talking about capped-off metal pipes, about 12" diameter. It worked fine, they said, but when the city brought water they hooked up. We're still on a septic, FWIW. It's in the front yard, downhill from the wells and cistern.

Part of my reason for getting the wells functioning is for backup in the unlikely event there's an issue with city water (you know, terrorism, disaster, etc.) but mostly I'd just like to use them for irrigating my garden beds.

OTOH city water isn't that expensive here ($20-25/month with ordinary household use) so it might not be worthwhile to spend much money rehabbing the wells, running whatever plumbing is needed to get the water where I'm growing things, and running an electric pump.

Also, as I mentioned, there's that cistern. As far as I know it's just a big concrete tank. I don't know if it's replenished by rainwater or has to be filled by hand (they used to have water delivered). I'd like to either use it for something or get rid of the thing entirely.

What would you do?

I swear, this old house and all its various systems baffle me.

[rambler]

It's possible the 'well' on the top of the hill was a spring that gravity fed to your house? They tend to go dry, they tend to get contaminated, northern states tend to outlaw using them.....

The other well with a 12 inch cap - depends a lot on how deep it is to water. It is relatively easy to get water up from 70 feet or so, real easy from 25 feet deep. You will need a submersable pump for deeper water. Typically our northern states regulate using wells, and so forth. Need testing, etc.

Many water districts up here require all wells to be abandoned when the water pipes go by. They can't take the competition of someone pumping their own water. You gotta buy it from them. You may want to quietly look into that before going too far, or asking the wrong people questions to get yourself into trouble....

Cisterns can be fed from springs, from wells with pumps, or from eave troughs. The roof water is very soft, and many old houses had the soft rain water for washing; and well water for drinking/ toilet flushing.

Would need to see the whole setup to make more of it all. And, my comments are just generalities of 'how it is'; not how I want it or how it _should_ be or how anyone else _has_ to do it. Ok all?

--->Paul

[WisJim]

The reason for a well on a hilltop was to provide gravity flow and therefore water pressure to the house and buildings. Often a windmill was used to pump water to a cistern at the hilltop.

[cfabe]

If the well is newer it will have a log filed with the ohio DNR. http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/water/maptechs/wellogs/app/

If it's not in their online database you can have them do a manual search for it. It will tell you when it was dug, the depth, and the flow it tested at.

[Shepherd]

Edayna, you are very blessed to have these systems in place. I would definitely get the wells and the cistern operational. I'd get all the information I could from the previous owners as to what was done and how things worked, and ask them why they hooked up to the city/rural water system (were they required to?).

We have the ability to hook up to rural water out here, but the minimum monthly fee currently is around $35. Since we're trying to get as self-sufficient as possible, we don't want to add to our expenses! Our well water is high in iron so we've spent quite a bit getting filtration systems hooked up and fought the 'rust water' problems, but have felt it's worth it to stay on course with our plans.

I would love to get a cistern system hooked up both at the house and down at the barn. I've heard of people who have torn out their cisterns, bulldozed their wells... man what a mistake in my opinion. But that's just my opinion.

Congratulations - you have a nice setup there.

[Jim S.]

What would you do?

1.) Take a long weighted rope and drop the weight into the well while carefully playing out rope until it reaches bottom, then pull it back out and measure the overall depth of the well, and also the point at whcih the water column starts (water column depth). This will help you later with submersible pump depth.

2.) Lower a clean can down the well on a rope, let it splash into the water and submerge, then carefully bring it up so you can have the water tested for the basics...e coli, etc. Most labs have collection jars for such purposes.

3.) Once the test is passed, have a well driller come out and do a flow test on it. That determines how many gallons per minute you will get. Generally, any well putting out more than 5 gpm is good to go for household use without the need for a collection tank or cistern. The more you get, the better.

4.) While the well guy is out there, see if the well is setup with a pitless adapter. If so, you can run a water line to your house out the side of the well casing without it ever coming above ground. If not, you can easily set it up, or have it set up, that way.

5.) Prior to dropping your submersible pump into the well, pour chlorine bleach into it to sanitize it.

6.) A well set up with a pitless adapter can use a submersible pump to pump water in a pipe to the house, where the pressure tank and control is located. I generally like pumps that can pump 10 gpm minimum, provided the well can produce that. A 12-2 or 10-2 underground wire must run between the house and the pump, so the controller can turn it on and off. The beauty of this setup is, nothing is above ground outside, and your tank and controls are inside where it is warm, or under the house where it is warm.

I generally do not like cisterns or non-pressurized holding tanks, because they provide a nonpressurized stagnant pool of water. Perfect breeding ground for bacteria, in my opinion. I like my water pressurized from the well to its final use. Pressure works against bacteria growth.

Here's something from Ohio about wells:

http://www.water-research.net/Waterl...nstruction.pdf

[Peacock]

Originally Posted by cfabe

If the well is newer it will have a log filed with the ohio DNR. http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/water/maptechs/wellogs/app/

If it's not in their online database you can have them do a manual search for it. It will tell you when it was dug, the depth, and the flow it tested at.

Well I'll be, there it is, at least the most recent one drilled in 1987. Doesn't tell me a whole lot though, except that it says the water was a 93 feet and it appears to have taken them two tries.

I think I've found the other one from 1967, but there's no street number listed and the previous owner's name has been badly mangled.

What does aquifer type mean? The recent one says "shale", one of the older ones says "gas" and the other "rock."

[haypoint]

How about adding a tall hand pump with a submerged lift cylinder? You'd have to hand pump the water for the garden, but it is good exersize. You may be able to run some black plastic pipe down the well and hook it to an electric pump and still have the hand pump. If your concern is water in times of public system failure, you might want to think about the advantages of a hand pump. After it has been tested.
When well have a very slow flow, that is the well can be pumped dry alot faster than water seeps into it, a cistern is often added. One pump (or no pump if it is a slow flowing well) brings the water slowly, but steady, into the cistern. Then when the house needs water, larger volumes can be used, peak times, without running out of water. Then the system gradually replentishes itself.
I'd make my hand pump look like back yard decoration, so as to fool the authorities.