Restoring an Old Well?

[toasterburn]

The house I just bought is on city water and there was no mention of there being a well. I intended to save up for a while and have a well drilled before I started any serious gardening. However, after I bought the place, I walked my property line and way back in the woods at the lowest point of the property I spotted something odd. A large cement cylinder sticking out of the ground. When I went to inspect it, I saw two black pipes coming out of it. I thought it must be a well, but what's it doing out here? And can I get it working again?

I did some research. The person who sold me was not the original owner; she only bought the house because she intended to flip it. Then the housing market fell and she almost foreclosed on the house before I came along and bought it for a steal. In any case, she had no idea that there was a well. I did manage to track down the original owner. He built the house in the sixties and lived there for twenty years. He said that he had the well drilled when he built the house, and for years it was the home's only source of water, but eventually he connected to city water because he didn't like how cold the well water was. This was many years ago so he has no idea about the well's current condition.

So I'd love to save some money by getting this old well running again instead of drilling a new one, but I have no idea where to go from here. As far as I can tell, there is no pump house or any indication of where one might have been. I looked in the cement cylinder and I just see two black pipes going down, no equipment. I tried asking my plumber but he didn't know anything about wells. Any suggestions?

[dkhern]

sounds like you are seeeing the piping going to the foot valve that was used on an above ground pump. there are probally pipes and electrical running to the house. you will need to get a well servce co to come and inspect. it may be as easy as pulling foot valve and inspecting if ok replace and attack pump and repair water lines to house and rewireing for elect. build well house around pump and pressure tank. good luck

[farmrbrown]

Well.......since you asked.........
(Maybe later I'll tell you how my wife and I came up with the name "well syndrome", to describe the lack of information or disinformation given newbies to the neighborhood, lol)

First get some strong twine or small rope. Attach a large metal nut or something with weight and lower it down to see how deep the water is and if there is any water in it.
I'm not going to give a bunch of facts and figures, because I don't know your specific area, someone will come along and nitpick it to death, and the whole thing may turn out irrelevant anyway.
But basically, you're looking for how deep it is when you first hit water, and how much is in there. IOW, do I have enough for a pump to draw any out without sucking it dry?
Pull it out and check the wet marks.
That only costs you some string, easy and cheap.

Next, if there is any water, lower something down and bring up a sample and have it tested. Make darn sure you know and trust the results are accurate, especially if you're going to be putting that water in your body or someone you love.

Meantime, while you are waiting for the test results, find the oldest, nosiest person in the neighborhood, preferably with a nice garden or manicured lawn.
Knock on the door, compliment them on their yard, introduce yourself as the new owner across the street and very slowly, very casually, work the "new discovery" you found into the conversation.
Listen carefully even if it takes all day of hearing old stories. The more, the better.

I really hate questioning the credibility of some old man I've never seen, met or heard of, but I gotta tell ya.
I've heard lots of reasons for abandoning a well, but "the water was too cold" ain't one of them.
If it turns out to be true, I'll have to bookmark this thread, cuz no one will believe me, lol.

BTW, I don't know your plumber either, maybe he's a city boy, but if he knows "nothing" about wells, you might look for another one.

[arabian knight]

Originally Posted by farmrbrown

BTW, I don't know your plumber either, maybe he's a city boy, but if he knows "nothing" about wells, you might look for another one.

Boy that is the truth. Just because someone is a plumber does not make them a "Well and Pump Installer", and may never have kept up on their license to do so, IF they ever had one to start with, or the knowledge. LOL

[toasterburn]

Originally Posted by farmrbrown

I really hate questioning the credibility of some old man I've never seen, met or heard of, but I gotta tell ya.
I've heard lots of reasons for abandoning a well, but "the water was too cold" ain't one of them.

Sounded weird to me to, but I don't have any reason not to trust him. His exact words were "the water was so cold the water heater took too long to heat it up".

As far as the string test, I'll try it. But... the lid was partially off and when I looked down it, it looked like maybe 10-15 ft. deep with a foot or two of standing rain water and leaves on the bottom, and then dirt under that and the pipes going into the dirt. I could be wrong, but that was my initial impression.

[farmrbrown]

Yep, I anticipated that exact reason (took too long for water heater to warm it up) and while he may be sincere, I thought the difference in temperature to be so small as to be negligible, but I wanted to verify before speaking on it.


http://0.tqn.com/d/homerepair/1/0/o/...mate_temps.jpg

I have a 300 ft. deep well in the mountains of NC. It is cold, no doubt and I drink it out of the tap, no ice needed, lol.
But the actual temperature is probably around 60 degrees, and according to the chart I linked, that's on target.
57 for me, 62 for you.
If it's a shallow well, it may be closer to 65.
The average municipal water is between 60 and 70 degrees.
5 or 10 degrees is a small difference to justify switching to city water.
The real reason is likely.....

Bad water
Low pressure/well ran dry
Forced to hook up to city water

If it was a combination of the above, the cost of a new well vs. city hook up was made purely as an economic one.
Again, I hate maligning someone I don't even know, but I've been around too long to buy
that one.
Do your homework as I suggested.

[Darren]

The water too cold didn't come across to me as a red flag. The water here can be so cold it feels like your teeth could hurt. In the winter it can surprise you. I ran all of the lines from the meter connection and they're at least 30" below the ground in an area that doesn't get more than a few inches of freezing. Where it goes under the creek it's as much as fifteen feet down.

I don't understand why the original owner would lie unless they did something like contaminate the well. I know of someone in this area that had their septic system fail. They had hooked up to city water when it was extended. I've heard they're dumping their sewage down the old well.

Definitely get the water tested.

[farmrbrown]

Yeah, perception is a hard wall to break thru, but a thermometer has no emotions, lol.
Well water stays about the same all year long, cold.
Now, the temperature of the water in the pipe between your well and the faucet, that can vary for a lot of reasons.

[toasterburn]

Speaking of, during closing we were small-talking with the realtor and she mentioned that she had once sold a house where the owners had buried a car in the backyard and were using that as a septic tank.

[Darren]

Around here it was common for people to use a metal cesspool and even a 55 gal. barrel.

[joebill]

Sounds like there may be a drilled well under the dug well and the pumphouse WAS the dug well. I have seen that a few times and it worked great, keeping the pump and stuff from freezing....Joe

[jwal10]

10-15 feet, poke it with a stick. Can you lift or tug on the pipe to see how heavy or if they move. Trace the pipe outside the well, it may got to? or to the house? 2 pipes means a jet pump, not sub. unless 1 is a power line. IF the well was drilled I doubt it is only 10-15' deep. Here a drilled well would have a well log with the state.....James

[jwal10]

How big is a large cement cyl? Same size all the way down as far as you can see?

....James

[canecutter]

The size and depth is important. You can clean it out by hand if it is large enough. You can remove lots of mud from a well down to about 20 feet using a hand post auger.
Can do it from the surface by shaking the mud into a bucket and drawing it out.
Worked well for me.

The Cold water sounds like a big plus. A sign of pure water most likely. Never heard someone say cold water was a bad thing.
I would definitely try to get that well back up and running.
As for the location, most likely it was chosen due to the water table or an underground spring in the area.

[canecutter]

Forgot one thing. The two pipes going in are a sure sign it is either deeper than 25 ft or the pump was located a good distance from the well.

[toasterburn]

Been raining buckets all day. If it clears up tomorrow, I'll try to go back there and take some pictures to post here.

One of the pipes connects to the house from what I can tell. Haven't been able to figure out where the other pipe goes to yet. The cement cyst is maybe 3 feet or so wide and the same diameter all the way down.

[fishhead]

It does sound like they used a jet pump and the head is in the well. I would try to lift it out of the well.

[toasterburn]

Here are some pictures I took today. If there is a pump in there somewhere, then it's burried.










Here is the pipe I think is running to the house:

[Waterwheel Farm]

Looks like a shallow well jet pump setup to me. The pump won't be down in the hole, but there will be a jet assembly. Look next to the concrete casing and see iif there's a covered hole that the actual pump is down in....it will be located fairly close. My neighbor used to have a similar setup. He just had a wooden box the pump sat down in and he covered it with bags of leaves for the winter. As far as I know it never did freeze. Just look up jet pumps and you'll understand the two hoses.

[fishhead]

Look at the "Deep Well configuration" drawing.

http://www.redlionproducts.com/clean-water/overview/