Well went dry, I have a couple of questions.

tamilee · #21 12/21/07, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tweetybird

This weekend I went to do the laundry, and discovered I had no water. I had the well guy down as I thought it might be the electric pump.... what a nasty Christmas present, there was only a few inches in the bottom of the well and because we have had a very low amount of snow pack the past few winters, the shallow wells in this area are running dry. Well, as you probably know, this year we are having lots of snow, and it looks like we are setting up for a really good snowpack. Question: Does this mean that my well may recouperate? What are the chances?

Now, when he was here, he said they are now driving the deep wells, and it is driven through the ledge and they are in this area driving down anywhere from 250 feet to about 500 feet. He said that it would cost for well, casing, pump, and hookup to the house about $10,000.00!! Question: Is this about right pricewise? If not, how much?

Next thing he said, to get funding (loan, refinance or whatever), permits, and dig a well, it would take several weeks, maybe a month. I am going to need access to water. He said that I am going to need to truck in water or find somewhere to stay in the meantime. I was thinking of getting water trucked in until I was set up. Question: Is this costly? How much, about? And, who or where would I contact to get it?

Then I was discussing my heating system with a friend of mine and I have a forced hot water system. I know that the ststem is a "closed" system, but I know that it does loose some of the water in the system, and atomaticly refills the boiler. So, here we are in a more severe winter this year and no way to refill it. Question: If I get water trucked in, can I connect it to the heating system so the boiler can refill? Will it work? How often does a forced hot water system need to refill?

If any of you can answer my questions, it would be a big help, and if you have anything else to add that might help feel free to add it. Thanks in advance for your help! I do live in Massachusetts, in the southeastern region, if that helps.

Hi Tweetybird;
I am so sorry your well has run dry. We have been fearful of the same thing here in NC. The Governor ordered mandatory water conservation because municipalities were running so low on water this year due to the drought. I had no idea that Massachusettes was also affected by it.

Several of residents in the county have complained of low water pressure but so far I've heard of only one well actually running dry.
I would imagine it would be costly to have water trucked in.
You are in a tough place and I am sorry. I hope you can find a solution that doesn't have an enormous financial drain on you and your family. Keep us posted.
tamilee

DJ in WA · #22 12/21/07, 08:56 PM

Well, not good (annoying pun).

I went thru this two Septembers ago. I picked a better time of year than you. Found out the driller before we bought the place drilled 65 feet less than he wrote on the well report(sent camera down well). Couldn’t go deeper for various reasons, so had to drill a new well 340 feet deep. Was around your $10,000 estimate.

We set up a couple cheapo swimming pools on the lawn, each held about 1700 gallons. I had a semi bring a water trailer of 4,000 gallons (also filled some barrels). Then I kept adding to it by bringing barrels of water home from work in a pickup. Pumped water from pools through a hose attached to our plumbing near the pressure tank.

My pump guy gave me the trucker’s name. There are drillers, and there are pump installers, and some outfits do both. If your well guy doesn’t know of water sources, I’d get in the yellow pages and call people in the pump section and the well sections for ideas. As suggested, you might also get other opinions and estimates. A few outfits here wanted $18 per foot - I got a good driller who charged $12. And I was there to make sure he went as deep as he said.

You need to get set up for the long haul. Like you say, get a tank (or tanks) where it won’t freeze and where you can add water to it easily thru a hose or pipe. Don’t know your house, but perhaps tank in basement, or garage. And you’ll need to pump from the tank into your plumbing to pressurize the system. I got a pump from Home Depot with a built-in pressure switch.

Good luck. You’ll sure appreciate water much more after this.

Tweetybird · #23 12/22/07, 06:15 PM

The water trucker never called me back, so I called the company back. They said the snow storm gummed things up and forgot to call me. Ok.....so he was supposed to call back today...still no call. Now tomorrow is sunday, monday is Chistmas eve and Tues is Christmas....so that puts the breaks on things till Wed.....I am pretty aggrivated as I am sick of melting snow, and having all these little jugs and pots of water everywhere. Ihave been taking sponge baths and need a propper bath and a good hair washing...grrrrrr!