Restoring an Old Well?

Similar to this......

Attached Thumbnails

 

Or it could even be at the house....James


https://www.google.com/search?q=jet+...tm%3B600%3B618

Yeah, true, could be at the house but in the one pic it looked like maybe the house foundation and I saw only one pipe at that point, so I was assuming that the pump was not at the house. I've had these pumps before and the further away you get, the bigger the priming problems get when that eventuality happens. But that never means somebody didn't do it that way.

There's not anything around the concrete casing, nothing nearby anyway (I'll post a more distant pic below). The pipes go underground so it's hard to follow exactly where they go. There is a hill with some thick underbrush between the well and the house, I suppose it could be in there somewhere, but it doesn't seem likely. I've looked over every inch of the house, no pumps in there for sure.

That one clump of brush a little uphill from the concrete looks like it has plastic water piping sticking up out of the ground. The pump and pressure tank could be long gone. Also, that piece of insulation laying there looks suspiciously like something folks would try to insulate something with, like a pump in the ground for example. At any rate, it's is an interesting find for sure and it's always nice to have a second source of water. Might not be drinkable From the lay of the ground there, it almost looks to me like it's probably a spring they capture more that a well....but pics can be deceiving. Just going by how the lay of the land looks. Thanks for the pics BTW, explains what you saw very well.

There needed to be power somewhere. No evidence down the hill? Around the house, extra power box, pole, or anything?

....James

No evidence of power, the poles are a good ways from here, though I suppose a line could be buried. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a chance to search the area better. It's not that easy to get to though as it's at the bottom of a hill and through some brush. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and find a pump in the brush. I don't even really need the water to be drinkable (though it would be nice to be completely on well water). I mostly just want to be able to water my garden. Living in the city, it cost a fortune to just keep a few tomato plants going.

I agree this had a jet pump setup with the jet in the culvert. It is my opinion that this was not a bored well however. Where the culvert is located it appears to me that the culvert was just a storage container (make shift cistern) for either surface water piped into the well from the ditch in the background or an attempt to catch water from a spring. Over time sediment/sand has entered into the culvert and what we are seeing is the water table of the location and that the jet is now buried. What has me puzzled is what purpose was the rope? Try to locate where the two exit pipes end outside the culvert and where the single pipe begins that goes to the house. That will be to location of where the jet pump existed. In Alabama there may not be a requirement for a pump shelter against cold.

__________________
Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

I've seen a safety rope tied to submersibles but never a foot valve.

The rope isn't attached to anything below, just hanging there. The ditch is just where rainwater runs off, it's dry most of the time.

rent a sump pump see if you can pump it dry
I'd bet you can't water will run in faster than you can pump it out
this will clean out the water in there which can be bad from not being used.
just from what I could see it will be a good well for watering garden /yard.after ya pump it out then test the water.

FWIW, I have a neighbor across the highway from me that has 3 good wells on his property. All three within 200 ft of the house and within 100 ft of his garden. He connected to county water when it was available and has not used his wells since. My wife and I have county water and a well. We use the well. Just because someone does not use a well does not mean it is a bad well.

I'll try some of the suggestions the first chance I get. I've been too busy moving and working on repairs to the house to go out there lately.

Also, the black pipe running to the house is not connected to the well after all. I have no idea where either of the pipes are running to.