We had the well drilled about 4 years ago- one year into a 3 year long drought- and the well driller at that time told me that it "looked" like an artisian well, we had 50 gpm pumping out of it. The water level has always been about 12" up into the above ground pipe. Last summer the drought was ended and we noticed that the water was literally spewing out from under the well cap. My DH put a couple of copper "weep" pipes under the cap and the water then came out of these in a steady 24 hour stream. He had to dig a ditch and put in some drain tile to direct this water from our yard. The well is the required 100' from the house. Now it seems as though the water is coming up from around the casing, as well as coming out of the weep pipes. Any suggestions as to what we can do about this? It makes a mess of my yard! We have considered building a pond, but are concerned about it only being 130' from the house. Now it would be downhill from the foundation, so I don't know if that would help or not. Any ideas? I expect one day to go out there and find a geyser!
Wow. It's 3 below here currently was 14 below last night, can't imagine getting something like that to work around here - would be one big icey busted steel mess! Must be quite a hill above you. What state do you live in? How deep is the well? --->Paul
Unusual for the water to be coming up around the casing. If it is sealed properly this should not happen. I have a house we use for hunting and fishing that has an artisian well, it pumps enough water into the house we do not even need a pump. If a little is coming around the casing now you need to have it looked at because alot will come later.
Paul- the well is 125 '. We are southeast of Roanoke Va. We live at the bottom of a ridge, in what is known around here as a "holler." The house is spring fed, so we just use the well to water the critters and the garden. I have watered for 6-8 hours continually and have never run out of water. That was in the drought that we were having too! Stonerebel- that is my thought- that maybe this is going to erupt and we will be in a mess. But I guess that would take care of the problem....... because then we would have a pond!
I'd get a backhoe to dig a ditch for the water to run away from the house and well. put the pond where ever it would work for your property, take the cap off that bugger, and stand back. Lots of people who would love to have your problem.. Do you like trout?
This well must have some kind of significant pressure behind it. Looks like it Found a hole where the Driller didn't completely seal off the borehole from the casing. IF it keeps pumping UP that Hole it could create problems later on. Some how you need to vent enough water to stop it from flowing around the OUT side of the casing and then get the driller out there and seal that leak . I would let him come take a look Before you stop the Flow then HE can see what he needs to do to plug the Hole......fordy...
We are going to contact the driller next week and let him tell us what we should do. Thanks for all the suggestions. Right now it is running through a drain tile to a (what was before this) dry creek. Thankfully whats coming up around the casing is running downhill too....... right into where my clothesline is! So when it warms up we will get this taken care of. Thanks again everyone. Uncle Will- I'm thinking that you are fond of trout?
Just out of curiosty I would have the water tested. You MAY be able to sell the water if the quality is superior. You may have fallen into a flowing gold mine IF you can find a market for that water. You maybe Rich and not even Know it, fordy.......
