The Water Well Thread (8 Viewers)

[Hojack]

We plumb the backwash line from a water softener to a gutter drain line and never to the septic. The water flowing through the unit after a regen will have so little salt most people cannot taste the salt after a freshly regenerated media bed. Your urine has more salt in it. The backwash is what will have an effect on the septic system. Some contractors plumb the backwash line to the ABS lines to your septic which will put concentrated salt and mineral into the septic tank and cause issues with the decomposition of waste.
Reverse Osmosis ( R.O. ) is running your filtered water through a high pressure membrane with a high pressure pump or there are ones that go under the sink that can use lower pressure. As the water passes through the membrane minerals are removed through the membrane. These get sent out a waste line ( concentrate ) and your product waster ( permeate ) goes to an acid neutralizer and into a storage tank at atmospheric pressure. Newer units have a recycle that will allow some waste water to run through the unit again saving water. In order for the membranes to last the longest the RO needs pre filtration. This can vary depending on what’s in your water. RO is usually used to remove silica and or certain types of arsenic.

 

[Hojack]

Thanks for starting this thread. Wells can be a black hole to many of us.

We have a private well at our house in Gardnerville Nevada. It was tested and evaluated by a highly regarded well company when we purchased the property, and all the tests results were good. Unfortunately, the report is at the house, and I'm in SoCal.

I'll post well info when we are in Nevada next week.

I do have a couple of filter and treatment questions if you don't mind?

Our water is a little hard, but not terrible, and since we are on septic, would prefer not to put a lot salt in the system. So no softening. Mineral deposits will buildup if fixtures are not cleaned regularly. We also have some iron and get a little H2s smell when the water has sat in lines. Our neighbor has an Iron Breaker tank in his system. Is this something you can comment on?

Also, we need a new sediment filter. So we are considering a full water treatment upgrade. Do you have a preference in systems and types?

We are thinking to add RO in kitchen only.

Our house, exterior faucets and irrigation are on one supply line.

Thanks

With hardness, iron and sulfur a Water Right Sanitizer would work great with min-plus which will remove up to a 0.5ppm of sulfur. I explained the salt issues in a post above.
Post up again and I can give you a link to the Sanitizer.

 

[Drake2]

We have our own well. It’s at 900’ redrilled from 600 by previous owner during a huge drought. My parents a few miles away are at the same depth. No idea on the actual specs. I learn more and more as things break on our saltless RO softener system.

OMG....900 ft? Does the water taste like Soy Sauce, or maybe Sweet & Sour Pork?

 

[Mr Cimarron]

OMG....900 ft? Does the water taste like Soy Sauce, or maybe Sweet & Sour Pork?

If not treated it smells like sulfur and will turn your white clothes yellow eventually. It’s so hard you have to take your truck to a car wash for final rinse.
Before this house we were on city water and my wife grew up in Arkansas which has awesome water. I grew up on smelly water but it was a real shock to my wife. We installed the present system quickly.

 

[Drake2]

Do you have a well report?

HoJack, here is the info from my well report and a shot of the whole house system. Let me know your thoughts, thanks.

 

[Hojack]

HoJack, here is the info from my well report and a shot of the whole house system. Let me know your thoughts, thanks.

View attachment 1883947

View attachment 1883948

Report looks like a typical well report. Hard to believe your part of Wisconsin has 86’ of clay soil on top of gravel.
Oregon has typically 1-2’ top soil, 3-4’ of clay then basalt rock. The strata below the clay can very greatly depending on location here. Near the Cascade volcanic peaks woody debris can be drilled up 200-500’ deep. These areas were covered my landslides long ago. Water bearing in this formation is very organic with tannins and alkaline water... musty water. Other wells have sulfur gas that vents into the water bearing zone and could be 1-5ppm of sulfur gas.

 

[Drake2]

Hojack, my neighbors well is 375'. I guess We were lucky at 90'. It would be great to know where my aquifier origin is located.

 

[1911]

It would be great to know where my aquifier origin is located.

If the state govt. in Wisconsin has a groundwater or soil & water conservation program that includes the county you live in, they should have maps of the location and thickness of the main aquifers, as well as their outcrops and recharge zones. Here in Texas we have Groundwater Conservation Districts organized by aquifers and/or drainage basin. Each one has a web site as well as a local office where you can view these maps.

 

[Hojack]

Today’s well cleanout

 

[Hojack]

Today was able to work in the mountains at the Bear Springs Ranger Station in Oregon. The ranger station and campground get water from Bear Spring. The booster pump quit working and we found the footvalve in the spring had gone out. When the springbox was made in the 60s or 70s they did not plan very well for maintenance. The 3” steel line going into the tank was hard piped to the suction foot valve. They put a 3’ concrete culvert pipe as for a lid with a little house with screen over the opening. In order to access the pipe we brought up our Kubota trackhoe ans Stihl concrete saw.

Removing the screened box over the well.

Cutting off the concete riser

Removing the bad 3” footvalve

Water was ice cold.

Thunderstorm building over Mt. Hood looked like the mountain was erupting on the way back.

 

[alia176]

Jason,

I live in northern NM, near ABQ and noticed that most (probably all) residential wells use PVC drop pipe and I'm guessing they're 20' sections. I'm curious as to why nobody in my area use continuous poly-ethylene pipe? Is this a regional thing? Seems like pulling a continuous pipe would be easier to handle and install vs PVC sticks. I guess they use cont pipe in the East coast and you can simply rent a well pump puller from your rental place so that you can DIY.

I'll be pulling my 4" pump out of the casing that's 300' deep in a few weeks. I'm trying to decide if I want to purchase 300' of continuous PVC pipe instead of connecting PVC sticks together for ease of install.

Link to Poly pipe: Submersible Well Poly Pipe - 1-1/4" Diameter - 160PSI - NSF Certified - ANSI/AWWA C901 - Charter Plastics Inc.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Hojack]

I like poly for less than 100’. Deeper and we just replace with S80 for less than 400’ and S120 for less than 500’. Anything deeper than 500’ is galvanized. This is basic as HP and GPM also play into it. Also whether you have a standard or variable speed system.
If using poly I recommend Stainless Steel poly adapters.
I’ve hurt my back too many times pulling poly by hand. A pump hoist takes care of that.
I wouldn’t install a 300’ set on poly.

We bought this contraption to pull pumps in hard to reach locations.
By the way, my names Jason

 

[alia176]

Jason,

Apologies with the name, fixed now. I'm building that contraption to pull my S120 out and if the work isn't too bad, I might just put all that back in. But if the work is arduous, then I might go with Poly and use SS adapter per your suggestion.

I'm curious about a safety pull rope/cable to attach to a typical 4" pump. Do they give you provisions to attach a safety rope/cable to the pump?

Thanks for the input.

 

[Hojack]

Sounds like a nightmare...
Rent a crane and get the proper tools.
We have to retrieve dropped pump every year.
Not worth the penny pinching or risk of injury.

 

[scrapdaddy]

Hojack,

Would you recommend any deep well pumps. I have a 480' foot well and when the driller drilled it he said it was flowing at 75 gals. a minute 25 years ago. I'd like to put in a new pump before this one fails, any suggestions. I was thinking a 1 or 1 1/2 horse pump would be great. Very interesting thread.

Thanks!

 

[Hojack]

Hojack,

Would you recommend any deep well pumps. I have a 480' foot well and when the driller drilled it he said it was flowing at 75 gals. a minute 25 years ago. I'd like to put in a new pump before this one fails, any suggestions. I was thinking a 1 or 1 1/2 horse pump would be great. Very interesting thread.

Thanks!

What’s your static water level? Your looking at a 2HP unless the static is really high.
Grundfos hands down is the best submersible well pump, completely stainless steel.

 

[scrapdaddy]

Thanks for replying, but I'm not certain of the static level, yet. My well guy has that information in the files and I'll post them up when I talk to him. I thought the Grundfos pump was one of the best, but you read about the ss being bad with galling and wear, I just get confused between all the different brands. My old pump is a 3/4 horse that I brought with me when we built our new home and it's @ 25 years old now.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I'm on city water in the county at my place, but I like watching this.

 

[Weedhopper]

The two companies I dread seeing on my lawn are the well guys and the septic guys. Big bucks just to get back to normal.

 

[Hojack]

Thanks for replying, but I'm not certain of the static level, yet. My well guy has that information in the files and I'll post them up when I talk to him. I thought the Grundfos pump was one of the best, but you read about the ss being bad with galling and wear, I just get confused between all the different brands. My old pump is a 3/4 horse that I brought with me when we built our new home and it's @ 25 years old now.

The galling and wear are from incorrect sizing of the pump, too much head ( down thrust ) or too little ( up thrust ). In either scenario the pump is pressing the impellers into the top of bottom or stage causing friction and wear. Debris such as sand and well scale are also factors. Running dry is a problem that can overheat the motor and cause the shaft splines between the pump and motor to strip. The result is a running motor with low amps and no water. Grundfos is the best submersible well pump.