The Water Well Thread (1 Viewer)

[Hojack]

I’ve worked in the water well industry for our family owned business since I could walk. I’ve followed in the footsteps of my dad and love my job. The best thing about my job is it’s usually a new jobsite everyday. I also work with cool tools and equipment. Also 2 opposites, water and electricity. One time we started a large irrigation pump. A co-worker was near a 4” lay flat hose. When the pressure hit the hose bucked him and he went sailing 15 feet over a burm. If only we had iPhones back then.
I’ve had some shocks from electricity...I did a job up at Mt. Hood Brewery a couple years ago. It was a routine call, the 2” flow meter was leaking and needed repair. I was loosening the galvanized union and as the ring became looser it started to jerk my armpull my arm. After this happened twice I used some insulated channel locks to remove the union ring. Once free I checked the galvanized pipe for power. The pipe had just shy of 70volts to ground. I took a small insulated copper wire and jumped across the union. The end of that wire arched like I was stick welding. I ran a hose clamp around the pipe and ran the copper wire to a ground stud in a nearby panel. I checked the wire for amp draw and it was pulling 6 amps of power. Both the maintenance guy and a building electrician were amazed the waterline from the building to the wellhouse was pulling 6 amps of power. Once the wire was placed on the water pipe the shock hazard went away. Now we could safely remove the flow meter. I’ll never forget that day. We were also standing on a wet floor. My co-worker was pretty new to the industry then and that sure taught him to have respect for electricity. The problem ended up being a short in the feed to the Brewery from the power grid. The waterline was close enough and acted like a wire carrying the stray voltage to a ground source... the well casing.
Seeing this forum I thought it’s a great way to help other MUD members with wells or talk to others in the industry.

 

[Hojack]

Anybody have there own well. Do you know your own well depth & yield, pump HP & gpm?

 

[Music Man]

yes

 

[Mr Cimarron]

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.

 

[1911]

Anybody have there own well. Do you know your own well depth & yield, pump HP & gpm?

We have two aquifers in our area, one at 60-90' deep and another below 200'. When our well was drilled, we hit the first one big time at 80', it flowed 75 gpm naturally (without pumping it). I had the driller go below 200' just to see if the deeper aquifer was there and might be better quality water, but we didn't hit it by then and I was paying by the foot, so I stopped and just used the shallower aquifer. Our water conservation district only allows 20 gpm for that depth and aquifer, so the pump was sized to produce 18 gpm but I don't remember the hp without finding the invoice.

Our water tastes good but it is hard. I don't like conventional softened water, so I installed a whole-house chelating filter just after the pressure tank.

There are photos of our well being drilled and flowing in my house build thread here: Building a new house and shop

 

[Cruiserdrew]

A question:

I am looking at some property in the foothills near Sacramento. The property has 2 wells, one for domestic use and one for Agricultural use. What's the difference? How do I judge if they are working correctly? What specs do I ask for prior to purchase?

 

[Hojack]

A question:

I am looking at some property in the foothills near Sacramento. The property has 2 wells, one for domestic use and one for Agricultural use. What's the difference? How do I judge if they are working correctly? What specs do I ask for prior to purchase?

The well casing size and gpm can determine the difference between an AG well and a residential well. Residential wells average 6” well casing for a 4” diameter submersible pump/motor. AG wells are usually 8”+ in diameter for larger gpm pumps/ motors. That’s not to say a 4” pump can’t go down a 8” or larger well. I’ve installed many 4” pumps down 8”+ wells for residential/ irrigation use. Also 4” pumps are capable enough to supply enough water for some AG use, generally less than 100gpm @ 60psi. AG or irrigation wells can be 50-1,000’s of gallons per minute depending on what it’s used for.

 

[Hojack]

A question:

I am looking at some property in the foothills near Sacramento. The property has 2 wells, one for domestic use and one for Agricultural use. What's the difference? How do I judge if they are working correctly? What specs do I ask for prior to purchase?

I’d first want to know if the wells actually have a pump in the well. In Oregon all wells now days are registered with the state and issued an ID tag for identification. This tag states how a well was constructed, formations drilled through, water bearing zone, casing size, screens, perforations, liner type/ size, etc. If the wells have pumps then a flow test is advisable.
We have a well sounder to get the static water level before the pump is ran. We hook up a flow meter off the pump discharge at the top of the well. Turn on the pump and start the test. Run water and start checking drawdown.
The well pumps need to have a minimum submergence in order to keep the pump from causing a vortex and sucking in air. If the pump is at 300’ and the flow rate is 20gpm and the water drops to 295’ and still dropping the flow needs to be reduced. Cut flow back to 19 dropping but slower drawdown, 18 slower yet, 17 slowly rising. At 17 gpm monitor. Rises to 290’ and stabilizes. This means the well produces 17gpm @290’. Same exists with irrigation wells just with higher flow rates.

 

[Hojack]

@1911
One way to get by with being able to have more water is to pump your 18gpm water into a storage tank. The storage tanks are at atmospheric pressure so then you’d need a booster pump with whatever flow rate your desire as long as the tank can refill in a 24 hr period and not leave you without water because the well can’t refill in time. I’ve put 30 gpm booster pumps on many wells that make 5 gpm or less. These storage tanks can be 2500 gallons to 5000 gallons. Like I said above the well just has to have enough time to keep the tank from running out of water.

 

[Hojack]

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.

Redrilling is not a fun experience. Don’t know how many times a low yield well is deepened only to not get any more water. It’s a great thing you did. I’d figure with a whole house Reverse Osmosis (RO) you have a storage tank for your product water.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

Redrilling is not a fun experience. Don’t know how many times a low yield well is deepened only to not get any more water. It’s a great thing you did. I’d figure with a whole house Reverse Osmosis (RO) you have a storage tank for your product water.

Yes I have two 300 gallons tanks in the pump house. One is mixing tank and the other is the house water. With our climate here I seem to crack fitting and hoses all the time, 1-2 per year. It's always a fun experience to walk in the pump house and see water spraying everywhere especially if I have a new wasp nest to fight at the same time.

 

[Hojack]

Yes I have two 300 gallons tanks in the pump house. One is mixing tank and the other is the house water. With our climate here I seem to crack fitting and hoses all the time, 1-2 per year. It's always a fun experience to walk in the pump house and see water spraying everywhere especially if I have a new wasp nest to fight at the same time.

Bummer. What brand RO unit do you have?

 

[Mr Cimarron]

Bummer. What brand RO unit do you have?

We got it through Nation's Pure here locally. It's looks like the one on the right in the link
https://waterworldusa.com/section/section-22/

 

[1911]

@1911
One way to get by with being able to have more water is to pump your 18gpm water into a storage tank. The storage tanks are at atmospheric pressure so then you’d need a booster pump with whatever flow rate your desire as long as the tank can refill in a 24 hr period and not leave you without water because the well can’t refill in time. I’ve put 30 gpm booster pumps on many wells that make 5 gpm or less. These storage tanks can be 2500 gallons to 5000 gallons. Like I said above the well just has to have enough time to keep the tank from running out of water.

Thanks. We haven't had any problem at all with 18 gpm yet, but the house we are building has a 10,000 gallon cistern cast into it, and plenty of room to put in a booster pump and/or a secondary pressure tank if desired.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Where about are you looking?

Plymouth/Sutter Creek area

 

[Hojack]

I will ask this question:
Can a well be drilled deeper without 'loosing' the current capacity? Or will the current well head be garbage if they drill further down and find nothing?

In Oregon a well can be deepened if it has a well ID tag and the state allows it.
If you have a 400’ Well with a static of 300’ and it produces only 5gpm and the state allows you to deepen, then the static level must be the same if you hit more water. If the well is deepened to 600’ and the static drops then an aquifer needs to be shutoff. If it stays the same then you don’t have to shut the aquifer off.
I have worked on wells where the static is the same at first but then drops later. What happens then is you get cascading water falling into the well above. If the well has iron then it oxidizes and causes water quality concerns.
There are so many variables when it comes to groundwater. Just when you think you’ve seen it all you see something totally new.

 

[Hojack]

Water well has been getting dirty water into the well. They called us for a remedy. The well casing is a foot below surface in a concrete culvert. When it rains it fills with water and has been draining into their well.

Pulled well pump and the well casing was cemented to top of casing with no way to weld an extension. Used 1/2” concrete bit to drill holes around the casing to get some steel to weld a slip coupling on.

Used slag hammer to chip concrete and make a channel for ring to slide into.

Got enough steel to slip the collar 1/4” around casing.

Welded on the steel slip ring.

 

[Hojack]

Added 2’ of 6” well casing to get well casing a foot above surface to meet code.

Installed 2” galvanized pipe to bottom of well. Hook up to our 375 CFM air compressor and start blowing out well. The first surge is always a good one. Well was drilled in the 1950’s so it had a tremendous amount of we’ll scale and sediment buildup.

Slowly lower pipe deeper deepening well down to original depth.

Blow well until water starts cleaning up and maximum depth is reached. After an hour of surging the water flow started to pickup and really cleaned up.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

That was a slick solution for the below grade well casing. Well done.

 

[Hojack]

Watertight welds are important