mud pump for 100 feet dug wells price

On average, drilling a water well costs$3,500–$15,000, depending on several geological and technological factors. You may be able to dig a shallow well yourself, but it’s best to hire a professional contractor for a well that will provide water for an entire home. This guide outlines the well installation process and its costs.

The deeper you need to dig, drill, or drive, the longer the job will take and the more labor it will require. Most residential wells need to be at least 50 feet deep and have an average depth of 300 feet, but how far you need to drill to hit water depends on geographic factors. Accessing state and local geological surveys and learning about existing wells in your area will give you a better idea of the depth you’ll need. The table below includes price ranges for various depths.

Shallow, residential water wells are the least expensive to dig or drill. Sand point wells, which are shallow and can be driven by hand or machine, are similarly inexpensive but don’t usually provide a home’s entire water needs. Geothermal wells are relatively inexpensive on their own, but installing one costs tens of thousands of dollars.

Artesian wells that drill into an aquifer are more costly to drill but less expensive to run. Irrigation wells are the most expensive because they handle the highest volume of water, though residential irrigation is much less pricey than commercial irrigation.

Digging is the least expensive way to create a well, but it’s limited to about 100 feet in depth. Digging can also be thwarted by highly compacted or rocky soil. You can create a shallow well of up to 50 feet by driving a small-diameter pipe into the ground and removing the soil from inside. However, most residential-scale well projects require a drill to excavate.

Well-casing pipe supports and protects the well’s walls, so it needs to be sturdy. This pipe is typically made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the most affordable option ($6–$10 per linear foot). Galvanized or stainless steel casing is also available for a premium ($30–$130 per foot). Steel may be necessary for earthquake-prone areas, as it’s much less susceptible to cracking and breaking. Casing pipe costs $630–$2,400 depending on its length.

Most wells need electrical wiring to operate the pump and pressure switch. These components aren’t expensive ($50–$150), but a licensed electrician needs to install them, costing $150–$500.

Some people assume that well water is cleaner than municipal water, but municipal water goes through a strict treatment process that water from private wells doesn’t. If you’re using a well for drinking water or other residential applications, you’ll need a purification system to rid the water of contaminants before you can use it. Whole-home water treatment systems cost $500–$3,000, plus another $200–$400 for installation.

Once the water is brought to the surface and purified, it needs to be stored and pressurized so you can use it in your home. A 2-gallon water tank can cost as little as $100, but if you’re going to use well water for most of your needs, you’ll probably need a large pressure tank that costs between $1,400 and $2,400.

One of the most critical parts of the well system is thewater pump, which brings groundwater to the surface. A hand pump for a shallow well can cost as little as $150–$500, but most electronic pumps cost between $300 and $2,000, depending on how powerful they are. A shallow well can sometimes use an aboveground surface pump, but a deep well usually requires a powerful, more expensive submersible pump that sits below the water line and pushes the water up. Some artesian wells can get away without using a pump system since the groundwater is already under pressure and may be pushed to the surface naturally.

Your location determines your climate, water table depth, and type and condition of the bedrock. It will also affect labor costs. For example, Florida is a relatively inexpensive place to dig a well because it has a high water table and an average cost of living. The price is higher in desert states like California, Texas, and Arizona.

You’ll need to check with your state and local government about permits for any project that involves digging in the ground. Permits can cost anywhere from $5 to $500 depending on where you live, but a well drilling company can help you determine which ones you need.

Before drinking water from your well, you’ll want to test its quality to make sure it’s safe. Do-it-yourself (DIY) water testing kitsare available for $50–$150, but if this is going to be your home’s primary water supply, you should hire a pro. This can cost between $100 and $500, but it’s well worth checking for the presence of viruses, bacteria, fungi, heavy metals, radon, pesticides, and other contaminants.

One benefit of installing your own well is that you’ll no longer need to pay municipal water bills. You’ll only need to pay for the electricity to operate the pump (about $3–$4 per month), plus maintenance costs of $100–$250 per year. Compared to a monthly utility bill of $20–$40, you can save up to $500 a year.

Well installation professionals have the tools and experience to drill plus install the casing, pump, well cap, and other hardware. They also know how to adjust the process if they encounter anything unexpected under the soil and can help you apply for permits. You’ll pay at least $1,500 in labor costs on top of the well equipment and may pay $10,000 or more for deep wells in poor soil conditions.

Digging or driving a shallow well in an area with a high water table is within the capability of dedicated DIYers. However, you must ensure you go deep enough to get to truly clean water beneath the contaminated runoff in the upper layers of soil. These shallow, driven wells also provide a limited water supply. You can rent a drill rig for $600–$800 per day for larger, deeper wells, but this will only give you the borehole; you’ll also have to install all the hardware yourself.

Wells require maintenance and occasionally require repair. Here are signs that you may need a professional well company to do an assessment. You may only have to pay a service fee if yourhome warranty covers well pumpsor well systems.

Drilled or dug wells can last as long as the walls hold up, but the equipment that runs them usually needs to be replaced every 20–30 years. The pump may fail, or the casing pipe may develop leaks. Replacements can cost up to $10,000 in materials and labor. You can extend your equipment’s lifespan by performing regular checks and maintenance or by hiring a well company to do these for you.

It’s also possible for a well to run dry. This isn’t likely or always permanent since aquifers and other sources may need time to fill back up. A well may fill with sediment over time, which will need to be pumped and cleaned out. In rare cases, you may need to dig deeper or find a different fracture to regain water flow.

It’s widely claimed that having a functional well will raise your property value, but there’s no data on how much of a return on investment (ROI) you can expect. The consensus is that a well that yields drinking water will add more value than an irrigation well, but a nonfunctional or contaminated well will be a liability. Wells are generally more valuable in rural areas or where people want to live off the grid.

Research your yard’s soil and the depth you’ll need to drill before purchasing a DIY well drilling kit. Just because the kit can go 100 feet into the ground doesn’t mean you’ll hit clean water.

It’s important to acknowledge that many DIY well drilling kits are sold within the “doomsday prepper” market. These kits are unlikely to be sufficient if you intend to use your well to fulfill most or all of your residential water needs. You’re better off at least consulting with local professionals who will know about your area’s geological features and water levels before starting the project. These professionals can help you make informed decisions about well installation.

A properly installed well can save you money on your utility bills and provide a private, unmetered water source. Make sure to budget for the drilling of the actual borehole and the equipment needed to pump and store the water, as well as water testing and purification if you intend to drink it. Your system should last for many years once it’s set up.

It can be worth it to install a well, depending on your needs and budget. Drilling a private well is a large investment, but if you live in a rural area or an area with poor water quality, it could increase your property value. Consult with local professionals before beginning to drill or dig.

The average well installation cost is $3,500–$15,000, including drilling and the casing, pump, and storage tank. Price can also depend on the depth of the borehole, ranging between $25 and $65 per foot.

The cost to hook a well up to a home’s plumbing system depends on the machinery used to pump and carry the water. Piping and electrical lines cost $50–$150 per foot, a purification system costs $300–$5,000, and a pressurized storage tank costs $1,400–$2,400.

The time it takes to install a well depends on its depth and the conditions of the soil and bedrock, but drilling can usually be completed in a day or two. Installing the pump system takes another day. After that, it depends on how long and extensive the pipes and electrical system need to be. The whole process should take about a week.

Typically, well pumps can be broken down into two categories: jet pumps and submersible pumps. Each design is built to fit the needs of various well sizes and conditions.

Most shallow well pumps are found in wells that are less than 25 feet deep and in areas with a high water table. These pumps have few running parts and require little maintenance.

This type of pump is located above the ground, typically just inside the well house, and generates high pressure to pull the water from the well and into the home using an inlet pipe. A tank or well booster pump is recommended to accompany this type of well pump to increase water pressure to the home.

Unlike its shallow counterpart, a deep well jet pump is located within the well, though its motor stays in the well house. This pump uses two pipes: one for drawing water out of the well and another for directing the water to the home. Deep well jet pumps are typically used in wells that are 110 feet deep.

A deep well submersible pump sits at the bottom of the well directly in the water. Using its motor, the pump draws water from the bottom and pushes it out of the well into your home’s water lines. These pumps can be used in wells up to 300 feet deep. The pumps work similar to sump pumps, which draw water and pump it out.

Although professional well pump replacement comes with high pump installation costs, you may have no choice but to call a professional depending on the well pump you have. Certain pumps, like deep well submersible pumps, require special equipment to get them out without damaging components or wiring. In addition to the fragility of the well’s components, removing a well pump can be very labor intensive, with some pumps weighing more than 100 pounds.

Even if you’re considering replacing your well pump on your own, call a plumber to confirm that the well pump is the issue with your system before removing it. This will prevent any unneeded work or unintentional damage to your well system.

Use the tool below to find a well service contractor who can diagnose your well pump problem and help you determine whether or not you can replace it yourself:

We provide advice about what to do when things go wrong, how to inspect hand dug wells for safety, safe practices for actually digging a well, and how to address hand dug well sanitation

The world wide popularity of hand dug wells is accounted for by the ease of construction without specialized equipment, the simplicity of water raising equipment (a bucket on a rope has worked for thousands of years), and the ability of the Dug well to hold a large volume of water in storage for times of peak demand.

on hand (the well"s static head) in a hand dug well depends not on the well"s overall depth, but the depth and diameter of the column of water in the well when it is at rest and fully recovered from any draw-down.

of a hand dug well depends on its standby volume or static head, the rate at which water flows into it, and the lift and pumping capacity in gallons per minute or liters per minute of the pump being used.

Depending on the well depth, flow rate, storage capacity, and usage requirements, any of a variety of devices or pumps might be used to draw water from a dug well, including

hand pumps using a lever and piston mechanism to lift water from the well, for the properties of hand pumps and the use of hand pumps to deliver water from any well, drilled or hand-dug,

More commonly hand dug water wells range from about fifteen feet (4.5 meters) in depth, to a practical depth of around 100 feet (30 meters) though 200 foot deep hand dug wells certainly exist.

Watch out: digging a well by hand is quite dangerous, risking collapse on and death to the excavators. Also, in very deep wells, there may be air quality safety hazards. [2]

Dug wells are usually constructed during dry weather when the water level is at its lowest, both for safety (less likely wet soils cause well collapse) and to determine the necessary depth of the Dug well to obtain adequate water supply.

As we show in this sketch at below left, courtesy of Carson Dunlop Associates (found at page bottom, Click to Show or Hide), Usually a hand dug well is less than 20 feet deep.

wells continue into modern use, often with the installation of either an in-building jet pump draw water from the well into the building. We weren"t sure what the little cover in our

Sources for repair parts and installation instructions for hand pumps on dug wells and shallow wells are provided at our reviewers list at the end of this page.

The hazards of hand dug wells include poor sanitation (ground water and surface runoff easily enter the drinking water supply), and cave-ins during construction or injuries to tools dropped into the well during construction.

At HAND DUG WELL PROCEDURE we describe all of the detailed steps in the procedure for constructing a hand-dug well with concrete well rings in Mexico.

But do not begin a well digging project without advice from an expert and do not try digging a well without following these and any other recommended safety measures for well excavation:

The following advice is adapted from The Hand Dug Well [instruction manual,by Henk Holtslag & John deWolf, Foundation Connect International. Links to a copy of that free manual are at our references section [2].

Photo above: this looks like a hand dug well that has an above-ground protecting wall and a cover over the actual well opening (you can just see the red edges of the cover.

If there is a concern for people tossing trash or contaminants into a dug well, a screen or grate may not be enough. The solid iron cover over the dug well shown below is installed at Campo St. Maurizio, Venice, Italy. The domed top sheds rainwater and keeps out tossed or other debris and contaminants.

Dug wells and hand pumps on old water wells are an attractive nuisance, especially to small children. The cover should be secure against entry by children. Photos above: the thin cover over this dug well was easily kicked aside (after we removed the toddler who was found standing atop the well - Ed.)

Watch out:Provide a child-safe heavy, secure cover at ground levelfor dug wells with no above-ground wall or for any below-ground well pit - such as the well shown in our photos just above.

At a Connecticut home in the U.S. our clients, whose family included small children, was worried about lead paint hazards as their foremost concern. We arrived early and had already made a note of a rotting and unsafe cover over a hand-dug well.

As he began jumping up and down, pumping the lever, we ran to him and scooped him off of the well top just before the entire rotting cover fell into the Dug well.

requires that the well be protected from someone falling into the well; a smart abandonment will also protect the dug well from being used as a refuse or chemical dump - doing so risks contaminating the aquifer and is illegal in most jurisdictions.

U.S. EPA, DUG WELLS [PDF], U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, retrieved 2021/05/31 original source: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-11/documents/dugwell.pdf -

AB, TROUBLESHOOTING WATER WELL PROBLEMS [PDF] Alberta Department of Agriculture, retrieved 2022/07/16 original source: https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/ deptdocs.nsf/ba3468a2a8681f69872569d60073fde1/ b235a3f65b62081b87256a5a005f5446/ $FILE/WaterWells_module7.pdf

BC, DUG WELL BEST PRACTICES [PDF] BC, Department of Agriculture, retrieved 2022/07/16 original source: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/ assets/gov/environment/air-land-water/ water/water-wells/best_practices_for_dug_wells.pdf

OXFAM, REPAIRING, CLEANING & DISINFECTING HAND DUG WELLS [PDF] OXFAM-TB6, - retrieved 2022/07/16, original source: https://sswm.info & https://give.oxfamamerica.org/

Oxfam helps communities around the world fix up their wells and learn how to treat their drinking water to avoid water-borne diseases. It’s particularly important during times when people are short on food, due to bad harvests following drought, floods, or any sort of humanitarian emergency.

SCW, DUG WELL RESTORATION [PDF] South Coast Water, Hapshire, U.K., Email contact form at https://www.southcoastwater.co.uk/contact.html - retrieved 2022/07/16, original source: southcoastwater.co.uk/well-restoration.html

We can clean a well even if it is completely filled in with rubble so do not think it will never be a usable well again. All it takes is for us to remove all the rubble and debris, clean and restore the walls and the well will be good to naturally refill with water ready for use again. Please visit our well cleaning page for more information.

www.who.int/water_sanitation_health - retrieved 2022/07/16, original source: https://wedc-knowledge.lboro.ac.uk/resources/e/mn/ 031-Cleaning-and-rehabilitating-hand-dug-wells.pdf

Thank you for an interesting geothermal system design question. I don"t know a solid answer but I suspect you may need to install a small circulating pump to mix the water if you"re diagnosis is correct.

I have a dug well consisting of a 150 gal cistern with (3) 48" well tiles stacked on top of the cistern. It has a deep well pump at the bottom of the cistern. This well is for my pump and dump geothermal system. This being my ejection well and my injection well ~ 100 ft away is 12ft deep.

My theory is the water at the top which can be within a foot of the well cover is cooled by the frost and since it wants to sink because of it"s density there is a constant circulation of cold water dropping down to the pump where it gets picked up and fed into the geothermal system. I"m looking at putting a cover on the top of the cistern to break the circuit. Does this sound feasible.

If your dug well is normally filled with water it would be a surprise but certainly possible for the soil conditions or surrounding geology to change such that the well stops giving water and instead drains it away.

Our place has two hand dug wells on it. At this time one is dry. The other is not, but it has quite a bit of fallen-in lumber from an old cover that collapsed. What is the safest way to retrieve the lumber from the well? Would a grapple hook work or is there something better?

A hand dug well is just that: a large-diameter hole in the ground, dug by hand. There is no "well point" - a well point is used in a driven point well like those shown and discussed at

I have a hand dug well and every year it runs dry between August and October, comes back between November and January. My property is at 800ft elevation. A friend of mine keeps telling me to dig out the well point... how do I do that and what will it do?

Read through some of the dug well cleaning and restoration articles there to see the range of tricks and tips people use for a faster, more-efficient, and safer way to remove crud from the well bottom.

more-sophisticated well cleaning methods are described in procedures for drilled wells where there is less working room. There you"ll see some interesting well cleaning methods using special siphon pump arrangements that pump water down through a suction device that picks up the silt and returns the glop to the ground level through a second pipe.

Watch out: When you"ve got tree root invasion of the dug well sides, as we see in your photo, there are increased risks of both water contamination - surface runoff following tree roots into the well, and of well collapse.

Need to carefully remove 3 feet of silt from 35 feet down, water level is at 21 feet, I got a rough estimate of 65 feet from linking conduit together, air lift wouldn"t seem to work in these ranges. !00 year old well estimate of 65 feet 4 foot diameter, house and old pump house right beside.

Can"t tell if there has been collapse of wall below the root levels of two huge sycamore trees. Ground has subsided and both structures leaning into each other for mutual support. West coast drought has dropped it about 20 feet.

6 people on the property, I have replaced the configuration as seen to shallow well pump but need to return to deep well configuration, any ideas for removing silt and sediment?

Do you have any idea for hand bailers for such a need or a better procedure. I was thinking of a two stage arrangement of two sump pumps. One in the well the end of it"s hose in a bucket with another sump pump to pump it out the rest of the way.

Our nonprofit African Educate has had a hand dug well constructed in rural Uganda for 2 years. The contractor now says the bore hole needs maintenance. Does this seem reasonable?

When a dug well is lined by hand-built masonry, the opening is dug large enough that the finish-opening diameter, when the masonry liner is installed, is the desired dug-well size.

Other than safety precautions appropriate for working in the bottom of a hole (collapse, air, safe entry/exit, not working alone, helpers to lower materials, etc) it"s standard stonemasonry.

My back yard stays saturated year round. I need a system of acquiring the water for use in my home for water only for bathroom, dishes and othe non drinking uses. I need to dig a well and set up system for use. Thank you

Keep in mind that it is just about impossible to assure that water from a dug well is sanitary - free from surface runoff and bacteria - so at the very least you"d want your well water tested, annually or more-often, at the very least for bacteria.

I have a dug well that was dug in 1980 when we purchased the property. Has been great water and very plentiful. Have not ever had a dry well. Started getting some sand in the water lines and 14 months ago cleaned out the well and added pea gravel. The well is 25ft deep.

While cleaning out the well noted some of the tiles are chipping and some sand getting in. Now water line is dirt and sand. Is there someone who can dig out the silt and replace tiles? What/who would I look for? Husband passed 13 yrs ago and unfortunately for me took his wealth of knowledge. Appreciate any info

It is not safe nor durable to use greenboard nor any plasterboard or drywall as the protective surround for a dug well. That material will not endure outdoor exposure to the weather and it also lacks adequate strength to assure a safe barrier.

It is not safe nor durable to use greenboard nor any plasterboard or drywall as the protective surround for a dug well. That material will not endure outdoor exposure to the weather and it also lacks adequate strength to assure a safe barrier.

A lot depends on whether the damage is entirely above ground or whether the sides of the dug well below ground are damaged and to caving in. Obviously above ground is easier to repair on site. Perhaps you can post photos, one per comment, so that we can see the situation there.

I don"t know for sure what"s happening but I suspect that something is temporarily draining the aquifer that is supplying your shallow well. The effect could be weather related, not just dry or wet spells that affect the groundwater level but even more-subtle changes such as in barometric pressure.

At an old well that served for years but now lacks water, we might ask what has changed. Global warming, changes in weather, may lower an aquifer such that the supply to your well is now "on edge" and is more-obviously impacted by barometric pressure or other variables.

We have a 15 ft dug well. We went to bed and the water in the well was almost overflowing. We woke up the next morning and the cut off valve had kicked in because the water level was so low. It rained all night. There was no water being used. The pump never turned on. We had a plumber come in and he said there are no leaks in your lines.

Your pump is working fine. The well still didn"t seem to want to recover. We turned off the breaker and the well recovered to full in two hours. We turned the breaker back on and turned the pump on and for the next two months no water issues.

Well always full to overflowing. Last night went to bed lots of water in well, no water used, this morning we have no water. Pump turned off because water level drained to cut off valve. What is going on? Why is our water disappearing? It is not coming in to the house.

It may be possible to make minor repairs to the surround for your well, but take great care not to enter, nor fall into the well, as obviously that would be fatal.

You should also make some diagnosis of why the existing masonry wall is failing, so that that underlying problem is corrected. Otherwise you"re wasting your effort.

If you post some photos, one per comment, I may be able to offer more specific suggestions. Without knowing the present construction and materials it does not seem useful for me to propose specific repair items or methods. For example, I don"t know if your well surround is made of stone or concrete or concrete block or something else.

MY dug well that has an above-ground protecting wall and a cover over the actual well opening is in my bard yard across a stream no equipment can get to it, the wall is splitting and cracking and falling on the ground can I repair this and how

Water in a hand dug well or even a bored well can freeze, depending on the climate, air temperature, and distance from the surface of the water to the ground surface. It"s not common but can happen, especially in very cold weather and where the well water level is close to the ground surface/.

Then in cold weather that dug well water may freeze. The ice on the dug well water will be of course at the surface; it might be just a skim coat that your character can break through by dropping a heavy bucket down into the well (on a rope of course) to fetch water.

But in prolonged very cold weather the surface water in the dug well could freeze to inches or even more. and in unusual cases might be so thick that people would have to look elsewhere for their water.

So if the top of your well water is just 2 feet below the ground surface in New England, or just four feet below ground surface in Two Harbors Minnesota, in very cold winter weather the well top may freeze solid.

... protect all wells from freezing, mowing, livestock, etc., by enclosing the well within an insulated well house. ... https://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/references/public/AL/642_Water_Well.pdf

Forgive me Sharon but it"s not both a spring and a well; If the water source is a spring, perhaps feeding water into a springhouse from which water is pumped to cisterns serving each home, it is, in almost all locations in the world, impossible to guarantee that that water remains potable - free from bacteria or other contaminants, as it"s exposed to surface waters and runoff;

The well I believe could be another 5-6" deeper. this would put us well into the water table and would provide better capacity during dry periods where the water table has dropped. I believe it was only made 15" deep as that was as far as the back hoe could reach when they dug the well.

It may be possible to return a dug well to service but I can"t estimate the cost because I have no idea of the conditions. You need a secure well-structure, a safe well cover, and of course you need water in your well.

I have an abandoned dug water well that was dug many years ago. I wish to get it operative with possibly a hand pump. Can it be done and at what cost?

And though it can be a costly survey, ground penetrating radar has been used for determining the depth to water, as you can read in Johnson 1992. That survey combined use of ground penetrating radar and also measurement of water levels at local ponds in the area of study. That data permitted a map of the water table. But be sure to take a look at the abstract that we quote below.

Hengari, Gideon M., Carlton R. Hall, Tim J. Kozusko, and Charles R. Bostater. "Use of ground penetrating radar for determination of water table depth and subsurface soil characteristics at Kennedy Space Center." In Earth Resources and Environmental Remote Sensing/GIS Applications IV, vol. 8893, p. 889318. International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2013.

Johnson, David G., USE OF GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR FOR WATER-TABLE MAPPING, BREWSTER AND HARWICH, MASSACHUSETTS [PDF] (1992), USGS, U.S. Geological Survey, Water-Resources Investigation Report 90-4086, Prepared In Cooperation With The

Continue reading at HAND DUG WELL PROCEDURE - how to construct a hand dug well or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

HAND DUG WELLS at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

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"Comparison of large and small diameter wells", Natural Resources Management & Environment Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO Corporate Document Repository - Self-Help Wells - see http://www.fao.org/docrep/X5567E/x5567e04.htm

Access Water Energy, PO Box 2061, Moorabbin, VIC 3189, Australia, Tel: 1300 797 758, email: sales@accesswater.com.au Moorabbin Office: Kingston Trade Centre, 100 Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin, VIC 3189

Australian supplier of: Greywater systems, Solar power to grid packages, Edwards solar systems, Vulcan compact solar systems, water & solar system pumps & controls, and a wide rage of above ground & under ground water storage tanks: concrete, steel, plastic, modular, and bladder storage tanks. wners

Typical Shallow Well One Line Jet Pump Installation, Grove Electric, G&G Electric & Plumbing, 1900 NE 78th St., Suite 101, Vancouver WA 98665 www.grovelectric.com - web search -7/15/2010 original source: http://www.groverelectric.com/howto/38_Typical%20Jet%20Pump%20Installation.pdf, [Copy on file as /water/Jet_Pump_Grove_Elect_Jet_Pumps.pdf ] -

This well-focused, up-to-date reference details the current medical uses of antiseptics and disinfectants -- particularly in the control of hospital-acquired infections -- presenting methods for evaluating products to obtain regulatory approval and examining chemical, physical, and microbiological properties as well as the toxicology of the most widely used commercial chemicals.

When Technology Fails, Matthew Stein, Chelsea Green Publisher, 2008,493 pages. ISBN-10: 1933392452 ISBN-13: 978-1933392455, "... how to find and sterilize water in the face of utility failure, as well as practical information for dealing with water-quality issues even when the public tap water is still flowing". Mr. Stein"s website is www.whentechfails.com/

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If you"ve chosen to move out to an undisturbed, rural location, or you"re concerned about the quality of your local municipal water and want a healthier alternative, you may be interested in digging a water well. How do you know where to get started or know what you need to do. To help you on this DIY journey, our well pump repair company in Raleigh is walking you through how to dig a well.

Prior permission must be obtained from your local public health department, or, if it"s a 100,000 gallon a day well or are to be dug in a protected geographical area, the Environmental Management Commission needs to issue the permit.

Many people who are researching how to dig a well don"t realize how deep groundwater generally is below the surface of the earth as well as how difficult it can be to get to it. In North Carolina, most wells extend well beyond 100 feet deep and, because groundwater is filtered through silt, stone, and layers of minerals, you have to dig through all of that in order to access the groundwater in the first place. To know what you"re getting in to, it"s important to know what"s lying below the surface.

While you"re getting information about digging conditions, this is also a good time to know exactly where your septic or sewer lines are located. Contaminated groundwater can make you and your family dangerously sick, so it"s important to know exactly where the lines are located so you can dig your well at least 50 feet away from them. If you don"t feel confident where you are digging, it"s important to reach out to well drilling specialist, to ensure you don"t damage underground pipes.

This is a physically demanding, near impossible task that may be actually impossible if the soil is clay-heavy or has shallow bedrock. It involves literally pounding a length of pipe with a post digger down through the earth until it reaches the groundwater, which could be as much as 300 feet deep.

Using a pneumatic drill and an air compressor, you can literally drill through the dirt, rock, and other barriers and run as much as two or three hundred feet of PVC water pipe into the earth. This is still a long setup, sometimes taking days or even a few weeks to complete.

Using an auger or post-hole digger, dig down about five feet and cut the 8" PVC pipe to fit the hole with four inches sticking up from the ground. Next drill a 2" hole into the side of the exposed pipe and insert the 2" PVC.

Dig a shallow settling pond 10 feet away from the well that"s at least four feet wide and run an eight inch ditch connecting the pond to your well and run the 2" PVC pipe into the ditch and cover with dirt. This pipe"s job is to transfer clean water from the pipe into the drill hole.

Attach PVC pipe to the drill and secure it to prevent leaks. and run the other end of the pipe into the 55 gallon drum. This creates a space where mud and water can empty out.

Fill your well hole with water and turn on the drill before placing it into the hole. Move the drill up, down, and horizontally to help break up the soil.

Once you get the appropriate depth, case off the well by lowering in SDR 35 pipe until it"s the full depth of the well plus 3 feet above ground. You"ll keep it in place with concrete and pea gravel to prevent runoff from contaminating your well water.

Drilling your own well can be done, but it"s a lengthy, exhaustive process that involves having to buy a large quantity of materials, and give up days or weeks of your time. Instead of doing this yourself, reach out to us for professional well drillingand well pump installation in Raleigh. With decades of experience and state-of-the-art equipment, we can tackle any well quickly and efficiently so you can enjoy clean, fresh water into your home effortlessly!

Ok! This is not an easy task, and I recommend that anyone thinking about doing it AT LEAST consider having the well pump identified as the failed component by a professional prior to undertaking it. In my case, the water in my house stopped working (on a Friday night, of course). I know my system pretty well and was able to determine that the fault in my system COULD NOT BE ANYTHING BUT my well pump motor before I took any action. Guess what? I called the plumber anyway. If nothing else, you"ll pay $60 to have your diagnosis confirmed and maybe even get an estimate that will provide you with the motivation to do the job on your own. (My estimate to pull and replace the well was $2400... By following these steps I was able to do the job myself for less than $400!)

So this is what we start with. The drawing is not to scale, but essentially most wells look a bit like this. There are several different variations on what ends up being pretty much the same thing. In my case, the casing (which is the steel pipe that everything fits into and goes into the ground) has a 6" diameter. Some casings can be as narrow as 4". If you"re doing something like this on your own, wider is better! A 6" well casing gives you plenty of room to work on your own. Narrower casings can make things... complicated.

The well used in this example is relatively shallow. It only runs about 100"-120" deep. Some wells can run to depths of hundreds (or thousands!) of feet. In the case of anything deeper than about 250" I would recommend that you have it pulled by a pro. Why? Because it"s HEAVY! And there are special tools that contractors have to lift the pump from that kind of depth. Look at it this way: Even if you have someone else pull the well, you can do the repair/replace action on your own once it"s out of the ground, and still save money. ;)

My well was dug about 25 years ago. One of the things that happens with older wells is that, over a period of several years, silt from the aquifer can seep into the bottom of the casing. That"s a bad thing. Why? Because the silt builds up to a depth that"s too close to the pump, and the pump ends up sucking up the silt and muck from the bottom of the well, and then pushes it into your house! (You"ll see the result of this kind of thing in the following pictures.)

The weight of the whole pump assembly hangs on the water hose that the pump uses to push water into the house. Up near the top the water tube hits what"s called a "pitless connector," where it makes a hard right turn toward the house.

See how the pump looks a bit like a bottle made of two pieces? The bottom part is the motor. The top part is the impeller that sucks the water out of the well and sends it to the house.

When one turns on the sink to wash one"s hands or when we flush a toilet, we tend to think that we"re pulling water directly from the well to do it. In actuality, we"re not! In a properly outfitted house, you"re pulling water from a pressurized tank that acts as sort of a "middle man." (Some artesian wells don"t have this set up, but let"s pretend they do!)

When you turn on the water to wash your hands or flush your toilet, the amount of water stored in the pressure tank is reduced. Reduced water in the tank means reduced pressure. The pressure switch on the tank is set up so that it knows what point to turn ON the pump (pulling water up from the well to replace what you"ve used), and what point to turn OFF the pump (to keep your system from exploding). Having a pressure tank does two things for you:

Ideally, your well pump should be able to push more water than above-average household use will require. (Most houses are recommended to have a pump that will support 5 gallons per minute.) That way, more water per minute is pushed up from the well than you can (normally) expect to be able to get out of a sink, or a shower. By having a pump that exceeds your practical use, the pressure tank is able to maintain steady flow. There will always be more water available to the tank than you can pull from the tap. With the right pump, you can have two showers, a sink and a toilet all flowing at the same time without any discernible drop in pressure.

Once you"ve made your wrench, you just stick it down into the well, thread it into the connector and get ready to PULL. While you do that, make sure someone is holding onto the safety rope! If anything goes wrong, and your partner happens to NOT be holding the rope, the well pump will fall into the abyss... lost forever.

Once the cap is off, take a look down the well with a flashlight. You should see something that looks a little like this image (which I "borrowed" from a google search, because I forgot to take my own picture). You"ll see utter and complete darkness at the bottom of the well... maybe some water, if it"s shallow... and the pitless connector on the inside of the casing. You"ll also see your safety rope, and the electrical wires that power the motor.

As you can see, the pitless connector is where the water makes "a hard right turn" out of the well and toward your house. It"s a pressure fitting, and it"s usually made of brass. On most wells they"re about 4" down from the top of the well... which means they are usually BURIED... which is scary.

"Why are they buried?" You may be wondering. "It"s awfully inconvenient for them to be down so far in the well." Yes! It is... but that"s just the way it has to be. Pitless connectors have to be located BELOW the frost line for your area. If they aren"t, all it will take is one really cold night to freeze up. As I mentioned above, the connectors are usually brass. Brass is a soft metal. It doesn"t take much for it to split.

Seriously. Very gentle taps with a hammer as you turn the wrench should do the trick. It will allow for you to thread the pipe fully. It worked beautifully for me.

B) Try to pull it up without being 100% confident that it"s got a good connection. Nice and snug! If you don"t have a snug connection, you take the chance of dropping everything down to the bottom of the well. If that happens, get yourself a shovel and a checkbook.

It"s very important that you NOT get any kinks in the water line (the black tube). So, pulling the pump is definitely a two person job. As one person pulls it up out of the well, the other person walks it (in a straight line or in a curve) away from the well.

Dogs are really helpful to have around when doing a job like this. Moral support is important. Especially when, after a couple of minutes pulling up the well pump, you realize that you"ve been making some very poor decisions about exercise and eating habits.

Keep in mind, the well pump (itself) usually weighs about 50 lbs. The water trapped in the tube also holds significant weight. The deeper the well, the more weight you"re dealing with. Plus, there"s that whole "physics and leverage" thing to deal with.

Bottom line: I"m guessing that I had to pull a 70lb weight, nearly 100 vertical feet. It"s quite a job. Forearms, back, hips, biceps... all of them hurt the next day.

Furthermore, up until this point, I had no idea what kind of well pump was down there. They come in various configurations of power, voltage, number of wires, and number of gallons per minute. Normally, the Horsepower Rating is written (as a courtesy) on the underside of the well cap. No such luck here. I had to pull it up just to find out what it was. You may be in the same boat when it"s time to do yours.

Turns out that mine was a 3/4 HP Jacuzzi. They sold out to a company called Franklin Electric years ago. Since it was just the motor that fried, it might have been possible to order a replacement motor (which would generate significant savings), but that might have taken days or weeks to find/deliver. I didn"t want to measure the amount of time I was without water in terms of "days or weeks." Plus, this pump was so clogged with gunk that it wasn"t worth taking the chance on another failure. A whole new pump was definitely required.

Note: This is one of those moments where it"s good to get along with your neighbors. Thanks to mine, we were able to hose off the motor to find out exactly what the specs were. (See, the source of my water was sitting on the ground... Hence I had no water with which to hose off the pump!) The worn out pump ran on about 8 amps, and pushed about 6.8 gallons per minute. It"s a 220V, two-wire motor. That"s exactly the sort of thing you need to know when you"re buying a replacement. Make notes or take pictures of this information and take it with you to the store.

Let"s take a look at the cleaned-off pump. You"ll note the two pieces, (like in my drawing). The far left is the electric motor. The dirty clyinder in the middle-left is the impeller. The black stuff in the middle is a WHOLE LOT of electrical tape, covering the spliced electrical connections for the motor and the check valve that keeps water from flowing back into the well. The thing that looks like a bulb (toward the right) is called a "torque arrestor." Remember how I told you that my well casing is 6" wide? Well... the well pump is only 4" wide. The Torque Arrestor rubs up against the well casing and keeps the pump from spinning at the bottom of the well.

Also, did you notice that everything is resting on a couple of saw horses? Yet another application in which such a simple tool can be incredibly useful. If you don"t have a set I highly recommend picking a couple up for the purpose of doing this job. The ones I"m using are quite inexpensive, lightweight and strong.

In most cases there are going to be salvageable components. For mine, the torque arrestor was in pretty good shape, as were the hose clamps that held them onto the water line. Once you get them all off, set them in a safe place for later.

Since I knew that the well pump had been sitting in muck for who knows how long, it seemed like a good idea to shorten the length of the water tube. As you can see, I walked off about 10" of tube length from the well pump and prepared to make my cut. (By the way, I used a set of ratcheting pipe cutters. If you don"t have a set of these, they go for about $11 at home depot and they make life SO much easier when you"re doing plumbing.) Making the tube shorter would result in a shallower suspension and (hopefully) preserve the life of the new pump.

YUCK! That"s a 1" tube so full of compacted muck that it really restricted the flow of water to my house. NO WONDER THE PUMP FAILED! Keep in mind, we"ve done testing for harmful bacteria and a slew of other things on our well and it"s always come up clean... but still. Ew!

Before we head to the store to buy the replacement pump, we needed to make sure that the shopping list included EVERYTHING. We already knew we needed the well pump and the water line, but what kind of shape was the pitless adapter in? I know it looks rough, but it"s actually not that bad. I gave it a quick scrub under the garden hose, and inspected the O-Ring.

I genuinely recommend that you do a little searching around on the web for a replacement pump before jumping in your car and assuming that Home Depot or Lowes will have the one you need, in stock. I got extremely lucky. I didn"t search before I got in the car. The nearest store happened to have the pump I needed. I later learned it was the only one in stock within 30 miles of me! As luck would have it, it also turns out that this one produces TEN gallons per minute at a lower rated amperage than the original. (Hooray for improvements in technology!)

This Flotec pump had a sticker price of under $340. Since it was Memorial day, they gave me the 10% Veteran"s discount at Home Depot, (shameless plug for businesses that respect military service). In the end, it wound up costing me a little over $300. GOOD DEAL!

Note: This model did not come with the check valve, or the reducer needed to get down to the 1" spur I would need for the water line. Sadly, home depot didn"t carry the right check valve, or spur, for this pump. I had to go somewhere else for that.... a place that did NOT offer the Veteran"s discount and hence shall not be named in this instructable.

I got everything home and started throwing it together. Note that I DID NOT use pipe dope. I used Teflon tape. Pipe dope isn"t always safe for potable water, so it"s recommended that you just stick with Teflon.

Looking at the close-up picture of the assembly, there"s a 1 1/4" stainless nipple threaded into the top of the well pump, a 1 1/4" check valve (brass) and a stainless steel reducer (aka "spur") that goes into the hose line. I used my salvaged hose clamps to secure the new water line to the reducer.

Some people may read this and wonder, "What is a check valve?" It"s basically a valve that only allows fluids to move in one direction. Water can flow into your house when the pump pushes it, but it can"t drain back into the well when the pump stops. This is a vital component, because when your system gets pressurized the check valve keeps all the water in your house from dumping back down into the well. Kind of a big deal.

While you"re at the hardware store make sure to pick up a set of crimp connectors for the electrical connections. It should come with two connectors and some heat-shrink material. Strip a clean bit off of the wires coming from the house and crimp the connectors with a good pair of pliers. Slide the heat-shrink material over the connection and then heat it with a heat-gun, or a butane torch. (A lighter doesn"t get hot enough to do a good job.)

Once you get to this point, you"re ready to make sure the well pump is working. I forgot to take a picture of that part, but it goes like this: Get a BIG bucket (like a 10-20 gallon plastic tub) and use your awesome neighbor"s hose to fill it up with water. Then submerge the assembled well pump into the water, making sure water covers the impeller intakes.

Then put your cell phones to good use. Have your assistant go down into the basement and flip the breaker that will turn on the pump. You should immediately see it sucking water out of the tub at a rapid rate. If it does, the pump is ready to go back down in the hole!

Feed the pump back into the casing slowly, using the safety rope. Line up the pitless connector, using a flashlight. Slide it into place and then seat it fully by giving it a couple of downward whacks with a hammer until you feel it seated properly.

For the pressure tank to work correctly, the ambient pressure (while completely drained) has to be -2lbs from the pressure at which you want the well pump switch to kick on. I like my water pressure to be between 55 and 75 psi. That means, the ideal air pressure for the bladder in the tank was about 53 psi. I hooked up an air compressor and filled it until it reached that point.

Not performing this step will cause a variety of problems, not the least of which is "short cycling." If you have too little (or too much) air in the tank it can throw off the actual volume of water the tank will hold. That can lead to the pump constantly switching on/off... which eventually burns out the pump, or the pump switch. Not good.

What you"re looking at here is a well pump switch. They come pre-set for 30/50 and 40/60. The first number is the psi at which the switch will sense the pressure in the system is too low, and it will turn the pump on. The second number is the number at which the pressure in the system makes the switch say "Okay... that"s enough."

This well switch is brand new. I bought it the night before I replaced the well pump, hoping that it would fix my well problem. Obviously, it didn"t.

Anyway, I don"t like it when my water pressure is set for 40/60. I like it to be at about 55/75. This particular model of well switch is adjustable. With a few turns of this nut, I can raise the ratio to the place where I want it.

You have to be VERY careful when you do this, and I don"t recommend that anyone try it. The reason I do it, is that it lets me make my adjustments without constantly having to reset the breaker. I tweak it, and let the pressure tank fill up. I then use the valve underneath to release water pressure. As I release the pressure, I watch the gauge to see what point the switch kicked on. Once I adjusted it to the point where the pump flipped on at 55 psi, I was good to go.

First, you have to calculate the volume of water that"s in the well. In my case, I"m going to guess that it"s about 70" of total water space in a 6" tube. Using the formula πr²h (3.14159x9x840) you get a total volume of about 23,750 cubic inches. That"s about 102 gallons of water occupying the well at its fullest point.

Proper chlorination requires 3 pints of 5% chlorine bleach per 100 gallons of water in the well, PLUS 3 pints of the same to sanitize the plumbing inside the house. That"s a total of 6 pints of 5% chlorine bleach. A gallon is 8 pints, so a single gallon will be enough to do the job AND sanitize the well cap before I put it back on.

Here"s what you do: Dump about 3/4 of the gallon of bleach in the well (with the water pump still on, so you can still use your hose). Then run your hose down the well to circulate the bleach. This process WILL pull bleach water into your house, so don"t plan on using the water during this process. Run the hose for about an hour to get the water from the bottom all the way back up to the top, ensuring that the chlorine mixes with ALL the water in the well. Then use the remaining 1/4 of the bottle to sanitize the well cap. Put the cap back on and go inside.

Repeat the process using the HOT water. It"s going to take a little longer for the bleach smell to show up, because the water from the well is going to have to make it through your water heater, and then up through the hot water pipes.

Go to sleep. It has to sit for at least 12 hours, undisturbed. No sinks. No flushies. No washies. The next day, hook up your hoses and start purging. DON"T SUCK THE WELL DRY WHILE YOU DO IT. Also, DON"T DRAIN THE BLEACH WATER INTO THE LEECH FIELD FOR YOUR SEPTIC SYSTEM. Remember, there were about 100 gallons in the well, so figure out how many gallons per minute you push through the hoses and stop when you hit about 150 gallons through the system. In my case, that was about an hour and a half.

Make sure you dump the water someplace safe. Run each tap for a couple of minutes. Give the toilets a flush or two. Then test the water for chlorine content to make sure it"s safe to drink with a kit you can get from the hardware or pool supplies store. Keep running the water until the test comes back at safe levels to drink.

Thanks for reading! I really hope that this instructible is helpful for those of you that find yourself in a spot of trouble, and for anyone that"s just curious about how this process works. It was my first time going through it, and the main reason I put this together was that I couldn"t find a really good resource that guided me through the whole thing, step-by-step. This is my way of paying the world back for all of the little kindnesses I"ve experienced in life. If you ever find yourself in a similar position, regardless of the topic, I would ask that you consider doing the same. You never know who you might be helping!

I"ll spare you all the details of what I went through to figure out the problem. Bottom line: When I replaced the well pump, I probably should have replaced the electrical wiring going down to the pump. Two reasons for this:

1) The wire I inherited was some kind of specialized, 12 gauge, submersible pump wire. Old school. Prone to problems. It didn"t have a ground wire, which I thought was weird at the time but figured the previous pump had been working for years without it... so... made due with what I had.

2) That old school wire can go bad on you. Even with a torque arrestor in place the pumps can spin inside of the casing, which twist the power line. If given enough time, the wire will eventually break... which is what happened to me.

The moral of the story: Replacing your electrical wiring only costs about $150 (if you go with the high-end, 12 gauge, no-casing, submersible wiring you can get at places like Lowe"s). The good thing about the newer stuff is that it doesn"t tend to break when it gets twisted up. If you don"t want to have to pull your well pump up out of the casing again, just to change the wiring three years after you did the job, maybe take care of it while you have it out of the ground the first time.

Just looking at the pictures of the slimy red gunk in your pipe and around your pump makes me think you should do some googling on "Iron Bacteria". I can"t be certain but it could be a possible cause of your issues.

When selecting the replacement pump don"t just assume that the last guy chose the perfect pump for the job. After all there could be a reason the original pump failed. I would recommend going back to basics and select a pump based on:

Pump ends are made up of a stack of impellers. Each impeller increases the pressure developed by the impellers below it (without increasing flow). So a shallow well might need a six impeller pump, while a deep one will need more. Perhaps twenty or more. The upshot of this is that there are hundreds of motor/pump end combinations to choose from, and while it"s not a particularly exact science it"s important to choose one that will operate happily in your application. You should be able to find pressure/flow charts on pump company websites and catalogues.

Sorry, got a bit carried away there. My brother and I used to own a pump company (Pumpmaster Australia) so pumps have played an important role in my life.

Iron bacteria! Thank you for the tip. We"re in a situation here where the house had two owners before we bought it in 2011. The first owners were amazing. The second owners were really nice folks, but the word around the neighborhood (and the evidence we"ve seen around the house) is that they were not "maintenance people." We"ve gradually been replacing the big-ticket items as they fail from the years of neglect. I"ve already replaced most of the plumbing between the well pump switch and the house, including the water softener and neutralizer. They were both so clogged up with gunk that the valve systems failed. (Nothing like a mouth full of salt water after a regeneration!)

We"ve had the well checked for harmful bacteria a couple of times. It always comes up clean. I don"t know for sure if they test for stuff that isn"t particularly harmful. Now that you"ve mentioned it, it"s definitely on my radar. I had never considered that bacteria might be the cause of the sediment sticking to the plumbing.

Hi. I don"t have a solution for cleaning out your pipe, but I"m not a plumber. I"m sure there must be a way. Maybe you could put the question to the Instructables community via a forum topic.

I guess you live in a place with cold winters. I"ve never seen a pipe buried so deep. That must really complicate things. Bores in Australia just have the pipe coming straight out the top of the well. No need for that pitless connector.

I don"t need to fix a well nor do i own a house or a well but this was so well written and interesting I had to read the whole thing it"s interesting how these things work look forward to more instructabels from u in the future thanks for the great ible

2) This was my first "ible." It has been so well received that I think I am now hooked. You will definitely be seeing more from me, and I hope they are as entertaining and informative as it appears this one has been.

3) Service is as service does. I"m just glad to be useful. Whether it was in uniform, or in my own back yard, it"s all the same: A little bit of effort can make the world better, often in ways we did not anticipate.

Yep, works fine....Started out knowing jack shit about well pumps, about to call a pro for a emergency repair in a rural area...sent your instructable to my brother, mom, and dad...we all reviewed it, made notes, shopping list...printed/saved it to have on hand...got it done no problem....like seriously a life saverReplyUpvote

Side note for those reading this. Your probably passed this point and its a rare case but possibly note for the future. The other night we were struck by lightning. After a little over a $1000 of repairs to my electrical system ( not including labor, im an electrician) i got power restored but didnt think of testing my well pump. It was only running on one leg (120 v not the 240v its supposed to) . It was operating at a severely reduced rate and potentially energized my water. I dont think i need to get into why its bad and unsafe but if this happens make sure you mention to a qualified electrician doing the damage inspection that you have a well. There is alot of components to an electrical system and your well can be easily overlooked. Make sure you well pump gets megared ( insulation tested) before its put back into service. It also a good test for suspected pump failure aswell. Its a pass or fail test. If its within specs your safe if its not it needs to be replaced

You sir, are a scholar and a gentleman! Thanks to your amazing and detailed description, I felt confident enough to tackle this task, which I managed to do, start to finish. I’m now enjoying the amazing water pressure and volume of a brand new deep well pump! I owe you a big debt of gratitude.

Hey, my DIY husband is attempting this on a 9