Unregistered well, unknown depth

Hi all,
My well is estimated over 30 years old based on what little I could find out about it. It is likely not registered with the state and I called every well driller in the county but nobody has a record of it based on the names of former inhabitants of the property. One well driller said he would fill out a well search with the state and get back to me if it WAS registered. That was 4 months ago so I suspect not.

Is there a way to find out the depth??

It has one black plastic pipe, to a 1 1/4 check valve, then the 3/4 hp pump in the basement. Could I fish something into the pipe and measure where it stops, then subtract the estimated horizontal run out into the yard. I found one former resident who though it was 10' away from the house.

The well seems to work fine, but I still want to know the depth, at least an estimate.

Any advice
?
Thanks in advance

evans said:

then the 3/4 hp pump in the basement.

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The pump gives you a good estimate of the static water table height.

This also indicates that it is a shallow well and was probably pounded in by hand.

The diameter will speak volumns. Do you know what it is?

bob...

pipe size

The outside diameter of the pipe seems to be 1 5/8 ".
It there a way to find the depth, within a few feet. There is nothing coming out of the ground in the area except a vent for a septic tank.

Sounds like a 1" poly pipe, we can only guess at what it attaches to when it goes vertical. If the pump is in your basement and you have one pipe to the well (where ever that may be), then it is a shallow well jet pump and therefore your well is less than 25" deep... right Bob?

Rancher

If its single pipe and jet at pump then its less than 35 feet to water for sure. Your well might be 200 feet deep, though most unlikely - and pumping water level within 20 or 35 feet of surface - depending on your elevation. I would not be too interested in the depth until it stops working. The septic vent -tank so close to the well would be a larger concern to me.

You could determine water level with a vacuum pump and vacuum gauge but it seems like a lot of work for a result with no determinate use.

You could use the fish tape idea to determine where it goes vertical. That would work unless you hit a fitting somewhere before the well. I guess the pipe you are describing is the suction line. I was wondering what the diameter of the casing was. If you knew that, you wouldn't be asking this question. Ok, so you measure out to the well, dig it up. You will either find the suction line is directly connected to the casing (which will probably be 1-1/4" pipe) or the well casing will be larger with a well seal and a droppipe going down into the well. Either way, you have to unhook the suction line and measure down the well. If it has the droppipe, it should be no more than 30 feet and you will have to pull it before you can measure.

Rancher, if the water level is less than 25 feet deep it can be a shallow well hookup. But the well depth could be anything beyond 25 feet. The depth isn't what determines shallow well or deep well, the water level is what determines that. Twenty five feet is the absolute limit of a shallow well jet pump. I have primed pumps that had a 24 foot water level and they worked until the water level dropped 1 foot. Then no water at all. I imagine elevation plays into this a little. BobNh can comment on that, He straightened me out on the bladder tanks. I thought the elevation made a difference in the actual amount of precharge they had, from the manufacturer to the end user. He said it would be negligible. The only two places I am sure of this is Florida with an elevation of around 30 feet. And Michigan with an elevation of roughly 950 feet. It seems to be the same result at 30' or 950'.

bob...

Well

I grew up on city water and this whole well/septic thing is new, but I'm learning. If the well IS shallow, and the septic tank is near it, what can I do? The tank collects solids, and spills into a pipe which leads to three cess pools (grandfathered) another 30 and 50 feet away.
Am I in trouble here? Would a water test help? Exactly what to test for? I've tested pH and iron so far. I have a cartrigde filter and drink my water out of the fridge (filtered too). Sandy Flat lands of southern New Jersey is location.
The 87 year old neighbor who remembers the install thinks it's 100' well or a little more.

The code here is a 75 foot span between the well and septic. I'm not so sure that distance fits all situations. If you have the tank near the well but the effluent is being sent away from the well, you might be ok. What was your PH and Iron content?

If you have a test done, check for Nitrates, Nitrites and Coliform Bacteria (Fecal).

bob...

tests

ph was a 5, I handle that using a little corosex and 50lbs of calcite with a neutralizer (Fleck). The plumbing service who sold it to me recommended setting the backwash to go every 4 days. Now pH is a little past 7.
Iron reading was safe. I found out there was an iron bacteria problem at one time (20 years ago or something) . Information about the well has been difficult to obtain because so many people have lived in this house. The original person who put in the well is dead, but I found her nephew who says it is safe (he is smart but this ain't his field).

Are there home kits for nitrates, or is a water service best to test this?

Thanks

In my area if the PH is below 7, the water is usually from a very shallow source. That is not true everywhere however. I know the shallow water around my area is full of pesticides, herbicides and who knows what else. It may not be real harmful, as a lot of folks have these wells and they haven't turned green yet. But for me, a deep source is the only way to go. This water is prefectly safe to drink and bathe in. Probably safer than the County water with the Fluoride, Chlorine and Ammonia that is added. And it's well water to start with.

A lab should do the test. You can pull the samples yourself if you do it properly. It will save you a few bucks.

bob...

Some of the local health departments will do coliform tests for free.

A cesspool [not a leach field] 50 feet from a shallow well almost guarantees contamination. Grandfathered usually means something very wrong that used to be thought right is permitted at your risk.

Here, the TANK must be at least 100' from the well. I would test it today for coliform and not drink any until you get a clean test.

Test Kit

That test kit that was mentioned a couple of months back...goes by the name of "Watersafe All-in-One Drinking Water Test kit" seems to be pretty easy to use, I tried it last week, does like Ph, bacteria, lead, pesticides, nitrate, nitrite, chlorine, and hardness. Costs about $15 online, the "consumer" magazine recommended it. Mine was all negative except the water was super hard, like 500... it didn't do well on the Ph, reporting 8.5 while the pool test kit I have reports 7.2...

It didn't check for Iron which I think I have a lot of. If anyone knows of individual test kits I would like to test the hardness after the water softner, and the bacteria from time to time.

Rancher

I think I would be leary of a test kit that can't get the PH right if it is supposed to tell you if the water is safe bacterially. I don't see how you can get much of a test for $15.00.

If you are drinking the water now and aren't getting sick, you may have already tested the water for Bacteria and Nitrates.

bob...

Thanks everybody. My wife swears we passed the nitrates too, but I should redo cause I don't remember or have a record, could be brain damage (; Coliform a must do ASAP. Any cartrige better than others, or other types of filters recommended, I will do a search of past posts.
Thanks to all responders.
E

IMO cartridge filters are useless to everyone but the folks that sell the cartridges.

bob...

I would have the coliform test done. It would be best if you take the sample a couple of days after a lot of runoff that might infiltrate the well. If no coliforms are detected, then I would use the water as is and repeat the test in a year or so, or maybe late in the spring mud season.

The most likely coliforms are samples of what are already in your large intestine.

If you have coliforms then you should probably install both a filter and disinfection. Filters don't remove viruses and some bacteria get through most filters.

I once sent filters and a chlorinator to a farmer in Georgia who was getting water from a spring and had somewhere heard about my systems in Maine. He wasn't worried about it for himself but was concerned about his visiting grandchildren. About 4 years later he called me to order replacement cartridges.

Regarding the comment above about filters, take a look at the Harmsco brochure at the following link. http://www.harmsco.com/uploads/pdf/harmsco_polypleat_catalog.pdf

Bob NH said:

Regarding the comment above about filters, take a look at the Harmsco brochure at the following link.

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Nice eye candy, I'm buying a Harmsco cartridge filter!

coliform test 34$

Good news is a local lab will come on Monday, do the test for 34 $ and have results in 24 hours. I don't know if that sounds right or not. Hoping no bad news.

That's darned reasonable! What will they check for that amount of money?

bob...