Well help

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elciebee

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I just purchased a property which has a well ( this is all new to me ). What we appear to have as the well is a 6'X10'x8' concrete tank/pool......I lift a small wooden lid 2x2 to look into it. It holds approx 2000 gallons. There is a plastic pipe which the water is sucked up into (by a pump ) a small what I assume is a holding tank which then feeds the water to the house.

It has been extremely dry this summer and we have run out of water 3 times and have had to have water carted in ( which is how i know it holds approx 2000 gallons..................) This however seems to have been a problem for many in this area....although I don't know if they keep filling theirs and are still running out....................
So my question is, is this concrete tank/pool my well or is the well much deeper and is it somehow pumped into this holding tank ???? If it is not my well and the water is pumped up from deeper is this done mechanically or by natural drainage ?
I hope this makes some sense..................???:confused:
Louise
 

Drick

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Hi,
What you have there is a holding tank and not your well, probably because the well, wherever it is, is low producing. First you need to locate your well and find out how deep it is. If it is a shallow well you can usually drill it deeper, or if it is already a deep well you can try hydrofracking it to see if you can get more water out of it. BTW, The small tank you describe is a pressure tank and not a holding tank. Almost everyone with a well has one.
 

elciebee

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Thank you Drick.............
Any tips on how I go about locating the well ? Also would the water be pumped into my holding tank or would it naturally gravitate in there ? Apparently ~~~ (the neighbour told me ) That a second well was dug on the property but they hit salt water..we live very close to the coast here ( West ) I am worried if we go to the expense of digging the well deeper we may hit salt water again rendering this well inactive..............Is 2000 gallons a normalish size for a holding tank............
Thanks again for all your help..............
Louise
 

Drick

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>>Any tips on how I go about locating the well ?
If you have no idea where it is you have a few choices. Look back in your 2000 gal holding tank. You said you have a water line running out to a pump and pressure tank. Do you have another water line running in? Whatever direction the line coming in is at head off and look for your wellhead. It could be under a pile of rocks. Some people hide them that way. Another way to find it is to go to town hall and pull the site plan for your property. My town requires that well drillers indicate where the well is located on these plans. You could also go back to whoever you bought the house from and just ask. That might be the easiest way.

>>Also would the water be pumped into my holding tank or would it naturally gravitate in there ?
Anything is possible, but its highly unlikely that water just flows into your holding tank. Even if it does, the water has to be coming from someplace and I personally would want to know were that someplace is, especially if I was drinking or cooking with it.

-rick
 

elciebee

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Well I headed out to investigate and discovered in the very top right hand corner there is a plastic pipe............On the outside of the pump/storage house where this pipe leads is a small covered box which I took the lid off and there seems to be a socket with a plug plugged in to it and pipes and connections...........There is also a yellow on off lever which seems to be in the on postion................ No sign of the well head.............
 

Drick

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Ok, you found your well (most likely anyway).

You said there is a plug in there. Is there a pump in there also? If not where does the wire go? Does it go down a pipe headed straight into the ground? If so what is the diameter of the pipe - probably 3", 4", or 6".

If you can upload a picture of what is in there it would help.
 

elciebee

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trying to post pics

well house.jpg

in pipe to resevoir.JPG

box to in pipe.JPG

electrical in pump house.JPG

tank and pump.JPG

The first pic is the pump house itself and the small box outside on the left seems to be where the in pipe is connected

The second pic is of the inpipe into the resevoir

The third pic is inside the box that is situated outside on the left

The fourth pic is the electrical inside the pump house

The fifth pic is the tank and pump............

I hope these are helpful, what I am thinking from all you have helped me with so far is that it is not being pumped in from the well................. Thank you for everything you have told me so far it has been a great help.
Louise
 

Drick

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Nice well house. You have a dry spot with room to work.

>>what I am thinking from all you have helped me with so far is that it is not being pumped in from the well.

That seems to be the case. Ok, in the picture of the storage tank I see the inlet pipe and I think I see a float switch which should turn on the pump to fill your storage tank when the water level falls. This is not happening so there is a problem. The electrical part of the float switch appears to be sitting on the floor of the well house. Its partly cut out in the picture. It connects to the controls on the wall which I believe are for a submersible well pump. The wiring seems to lead toward the small box at the front of your well house. What is in the small box on the front of the well house?

Now for the box on the left side of the pump house. Honestly I have no idea what is going on there. You have a ungrounded wire plugged into an outlet that goes where???? And there is the wire wrapped in electrical tape (not encouraging) which goes where??? And then there are those two spiders:eek:

Could I get a single picture of the wiring from the controls down to the floor and pump? Just trying to see how its all connected.

This may just be a bad pump in the well.

-rick
 

Drick

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Its hard to tell from the pic, but I think I see a small metal(?) box near the ground between the two wooden boxes on the front of the well house - what is that?

-rick
 

elciebee

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Hi Drick,
I will post more pics ASAP but I borrowed the camera from a girlfriend should be able to take more on Saturday.....

That seems to be the case. Ok, in the picture of the storage tank I see the inlet pipe and I think I see a float switch which should turn on the pump to fill your storage tank when the water level falls. This is not happening so there is a problem. The electrical part of the float switch appears to be sitting on the floor of the well house. Its partly cut out in the picture. It connects to the controls on the wall which I believe are for a submersible well pump. The wiring seems to lead toward the small box at the front of your well house. What is in the small box on the front of the well house?


Yes I think that is a float switch that is sitting on the floor, there is a float thing in the tank which seems to lead to that switch on the floor........ That small metal box you see outside the well house is actually a box for outdoor lights which for some reason seem to be dotted all over the place.............It's the Noma lights......... The other small box which is very similar to the one with the spiders just has a pipe going straight down..............However if you look at the pics of the tank in the well house the pipe actually turns a corner and heads to that box with the spiders with the electric outlet. The plug that is plugged in seems to lead to the inner well house and is then the blue thicker wiring you see...
Should I try flicking all the breakers.............or just prey ....LOL LOL. I really am enjoying learning so thank you again, your time and expertise is very much appreciated.
Louise...........I think I need to name my spiders
 

Drick

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>>The other small box which is very similar to the one with the spiders just has a pipe going straight down..............However if you look at the pics of the tank in the well house the pipe actually turns a corner and heads to that box with the spiders with the electric outlet.

Ok, I get it, that is the pipe between your well and your storage tank. If you follow that pipe back to the box with the spiders does it head down? I see a pipe in that box headed down , but can't tell if they are the same pipe or not. Also, between the wires and spiders I can't tell from the picture if the pipe is just going into the ground or if it is going into a larger pipe, which would be your well.

>>Should I try flicking all the breakers.............or just prey ....LOL LOL.
Actually, flipping the breakers can't hurt. I've seen breakers that were tripped that still appeared to be in the on position. Preying never hurts either:)

-rick
 

elciebee

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Hi Rick, yes it seems to head straight down........... The other box without the spiders seems to have a pipe that heads straight down too but it is the one with the spiders that seems to go into the pump house.
I have to head into Vancouver today
so will be flicking the switches and taking more pics on Saturday...............
I am thinking I should probably get a well/pump person up here to give me a tutorial and look at what's happening........??
Thanks again Rick and have a great day.......... Louise
 

Drick

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>>I am thinking I should probably get a well/pump person up here to give me a tutorial and look at what's happening........??

That sounds like a good idea. I would be interested to know what he finds out.

-rick
 

elciebee

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Rick,
Someone is coming on Monday...Tuesday if they get busy...I will keep you posted....
Louise
 

elciebee

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Outcome ~ feeling stupid...


A very nice gentleman came out to see what was going on with the well, the minute he walked in to the pump house he looked at the electric box for the submersible pump and said that's not connected properly he pushed it so all the connections connected and instantly you could hear water flowing in to the tank............So I am feeling a little sheepish but relieved. He talked me through the system and we found the well so hopefully we are good to go. He did recommend getting one more load of water carted in to fill the tank so we don't stress the well by filling 2000 gallons in one go.
 

Drick

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Good to hear it was a cheap fix. So where did the well turn out to be?

-rick
 

elciebee

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Hi Rick,
Yes I was relieved too.........The actual well was about 100 feet away. It is a huge cement almost like a holding tank with a metal round thing in there. I will take a pic when I get a chance. The guy got us to turn the pump on and you could see the small vibration and hear the water so that must be the one............
Louise
 
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