Testing old bored well

[tkeoki]

Any suggestions on how to best test the output of an old 24" cement-cased bored well? The well is 29ft deep. Well companies in my area say these wells often produce at least 10gpm.

The only pump I have is a 1 1/2 hp swimming pool pump sitting in my garage--think this would work?

Thanks

[valveman]

No pump can draw water from 29'. You will have to use a submersible to test the well if the water level drops that low. You might be able to test down to about 10' with that swimming pool pump. If the water level goes any deeper that pump will quit on you.

[tkeoki]

K--found a submersible pump I can rent. I have the piping pretty much ready and now just need some instructions on how to properly do the well yield test.

here's my preliminary plan--please let me know if you'd change it up. I'm hoping to use this shallow well for my geothermal unit instead of the current deep well--of course still need to test water quality.

1) make sure I pump the water 50 ft from well to not affect the flow test.
2) pick a pumping gpm somewhere in the expected range of the well output. Going to start with 5gpm
3) watch the dynamic water level every 15 minutes and document flow (bucket method)
4) if water level gets close to the pump level adjust the flow down.
5) if water level stays pretty consistent at a certain draw down, depending on remaining water depth, adjust the pump flow up.
6) once you've found an acceptable dynamic water level, (read you can get to 2 or 3 feet above the pump in these wide wells, but not sure that's true), start watching dynamic level every 30 minutes and document. After first few hours adjust to checking every hour. Run test for > 12 hours.
10) Check every 15 minutes for the first hour after pump is shut off and document water rise, then change to every 30 minutes, etc and document how long well takes to get back to static level.

Thanks for any input.

Thomas