Locating my well.

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Marc

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We bought a house a little while ago and aren't 100% sure where our well is.

In our front yard is an old well. It's got a giant old grinding stone (presumably from some turn of the century mill) covering it with a rock covering up the hole in the middle of the grinding stone. A very unsanitary situation since the first time I lifted that stone... a snake jumped into the water! I've since sealed it up a bit better.

We had assumed that was the active well when we looked at the house and taken that into the vast list of "cons" but decided the "pros" still outweighted them. But... after an offer was made the owner told us it was not the active well. He said he thought one was dug about 7 years ago in the corner of the lot. Of course, there's no visible well head, and the entire area is overgrown with brush now. We're skeptical about his claim since he didn't know where the well was and couldn't provide any documentation on it and he wasn't even living there at the time of the supposed new well.

So... into the basement we go!

Coming into the basement are 3 old pipes that, presumably, once went to various wells around the property. They're cut off / sealed/ whatever. They go off in different directions and come into the basement in different locations. One of them looks like it heads towards this old-well.

Then there is our well pump. I believe it's called a jet pump? This has 2 pipes coming out of it. These two pipes don't point directly at the old-well, but they're pretty close so they could easily be going there.

From what I can gather... 2 pipes coming out of the pump like that means it's a "deep-well", whereas a single pipe might be a "shallow-well".

So... how can I first determine if the old well in the front of the yard is the active one, and if not, try to figure out where the new one is?

Is there some kind of dye I could dump into the well to see if it comes out of a tap in the house? If so, would that hurt my softener... how about water heater... under counter RO filter? Would this dye bleed over into nearby wells, completely invalidating the test?

Perhaps measuring the old well's depth with a weight and piece of string would provide me a clue to whether it's a shallow/deep well and help me to rule it out?

Would the owners (or the well-drilling people) have had to somehow register with some government agency?

Could I somehow use a metal detector to find this supposed new well?
 

Master Plumber Mark

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metal dectetor

the meat ldectector and a shovel
are probably your best bets...

also a divineing rod made from two lengths of
metal coat hangers work pretty well to find a
source of water...


probably the best thing to do , if you are still on
speaking terms witht he fellow you bought the property
from is simply to call and ask him.
 

Speedbump

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Right, the metal detector won't work.

The fact that you have a so called well in the yard under a stone indicates an old cistern.

With two pipes going from the pump to a well indicates a deep well system. Which means the water level is less than 25 feet. So forget the cistern unless someone hooked it up all wrong.

The only thing that will find the well if it is buried very deep is a shovel and a shoenstadt locator. I have one that is almost 30 years old. I have found wells that were buried as deep as 12 feet with it.

You will see surveyors walking around with one in their hand a lot. It is a yellow stick (yellow some time back) with a square box on top about 3 feet long. It is a magnetic locator and finds property pins and wells because of the strong magnetic field they put out.

If you can borrow one with it's owner you may save yourself a lot of digging.

bob...
 

Marc

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Thanks for the advice everyone.

probably the best thing to do , if you are still on
speaking terms witht he fellow you bought the property
from is simply to call and ask him.

Unfortunatly, what he gave me was the best he knew, so that won't help.

With two pipes going from the pump to a well indicates a deep well system. Which means the water level is less than 25 feet.

Less than 25 feet? I'm not sure I follow you there.

My father-in-law is a surveyor, I'll have to see if he has access to a shoenstadt locator.

Thanks again.
 

Speedbump

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I'm sorry I should have said more than 25 feet. Which would rule out the cistern being the water supply.

If he is a surveyor, he should have one or be able to put his hand on one.

bob...
 

Marc

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speedbump said:
I'm sorry I should have said more than 25 feet. Which would rule out the cistern being the water supply.

Ah. I was thinking there was some jargon I was missing, like it was measured weirdly or something.
 
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