I believe the pump guy had me buy a new pump prematurely and now I may have to buy a second pump. I need your help in knowing if this is actually the case. Here are the details
I have a well that is 200 feet deep with a static water level of 40 ft and the original pump was sitting at 180feet. For the 7 years I have been living here we have ran out of water probably once a month on a day where we did a LOT of laundry or had many guests up and many of us take showers in a short period of time.
The representative of the well company (turns out he is the pump guy for the well company) said they recommend fracturing the well first for X price. If the facturing did not help then they would take half of X price and put it towards digging deeper or digging a new well.
So they first measured my flow rate or refill rate... not sure which it is called, but basically they pumped water out with my pump and measured the well as it started filling up.
He said I have 1/8th of a gallon per minute (VERY LOW). He also said the pump I had was a 1/2hp 6GPM pump and was undersized for the depth. Meaning as the water got low enough then the pump couldn't pump it out. He said they would fracture the well, but we needed to replace the pump with a new larger pump. This made sense so I said ok.
They fractured the well and put in a 3/4HP (I think 6GPM) pump. I was then given an invoice for the pump and pump pull. The invoice was from the pump guy who was the representative of the well digging company although he had his own company. A little confusing as I didn't know another company was involved, but no big deal.
He said he would come back in 3 days to check and see if the fracturing worked by measuring the flow rate. During the discussion something was said that made me think that if the facturing didn't work and we had to dig deeper then I may have to get a different sized pump then what he put in. So I questioned him and asked if we had to dig deeper is it possible that I would have to buy another pump. He said yes so I asked him if he was just going to swap out the pump and take the other back. He said no that I would have to buy a second pump.
At this point red flags went up in my head and I was wondering why he replaced my existing pump at this point without knowing if the fracture worked or not. I didn't want to argue with the guy at that time as I wanted to do some checking on things before I confronted him on this.
I then began educating myself on pumps, pump design, pump curve charts, friction loss, and so forth. And everything I have found leads me to the understanding that he should have NOT replaced my existing pump until we knew what the fracturing did... ESPECIALLY with the knowledge that we may have to simply replace the pump again after digging deeper.
I agree that the 1/2 HP pump was undersized for the depth it was at (after studying pumps and so forth), but it was perfectly fine to use to test if the fracturing and for me to use the few days waiting for the test and the few days waiting for him to get out to dig deeper if necessary. Heck I have been using it for 7+ years this way.
I have since dialoged with him to determine why he sold me a pump without him first determining what the fracturing did for the well. He got mad at me and simply said my pump was not seized properly. My point was that by doing this I may have to turn around and buy another pump once they dig the well deeper. If the well doesn't produce higher flow then my only choice will be to put a pump lower to gain access to the retained water and at that point I may have to go with a different pump.
I have talked with pump manufacturers and another well / pump guy and they have all said they would have not replaced the pump (unless it was dead) until we know what the fracturing did under these circumstances.
Am I correct? Should he have waited so we would know exactly what pump we would need depending on whether the fracturing worked or having to dig deeper????
At this point I have not paid the pump guy yet and they have not dug it deeper yet.
I would like 1 of 2 things to happen, but the pump guy won't even listen.
I would like to drill deeper and then based on the results have the correct pump (which could be the one in there now) based on the results after drilling deeper. IF the pump has to be changed after doing the drilling and we have to go deeper or the flow rate changes drastically then I would simply like him to replace the pump with the correct one and I would pay for the new pump and he take the other back. I understand he can't re-sale that pump, but ultimately I believe it is his mistake. That would be my preference, BUT I am even willing to go with a second option.
Even though I believe he has made a mistake... if we have to replace the pump again I am willing to pay for both pumps if he does NOT mark them up at all. He still gets his pump pull charges ($200) per pull (not sure if that is good or bad price), but at least I would not be paying for markup on 2 pumps. In the end I will still be spending more money than had he wait, but I wouldn't be paying what looks like a $200+ markup on the pump. He was charging $699 for this 2 wire 3/4hp pump and everything I have found was much cheeper. So if he would agree to just charging cost then I would pay and we get on with the show.
BUT... he wouldn't even let me share the 2 options that I could live with. His last parting words were I am coming up to the house to pull the new pump and put your pump back in and we are done. Then he hung up on me. That's been a couple of days and haven't seen nor heard from him so now I am just waiting and trying to get in touch with him.
Any advice would be appreciated. And the lesson learned so far is to EDUCATE myself before every letting someone do this kind of work or any work at my home.
Thanks for your time and help.
G.
I have a well that is 200 feet deep with a static water level of 40 ft and the original pump was sitting at 180feet. For the 7 years I have been living here we have ran out of water probably once a month on a day where we did a LOT of laundry or had many guests up and many of us take showers in a short period of time.
The representative of the well company (turns out he is the pump guy for the well company) said they recommend fracturing the well first for X price. If the facturing did not help then they would take half of X price and put it towards digging deeper or digging a new well.
So they first measured my flow rate or refill rate... not sure which it is called, but basically they pumped water out with my pump and measured the well as it started filling up.
He said I have 1/8th of a gallon per minute (VERY LOW). He also said the pump I had was a 1/2hp 6GPM pump and was undersized for the depth. Meaning as the water got low enough then the pump couldn't pump it out. He said they would fracture the well, but we needed to replace the pump with a new larger pump. This made sense so I said ok.
They fractured the well and put in a 3/4HP (I think 6GPM) pump. I was then given an invoice for the pump and pump pull. The invoice was from the pump guy who was the representative of the well digging company although he had his own company. A little confusing as I didn't know another company was involved, but no big deal.
He said he would come back in 3 days to check and see if the fracturing worked by measuring the flow rate. During the discussion something was said that made me think that if the facturing didn't work and we had to dig deeper then I may have to get a different sized pump then what he put in. So I questioned him and asked if we had to dig deeper is it possible that I would have to buy another pump. He said yes so I asked him if he was just going to swap out the pump and take the other back. He said no that I would have to buy a second pump.
At this point red flags went up in my head and I was wondering why he replaced my existing pump at this point without knowing if the fracture worked or not. I didn't want to argue with the guy at that time as I wanted to do some checking on things before I confronted him on this.
I then began educating myself on pumps, pump design, pump curve charts, friction loss, and so forth. And everything I have found leads me to the understanding that he should have NOT replaced my existing pump until we knew what the fracturing did... ESPECIALLY with the knowledge that we may have to simply replace the pump again after digging deeper.
I agree that the 1/2 HP pump was undersized for the depth it was at (after studying pumps and so forth), but it was perfectly fine to use to test if the fracturing and for me to use the few days waiting for the test and the few days waiting for him to get out to dig deeper if necessary. Heck I have been using it for 7+ years this way.
I have since dialoged with him to determine why he sold me a pump without him first determining what the fracturing did for the well. He got mad at me and simply said my pump was not seized properly. My point was that by doing this I may have to turn around and buy another pump once they dig the well deeper. If the well doesn't produce higher flow then my only choice will be to put a pump lower to gain access to the retained water and at that point I may have to go with a different pump.
I have talked with pump manufacturers and another well / pump guy and they have all said they would have not replaced the pump (unless it was dead) until we know what the fracturing did under these circumstances.
Am I correct? Should he have waited so we would know exactly what pump we would need depending on whether the fracturing worked or having to dig deeper????
At this point I have not paid the pump guy yet and they have not dug it deeper yet.
I would like 1 of 2 things to happen, but the pump guy won't even listen.
I would like to drill deeper and then based on the results have the correct pump (which could be the one in there now) based on the results after drilling deeper. IF the pump has to be changed after doing the drilling and we have to go deeper or the flow rate changes drastically then I would simply like him to replace the pump with the correct one and I would pay for the new pump and he take the other back. I understand he can't re-sale that pump, but ultimately I believe it is his mistake. That would be my preference, BUT I am even willing to go with a second option.
Even though I believe he has made a mistake... if we have to replace the pump again I am willing to pay for both pumps if he does NOT mark them up at all. He still gets his pump pull charges ($200) per pull (not sure if that is good or bad price), but at least I would not be paying for markup on 2 pumps. In the end I will still be spending more money than had he wait, but I wouldn't be paying what looks like a $200+ markup on the pump. He was charging $699 for this 2 wire 3/4hp pump and everything I have found was much cheeper. So if he would agree to just charging cost then I would pay and we get on with the show.
BUT... he wouldn't even let me share the 2 options that I could live with. His last parting words were I am coming up to the house to pull the new pump and put your pump back in and we are done. Then he hung up on me. That's been a couple of days and haven't seen nor heard from him so now I am just waiting and trying to get in touch with him.
Any advice would be appreciated. And the lesson learned so far is to EDUCATE myself before every letting someone do this kind of work or any work at my home.
Thanks for your time and help.
G.