6 GPM well makes 1gp HOUR. Who is on the hook?

[ballvalve]

So the guy buys a expensive 5 acres, with a well guaranteed to make 5 gpm. The sleazy driller goes 200 feet and says 6 gpm. 2 years later when pumping starts, it craps out at 1 gpm. He did install a pumptek, so he probably knew he was an opportunistic optimist. [known for this game by the locals]

Owner deepened the well to 380' and now has 1 gallon per hour. Bad joke.

Million dollar house with water deliveries by truck.

Get the lot seller to pay for a new well? Deepen the existing? Sue the driller or both?

The guy had it witched and this driller found water at the only 2 spots a truck can get into. Lucky, huh?

[Plumber111]

Witched!

[Hackney plumbing]

How long was it guaranteed to make 5gpm from the date of install?

[Waterwelldude]

No one can sue and have a chance in the world of winning. No one can control nature.
The well (may) have made the 6gpm when it was drilled, but after two years, who knows what may have happened in the well.
Getting the seller to pay for a new well would be easier.
From the sound of it, the driller you talk about may not be a top notch guy.
It all comes down to who made the guarantee about the well, and how long it was guaranteed for.

[Texas Wellman]

6 GPM would be considered a dry hole here.

I have a saying : "Trust, but verify.".

[ballvalve]

FHA only requires 3 gpm for a loan. In the mountains its just a crapshoot for water. I have a few 60 footers that make 50 GPM, and the neighbor gets 2 GPM at 1000', after drilling 2 other holes.

Soon as I drill a well I start pumping it, usually on a timer, 15 minutes a day to keep it alive. Or weekly if on a genset.

I know the seller of the property, and I feel he will chip in for a new hole or a deeper one. Deepen or new hole?

[LLigetfa]

FHA only requires 3 gpm for a loan.

When I built my home, the mortgage company required 5 GPM. I bought the property with my own cash on blind faith and I paid to have the well drilled and tested. The test involved pumping continuously for just 4 hours. With those test results in hand, I got the financing I needed to build. After I built the house and turned on the water, I had problems and had to get the driller back. The well was never properly developed and I put up with a low producer for 12 years. Last year I finally had enough and I developed the well myself when I could not get the driller to come back. I more than doubled the output.

I think the only guarantee most well drillers will make, is that of profit. Like you say, it's a crapshoot. You could end up with 2 GPM at 1000 feet. Do you believe in dowsing? From what you say, there is still one other spot the driller can get his truck to. If that turns into a dry hole, your options are just reduced to one.

What's the success rate on hydrofracking in that area? I've read that bacteria can sometimes stop up a well and perhaps bleach shocking and/or hydrofracking can unstop it. Mind you, I've also read that bleach shocking can stop up a well, so who to believe?

[ballvalve]

No one seems to frack or shoot around here. Seems reserved for the oil guys around bakersfield and the coast.

We do get the benefit of incredible oilfield drill pipe and sucker rod sold as scrap.

This guy has a neighbor with a unused 5gpm well, I suggested he buy into that one and meter it.