New Home construction dilema: 2 wells 1 very good 1 bad

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stevowpappas

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Hi Guys,

I really hope someone out here can help me out. I am in the process of building a new home on 10 acres. When I purchased the property it had an AG well that produces 125 gpm @ 70' located on the very opposite end of the property than the building site. The house sits about 1100 feet from the Ag well. I had a well pump guy come out and he quoted me around $9000 to get the water from the ag well to the house if I do my own trenching (I have an escavator). Because of the cost I decided to drill another well closer to the house. Well we picked a bad spot because the best it produces is 3.5 gpm @ 104'. Which is not enough to supply the 2 story 4 bedroom home.

So I had another guy quote a storage tank setup for the new well and he says it will now be $11000. Plus the cost of this new well which was $4700. Basically my plan to save money by drilling a new well closer to the home has completely backfired.

Does anyone have any ideas on what the best possible solution is here? What well do I use? How can I do this without spending so much money? I am very handy and can do the work myself if needed. Are these quotes on setup ridiculously high? I can see how the well that is 1100' from the house would be expensive because of having to run power all the way down to that well. It has previously only been run on generators so to get permanent power there could cost quote a bit. But the $11000 on using the new well with a storage tank is confusing me.

Here is what I believe my best options are

Option 1:
Use old well and just pay for the cost of the wire. Downside to this is cost of wire and having to pipe my water 1100'


Option 2:
Use new well. Purchase 1500 gallon or larger storage tank, put a 5gpm submersible pump to feed the tank controlled by a float valve, have the tank feed the house with a jet pump which is controlled by a 86 gallon pressure tank and 30/50 pressure switch


Or maybe you guys have a better idea? Any input would be greatly appreciated.
 

Craigpump

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Actually, 3.5 gpm works out to 5040 gallons per day. The problem you are going to have is that you don't have sufficient water for peak demand.

What is the reason for stopping at 104'?

Personally, I'd get your well contractor back out there and drill down to at least 500-600 feet, you might pickup another couple gpm and not need the huge tank. The worst that can happen is that you won't pick up additional water and now you have a 750-900 gallon storage system in the ground rather than in your yard.
 

Valveman

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I haven’t drilled a well since 1998, but those prices sound high. If it cost $4700 to drill 104’, I can’t imagine what they would charge to go 600’.

I also can’t imagine 1100’ of pipe and wire costing $9000 if you dig the trench. A 1 HP pump would take #6 wire at maybe $4 a foot. Conduit and water pipe maybe $1 per foot each. So that is $6600 before any labor.

You could also use smaller wire if you add a couple of transformers. One transformer at the house can boost the voltage from 230V to 480V. Then all you need is 1100’ of #12 wire instead of #6. At the well you mount another transformer that reduces the voltage from 480V back to 230V before going down the well. This could cut the price for wire in half or better.

I can find 1500 gallon water storage tanks for about $700. A jet pump or submersible may cost $500 and can be controlled with a $400 Pside-Kick using a CSV (much better than 80 gallon tank). Add in another $1000 for extra fittings, float switches, controls, and a little cushion, totals $2600 for the material to use a storage tank. With a 2 story house, I would use a 50/70 pressure switch, so a submersible in the storage tank would be better for the higher pressure than a jet pump. There is a lot of labor involved setting up a storage tank system, but I still can’t see $11,000.

Maybe you need to get a couple more quotes.
 

stevowpappas

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Going deeper with my well is not an option I am I'm a high lava flow area and the deepest wells I ever hear about are at 250'. The driller did go to 140' and said there was too much pressure on the casing and he had passed the water so he came up to 104' and perforated 30' of it. Wells run about $40 per ft in my area

Do you guys think I could set the storage tank system up myself? I will research a Pside kick right now
 

Reach4

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Going deeper with my well is not an option I am I'm a high lava flow area and the deepest wells I ever hear about are at 250'. The driller did go to 140' and said there was too much pressure on the casing and he had passed the water so he came up to 104' and perforated 30' of it. Wells run about $40 per ft in my area

Do you guys think I could set the storage tank system up myself? I will research a Pside kick right now

How big is the casing? Depending on the static water level, you might have 50 gallons of water in the casing if you put the pump at maybe 135. Combine that with some water in a pressurized storage tank, and your well capacity may be good enough. You would need a controller that would sense that the pump was starting to suck air and shut down the pump for a while. Taking a shower while doing laundry or running the dishwasher should be no problem. Drawing 2 big baths at the same time would be a problem.

This does not keep you from putting in a 1500 gallon tank and pump system later if you find that spacing out your big water requirements is too much trouble.
 

stevowpappas

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6" casing. I am in far northern california. The water was sitting at 23' below surface.

I do have plans for a big garden and lawn. I understand that the 3.5 gpm is sufficient to run my home with the right size pressure tank but not enough to run what I plan to do with my yard.
 

Valveman

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You would be surprised how much irrigation you can do with 3.5 GPM. You just have to start early and stay late. That is another good thing about a CSV. You can just run a 3 GPM sprinkler, the CSV turns your pump into a 3 GPM pump, the pump doesn’t cycle on/off, and your irrigation can match your well production.
 

stevowpappas

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but is it enough to run the home, garden, and lawn all at the same time? I really dont want to have to worry about it.
 

Craigpump

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You said the well is 250' deep with a static of 23'. Typically the pump is set 20' off the bottom or in your case at 220' so you have a usable 200' of water available which equates to 300 gallons. Combine that 300 gallons with a yield of 3.5 gallons and you have more than enough for domestic purposes.

**********************************************

Went back and reread the post....
You're barely going to have enough water to meet peak demands without a storage system. Years ago when we drilled in San Diego County, we almost always set a 1500 gallon tank with a booster system.

I've drilled a ton of wells over the years but never heard of there being too much pressure on the casing.
 
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Reach4

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It can be done if you plan you're usage carefully.
Planning usage carefully conflicts with "I really dont want to have to worry about it."

I was wondering about some valve that would only pass water to the irrigation taps if the pressure was (for instance) 54 PSI or higher. That still doesn't prevent stevowpappas from worrying about the well running dry. But then the well could run dry with a 1500 gallon tank if the irrigation took 5 GPM continually.
 

stevowpappas

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My well is 104' deep. The deepest wells I have heard about in my area are 250' but they could not go that deep in the volcanic area I'm chose

I believe a storage tank is my best option to where I do not need to worry about water consumption and most affordable in my case. Could someone please tell me if this is the best way to go about a storage tank:

Submersible pump located in well (controlled by float valve) ----> storage tank ----> booster or submersible pump (controlled by pressure 50/70 pressure switch) ------> Pside kick or pressure tank -----> house
 

Justwater

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I've never heard of having too much pressure on the casing either. Got lots of wells with 600+' of PVC in them. Think that might be one of those "if u can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bs" things. If one is using a storage tank, extra pump, with a well on limited production is 11k vs using a well with plenty of production with just 1 pump at 9k.. why is the storage tank the best option? fwiw I think those prices are insane. You could do either by yourself for much much cheaper.
 
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