Well dilemma

[BidderConstruction]

I need some advice.

I have 2 wells, well #1 is close to the cabin. It is 300' deep, well log says 80' of static with 1/2 gal / min. The previous owner had this place as a 3 season cabin, and a small commercial garden down on a lower bench. This well did not produce enough water, she aborted this well and had another well drilled closer to her garden, well # 2 is 500' feet horizontally and 100' down the hill from the cabin. It is at 80' and 8 gal/min with 50' static. Water has iron in it.

I moved in here and plumbed the cabin with well # 1. Great water, low iron and there was enough flow initially. We are in here perminatly now, with a couple of bedrooms added on and a family of 4 the well runs dry occasionally. The recovery rate is much slower than .5 g/min. What can I do to keep using this well?


It has been 2 months since we ran out until yesterday but we had ran out several time during the summer. So we are close to making it work with what we have but we are quite conscientious about water conservation.

I will put on a cycle sensor at a minimum.

There is a 40 gal pressure tank. Would a larger tank help, or would it be better to have a storage tank in the system?

There is a shallow water line trenched from the lower well to a hydrant near the cabin she had installed to service the cabin. It freezes later in the winter. If well # 1 is not going to be adequate, can well # 2 be pumped into well # 1 and use well # 1 as storage? I know that is kind of taboo potential contaminating well # 1 but ...

I can trench # 2 properly to the house and use it as a primary or a secondary source.

Any other options?

I'm in the process of trying to figure out the replenish rate of well # 1.

Thanks for your input

Kelly

 

[Reach4]

You will want to consider a cistern (storage tank) for well #1. Since freezing is a consideration, you have to deal with that. The cistern could be in the basement, you could have an underground storage tank, or maybe you could have a heater. Since you say "cabin" that seems to imply intermittent use. I don't know if you could have an above-ground tank that you would heat only when you are occupying the cabin. A pump in/near the cistern would supply pressure to your pipes. Don't have a basement? That would make a nice, but expensive, addition to the cabin if your soil is digable.

If you opt for water from well #2, there are some effective backwashing iron filters. You would want to get the water tested to see what you are dealing with. My iron filter is a single upright tank and a smaller solution tank. Some like chlorine injection (and then chlorine removal) systems. They take more space, but they can deal with a wide range of things.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Valveman]

I wouldn’t mix water from well #2 into well #1. But you could easily tee well #2 in to the feed line to the house, and it would come on when well #1 can’t keep up or is out of water. You simply stagger the pressure switch settings to make this work.

Set the pressure switch on well #1 to 40/60, and the pressure switch from well #2 to 30/50. That way you will get most of your water from well #1. Only when you use so much water that the pressure drops to 30 PSI will the second pump come on. Well #2 will come on at 30 PSI when you are using more water than the pump in well #1 can produce, or when the Cycle Sensor shuts off well #1 because it is out of water.

This way you don’t need any extra storage tanks, booster pumps, etc. and you will only get high iron water a small percentage of the time.

 

[Craigpump]

I would do exactly what Valveman suggested.

 

[BidderConstruction]

Thanks for your responses.

To tie into the lower well #2 would mean taking out half a dozen trees and trenching up aprox 800 lineal feet with slopes up to 50~60 %. Easy digging mind you, mostly sand and then clay at the house and I do own a back hoe. Then buying a pump to pump an extra 100 feet of head and water line up to the house. Trenching down my gravel driveway 50 feet as well. It is definitely a bit of an undertaking and money is tight right now but totally doable.

What are the cons of filling up well # 1 with water from well # 2?

Thanks again.

Kelly

 

[Craigpump]

I have never seen one well pump into another, plus, you're still going to have the issues of trenching, piping and another pump etc that you outlined. In addition, you're setting yourself up to have two wells that will possibly have iron issues.

Have you considered deepening the existing 300' well or having it hydrofraced?

 

[Valveman]

Wells don't work like a tank. If you poor water down a well it will just get dispersed into the aquifer, and disperse iron as well. But if you have a line from well #2 to well #1 you could tee the lines together at well #1 instead. Looks like the same amount of trenching will be needed to tee into the line at well #1 as to dump water from well #2.

 

[LLigetfa]

Wells don't work like a tank...

Not to put too fine a point on it, but they might to a degree. SOmetimes a well may be top fed and the bottom portion is just storage. More so with larger bore or dug wells. Some folks have water delivered by truck and dropped into their well.

That said, I would not put water from the bad well into the good one. I would setup the two pump system as valveman described and only draw from the bad well when the good one cannot supply enough water.

 

[BidderConstruction]

there is an existing shallow line from well#2 up to the house 80' away from well#1. ( good till January) I am hooked up to it right now via a garden hose with about 20# pressure into the system. Well 1 is closed so I can measure the static level after 48 hrs of replenish time since it ran down to the pump.
Is a 6" casing 1.6 us gal/ foot?

 

[BidderConstruction]

Thanks again, I'm just trying to make an informed decision with all your help.

 

[Reach4]

there is an existing shallow line from well#2 up to the house 80' away from well#1. ( good till January) I am hooked up to it right now via a garden hose with about 20# pressure into the system. Well 1 is closed so I can measure the static level after 48 hrs of replenish time since it ran down to the pump.
Is a 6" casing 1.6 us gal/ foot?

1.47 gallons per https://water.unl.edu/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=3581&name=DLFE-1.swf
Many say 1.5.

I agree with those who say that pumping water from the flavored well into the good water well is a bad idea.

 

[DonL]

Static at 80 feet , 300 foot deep well and .5gal output sounds like you need a new pump.

I am no pro, but have laid a lot of pipe. She likes it.

Contaminating a well may be illegal.


Good Luck on your project.

 

[BidderConstruction]

I only have about 50' of static in this well. Approximately 45 gallons of storage when full and maybe 4~8 gal/hr replenish Rate.
I do not have room for a second storaged tank.
Would a larger pressure tank with the cycle sensor hooked up give me a little more water safely available? The pressure tank would act like a cystern and the cycle sensor would safely keep it topped up. I only run out of water when we use excessive amounts. Once since the summer and half a dozen times during the sprin summer.
Would this work?

 

[LLigetfa]

...maybe 4~8 gal/hr replenish Rate.

GPH or GPM? A larger pressure tank represents a larger load on the well and a larger tank cannot be relied upon to provide more storage. Murphy's law states the tank will be almost empty just when you need a lot of water.

From what you describe of the place, I find it hard to believe that you don't have room to bury a large storage tank somewhere.

 

[Craigpump]

I get asked about static storage tanks all the time. My first response is always, if you can't fill a small tank out of your well, how do expect to fill a bigger one?

 

[Valveman]

A storage tank can be filled at 1 GPM or whatever the well can produce. It just might take a long time to fill. Without a CSV a pressure tank is filled at the volume the pump can produce, and you could pump the well dry before the pressure tank is full.

 

[LLigetfa]

A storage tank can also be filled at max GPM rate in repeated cycles until it is full. One simply draws down the water in the well until the Cycle Sensor detects the low level and shuts off the pump for a specified duration, allowing the well time to recover.

 

[DonL]

A CSV would be nice.

Jack and Jill could do the job also when the power goes out.


Good Luck on your project.

 

[Craigpump]

When the average person uses 75-80 gallons a day, and there is a family of five with a 1/4 gpm, it's hard to make those numbers work.

Forget trying to sell the place with a big, sweaty tank in the basement or garage.

I'd much rather see the customer spend their money on fixing the problem, not putting a band aid on it.

 

[LLigetfa]

First off, I suggested burying a tank. Second, the OP said 1/2 GPM. That adds up to 750 gallons per day.