lovetoknow
New Member
Long time lurker here...I have found LOTS of answers to previous questions by searching the forums.
But nothing quite specific enough for my current situation. Sorry in advance for the long setup.
I'm just getting power to the site of my 1 year old well. There is no house yet on the property, but I do want to start irrigating (planting some trees this fall). Ready to install pump, tanks, etc. and need advice.
Wells in the area are commonly sandy/silty, so I used a driller with experience in the area.
Well was drilled with hollow stem auger. No drilling fluids used. Total depth - 100 ft. Bore hole - 11 inches, well casing - 4 inch PVC, solid cased from 0 to 20 ft, then slot screen (.020) from 20 to 100 ft. Annular space - 0 to 20 ft cement, 20 to 22 ft bentonite, 22 to 100 feet sand pack. The driller "surged" the well several times after the casing was down. He did a preliminary well test (6 hours @ 18gpm, did not have a larger pump on truck, unfortunately). Static water level - 18 ft. If I remember correctly, draw down was to 56 ft and held rock steady the for the whole 6 hours. He said production was likely well over 20gmp. Water started dark gray thick with silt and sand. Silt cleared up in about an hour, but very fine gray sand was present the whole time, although slowly decreasing. The driller recommended I call a local pump company to finish developing.
So I talked to two local pump companies with experience in my actual neighborhood and got conflicting advice.
One recommended a high flow production test to essentially "flush" the fines out of the sand pack. He said it would take a 35 to 50 gpm pump for 3/4 hours. Estimated cost - about $1000. (it's California so...).
The guy from the other pump company told me to save my money and just install my system with a sand tolerant pump (he recommended Gould's stainless). Since there won't be any residential use yet he figured the combination of irrigation, site development and building next spring would be plenty to develop the well to clean water. And didn't think a few months of sand would significantly shorten the pump life.
So my question is...which way should I go?
Thank you in advance for any insights that will help me make an informed decision!
But nothing quite specific enough for my current situation. Sorry in advance for the long setup.
I'm just getting power to the site of my 1 year old well. There is no house yet on the property, but I do want to start irrigating (planting some trees this fall). Ready to install pump, tanks, etc. and need advice.
Wells in the area are commonly sandy/silty, so I used a driller with experience in the area.
Well was drilled with hollow stem auger. No drilling fluids used. Total depth - 100 ft. Bore hole - 11 inches, well casing - 4 inch PVC, solid cased from 0 to 20 ft, then slot screen (.020) from 20 to 100 ft. Annular space - 0 to 20 ft cement, 20 to 22 ft bentonite, 22 to 100 feet sand pack. The driller "surged" the well several times after the casing was down. He did a preliminary well test (6 hours @ 18gpm, did not have a larger pump on truck, unfortunately). Static water level - 18 ft. If I remember correctly, draw down was to 56 ft and held rock steady the for the whole 6 hours. He said production was likely well over 20gmp. Water started dark gray thick with silt and sand. Silt cleared up in about an hour, but very fine gray sand was present the whole time, although slowly decreasing. The driller recommended I call a local pump company to finish developing.
So I talked to two local pump companies with experience in my actual neighborhood and got conflicting advice.
One recommended a high flow production test to essentially "flush" the fines out of the sand pack. He said it would take a 35 to 50 gpm pump for 3/4 hours. Estimated cost - about $1000. (it's California so...).
The guy from the other pump company told me to save my money and just install my system with a sand tolerant pump (he recommended Gould's stainless). Since there won't be any residential use yet he figured the combination of irrigation, site development and building next spring would be plenty to develop the well to clean water. And didn't think a few months of sand would significantly shorten the pump life.
So my question is...which way should I go?
Thank you in advance for any insights that will help me make an informed decision!