Well n00b here, seeking advice on my first well

[Mike Wong]

Hey all,
I'm curious what I should do (if anything). I'm building a house in Clover, SC that requires well water. Up to this point, I've been 'spoiled' with city water, so I've never had to think about drilling for a well.

The well drilling guys just called and said they've gone down 400' and are only getting about 1 gpm flow. As I understand, I'm shooting for a minimum of 5 gpm, ideally want 10-15 gpm from my well.

The operator told me that 400' would give me about 600 gallons in reserve, assuming the well filled all the way to the top, which seems unlikely at only 1 gpm.
Also, he told me that my water pressure has nothing to do with my flow rate. Which kinda makes sense since the pump is what pumps water into my house.

My questions are:
1) Is 400' depth enough, if the reserve is only refilling at 1gpm? Assuming I'll have less than 600 gallons on reserve?
2) Is the operator correct in saying the flow rate has nothing to do with the water pressure going into my house?

fwiw, the house is 3400 sq (neighborhood minimum); it's 4 bedroom, 3.5 bathrooms. And it's just me and my dog, for now.

Thanks!

 

[Valveman]

You just have to work with what you get. If the well is 400' and the static level comes up to say 200', you would have enough to supply the house. If the static level is lower, you should consider a storage tank like 1000 gallons, and a booster pump to supply that 1000 gallons to the house at any rate needed.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

You could start with just a suitable pump, but put a device on there to shut down the pump for a while if the water runs out. If the water does run out, you could then put in the storage system.

If you knew you would use a storage system, you would put in a 5 gpm 3/4 HP pump to begin with. If you want to try it without storage, at least initially, you would probably want a 10 gpm 1.5 or 2 HP pump.