What intermediate storage system is best for a residential low yielding well? Expected Budget?

[lowyieldwell]

Hello, first and foremost, thank you all for your helpful posts, very much appreciated!

Was hoping to get some input from the experts here in terms of an intermediate well water storage system. Such as, what type of system would be best? how much of a budget for this type of project? to build a DIY system or purchase a pre-made system?

Here are the details of the low yield well problems:
- Residential well drilled about 520 feet deep
- 1hp Goulds 5 gpm well pump set at 500 feet deep
- Well-X-Trol WX-205 pressure tank set at 40/60 PSI
- Pentek well pump protector installed
- Well static water level estimated at 470 - 485 feet deep
- Well yield estimated at 0.1 - 0.15 gpm
- Available installation area for an intermediate water tank - inside a garage (30 inch deep X 90 inch wide by 72" high)
- Well water is very hard with lots of minerals
- 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house (4 people)
- water saving devices installed on showers. The toilets have water-filled bags in the tank to lesson the water usage per flush
- top loading washer machine (1 load per day)

Considered hydrofracking the well but there is no guarantee this will work. Thinking an intermediate well water storage system is a safer bet that should certainly fix the running out of water problems in the house.

Looking for suggestions on what type of system to get? would buying the components separately and building a system be the lowest cost option? best performing option? Is it very difficult to put together as a DIY project?

Also considering buying a pre-built system, something such as this: http://www.wellmanager.com/wellmanager.htm
Costly, but appears to offer more of a management system which should not run the well dry over and over again (thus protecting the well from damage).

Currently the well keeps running dry which is most likely hurting the geology of the well (assumption being: fractures are exposed to oxygen when well water is drawn all the way down, thus the oxidation of hard water minerals could be plugging up the fractures, slowly lessening the yield of the well over time).

Thank you all for your help and suggestions.

 

[Craigpump]

According to the USGS, the average person uses 80-100 gallons per day. A well yield of .15 gpm is 9 gallons per hour or 216 gallons per day. The math does not work in your favor, putting in a storage system is not going to make your well any better, nor will it stop the minerals from drying out. You will have to figure out how to fill it, there will be more equipment to maintain and the potential is always there for a leak that damages your home.

If you were my customer I would recommend a Hydrofrac job, the more water injected into more zones greatly increases the success ratio. I've taken wells from 1/4 gpm to over 5 gpm. We did an irrigation well last year, a 9000 gallon zone Frac over 9 zones that we tested at 6.75 gpm prior to the frack that went to 21 gpm plus. Of course these are not the norm. Our goal is to get at least 1 gpm, that's 1440 gallons per day, more than enough for the domestic chores of a family of four.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Boycedrilling]

You haven't told us what area of the country you are in. The success of a hydrofracking job is highly dependent on the type of rock. It's much more successful in granite, an igneous rock, than it is in sandstone, a sedimentary rock.

Even though we call it hydrofracking, it is entirely differ than the fracking used in the petroleum industry. I don't offer that service, but I can explain it and how it works.

The problem you have got is the very limited amount of water you can presently pump. Assuming you have a 6" borehole, there is only 20-30 gallons of water stored in your well. It would have to recover 4-6 hours before you could pump that quantity again. You're only going to be able to pump around 100 gallons per day.

Now I've got a customer that has drilled 4 dry wells 400-600 ft deep. They haul water, he has two 55 gallon barrels in the back of his pickup, that lasts all week. They don't have power either. The run their house on a 1,000 watt Honda generator. Not my cup of tea, but they've been doing it for over 30 years.

 

[lowyieldwell]

Thank you for your responses. Location is northern NJ.

Regarding hydro-fracking, what is the typical cost to do this? What hydro-fracking company to use? do they need a certain size truck for a well 500 foot deep? The reluctance to hydro-frack is that nobody can seem to guarantee results, thus it may become wasted money spent.

 

[Craigpump]

There may be no guarantee on the hydro frac, but the alternative isn't guaranteed either. I don't know how much one of those well management systems cost, but it seems to me that it's more of a band aid than a repair.

I would ask the following of anyone selling hydrofracks;

How much water do you use?
How many sets will you do?
Single or zone frac?
Where do you get the water? (You don't want water pulled from a pond, stream, swamp etc)

 

[lowyieldwell]

How much does hydro fracking usually cost?

 

[Craigpump]

We charge a minimum of $3250.00. That includes initial yield test, permits, pulling pump, hydrofrac, reinstallation of pump and follow up yield test. Zones fracs and additional water are extra.