Drilling a new well - any advice / suggestions?

[granolaeeter]

I am planning on having a new well drilled in a couple of months.

In the past I have always had pumps installed on existing wells but no experience with a brand new one.

I know that I want a submersible pump and I have already checked out the local well drilling companies and selected one that I feel is reliable.

I would like to know if I can have a manual hand pump connected as a back up to the regular electric pump in case I lose power?

Also, does any one have experience with solar pumps? This well would often not get used for a day or more - would solar be a waste of time and money for a pump that is not used every day?

Any suggestions or advice welcome.

[WRTN]

A solar pump depending upon the depth of the well may cost a lot more money than you intially had considered. *If you have a hand pump as a backup, that will be expensive enough and cover power loss unless you want to go off the grid with your well. *

In the event that you decide to go with a conventional well pump, I would STRONGLY recommend that you install a Pump Tech on the system. *

http://www.franklin-electric.com/Prod_text/item8.htm

http://www.wwpp.us/pumptec/pumptec.shtml

The Pump Tech will protect your well pump if it runs the well dry. *I have a Pump Tech on all of our wells and they have paid for themselves a 100 times over. *

I would also recommend you go with the largest water storage pressure tank you can afford. *The larger the tank the less cycling of the pump and the more steading and consistent the water pressure will be. *In addition to that, in the event the power goes out, you will have upto about 45 gallons (depending upon the size of the tank) of stored & pressurized water on hand. *

I also would recommend you filter the water and depending upon the test results of the water after the well is drilled you may want to treat the water as you filter it as well. *

http://www.aquascience.net/cartridge.htm

As far as well pumps, I suggest going with Myers pumps. *They are the best built and one of the most reliable/long last pumps in the industry. *

Will your well be on the same level a height wise as your home or will the water have to be pumped up hill? *Depending upon how many feet verticle the pump must push the water to your house, you may have to go with a higher pressure pump pressure switch so you will have adequate water pressure in your house. *I like Square D pressure switches. *

Multiply the feet in elevation by 0.434 or about 1/2 lb. to get the pressure drop.

It should be a standard requirement but make sure the well driller installs stainless steel well casing ALL the way down to bed rock.

Insist upon a Pitless Adaptor to plumb into the well casing. This will allow you to burry the water line directly from the well casing thus eliminating the requirement for a well house. This will also allow you to install the pressure tank and pressure switch in your house or other building (which may be heated) if you choose. This will also eliminate above ground water line installation. Below is a good diagram of how a well should be constructed:

http://www.aquascience.net/well_accessories.htm

Does your area have issues with sulfur water?

Good luck on the new well and hope this was not TMI. *

[AlchemyAcres]

Also, does any one have experience with solar pumps? This well would often not get used for a day or more - would solar be a waste of time and money for a pump that is not used every day?

Go here....
http://nemosolar.com/dcsubmersiblepumps

~Martin :)

[Harry_Chickpea]

The big issue with a well is to drill it where there is water. ;) I recently spent way too much money on a well that ended up being dry. Use someone with experience locating wells when siting yours. One trick that I learned after the fact is to look for trees in the area that have a lot of the limbs curving downward. Tree limbs are not only attracted to light, but to water, and if there is water in the ground, they'll tend to point downward, and trees that naturally need a lot of water will outgrow the ones that don't.

For me, living in an area where there is a fair amount of lightning, a jet pump on the surface makes more sense than a submersible. YMMV

[CarolAnn]

I have been told that well drillers can contaminate a new well with iron bacteria if they don't sterilize the bit.

I don't know if this is true or not, but you might want to read up on it:

http://www.nesc.wvu.edu/ndwc/articles/OT/FA03/well.html

I have no idea how they'd sterilize the equipment - it's big and bulky - but a driller might be able to answer questions about it.

[flatwater]

They steralized mine by poring in a bunch of clorox and it took 3 days buy pumping my well dry to get the tast and the smell out. The other consideration is make sure if the well is drilled close to the house , there is a way to clean up the sledge that comes out guickly because if it is granit they are drilling through , when the sledge drys , it's like concrete.
Flatwater