Well Drilling

[Rondo]

You guys with the wells, how do you guess or find info on water under your property? A few of you say that there is no sewer charge , How did you get out of that? Gimma some well love.

[Duane]

They way my city utilities charge me for sewer is based on how much water I use. The more water, the more sewer. But if I drilled a well to suppliment the city water, the city would not be metering the well water and would not be able to charge sewer rates since they only know what goes down the drain by knowing what comes in the store.

A well is starting to look like a good deal now...... I'll call for estimates Monday!

[anonymous]

Some well water may require treatement before use. You may have to purchase equipment and consumable supplies to do this. Don't forget about the electricity to run the pump. Depending on your situation (water quality, the price you pay for water and sewage) a well could make economic sense or it could turn out to be a big hole in the ground.

[anonymous]

I looked at a mat last year that was using a well. The town had a meter on the well. So they still knew how much water was going in the sewer.

[anonymous]

I bought a Laundromat that has a well. I do not need to treat water and there are no sewer charges in my county.

The only thing that is required is once year I have to have Backflow Prevention valve inspected by certified professional. It costs me $75.00 to get it inspected and certified. My water utility company sends me a form once a year to get back flow prevention valve inspected.

I also have emergency switch over provision to switch to regular town water from well water in case if I have any problems with the well. So far I never had to switch over to town water.

My Water bill reads:
"Gallons of Water used = 0. Total Charges for the month $3.60."

I got tired of sending $3.60 check every month so I sent them $100 check few months ago. I will be running credit balance for next couple of years.

I LOVE IT.

[Rondo]

Buddy, do you have a detached pump house or is everything in your building? What estimate can you give me for the whole pump system and what are the main components to it? Be patient with me, I got a welll bug up my ass right now.

[anonymous]

Rondo,

You have to pardon me, the only thing I know is that in my office at the MAT in one corner, there are two blue enclosed cylindrical tanks with a pipe coming out and there is a pressure gauge on it. The only noise I here is a click to indicate pump/motor starting or stopping.

It is very quiet, the only thing you hear is a click once in a while. I do not see any pump or motor. I assume it is probably a submersible pump.

The well is somwhere in the back parking lot which is paved with no visible sign of any well and pipes are underground.

The most interesting thing is that along with the light switches there is one switch which shuts off the pump. It looks just like light switch. Every night we shut off that switch along with the light switch so if there is any pipe burst on any of the washers it won't flood the MAT. When I shut off that switch, it shut off the water in the entire MAT including the Bathroom.

I LOVE IT.

[NJ Jon]

Rondo -

You might be thinking of a "jet pump" setup. This has the pump above ground, and gets water by sending a small high pressure stream of water down into the well to push a greater volume back up. It works for shallow wells, but has its limits.

Submersible pumps can go several hundred feet down, and actually "push" the water up to the surface. Talk to your local well driller to determine what's best for your area.

Sometimes shallow wells can pick up contaminated ground water, and you won't know about it until you do a water test. The assumption is that the deeper water is more likely to be clean than shallow water, but this depends on a lot of factors, such as population, industries in the area, soil type, heavy argiculture ( read pesticides ), etc., etc.

Check it out carefully before you sink a wad of hard earned dough.

NJ Jon

[Rondo]

I just got of the phone with a well drilling outfit and he says that I should be able to get good quality water at maybe 120 gals. per minute. I got a lot of homework to do, but thing are looking up. Stay tune for updates.