Well water?

[avboiler11]

Wasn't sure where to put this thread, figured this was as good a place as any...

Wife and I are planning on putting a small (<1000sq ft) cabin on our property in northern Clark Co. I'm investigating costs involved with hooking up to the local water & electrical utility, but using well water has been brought up to me multiple times.

Well water would be new to me, but I'm sure plenty of people here use it.

Anybody have a WAG what kind of well depth we might be looking at, as well as estimated costs for a well water system? Any significant gotchas? We would be using septic for waste.

Thanks!

 

[gregr]

Wasn't sure where to put this thread, figured this was as good a place as any...

Wife and I are planning on putting a small (<1000sq ft) cabin on our property in northern Clark Co. I'm investigating costs involved with hooking up to the local water & electrical utility, but using well water has been brought up to me multiple times.

Well water would be new to me, but I'm sure plenty of people here use it.

Anybody have a WAG what kind of well depth we might be looking at, as well as estimated costs for a well water system? Any significant gotchas? We would be using septic for waste.

Thanks!

I had well water at the lake. Well was already drilled when I bought the house, so no idea what it costs to drill one. But, depth will depend on the area, and obviously, how deep they have to drill to find water. If you can at all, be sure to have a manual hand pump added, because if you lose electricity, of course, the well pump doesn`t work.

 

[indykid]

Depth of wells seems to be pot luck. When I built my first house, we had a well drilled and the guy doing the work was thrilled to hit a very good aquifer at 68 feet. He said that about a mile away he had to go 200 feet before getting good water. Most wells at least back then were around the 75 foot mark, but again it is pure luck as to whether you drill over a good aquifer.

Septic system was at the far side of the property, and they did a perc test to verify that the ground would properly absorb the runoff. We ran an extra few feet of leach field to make sure we had sufficient dispersal.

Sorry, can't help with the cost of the well, but as I remember it the cost was based on how many feet down they had to go.

 

[churchmouse]

Quality of the water will be an issue with some wells.
Friends who have wells describe issues with taste/solids etc. You may need some kind of filter/softener to have the smells put in check depending on where you are.

 

[dudley0]

Last well I had quoted was around 5k. Can't recall the distance now. Wouldn't be the same company where you are anyhow.

If you plan on a SHTF situation a well is the way to go, in my opinion. The pressure may not be as good until you tweak some things, but you know what you are getting. Have had many times where there was a boil advisory for city water in a few towns I own properties. Better make sure you know when that happens if you are going to be back in a cabin trying to escape the world.

Whole house filter will take care of the solids mentioned. If you hit a sulfur pocket you will get smells. I use a charcoal filter to remedy that for the most part.

If you plan to stay a long time the cost of the well will be easily absorbed. If you love the higher pressure and less maintenance then the city water is the way to go. Won't have to stockpile as much emergency water with a well and a manual pump. Pain in the winter, but alas most things are.

 

[hoosierdoc]

My well in Edinburg was around 160 feet. I think we paid under 10k for it. I had a pressure tank and could bump the pressure to 120 psi. Do 't let them tell you city water is more powerful

we just re-opened an old well at 36' or so. Not sure of flow rate but it powers my irrigation system so I'm happy

 

[dudley0]

You ran your well at a constant 120 psi? It is a wonder you had any pipes or fixtures left.

 

[Expat]

I was told when we bought our house that our well was only 30 feet. Some people around here will even drive their own well point down/

 

[Leo]

As mentioned, quality can be an issue. I lived in a place in Northern Indiana where you could hit plenty of water at about 35 feet. The trouble was that it was high iron and smelled like rotten eggs, and tasted even worse. It took 300 ft plus to hit good water. Even with the good water, a good two stage filter system is worth the money. Area well companies will probably have a pretty good handle on what you need.

 

[SkinNFluff]

I just got a quote for my property last week. $13k for everything. would be just shy of 500' deep, include a full liner, 1hp pump, and everything ready to go.

 

[spec4]

When we had a well put in the contractor said it's a crap shoot how far you have to go and what you get. He said one well could be fine and the one on the next property could be full of sulphur and other stuff.

Another place we lived at in the country had a well that was loaded with sand. Contractor said he could dig a new well but we could have the same problem. The solution was a whole house filter I had to change filters on several times a year. Changing filters was a real PITA. It was the worse part of living there.

Given the choice I would take municipal water without hesitation.

 

[spencer rifle]

Never put your well downgradient from your septic. But, as they told us in hydrology class, drinking your own sewage isn't that bad. It's when you start drinking other people's that you get in trouble.

We're on a northern Indiana well, and, though the water is softened, we still have to run drinking water through a filter. We'll never be short of iron or calcium in our diet.

 

[BigMatt]

Our well in Henry County is full of iron. We are lucky because a lot of people have a pretty bad sulphur smell with their water.

The solution to our drinking water peoblem was an undersink reverse osmosis filter. It came with a pressure tank and a filter bank that mounts under the sink. It was about $100 and I installed it in a couple hours.

It isn't like the old cartridge filters that will fill your glass in 3-4 minutes. It works great and gives good water flow. My wife is really picky and she drinks the tap water now.

 

[Lee11b]

Check with a couple well drillers before you drill. My dad found this old driller that knew the areas in Kosciusko County. All wells hit water at 120 to 140 feet around here....BUT this guy said for an extra $1200 he'd drill to 220 to 240. At 225ft and at least 46 years old, my dad has a sink in the garage that has hard cold water going into it. There's not a rust stain in it, 46 years later!!!! When Kinetico came out to change his reverse osmosis filters, they found they had been in there 29 years!!!! The tech said most homes it's a yearly to 2 year life cycle with most filters.

 

[ghitch75]

if you want the best sediment filter and no changing filters.......i have had one for 3 years and my well water is crystal clear.......we had fine sediment that would be in the toilet bowl that i couldn't get rid of with cartridge filters.....

MORTON® WHOLE HOME WATER FILTRATION - Morton Salt

 

[chubbs]

We put a new well in a few years ago. I had quotes from 3500 to 5000 to do it. They hit good water at 87 feet and replaced all equipment for 3950. Which included 1/2 hp well pump, new blater tank, etc..

 

[avboiler11]

Municipal water is about 3600' from my driveway, and then another 400'ish from there to the homesite; I've been given a WAG of $15k but have not yet consulted with a contractor to sharpen the pencil on estimated costs.

Ballpark of $5k for a well is certainly more palatable on the checkbook...assuming, of course, the water coming out is quality...

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Municipal water is about 3600' from my driveway, and then another 400'ish from there to the homesite; I've been given a WAG of $15k but have not yet consulted with a contractor to sharpen the pencil on estimated costs.

Ballpark of $5k for a well is certainly more palatable on the checkbook...assuming, of course, the water coming out is quality...

If you hire a competent well-driller, and he installs modern equipment, there may be no difference in water quality between your well and the municipal supply. If you install a filter and a good softener, your well water might even be better. Very few municipals soften their water, and all municipals add either Chlorine or Chloramine.

If you want to guarantee that you will always have water, no matter what, then the well is really the only choice. Like others have said, you can have an extra drop-line added for a hand pump (easy or hard, depending on the depth to water), and if you have a generator, you will have water as long as you have fuel for the generator.

 

[NKBJ]

If you are thinking shtf then you might consider looking at the low volume solar powered pumps developed in South Afrika for supplying rural villages from extremely deep aquifers.

 

[NKBJ]

Hey by the way, if you put in your county you can run through the listings and find out what to expect for depth and get some inkling on water quality.
https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/dowos/WaterWell.aspx