Water well problems and tenants

[Kyle D.]

I have a few properties that run on well water. No water bill for the tenant is great but being responsible for pump and well to operate properly could be stressful. Water pump could stop working anytime, nights and weekends.

Recently, I had a problem with a newly rented property. While doing laundry and showers, tenant would run out of water or pressure would get very low and pump would need to be primed. I tended to the problem immediately. I changed the pump, pressure tank and a few other repairs. I eventually brought in a professional. He says tenant needs to space out high or excessive use.

Has anybody had a problem like this? What may be excessive use to me may be normal to someone coming from county or city water usage.

[Mike Morey]

Kyle,

Do you know anything about the well such as depth (I'm assuming it's a drilled well but maybe you have a dug well) or rate of recharge? If it is a drilled well the well driller may have stamped the well cap with the depth or available flow in GPM (gallons per minute). If the tenant is using water at a faster rate than the well can recharge then yes, it will run out of water. If you don;t know the depth or recharge rate you can always dip the well casing with a long measuring tape (make sure it is clean). Just attached a heavy object to the end and drop it don until it hits bottom. It may hit the well pump first as that should be well above the bottom of the casing. You could always test the recharge rate as well by simply measuring depth as you use a measured amount of water and then calculate the volume using the drawdown and size of the casing. Hope this helps a little. Good luck. Mike