Finished my new well . Saved a Bundle

[Matthew Paul]

I recently had a hand dug well go dry , I had to bite the bullet and get a new well drilled .  450 feet .  I had 2 options , $16,100  turn key or  they drill just the well for  $12,300  ,and I do all the hook ups I chose the latter . So what was involved ...........

First was to clean up about 6 tons of snotty wet clay and sand  more than half was wet clay . I used the clay to fill the old hand dug well . The sand I saved to bed in the water line .

Second was to dig a 4 ft deep trench from the house to the well head  This was 80 feet long , had to go under 1 sidewalk and move stone out of driveway to be reused .

Third  was to lay in the water line and electrical conduit . ( I could have just layed the wire in the trench but  I prefer conduit )  And then hook into the old well line .  Then used a shop vac and sucked a string thru the conduit to pull the wire . Then pulled the wire to the well head .

fourth when all that was done , I used the sand to put on the pipe before backfill , then backfilled , compacted , and regraded the area and driveway .   

End of the first day 

The next day I had to dig around the well head  about 4 feet all around , Then cut the 12 inch outer casing  5 feet below grade , without cutting the 4 inch well casing .  Now there is mud between the 2 pipes which makes removing it very heavy . 

Now to put things together , Had to drill a 2 and 1/2 inch hole in the well casing for the pitless adaptor , then attach the adaptor to the pipe . Then run the electric conduit up along the casing and tape it so it stays in place .  Then attach the poly pipe to the pitless adaptor and ready to fill .   Then backfill and compact .

Next is unroll the poly pipe  ( not easy)  it goes all the way around the house , then tape and wire tie the electric wire to the pipe . After that its attach  the pump and the other part of the pitless adaptor to each end of the pipe .  Now you put on a metal tee on the end so it cant fall into the hole by accident .

Now the fun part , lowering 200 feet of pipe in the well with a 30 lb pump on the end . ( here I got the neighbor to help me so the pipe wouldnt kink )  Everything else I did solo .  The connection clicked in first shot . 

Hook up the wires and turn on the breaker , and we have water . 

Shocked the well with 3 gallons of bleach for the first time . Let the hose run for 2 hours while I cleaned up and loaded up . It was still cloudy . 

Total materials was  a bit under $700 . ( re used the old pump ) 

2 days labor . 

Savings  $ 3000 for 2 days of work .     

I have replaced well pumps before , but never did a complete hook up . It was rather simple and straight forward . Time consuming ?  yes .    Am I sore ?   hell yes .   Muddy ?   Oh yea , very .     But it was actually a bit fun , Tackled a project , learned something new , and saved a bit of money .