Bad day here. Our well went dry and thats the only water we have. Not sure what to do?? Got three kids and kinda worried about that whole situation! Wife is freaking out and says we need to move NOW. What do you guys recommend? Its a shallow well with pump in basement. Last few weeks the water has been different and lots of air in pipes. So i knew it was coming, just didnt think it was going to come this soon.
- Thread starter bigboreG
- Start date
retired farmer
Well-known Member
If you own the place, I would be calling a well driller. If you don't own, I would call the landlord and tell him if he wants next months rent, he better get me some water.
47fivewindow
Well-known Member
- Location
- Davidsonville Md.
did you look in the well and confirm it is not a bad foot valve or pump issue?
JohnDeereJimOhio
Member
Did it Go dry or r u loosing water some where and it's not recovering ? What's your gem? We had this issue and it was a toilet running non stop no one noticed
Good luck
Good luck
johndeere720diesel
Member
If it's a driven point well screw another piece of pipe and pound the pipe deeper until you get water
Lou from Wi.
Well-known Member
Might be the well point screen is pluged. WATER COULD BE WHERE THE POINT IS PLUGED WITH SAND. I USE TO SHOOT THE WELL WITH 22'S. bLOWS THE SAND AWAY AND ALLOWS WATER TO BE DRAWN BACK THROUGH THE SCREEN. jUST A THOUGHT. lou.
Wheat Farmer
Well-known Member
Lot of different types of wells. Just what do you have?
fixerupper
Well-known Member
Bigbore, don't you live in NW Iowa? Our subsoil here in NWIA is so darned dry it's going to take a long time to rebuild it. Pretty soon it'll be too cold to be able to park a tank outside the house. I've heard of people bringing in water to fill the well but that'll get spendy.
I get all of my spraying water from a hog site a mile and a half away. The well there is in a practically limitless vein and so far the owner doesn't want any money for the water I use. Is there anything like that in your area? A lot of farmers around here have 1500 gallon water tanks on wheels just sitting around this time of year. I had to haul in water 30 years ago or so when the line to the house froze. We had a cistern that I would fill with a few thousand gallons of water once a week or so. It was a pain to haul water in the middle of the winter but there was no other choice. Jim
I get all of my spraying water from a hog site a mile and a half away. The well there is in a practically limitless vein and so far the owner doesn't want any money for the water I use. Is there anything like that in your area? A lot of farmers around here have 1500 gallon water tanks on wheels just sitting around this time of year. I had to haul in water 30 years ago or so when the line to the house froze. We had a cistern that I would fill with a few thousand gallons of water once a week or so. It was a pain to haul water in the middle of the winter but there was no other choice. Jim
old
Well-known Member
- Location
- Camdenton Missouri
More info needed for us to help you much. The type of well it is as in sand point or drilled and cased etc. Also the type of pump system. You say shallow but that is a relative term depending on where your at. Where I live that would be around 25 foot but know of other places that would be 200 foot.
Janicholson
Well-known Member
Moving now would be the worst possible action. Well service is very common and can be costly but often isn't. If you own the house and it is new to you there may be a policy that covers this type of event. If it is a jet pump, it could be as simple as a piece of scale in the jet. If a piston pump, it could be leathers. We need way more info, but truthfully you need a well service company to analize it. It could be 100, or it could be 500, but it is not a deal breaker. If you are renting, it is a non issue. Jim
Based on your added responses it sounds like you have a rather shallow well - of which I know very little about when it comes to repairing shallow wells.
On deeper wells (80' to 100' type and pitless in type): I do know a quality well driller can sometimes clean and rehabilitate an old well before simply drilling a new one. Neighbor near me was having issues with their pitless well and the driller cleaned the well and did the "last resort" trick where the driller takes the drilling rig truck and cuts a slot in in the existing well casing pipe every few feet near the bottom which allows the casing to fill the well from alternate source veins. (I believe that you have to have a steel casing way down in the ground instead of plastic for this "last resort" trick to work since pastic might shatter when they try to slot it with their wedge tool - but do not hold me to it).
Still cost a few hundred dollars to have this done but much cheaper than having an entirely new well drilled and plumbed up in comparison which could be in the thousands of dollars depending on depth and distance from house.
On deeper wells (80' to 100' type and pitless in type): I do know a quality well driller can sometimes clean and rehabilitate an old well before simply drilling a new one. Neighbor near me was having issues with their pitless well and the driller cleaned the well and did the "last resort" trick where the driller takes the drilling rig truck and cuts a slot in in the existing well casing pipe every few feet near the bottom which allows the casing to fill the well from alternate source veins. (I believe that you have to have a steel casing way down in the ground instead of plastic for this "last resort" trick to work since pastic might shatter when they try to slot it with their wedge tool - but do not hold me to it).
Still cost a few hundred dollars to have this done but much cheaper than having an entirely new well drilled and plumbed up in comparison which could be in the thousands of dollars depending on depth and distance from house.
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
He's pretty well screw for 2 or 3 months, unless there's water to be had with a drilled well. fall is the driest time for water wells.
Had that happen in late August. My well was 265 feet deep. Screen plugged, they guessed, had done so 8 years ago.
Got the new well in service in October, 360 feet deep for this one. Water is easy to find here, finding sand course enough to pull from is the trick here.
Did not get the bill yet, but it will be a chunk.
They pretty much forced out the shallow wells back in the late 1960s here, way too easy to get some bad stuff in them. Everything is a deep well of 100 feet or more any more around here, and we are healthier for it.
Don't know what you have, if it dried up, or clogged up, or what, but don't think moving solves the problem, call the well guy and have at it......
Paul
Got the new well in service in October, 360 feet deep for this one. Water is easy to find here, finding sand course enough to pull from is the trick here.
Did not get the bill yet, but it will be a chunk.
They pretty much forced out the shallow wells back in the late 1960s here, way too easy to get some bad stuff in them. Everything is a deep well of 100 feet or more any more around here, and we are healthier for it.
Don't know what you have, if it dried up, or clogged up, or what, but don't think moving solves the problem, call the well guy and have at it......
Paul
Yes i am in NW Iowa. Been too dry for too long. Here is more info. The well is only 20 ft from the house. I own the place. The well is only at the most 2 ft in diameter, and it is not very deep. I would estimate prob 75 - 125 ft at the most. No more than that. I have never had it open, just going by what previous owner told me. It is covered up, not visible and will require digging to access the cover. The pump is in basement, old but works good yet. Pumps up to around 55 psi. The neighbors around me have to watch water usage also, one family to the west says they can only use the shower twice a day now, otherwise the well has to fill overnight before they can use it again. He says first time in 30 yrs they have had to worry about this. We are all on the same water table, and if this winter is dry again we will really be in trouble. Thank goodness i dont have livestock right now.
As to the moving thing, you guys know how women can be. They fret and worry and make the whole thing way worse than it needs to be. I am not going anywhere. Got a local guy coming in morning to assess the situation, we will see what happens. He knows the place and thinks it could be a bad foot valve, like someone mentioned.
waltdavies
Member
When we needed well work we call our well diggers who looked and acted just like Laural and Hardy. But we didn't have TV back then so us kids never of them. One day after we got a TV I saw them on it and yelled out Hey! The well diggers are on TV. They were a perfect match right down to the English accent and the big guy with his derby hat and cigar. I just wish mom would have taken a picture of them digging our well.
Walt
Walt
My estimate was $12,000, but they went 100 feet deeper than the estimate. Also need to close the old well, state mandate, probably another $2000. I had a water spigot put in as long as all the equipment was there, 50 feet away, so that will add up. Electrician and boring bills too. I'm figuring about $20,000 when it all get done.
Yes, wife freaked without water. We collect roof water in a cistern for the soft (hot) water so we still had something.
I had them bring 2000 gallons and dump in the barn cistern, got a small pressure pump and set in the basement, reverse fed the house from the cistern for flushing water. I had to go down to the ditch once a day, bought a gas pump, and drew 270 gallons of water from the ditch to water the cattle. So probably have $500 invested in those supplies.
Actually had things working a little too well; the well guys were swamped with work this fall, and I had things working so well they took 2 extra weeks to get to me, others were not able to get along without a well and needed service first.....
Paul
Yes, wife freaked without water. We collect roof water in a cistern for the soft (hot) water so we still had something.
I had them bring 2000 gallons and dump in the barn cistern, got a small pressure pump and set in the basement, reverse fed the house from the cistern for flushing water. I had to go down to the ditch once a day, bought a gas pump, and drew 270 gallons of water from the ditch to water the cattle. So probably have $500 invested in those supplies.
Actually had things working a little too well; the well guys were swamped with work this fall, and I had things working so well they took 2 extra weeks to get to me, others were not able to get along without a well and needed service first.....
Paul
We have friends whose well goes dry regularly during dry times. She has a big tank on the back of her pickup (the husband is pretty worthless unless it's something he wants to do) and goes to the nearby small town and fills it from the municipal supply, apperently pretty cheaply, and dumps it down the well. I've told her repeatedly to get someone out to clean or deepen the well so they don't have to do that. She seems happy enough to continue doing it.
Rollie NE PA
Well-known Member
Years ago our fire company was pumping water down wells during a drought. We had a 4,000 gal. tanker. It allowed the residents to use the bath room facilities
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