plumbing / shallow well ideas

[dirttracker18]

We have run into limited rain in the past year and a half in this area and we have had to fill our well up often. Usually once a month but sometimes a little more.

My question is this, I would liek to put something on the top of my shallow well cover that I can open easily (read not freeze in winter) put a hose through and dump the water in. Something that can lock would be an asset as well.

Perhaps they even make something for this but I have not seen it around but I am not a plumber.

Needs to be corrosion resistant (ABS would be nice or stainless)
Easy to open in winter (no freezing like something threaded might)
Lockable is a big plus (do want just anyone dumping stuff in my well)
Easy to attached to the plastic well cover

For reference my set up looks jsut like this

Thoughts?

 

[kbs2244]

You are puting water INTO a well??

 

[dirttracker18]

You are puting water INTO a well??

The well is only 18 feet deep. Under normal condition I couldn't run it dry if I wanted too.

However two years of way below average rainfall means often the well cannot keep up with demand.

So yes, when it runs out I laod my 200 gallon water tank into my truck and drive to a water distribution location just on the city limits. I have a card that allows me to get water there. It cost about $2 for 200 gallons of water (makes you think twice about buying that bottled water doesn't it!!!)

I then return home and dump that 200 gallons into my well. It is like a buffer for me. I have water to use and the well can recover while I use the city water I dumped in.

You cannot do this with a drilled well (normally) but with a dug well you can. The up side to my dug well is great water as far as clean and tasty. The downside is you stand a chance of running it out during dry times. The downside to drilled around here you run the chance of getting water that smells of sulfur (to some extent, some are minimal some are strong).

 

[Milton Shaw]

How thick is that ABS cover. You could use an electrical knock out punch and put a 2" pipe ****** in it and then screw on a cap. To secure the ****** use some electrical ring nuts like are used for entrance service. Might take some epoxy and seal the whole thing up. I know a lot of areas that are having shallow well issues from drought this year. Hope you get some soaking rains soon. I know the NE part of the USA would love to send you some of the 24 inches of rain they have had in the last month.

 

[Lippyp]

What about a car fuel filler, get a marine one in stainless, put it on an 90 degree elbow so water can't leak in and the lock then can't get full of water and freeze up. Failing that what about looking for the kind of fittings they use on plastic tanks in industry.

 

[Garage5.9]

What about a cam lock but instead of a fitting just get one that's caps it off. You could also put on a pad lock

 

[Garage5.9]

 

[kbs2244]

I guess it makes sense in your situation.
I have to say it is a new one to me.

What kind of top do you have now?
The casing tops the put on pitiless drilled wells have an air inlet that could be modified to work both ways.
(Lots of screening to keep out bugs, etc.)
They come in various diameters.

Then a hose hook up to fit what ever you have on the truck tank.
When you put the water into the well the air it displaces comes out the vent.
When you take water out of the well the air goes the other way.

 

[MScott]

Since a well gets its water from permeable wall structure, and the fact that you have low water levels means that the ground water level has dropped below the bottom of the dug well, I do not understand how the water you are adding does not just flow out of the well and into the ground. AFAIK, a dug well is not a sealed unit so adding water to it should not maintain a supply in the well. You need to either dig the well deeper (to the ground water level or drill a well.
I know that when I was a kid, our family had a dug well and every so often we would have to climb down into the well, fill buckets with dirt from the bottom and haul it up by rope until we reached the lowered water level.

 

[Frank The Plumber]

I'm watching this thread because a few things don't make good sense to me. However, not all things are the same in all places so maybe I will learn something.

I think the best source for a locking device may be your well pump, well service company. If what ever you are doing works, I would suppose that others have sought to achieve the same thing and perhaps a market has been made for a product for this.

Worst that can happen is they are as puzzled as me about all of this, which may be bad seeing as how they would be the local experts.

 

[dirttracker18]

I'm watching this thread because a few things don't make good sense to me. However, not all things are the same in all places so maybe I will learn something.

I think the best source for a locking device may be your well pump, well service company. If what ever you are doing works, I would suppose that others have sought to achieve the same thing and perhaps a market has been made for a product for this.

Worst that can happen is they are as puzzled as me about all of this, which may be bad seeing as how they would be the local experts.

Damn Frank

I was waiting for you to chime in with a solid solution. I was going to PM you soon if you hadn't dropped in soon.

What is so puzzling? Never heard of someone adding water to a dug well? The nearby city added water fill stations for just this problem. We had never had an issue until last summer. Until then I could use all the water I wanted without concern. We talk well issues around the fill station during really dry times. Gets busy there during those days. August had no rain and since we are still recovering the water table from the dry year last year we have had to haul water again.

The well wall is not permeable. The water comes up from the bottom so added water stays in as we never go "dry". We just get below the foot valve. That being said I talked to a guy a the fill station yesterday that has a dug well that leaches back out so he fills a small amount every day while I can dump 400 gallons not think about the well for a while.

 

[rodm1]

I'm puzzled buy this thread. But why not hand drive a well in the bottom of this one and use a pump to fill this one up? That way in winter you just flip a switch.

Or forget about filling this thing up and and use it as a well pit?

 

[luvit]

We have run into limited rain in the past year and a half in this area and we have had to fill our well up often. Usually once a month but sometimes a little more.

fresh water holding tank:

i grew up in a large famlily. there were 5 females and we had a dug well that well would dry-up quickly.
my dad placed a fresh water holding tank in the basement.
i don't know what size, but he chose the largest one that would fit through his basement door.
there was an external pump connected to this tank, so the well-pump would feed the holding tank and another pump and pressure tank fed the showers (all fixtures, actually).
.

• simply put: the holding tank allowed the well to recharge on it's own
  he never had water hauled to his well again.

.
i would do this, but it may take $800
.

 

[theoldwizard1]

What is so puzzling? Never heard of someone adding water to a dug well?

Ahhh .... NO !

The well wall is not permeable.

Well that partially explains why adding water works. Curious, what is the non-permeable material on the sides ?

The water comes up from the bottom so added water stays in as we never go "dry".

It still seems odd that adding a couple hundred gallons of water won't seep down and out !

 

[dirttracker18]

Funny I was just talking to a guy at the fill station who's neighbour did thaty but he buried a 1000 gallon tank underground between his well and his house. He also added a fill pipe up from the tank incase he needed to fill it.

I have also heard of people digging a second well near the first and using the added well to suplement the first. Basically running a line very low between the two. The water table remains the same so you are essentially doubling your available water.

The tiles in my well are concrete, yes semi permeable but meant to keep the water from infiltrating near the surface where potentially containminated surface water is.

i am assuming the water stays in due tot he pressure form the surrounding water table. I have no evidence of this but none of my neighbours have an issue with added water running out.

 

[isaac338]

If the water level falls below the foot valve... why go to the hassle/expense of adding some kind of fitting at the top of the well for water ingress, when you could just extend your drop pipe to keep the foot valve below the water level?

 

[dirttracker18]

If the water level falls below the foot valve... why go to the hassle/expense of adding some kind of fitting at the top of the well for water ingress, when you could just extend your drop pipe to keep the foot valve below the water level?

The foot valve cannot sit on the bottom. It would **** up sand and silt. It is only about a foot off the bottom as it is.

 

[scottybaccus]

I would think you are probably losing part of your 200 gallon deposit as it leaches out into the soil you can't keep wet.

Why wouldn't you set up a sistern and valve it into your supply line, shutting down the well and using the tanked water while the well recovers? No change to your well needed, just put a tank on a stand next to the house to allow gravity feed. It's been done this way for a couple of hundred years.

 

[dirttracker18]

If the water level falls below the foot valve... why go to the hassle/expense of adding some kind of fitting at the top of the well for water ingress, when you could just extend your drop pipe to keep the foot valve below the water level?

The foot valve cannot sit on the bottom. It would **** up sand and silt. It is only about a foot off the bottom as it is.

 

[kar650]

How much water do you use each month?

 

[dirttracker18]

I would think you are probably losing part of your 200 gallon deposit as it leaches out into the soil you can't keep wet.

Why wouldn't you set up a sistern and valve it into your supply line, shutting down the well and using the tanked water while the well recovers? No change to your well needed, just put a tank on a stand next to the house to allow gravity feed. It's been done this way for a couple of hundred years.

Had to check your location first. We have an issue with freezing. . I could do something underground but it is very cheap to just fill the well. It only costs about $4 to get 400 gallons. For the few times I have to fill it, it is hardly worth the expense for a holding tank or cistern.

If we have a good rain this fall the issue will go away. We usually have great recovery.