I have a problem with my well. It's not giving me enough water. With the recent addition of my father being here more often it's creating a bit of a shortage. The well has always come back it's just slow. Here is my solution to the problem without having to drill another well. Give me your thoughts as well as alternatives.

Install a 100 gallon holding tank and fill it. Then put a switch on my well pump to refill the tank by coming on in intervals. Say the pump runs 5 minutes then shuts down for 2 hours on a 24 hr cycle. At night maybe more frequent to ensure we start out with a full tank everyday. I guess this would require a second pump at the holding tank.

Thoughts?

 

I think you're gonna have to figure out how much water yu use everday

 

The simplest solution is install a larger diaphram storage tank. Start off by telling us what size tank you have now. If it's diaphram or not. Size and depth of pump/well. If you are using an old storage tank, the diaphram may have ruptured and the whole tank could be filling up. That would make for a longer supply time, but takes forever to fill back up. Also what size water line is going to the well? 3/4, 1, 1 1/4" are the most common.

 

Sound to me like he is drawing straight from the well and want to have an extra storage reservoir to draw from

Your idea sounds fine to me *****.

Other than rationing or scheduling use,that's about all you can do.

 

Mil1ion, yes that's it exactly I don't have a tank now. I'm drawing straight from the well.I take it from the responses that they do make a tank for reserving water. Anybody know a ball park cost for something like this?

jake00, how do you do that? Is there an average formula for the different things people do? (wash, showers, etc.)

Thanks to all the replies so far, oh and the well is 175 ft. deep but I think that is the overall depth. I have a submersible pump not sure the pipe dia.

 

Mt parents well pumps free flow into a 1000 gallon tank, then they have a sears pressure pump to supply the pressure tank. On their well we installed a start and stop circuit that uses probes in the storage tank to turn the pump on and off. You could use the same circuit and set the probe length for a cycle time suitable for your well recovery. Also you should have a low water shut off above your pump to prevent your pump from running dry.

 

http://www.amtrol.com/wellxtrol.htm
Well-X-Trol

You install this tank in line with the water supply after the pressure switch. You just t off into it. The wx-202 would be fine for what you need. Before getting into complicated and expensive, not to mention unnecessary "custom" systems. If your pump was adequate before the increase in usage, then a pressurized storage tank is all you need.

Here's 2 at Lowes that will work.
20 Gallon Vertical Pressure Tank
36 Gallon Pressure Tank

for under 200. you can get the 36 gal. 130 for the 20.

 

Ok guys, I need to start over (with much embarassment ). I do have a 20 gallon well-x-trol tank and it's after the pressure switch. It's date is 5/21/00 on top in marker. I take it that's the installation date. When I had the submersible well pump put in he must have put that on too. I can fit a 119 gallon tank if I have to in the space.

Today I installed a low pressure cut off switch. I didn't have one before. I'm starting to learn more about all this. Although I got soaking wet when I took the old switch out. A friend told me to watch out for the water but HOLY COW you can't prepare for that! It was like a volcano eruption. Then instinctively I grabbed for my drop light so I could get the heck outta there and got SHOCKED! God I love plumbing!

So, possibly a bigger tank?

LilDuke, 1 1/4 line, 6" well, 175 feet overall depth, I'm going to check the static level soon.

 

You're on the right track with the storage tank solution and you're very wise in installing a low pressure cutout. Every well should have a low pressure cutout as you never want to run the pump dry (burns them out). Typical storage tanks I've seen are 1,500 gallons and are underground with a pump. I seem to recall someone spending $3k having one installed five or so years ago; if you do some of the work surely the cost will come down. BTW, if you don't like resetting that low pressure cutout they have them that will automatically reset after a user defined amount of time. Rather nice to have on a cold, rainy day . BTW, that current pressure tank you have now is there to not only store small quantities of water, but also to make sure the pump doesn't come on every time you flush a toilet or whatever. Start/stops on a pump shorten the life. Therefore, maintaining the correct air pressure in the bladder on your pressure tank as well has having it set up correctly to begin with (high/low pressure settings) are important. It's been awhile now, but I remember a buddy of mine thinking he was doing the right thing by having four pressure tanks. I can't remember what the problem was, but it didn't work so well and he would up getting rid of two of them. These were like 50 gallon tanks, pretty big ones.

*FWIW, in my neck of the woods you generally can't get a loan on a property with a residence if the well won't deliver five GPM. A few lenders want to see seven. If you're in this situation, the tank is an investment. Lenders here accept the tank as a solution to the problem of low output wells.

On edit:

Depending on how old your well is and how your state keeps records, you might be able to see the well log report for your well. In WA, the well log for the entire state is conveniently on line . Just a quick visit to the Ecology website and you are on your way. This will (should) show well depth, casing size, lined (or not), liner material, liner perforations, surface seal (commonly bentonite), soils encountered during drilling, depth when they hit water, if they kept drilling and got more water the depth and GPM, final static level and flow in GPM. Odds are they used a crappy air test to determine flow.

 

Great thread. I've learned a lot reading it. The low pressure switch sound like a good ides. I know I don't have one. My well has a pressure tank but I haven't ever checked it. How much air pressure should be in there? When you drain the tank should you relieve the pressure also?

 

*****, before you go spending anymore money, there are a couple of tests you can do to check out the equipment. First off, turn the power off to the well pump. Then open a faucet as close to the floor as the diaphram tank is. For example, you can drain all the pressure out from the kitchen faucet, then go to the basement and open the drain valve off of the tank. Then use a tire pressure gauge and check the air pressure in the diaphram tank. It should read about 2 lbs lower than the cut-on pressure of your pump switch. I.e. if your well comes on at 30lbs and off at 50lbs, your air pressure in the tank should read 28lbs. You check it by removing the blue cap on top of the tank that sits off to the side, not the one directly in the middle. If the pressure reads under 5lbs, you may be able to just inflate it to the correct pressure and be on your way, however you also may have a ruptured bladder.

The second thing you can do is check how long it takes for the tank to recharge. Turn the power back on to the well pump, making sure all the valves are closed that you opened previously. Once the well has fully recharged, open the valve coming off of the pressure tank and drain the water out till you hear the relay in the pressure switch turn on. Close the valve and watch the needle till the relay turns off. It takes around 30sec to a minute to stop. the lower the time, the more gallons per minute you have. i.e. if it takes 20sec you have at least a 10 gpm well. If it takes 2 minutes, you probibaly have a clogged pick up screen.

Also, if you are getting air in your supply, i.e. air comming out of the faucet when you turn on the hot water, you may have a leak in the supply somewhere. Do you have a water softener system or whole house filter installed?

 

LilDuke, I will do all that and get back to you. I'm a little busy tonite but I'll get to it soon. I've never had a problem with air in the lines. I don't have any water treatment systems currently but will be looking into that. Main reason for that is my new Ford is black and my water leaves spots if I wash it at home. Of coarse I tell the wife it's for our health. Also I did check the pressure on the tank, but I didn't drain any lines first, that was yesterday when I did that. It was at 28 pounds and the old switch was 30/50, same as the new one.