This was the year of the well. Our well water was cold, refreshing and there was plenty of it. Still, ten years in use and with granular ledge and silt showing up in the house filter, having the water tested by a certified lab seemed to be a good idea.
The test results showed coliform bacteria at the top of the acceptable range and uranium levels the same. All other 50 or so indicators were well within the normal range. By the time the test results arrived, there was no further accumulation of ledge or silt and the water carried no odor or discoloration.
The well is 425 feet deep, the pump was parked at 400 feet, the water level was 80 feet and the casing that passed through surface soil and into bedrock is 26 feet. The well bore diameter is 6″ and water flows into the well at a rate of 2 gallon per minute. At any given time, the net volume of water in the well was 470 gallons. In addition to the well there are the supply lines and a 40 gallon storage tank, plus a hot water tank. All faucets and shower heads are restricted to 2 gallons per minute, all toilets are low flow. We never ran out of water.
My concern was that the presence of granular ledge, silt and coliform and uranium readings were symptomatic of a leak where the casing joined bedrock, possibly caused by winter ground heave causing a separation. A search began for a well maintenance service, the company that put the well in had gone out of business. The first service walked into the basement, shook the storage tank to the sound of sloshing water, and declared a need for a replacement. After asking me how old the tank was, coincidentally, that was the expected life for that type of tank. I told him I would get back to him, waited until he and his truck were at the end of the driveway, grabbed the air compressor and preloaded the storage tank. It has not lost a single PSI since.
Three companies advised there was a drought and that they were incredibly busy and could not service any new customers. Two companies wanted to install filtration systems, but did not do actual well maintenance. One well service had a huge backlog, but was very helpful is assessing the problem and suggesting another service. The recommended service didn’t pan out, but the information was helpful. A well company was found that advertised all services from filtration services to well drilling and everything else in between and they could come out that afternoon.
In discussion, the maintenance guy concluded there was a leak at the casing, which caused ground run off complete with coliform and uranium to enter the well. The solution was to pull the pump and place a sealing sleeve at the union of the casing and bedrock, then reinstall the original pump. Using a large powered reel on the service truck, and pulling up by the water and electrical lines, the pump came up approx 5 feet and stopped. Lots of wiggling, aligning, lowering and raising, the water line and wires came up, but the pump elected to stay in the well, just about where it started.
The well is 6″ in diameter, the pump is 4″ in diameter and ten year old holes bored in bedrock experience shifts, modest cave ins and rocks shifting out into the bore. We ended up with a new pump, a new water line and new wires. The cost was twice as expensive as the sleeve that was to be installed. I wanted to rehabilitate the well by pulling the new pump, drilling through the original pump, hydrofracking, and then purging the contents; rock, ledge, pump pieces, poly pipe, and wires. It was then that we found our full service well service outsourced all but pump service. The company he uses for subcontract is a well known, large drilling and service operation. Unfortunately, one of a handful I did not call initially. We stopped any further work and took time to gather our thoughts.
We were getting no place fast. The pump depth had been decreased by an unverified amount, we had the same flow rate, but we introduced more contaminates with the pump installation and the casing seepage remained. We began our search for a service that could perform all of the work required. The first overture was to the well drilling company that provided helpful, credible information. Unfortunately, they were not set up to break up the old pump or do fracking and their lead time was out nearly three months to install the sealing sleeve. We called the full service company our guy would have subcontracted and got a quote from them; awe inspiring, including $1000 to video the well to the bottom and a total cost just lightly less than the cost of drilling a new well. This all occurred in the June through August period and we were now closing on November.
Water flow was good, the house filter no longer filled, but the water leaving the faucet had a distinct order. We switched to bottled water for drinking and cooking and laid out a plan to shock chlorinate the well. Carefully following information provided by the state of Maine, we prepped, procrastinated, then went at it. Unfortunately, after running the water as instructed and checking for the presence of chlorine in the water test strips, there was no trace, no smell of chlorine just the same slight odor that suggested bacteria as the cause. We continued running water, waiting for the smell of chlorine; no dice and then the water stopped… the day before Thanksgiving.
We called the service that installed the pump, no return call. We tried the full service company and they did not want to participate because we were not an existing customer, although they were willing to schedule a video well inspection three weeks out. They were finally convinced to come out that afternoon after we agreed to time and one half payment. Two service techs showed up, one long in experience, one long in enthusiasm, both polite and professional. A check of pump electrical showed a short, pulling up the recently installed pump showed that a sock filter placed over the pump, blocked and ran the pump dry. The pump was overworked and gave up. New pump required.
With water from the new pump came the strong odor of chlorine, which went on for five days, even when running water from the storage tank and outside hose outlets, both at a moderate rate. The chlorine also disinfected the new pump and anything else touched by maintenance. The tech also said there was not casing leak, the well was in very good order and producing well. He recommended no further maintenance be performed. So, essentially, we could have chlorinated the well at the onset of this process, left the old operating pump alone and saved ourselves a truck load of money. Sometimes too much information leads to too many theories and too many overly complicated resolutions of minor problems.
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