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Small Cabin Forum / Off-Grid Living / Well Pipe
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doglvr
Member
# Posted: 11 Sep 2020 08:17 - Edited by: doglvr
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Wondering if this would work? I had my well put in this week.....Less than 1/2 gallon per minute at 360' topic for another day. I am running 70 feet of well pipe from the pitless adapter to the camp. I only have 6"-1' in most places before I hit granite. Due to being so shallow I was hoping that insulating the well pipe in self sealing rubber foam insulation(6' strips) inside 3" pvc might help with freezing? I don't want to cover with too much fill unless I have to. I heard the air gap that would surround the foam insulation in the 3"pvc pipe would help with freezing but not sure if a foot of covering would be enough. I was also told to put blue board on top of the pvc?

Irrigation Guy
Member
# Posted: 11 Sep 2020 09:26
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What is your frost depth?

Brettny
Member
# Posted: 11 Sep 2020 09:46
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Less than 1/2gal a min..what do you plan on doing with that? I would abandon that well.

Irrigation Guy
Member
# Posted: 11 Sep 2020 09:52
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Quoting: Brettny
Less than 1/2gal a min..what do you plan on doing with that? I would abandon that well


1/2 gph is 720 gallons a day, more than enough for cabin use. He would need storage tank and some controls but it can be done and depending on where he is may be cheaper than new well that might give the same production.

As far as burying the lateral I would look into drain back system

Brettny
Member
# Posted: 11 Sep 2020 11:42
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Then after months of pulling that 1/2gal hr out of the well and doing all that work it trickles down to nothing.
Loosing 1/2gal hr on even a 3gpm well isnt much. Loosing that same amount on a extremely low producing well means no water.

doglvr
Member
# Posted: 11 Sep 2020 14:35 - Edited by: doglvr
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I have been told from others that 1/2 gallon a min is plenty for cabin use as long as it remains a consistent 1/2 gallon a minute. Cetainly not ideal but having to put in a reserve tank is the concern. I am hoping at 360 feet the static depth is high enough so I won't have to. Going to check on that this weekend. If not than a tank will most likely have to be put in or have the well drilled deeper which might have to be the case. Some wells in these parts have hit the 900' mark so if I can get a well at 1/2 a gallon a minute at 360' consistantly I am not going to get greedy. We are in the States largest drought on record so I am hoping it improves.

doglvr
Member
# Posted: 11 Sep 2020 14:38
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As far as the frost depth on the original question it is 4'-5' in our area.

Irrigation Guy
Member
# Posted: 11 Sep 2020 15:49
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What is your static depth to water? What depth is the pump set? What diameter is the cashing?

Aklogcabin
Member
# Posted: 11 Sep 2020 16:41
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Our well was perforated. The driller went past a producing water table but was not happy with the flow. He found water lower then came back n perforated. Basically an explosive charge blows holes in the casing to let that higher water enter the casing. Maybe ask driller ? The cavity that eventually gets created at the bottom of a well may also increase as the fines settle down. Your driller should have a pump available to develop this clear water cavity. They will pump water for a specific time then off n so forth. This pulls the fines out. In Ak I know of well , in fact ours to an extent. After an earthquake, like the 4.3 at six this am. Whole cabin shook pretty good. Well cavity collapse and have to be cleared again hopefully. We will get fine black sand sometimes but clears again. Part of owning a well. Good luck. That’s a lot of money in a hole to walk away from without checking options n hopefully continue to develop.

doglvr
Member
# Posted: 13 Sep 2020 08:10 - Edited by: doglvr
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I checked the static level yesterday and it was about 90'. It is a 6 inch casing. I haven't set the pipe yet but according to the calulations a 6 inch bore would yield 1.47 gallons per foot. That would give me a 132 gallons in the bore. Set at 20' from the bottom that would be 102 gallons. With 5 people at a camp for a weekend with low flow fixtures I have come up with these calculations.

Average person uses toilet 5x per day at 1.5 gallons per flush=7.5gallons

5 minute shower-12.5

hand washing- 1 gallon

Dishwashing by hand- 1 gallon

That equates to 22 gallons per person a day and 110 gallons per day with 5 people. There would never be more than 5 people at our camp staying for a weekend. Even at 1/4 gpm that would give me 360 gallons per day if I kept draining the bore. According to these calulations and that the well is consistent I am thinking I will be all set. If there is something I missed let me know.

Nobadays
Member
# Posted: 13 Sep 2020 09:23
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We haul all of our water, about 2 miles from a spring over a nasty rocky road. We have a 550 gallon cistern so saving water is a must or we end up making more trips to the spring than we want to. We rarely let the cistern get down more than 250 gallons before we refill it... our haul tank is 125gal so two trips. That 250 gallons lasts us roughly 2 weeks. If my wife is going to do laundry I might haul 1 additional load to cover that use.

You don't need a shower every day. I now folks in town get used to that but it's kind of a luxury if you don't have a lot of water... twice a week works for us, unless we have been working/sweating really hard. Five people recreating.... naw!

The old adage, "If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down, " saves a lot of water.

A "Navy shower" will cut the shower water usage in half. Get a shower head with a shut off on it, get wet, turn off the water soap up then turn it on to rinse off. Same with hair washing. No shaving... faces or legs in the shower.

There are other water saving ways, but you do have water that replenishes itself so just saving a little here and there will ensure you always have water coming out the spigot.

Heck... we'd take a half gallon a minute!

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