Well drilling cost

[ApS]

Originally Posted by DickR

"...Perhaps I don't understand your current situation regarding the house pump: does it actually pull water from the lake up 30 feet? If so, that's some good pump, I'd say..."

1) I should have written that it's the sump pump that's 30 feet elevation above the lake.

The sump pump will be driving water downwards through the garden hose to drive a charge of water upwards to the house pump through the 1" water line—aided by gravity.

The house pump is located in the crawl space about six feet lower; still, it has to pull the water column from about 24 feet above the lake. That's why priming is the long process that I hope to shortcut this spring with the sump pump.

2) This Jacuzzi-branded ½-HP pump is our third: It appears to be of generic US manufacture. I liked the previous "micro" Gould pump, which gave instant and sustained peak pressure; unfortunately, it failed before its time.

At another lakefront location, I'm using a ½-HP Harbor Freight pump made in Italy. It has pressure switch issues, but is still OK after four years of use. Since the lift is only three feet there, priming is not the chore it is at Lake Winnipesaukee.

I looked into having a well dug ten years ago, and was quoted $8000 by a now-forgotten Laconia outfit. I looked at his new truck with its gold-leaf signage, and thought that maybe lake water wasn't so bad after all.

3) Wells have their own set of issues, as FLL has brought out. MtBE contamination from gasoline engine exhaust remains a problem in New Hampshire wells. An article I just stumbled upon suggests that naturally-occurring bacteria may be making lakewater less contaminated by MtBE than well water today!

4) One of our more fastidious visitors filled water containers from a Town water supply. Later that year, the Town sent out fliers with the water billings saying not to drink Town water!