got a well drilled finally

Ikarus1

Ikarus1

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After 2 years of hauling water out to our place from a few miles (Mom's well water) or just up the street (Nasty Locust city water), we have finally sourced water of our own.

Been hounding this guy for a month but they've been so busy, it took 2 months from initial contact to hole in the ground. But the crew was great!
Found water at 240ft, hit 5GPM at 265 and at 290 we have 15GPM (enough for 3 houses, or a BIG homestead) so I am estatic.



I'm also ten grand lighter in the wallet. But hey, inflation is gonna make that Fed Fiat worthless sooner or later, and without water there is no life on a farm.

We are now waiting on the pump and well guy to come and make it pump water. Since its an ag well, no permit needed and I get to be my own water test tech. Dad tested ans sold water treatment for years so ita no big deal

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22Rimfire said:
Seems like a deal these days.
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Very much so. Neighbor up the street paid $14K for a 300ft well turn key.

And the Reich machine in the picture above costs around $1M, and they burn around 200 gal of $5 diesel a day so not exactly a cheap business to get into
 
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Congrats! That is a huge step and it sounds like you got a very good deal, especially in today's economy.
 
Pogue said:
$10k for 290’?! I need to get into well drilling….
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We bought this house 3 years ago and a the well is at a around 350ft i think. I'm told they spent 10k a few years before we bought the house. We're about the only well around that isn't contaminated with GenX.
The house itself? technically my wife and I contaminate it with Gen X by our very presence!
 
Guy came today and pumped some grout around the wellhead. When that dries, I'm going to go ahead and pour a 3" concrete pad and build an "outhouse". Jill says she wants it to have the half-moon door and all :D

But yeah, we are pretty happy about it. And with the shenanigans they're playing out west with water (putting meters on people's private wells and billing them for pumping groundwater) we are glad this one is technically off the books.
 
Do you have to have a registered farm ID number to get an ag well?
 
DurhamDad said:
Do you have to have a registered farm ID number to get an ag well?
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We didn’t need one in Rutherford county. The only difference from my understanding is the county doesn’t test it after you drill it.
 
Our pump guy came out Saturday and hung the 3/4hp pump at 250ft. When he hooked it up to his genny everything worked flawlessly. Water came out crystal clear. He let it run about 15 minutes, and then I managed to snag a bit of water in a bottle and give it a taste test. No sulfur smell, a mild mineral taste, and no grit. I will eventually send a sample to a local lab to get tested. But honestly my nose and taste buds are my laboratory. My dad sold and installed water softener systems for about 12 years and we have seen and smelled alot of nasty rotten hard water. It would seem we have been blessed with a good and plentiful water supply. After 2 years of hauling water in 275 gal totes, that chapter has taught us to use less and appreciate clean water more than ever.
 
Ikarus1 said:
Our pump guy came out Saturday and hung the 3/4hp pump at 250ft. When he hooked it up to his genny everything worked flawlessly. Water came out crystal clear. He let it run about 15 minutes, and then I managed to snag a bit of water in a bottle and give it a taste test. No sulfur smell, a mild mineral taste, and no grit. I will eventually send a sample to a local lab to get tested. But honestly my nose and taste buds are my laboratory. My dad sold and installed water softener systems for about 12 years and we have seen and smelled alot of nasty rotten hard water. It would seem we have been blessed with a good and plentiful water supply. After 2 years of hauling water in 275 gal totes, that chapter has taught us to use less and appreciate clean water more than ever.
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We had to go 605 ft and then waterjetted it. It only gave us 2 gallons a minute. Our well guy suggested hanging the pump at 450 feet which leaves us with 675 gallons in the casing before we run dry. Saved us 4k in 6/3 wiring.

Even if we have empty every trough on the farm we only use 400 gallons. Which we wouldn’t need to mess with water for a few days.
 
Cowboy said:
We hopefully get our well next week. The guy came out and marked it two weeks ago and then had a stroke.
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Patience pays off. We had this company come out 2 months back, quote us, and then crickets for weeks. I finally called and the lone office lady had been out of the office on a healthcare leave. We were almost ready to call another local company when they called, then showed and drilled this awesome hole in the earth for us. Then 2 weeks later our pump guy informed us that the alternate person who we were gonna use just died and he was the only licensed well driller at his firm. In other words, we chose well and would have been screwed had we not been patient
 
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Ikarus1 said:
Patience pays off. We had this company come out 2 months back, quote us, and then crickets for weeks. I finally called and the lone office lady had been out of the office on a healthcare leave. We were almost ready to call another local company when they called, then showed and drilled this awesome hole in the earth for us. Then 2 weeks later our pump guy informed us that the alternate person who we were gonna use just died and he was the only licensed well driller at his firm. In other words, we chose well and would have been screwed had we not been patient
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We are waiting on building permit still anyway and can't get electricity until then. Hopefully next week as well.

We have well and septic permits just need building permit to get everything moving. Camper life is actually pretty good. Now ask me in two weeks when I have shoulder surgery climbing up 5 steps with no rail.
 
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Cowboy said:
We are waiting on building permit still anyway and can't get electricity until then. Hopefully next week as well.

We have well and septic permits just need building permit to get everything moving. Camper life is actually pretty good. Now ask me in two weeks when I have shoulder surgery climbing up 5 steps with no rail.
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Yeah man this will be our 3rd winter in the 5th wheel, and I cant ever imagine going back into massive debt for walls and a roof that I have to pay massive property taxes to actually 'own'. My wife and youngest son have adjusted extremely well but we need a bigger kitchen for sure. Now that we have water on-site, I will doing an outbuilding for laundry and possibly a reloading / workbench. The farm had become our main focus because its our "bunker" or ark if you will in these insane times. Growing food and learning to be more self reliant is possibly the best lifestyle I have ever seen and experienced
 
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Ikarus1 said:
Yeah man this will be our 3rd winter in the 5th wheel, and I cant ever imagine going back into massive debt for walls and a roof that I have to pay massive property taxes to actually 'own'. My wife and youngest son have adjusted extremely well but we need a bigger kitchen for sure. Now that we have water on-site, I will doing an outbuilding for laundry and possibly a reloading / workbench. The farm had become our main focus because its our "bunker" or ark if you will in these insane times. Growing food and learning to be more self reliant is possibly the best lifestyle I have ever seen and experienced
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We are building on 5 acres. It's a small house only 1064 sqft. But we will have 120 acres behind us and the owner is rarely home. I've got permission to fish and explore their land already and it's awesome. The creek by my house runs into a large pond/water shed then down past my house. Can't wait to get to my land.
 
Cowboy said:
We are building on 5 acres. It's a small house only 1064 sqft. But we will have 120 acres behind us and the owner is rarely home. I've got permission to fish and explore their land already and it's awesome. The creek by my house runs into a large pond/water shed then down past my house. Can't wait to get to my land.
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Sounds awesome! We have ~11 acres but all our neighbors are farmers, homesteads, etc.
 
Ikarus1 said:
Very much so. Neighbor up the street paid $14K for a 300ft well turn key.

And the Reich machine in the picture above costs around $1M, and they burn around 200 gal of $5 diesel a day so not exactly a cheap business to get into
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There was a 690 (bigger drill) at a show this summer they were asking 1.4M for
 
Dang! I am at 400’ and only 4gpm. Water is excellent, but I have run it dry more than once, watering the lawn. I am much more aware these days and have not run it low since.
 
Pop N Shots said:
Dang! I am at 400’ and only 4gpm. Water is excellent, but I have run it dry more than once, watering the lawn. I am much more aware these days and have not run it low since.
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Oy, vey... I could tell stories about running the well dry. We were on "E" a little over a year ago, had no choice but to dig deeper.
 
Man I'm proud on y'all for getting a good yield on clean water. Especially @Cowboy , 100GPM is incredible.

Mine is so slow I had to add a 1000 gallon tank. And build a building for the tank. And build a controls system for the pumps. At least it's good water.

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WellCC said:
There was a 690 (bigger drill) at a show this summer they were asking 1.4M for
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If the well drillers are as busy as they say. Simple math.

average of $10k/well
working only 180 days a year.
$1,800,000 in earnings.

Taxes minus 35%
fuel minus 25%
labor minus $50,000 for 1 guy.
Add in all the write-offs and equipment depreciation.

Done right, you wouldn't retire poor that's for sure.
 
We are on county water here but our mountain place is 280’ deep at 5 GPM. A neighbor a few houses down is almost 800 ft deep at 2 gallons a minute. Things are a little different in the mountains than they are here that’s for sure.
 
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