Simple water well cost

[jkslvr]

Finally might be getting some sort of bonus at work, and considered having someone drill a simple well on my land, nothing special. What came to mind was those turn of the century pump types. Just a water source. Just in case.

Anyone have any experience with the per foot cost of having a well drilled? Just a rough idea. I was told by a neighbor that it was about 200 feet to water.

Thanks

[theGinsue]

Whiel I can't help you with what the associated costs are, I'm glad to hear that you are looking to use a "turn of the century" pump.

From a survival preparedness perspective, the electric pumps are not the smart way to go. You (anyone) need some way to pump the water in case no electricity is available.

[Irving]

Solar jack pump.

[TFOGGER]

Solar jack pump.

Or a windmill.... they've been watering livestock for a lonnnnng time...

[theGinsue]

I agree that both solar and windmills provide the ideal solution (both are very quiet and utilize the resources we have plenty of here in CO - sun and wind. I'd be more inclined to go with the windmill as we always have wind but some days aren't sunny enough to get much charge on the solar panels (then again - I may not have any idea what I'm talking about. I'm sure plenty of folks on this site will tell me how successful their solar panels are for them. But, what I've seen first hand with my buddies solar panels during hunting season is that on very cloudy days they don't charge his batteries as well.).

The problem with using a windmill isn't the lack of wind, but the moving parts; they will eventually wear and break.

I think the best solution is a combination of both solar and windmill.


ETA: Ref Stuart's comments below: The good thing about wind power is that the wind loves to blow here @ night when you can't get the sun to re-charge the batteries. If you have wind power, you can use the pump at night without too much of a drain on the batteries.

[Irving]

Well, I think Colorado averages nearly 360 days of sunshine a year. I'd say it depends where the OP lives. If he lives up in Pawnee, he'll have wind at the end of nearly every day, and plenty of sunshine. But if he lives in a neighborhood in Wheat Ridge or something, he'll hardly have wind for pumping and might even have shade from a neighbor's home.

[offgrid]

$100 per foot +/-. You are going to have to get a permit from the state of Colorado, a well driller will not drill your well without a permit.

Windmill water pumpers are very expensive, tower, foundation.....

As others suggested, if you want a independent well/pump, look at the solar direct pumps. With this type of system (Windmill also) you should be pumping into a cistern, then pressure pump from there, a 2000 gallon tank would be nice. If you are on a sloped lot/land, you can bury the cistern above your home and let gravity do its thing to get pressurized water into your home. With a cistern there is no need for a high capacity pump, a gallon a minute or less pump would be sufficient. 6 hrs average sunlight a day, 300 gallons pumped a day. The direct solar pumps have been around for a long time, it's a very simple system.

[jerrymrc]

$100 per foot +/-.


I hope you mean $10?

[Wulf202]

"If you figure about $18 to $20 per foot for a completed well with casing and pump you will be pretty close. Most wells in the surrounding mountain areas west of Trinidad are between 400 to 800 feet deep on average. Recently I have heard the cost to drill an 800 foot well is about $15,000 not including the cost of installing the pump and that pump for an 800 foot deep well could cost between $6,000 and $12,000 depending on pump size and other factors."

http://www.adobegold.com/property-information/colorado-water-info/

[theGinsue]

Holy cow.

It sounds like well drilling is a very lucrative business.

[offgrid]

I hope you mean $10?


oops, typo. Dug up the paper work on our well. 450' deep, $5200.

[HBARleatherneck]

i dont think you can pull water from that deep with a hand pump. when i looked at them it was something like 100 feet or less. also, you cant just go get a well permit. there is a rather complicated way they figure out if you can even have one. this is a state issue. then you also get to deal with the county. for example i have 80.275 acres. i split it in a 70.3 acre parcel and a 9. whatever parcel. now neither one is eligible ever again for another well. even though the county would allow the split, they wont actually allow the split since there is no water permit available. (of course with lots of money and plans you could probably get around it)

my well was something like $13-15k 410 feet, total.
my inlaws well east of brighton is almost 1200 feet. it gets expensive.

i wasnt implying you didnt know all the facts, but if you didnt these are some of them.

[KevDen2005]

Wow, that is nuts. My grandparents in Kansas had two wells. One that was from the 1800's that was only about 30 feet deep and another they had drilled at 120 feet. I thought that was a lot!!! Did not realize how deep some wells actually got.

[HBARleatherneck]

the state mandates what aquafir you must drill into. period. so some areas are shallower then others. also shallow wells usually have lesser quality water. the deeper it comes from, the cleaner (from my understanding)
we actually have one well that is 90 feet deep. it was from the original homstead. circa 1920-30's/ We have water in our well at 150. because that is where the pump is. I lived at a place near Erie, that had a hand pump well that was about 30 feet deep. The water sucked, but there was water at that depth.

now its about population density, water tables, old, old water rights, beauracracy. and hopefully health concerns.

[ChunkyMonkey]

$100 per foot +/-. You are going to have to get a permit from the state of Colorado, a well driller will not drill your well without a permit.


Mine costed $2400 for 170ft - Drilling cost only.

[Irving]

My great great grandpa lived on our land for three years back in 1909. They had a hand dug well back then. This is the land out by HBARLeatherneck. I don't know how deep the hand dug well was though. Back then, if you wanted to buy land here, you had to live on it for at least three years. So great great grandpa came out here from West Virginia and lived here for three years. It takes me an hour and a half to get out there from my house doing 80 mph most of the way. I can't imagine making the trip back in 1910.