Well Drilling

[Teri]

I'm wondering what it would cost to drill a well. Does anyone have any estimates? I'm planning on moving my mfr home from a leased lot to acreage and some of the less expensive property I'm seeing requires a well. I talked to a dealer and he recommended not buying property if it required a well, but he said it could cost upwards of $100,000. That seems a bit high. I know there will be no problem hitting drinking water here.

[Billy]

$100,000 for a well???!!

Im not sure where you live, but here a well runs about $4,000, thats what it cost me to have mine drilled.....comes to about $4.00 per foot, plus the gravel bed.This price also includes all the lines, and the pump!

Sounds like the dealer may be trying to lean you toward one of his pieces of land....100K for a well, around here is astronomical.

[Pat]

Location makes a major difference. In S. Ga. our well cost $2,850 with 1 1/2 hsp pump and concrete pad. The lowest estimate was $2500. I picked the higher because the driller will be a fairly close neighbor and has a good rep. Even across the lake (which requires a much deeper well) the price is only $5,000.

[Teri]

Thanks! I think he was looking at worst case scenario (whatever that was - but there are a lot of river and wetlands up here in Western Washington so maybe that affects it). I have already learned to take what a mfr housing salesmen says with a grain of salt and double check things myself, so I was happy to find this forum. But I would love to have my own well. I grew up on well water (community well of about 20 houses) and it actually had a light mineral flavor that was excellent, and it passed health tests better than the local city water.

[Mrs X]

Hey, Teri - educate me - I'm a city girl. The thought of being on a well seems somewhat scary to me - how often do wells run dry? A real estate agent is telling me that almost NEVER happens, but is that true? My other concern is that the electricity will stay off for a day or two and the pump won't work so I'll be without water. I can do without lights and heat for a day or to - but I've GOT to take a shower!!!!

I love the idea of drinking pure water uncontaminated by fluoride and other government-injected additives, though.

[Billy]

I'm not Teri...but I can add something here....I've been on wells, and lived around others on wells all my life, and have never heard of one running dry......your drilling into the water table, which is to say that 10,000, or more folks in the county may be tapped into that same table.

Wells are ran with pumps, so if the lights go, so goes the water.

In my opinion well water if tapped deeply enough is some of the best water available.

[rmurray]

There are many different kinds of wells....some do have the problems you mentioned...
Bored wells...common in GA are shallow ground water wells that do go dry often..Also the quality of the water can be in question....These are the cheapest wells in the areas where there is granite under the top layer of earth...
Also...In fast growing areas where folks are tapping the auquifer faster than it can recharge are causing some wells to have problems as well....Of course..most county and city systems also use wells for service...Here in Augusta (a city too cheap to plan ahead)..the main wells have gone dry in 5 of the last 6 years...causing sever water shortage and restrictions on water useage.....

[Mrs X]

So, what would happen if I had a well run dry? Might be a dumb question, but???
do you drill another well or just lose your investment (the house) because you can't get any water?

[rmurray]

Often they will recharge over time....or sometimes folks have to redrill....or drill deeper....Sometimes is a whole area has problems...the governement runs water to the site...
If you get a good deep well...you should have little to worry about...

[Mrs X]

How deep is "deep" ?