Possibly buying a new house on a well.

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Chris

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I am making some offers on a new to me home with property. It has a well but no holding tank. It seems the water comes from the well to the bladder tank to the house. To me it seems that it would be less stress on the well pump to have a holding tank and be better to have water stored for irrigation use and what not. I don't see too many without tanks so I am curious. What do you guys think?

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I have an inherent prejudice against holding tanks, as I think they present a danger of bacteria growth. If I had to have one for whatever reason, I would want a chlorine injection system prior to the holding tank with a carbon filter to remove the chlorine on the line to the house.

If your well has the capability of supplying sufficient GPM, I wouldn't worry about the well with bladder tank. People go many years without having to have their submersible pumps replaced.
 
It was built in 91 and I assume no major issues since so I am pretty sure it is producing properly.

After thinking about it the pump probably runs no more than it would with a tank but maybe more start stops?
 
I agree with Phish. If the well makes enough water to irrigate with, you don't need or want a storage type tank with an additional booster pump.

Cycling the pump is a major concern when running irrigation for long periods of time. But adding a simple Cycle Stop Valve will fix that.
 
It's unanimous. No storage tank unless you have a low yield well. Apparently the previous owners didn't need a storage tank, so you shouldn't either.

I would check the condition of that old Well X Trol though. Looks like an original. 23 years is pushing it a bit.
 
I see wells with two of those tanks, would there be any benefit to add another down the road?

My concern is that I am going to be adding a bunch of irrigation and don't want to kill my well pump.
 
"Cycling the pump is a major concern when running irrigation for long periods of time. But adding a simple Cycle Stop Valve will fix that."

Doubling the number or size of a pressure tank only cuts the cycling in half. A CSV stops pump cycling, which is how you keep from "killing your pump".
 
around here we have different types of water. a deep well will yield good drinking water
shallow well usually gives you some egg tasting/yucky water. fine for plants

the best thing to do if you have shallow surface water. is 2 wells, that way your not taxing your drinking water level
 
Thanks, I'll check it out. House closes escrow on the 15th so nothing will get done til after then anyway.
 
Or, do like my buddy did. he has a couple of small solar panels, an inverter, and a few deep cycle batteries. His well is wired into the inverter, and runs completely on solar power. You would probably need a bigger system than he has, as you have a bigger family.
 
That's not a bad idea. I guess you could do a little math to figure out how many KWH's are used in a normal day to run your pump, then figure out how many panels and how many batteries are needed to do the job. This could save on the electric bill.

Anyone that's much better at electrical and math than me know how many deep cycle batteries and how many sq ft of panels would be needed to run a 3/4 hp pump for an average home.
 
I have recently done business with donrowe.com, who sell inverters, and I believe solar panels as well. Very happy with them, and they seem to have a lot of knowledge in this field. If I were looking to do this myself, they would be my first call.
 
So I bought the house!

Moving in next week and the seller had the well certified.

It is producing twenty gallons per minute. Is that good?

Should I be looking for a tank and pump setup for irrigation or will this be fine?
 

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