A Submersible Well Pump For My Green Home's New Water Well
A water well isn't much use without the means to transport the water from the vein to the faucet.
I chose a submersible well pump over the other type, known as a "jet pump", mainly because of the noise: jet pumps are located inside the house, whereas submersible well pumps, as their name implies, are submerged -- in other words, the pump is under water, inside the well casing, out of sight, and most definitely out of earshot.
My well was drilled in October; by mid-November the risk of winter catching us by surprise was getting more real by the day, and even though the house was far from ready to occupy, I called my favorite backhoe operator and my plumber and asked them to get together and coordinate the installation of the submersible well pump.
Connecting the well to the house's water distribution system was going to be a rather messy job, and not one that I wanted to carry out after landscaping the property.
You should take this into account if you're going to be undertaking such a project.
And if you're planning a finished basement, (or even just installing a vapor barrier on the floor of a crawlspace, as we did) you'll want to hold off on those projects, and you'll see why in these pictures.
CREATING A TRENCH FROM THE WELL TO THE HOUSE
I wanted this job performed by the smallest backhoe in town because the smaller and lighter the machine, the less damage and soil compaction. (So what if it takes an extra half hour?)
10.15 AM: the operator starts to dig right beside the foundation, at the spot that we had chosen as the entry point for the water and electrical lines that would come from the submersible well pump.
This picture shows clearly how very close that bucket is to the foundation. With a bigger machine, I would have been terrified of accidents.
The pale line, top right, is actually the concrete slab, so the bucket is digging under it.
Here, the plumber is making a hole in the crawlspace dirt floor, for inserting the two flexible PVC pipes that are going to be attached to the submersible well pump: one for the water and one for the electrical cable.
I've never lost my childhood fascination for bulldozers, and one thing that amazes me is how manoeuverable they are – even the huge ones!
Look at how the tractor straddles the well head; I was beside myself with worry but nothing ever happened. I give full credit to the operator for that!
Back in the '50s, when the house was built, there was a brick factory in the village. Broken bricks were available for landfill and I'm told this house is not the only one that took advantage of this free material.
The sheer volume of bricks did have the effect of slowing down the job a bit: it's harder to scoop up square lumps than loose dirt.
By 11 o'clock, 10 feet of the well casing had been exposed sufficiently for the plumber to proceed with the submersible well pump installation.
The distance from the house to the well is about 30 feet (10 metres); the trench is 10 feet at the well casing, and gets a little shallower as it nears the house, but it had to be below the frost line to prevent the water line from freezing.
I was a bit concerned about the spot where the pipes enter the crawlspace; I felt it was a bit too close to the surface.
That was adjusted at a later date, and the following summer, I had the whole area around the house re-graded in order to improve drainage; this resulted in that exposed foundation (the black part in these pictures) getting completely buried.
CONNECTIONS, PART 1
From that point on, the objective was to connect everything together into the system shown above.
First, the plumber drilled a hole right through the thickness of the well casing.
That's where the pitless adapter is going to be inserted.
(What's a pitless adapter? Click here to get all the details.)
Here he's attaching the flexible PVC water line which will transport the water from the well to the pressure tank inside the house, as shown in the diagram.
Another flexible PVC pipe, sheathing the electrical wires, joined that one later.
It's attached to the well cap like this.
Here we see both PVC pipes entering the house under the foundation...
... and emerging inside the crawlspace.
Luckily, that crawlspace had a dirt floor.
As mentioned above, I felt that this point of entry was a bit too close to the exterior wall: the plumber adjusted that later.
It's important that this operation be carried out before any sort of finishing work such as a vapor barrier installation.
Here you can see the black pipes showing through the polyethylene crawlspace vapor barrier that was installed right after we finished testing the submersible well pump.
My camera batteries died, and while I was getting some fresh ones the submersible well pump had been dropped inside the steel casing, the well cap had been fastened, and when I came back the backhoe was shovelling dirt back into the hole.
But this is the kind of submersible well pump that now sits deep inside my well.
CONNECTIONS, PART 2, AND THE WRAP-UP
The next component of the water distribution system is the pressure tank (the blue tank in the photo, left). My tank is of the bladder type (there's also a diaphragm type).
Pressure tanks play a very important part in a water distribution system: by acting as small holding tank, they protect the pump by releasing a bit of water when required, such as for washing your hands or flushing the toilet. Imagine if your pump had to start every time you drew a glass of water.
This small amount of water, which depends on the tank's capacity (they come in many sizes; mine is quite small) is contained within a bladder inside the tank; the rest of the tank is filled with air under constant pressure. As water is drawn from the bladder, air fills the extra space and when there's no more water in the bladder, that's when the pump kicks in, to fill the bladder again and also to supply additional water if a lot of it is needed at the time.
As its name indicates, a pressure tank also regulates the pressure in the whole system, keeping it constant and predictable throughout the house.
This is a close-up of where we had to break through the house's original concrete block foundation for passing the PVC water and electric lines from the crawlspace to the main part of the house, where the components of my water distribution system are located.
If this solid wall were the house's exterior foundation wall, it would have been even more important to seal the hole really well with spray foam insulation, as here.
A few more connections, and voilà! my own water, coming out of my own well, 80 feet below, thanks to my new submersible well pump.
This water was very clean and had the best taste ever.
Only a few more steps remained:
1. Installing the hot water heaterclick here if you want to see how I insulated it);
2. Disinfecting the well with chlorine (click here if you want to find out how to do this). The purpose of this first chlorination is to eliminate the bacteria that were introduced by the well drilling process and to disinfect all the water lines.
3. Test the water to see if it's clean enough to drink after the initial chlorination. If not, further chlorination and sampling are necessary.
In my case, it turned out that even after a second chlorination process, the water still contained bacteria, and so the people at the government lab recommended that I install an ultra-violet water treatment system.
I was quite shocked to discover that water that comes from 80 feet below the ground, and that looks and tastes so good, could be anything but pure, but I'm told that's quite common.
Finally, the yard was re-graded and brought back to its original state, i.e., it was just left for Nature to sprout whatever seeds she had planted and buried there over the decades.
MOVE THE STAIRS Moving a staircase? It's easy! Watch this step by step stair project how-to from top to bottom. (All puns intended!)
PILE ON THE INSULATION Looking for ways to save energy? Home insulation should be high on your list of priorities. Get the facts.
ANOTHER STAIR STORY We took out the stairs to the second floor, so now how do we get up there? A folding attic ladder supplies the answer.
TAP THE EARTH FOR WATER We prospect for water by ancient means and lo! water appears. See it happening, step-by-step.
DOWNSIZE YOUR LIFE Are you serious about reducing your impact on the environment? Start by downsizing your home! See how I did it -- and why.
LEARN ABOUT SOLAR ENERGY If you thought solar energy was only about solar panels, think again... and read this article by solar energy expert Michael Martinez.
COMMENTS
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Dean Prague, Czech Republic
I would just like to thank you for maintaining this resource. It's essential that information about environmental issues are easily and broadly accessible.
Steve United States
Thank you so much for sharing your exquisitely well-told stories! I have spent the last 2 hours reading the whole saga, and I appreciate all of the detail that went into your decision making. I hope you are enjoying your green home with cozy surroundings and energy efficiency.
Candice Unites States
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Rajiv United States
Thanks for all the info on this site, it is very thorough.
Marie United States
Very well documented and I appreciate the work and the effort you have put into this.
Brian Canada
Hey! Just wanted to compliment you on your site! I'm a new, first time homeowner, with a dirt crawlspace and have searched for hours on how to set it up.
Living here in Montreal, and the conditions aren't easy on a house and this site sure helped to answer some questions.
Thank you for displaying your work and experience!
Bannon Canada
Have to say I absolutely love your site. Really complete, well thought out, and has me clicking from page to page...
Marcus Spain
BACKGROUND
A few years ago, I bought this fixer-upper for $10,000.
It had been vacant for six years, had no water supply, needed a new roof, and was likely to conceal an unsuspected number of nasty flaws.
My intention was to turn into as "green" as home as I could, within my physical, financial, and geographical limits – and to share this adventure with you, step-by-step and dollar-by-dollar.
A water well isn't much use without the means to transport the water from the vein to the faucet.
SEAL UP THE HOUSE
INVEST IN SPRAY FOAM INSULATION
MOVE THE STAIRS
PILE ON THE INSULATION
ANOTHER STAIR STORY
TAP THE EARTH FOR WATER
DOWNSIZE YOUR LIFE
LEARN ABOUT SOLAR ENERGY