Complete cost of sinking a well

Dakota Dan · 07-08-2021 7:49pm #1

Anyone sink a well recently? What’s the cost including the pump without building a pump house?

Grueller · 07-08-2021 8:18pm

Did one here a month ago. 160 ft deep. €8 a foot so €1280 for boring and €1500 for the pump.

It was a gamble as the old well was full to the neck of iron and was destroying plate cooler, auto washer on the tank, gas burner, water pump itself and even closing up the pipework to water troughs with the iron deposits. The gamble is that the new well would be as dirty, but it looks clear so far except for a bit of manganese in the water.

Dakota Dan · 07-08-2021 8:28pm

Thanks, heard of some crazy quotes of 5-6k

nklc · 07-08-2021 9:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117721494#Comment_117721494

That’s very cheap . Went 400 ft here , over €10000 . Drilling followed by fracking , then the whole well had to be lined as the rock was poor . Did one years ago and had perfect rock and great water at 120 ft

arctictree · 08-08-2021 7:43am

You never hear of drillers finding water at 20ft and saying 'sure we'll leave it at that!'.

Sugarbowl · 08-08-2021 9:38am

Neighbor did it here’s this year. 8k he paid for it.

Say my name · 08-08-2021 10:41am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117722567#Comment_117722567

Best time to drill is in a drought. You'll be guaranteed water then after.

Be no fun drilling in a flood and getting water 20ft. You'll have to line it the first 20ft minimum anyway.

Grueller · 08-08-2021 11:07am

Where is the €8-10,000 coming from. Mossie O'Rourke well drilling is €8 a foot lined. At 400ft that is €3200. Any pump should not be north of €2000.

nklc · 08-08-2021 11:35am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117723142#Comment_117723142

In my case it was €10 ft plus vat . Lining was a full 400 ft plus a steel sleeve. Water was average at best and rock quality was poor . Fracking was extra, which involves pumping about 4000 liters of clean water back in to the well with a plug on the top under huge pressure to find more cracks in the rock to let more water be available. It’s worked out ok

cnocbui · 08-08-2021 11:46am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117723142#Comment_117723142

I'm next to farms. A couple years after I bought my new-built house, my 2-3 year old well failed due to silting up. The driller I got in opined that the person who drilled the original well might have been a former pub owner who just bought a rig and went at it, no doubt offering cheap quotes. Said driller thought the fly by nighter likely skimped, or didn't know to he needed to use one, and didn't put a special seal on the end of the steel liner which is hammered into the bedrock, preventing sediment from the soil/regolith on top of the bedrock, from washing down the bore hole, clogging it up.

The experienced driller, went down about 120m, about 6m from the original hole, and it turned up dry. I then had the prospect of a new house with no water supply, so we decided to have another go around the other side of the house, which involved getting a digger to remove some embankment so the rig could squeeze past the house.

Fortunately the second 120m hole was a winner with great water and a great flow rate. I was only charged for the cost of the casing and seal used for the first hole, and all up the whole job came to around €10,000. The driller also steered me away from getting a Grundfoss, as I had been intending, as he said he had seen problems with them due to mineral content of the water in the area, and recommended and supplied an American brand, Goulds, with the model being their 'Bruiser'. I did wonder whether some self interest might have been behind that recommendation but got the sense that it was offering genuine professional advice, and sure enough, that pump and the well are still performing flawlessly 20 years later.

The prices you quote seem too good to be true. I hope the quality of the work is better than that of the person who drilled that first well of mine.

Grueller · 08-08-2021 11:51am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117723262#Comment_117723262

Mossie is at it 45 years and works nationwide. He lives about 10 miles from me and after 45 years have only heard good recommendations. He does at least two wells a day most days. If his work was shoddy the word would be well out by now. He doesn't supply pumps.

cnocbui · 08-08-2021 12:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117723281#Comment_117723281

Great, my driller had worked in Africa drilling wells for a charity and I was amazed he was still doing it at his age. Two wells a day, that's fast. Each of my holes took two full days of drilling with a team of two going at it hammer and tongs.