Homeowner Well Pump installation?

[Bonzai]

Hey all,

I am general contracting my own house and this is the first place I have lived where I need a well. I've done some research and got a number of bid from different well drillers, but all of them have a 50% markup on the pump and pressure tank.

If I order just 3 parts from a well parts distributor I save over $1000. Of course none of the drillers will let me supply just those three parts, they want to either do everything or just drill the hole.

So my question is, how doable is it for a home owner to put in a well system? I'm looking at a Grundfos constant pressure system (22SQE-190).

The bids were all pretty consistent on the well sizing; 220' depth,

160' pipe, well screen, etc.

Does anyone know where I could get decent instructions for DIY?

John

[Red]

Here's something to consider. If the well contractor does the whole project, he is responsible for you having adequate clean water for a certain warranty period. Thus he is committed to doing a good job so he doesn't have to come back. If he thinks you are nickle & dimeing him, do you have confidence he has done the best job he is capable of?

Red

[The Reverend Natural Light]

If you're just interested in saving money, have the driller drill the hole and call a general plumber to install the pump and tank that you supply. Hopefully you still have some equipment on hand to dig the trench. As for DIY, I asked a similar question not long ago (hope the link works):

I did basically the same thing by myself on a 100' well and was asking how much more difficult the job will be on a 300' well.

Anyways, I don't know if there is a step-by-step set of instructions on how to do it. How much do you know already?

[Harry K]

??? Do any any well drillers gaurantee water. I hadn't heard of them doing that.

Harry K

[Bonzai]

I understand this, and I even offered a less substantial profit on the parts. The pump I'm looking at

is $762 and they want to charge me $1,485 for it. A couple hundred profit on a part I can understand, but $700? I didn't ask about the $120 for 8 brass 1" couplings or the $350 in misc parts, manifold, and bracket. Labor was separate, drilling was separate, pipe, wire, pitless adapter, even a gas surcharge.

The other parts were the SQE kit and the pressure tank. The kit costs $485, though the driller wanted $775, and the pressure tank is $77, and the driller wanted $135.

not a bad idea... What did you end up doing?

I know bits and pieces. I understand the various components of a well and generally how they are supposed to go together, though I've never lived anywhere that had one.

I'm pretty handy, and I'm general contracting my house. I did all of the electrical in my last house, and plan on doing both electrical and plumbing in this one.

John

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Some will, at least in this region. Depends on the contract. You can pay $X (fixed price) for a well that will deliver a given minimum amount of water or you can pay by the foot until they get to a place that does supply the water.

The choice depends on your pain threshold. I know a gut that went for the "by the foot" price figuring he'd get away cheap and ended up with a $5000 over run.

As for the OP, yes, you can DIY the job if you know what you are doing, but there are times that the extra money spent pays big dividends later. I don' t know your skill level or the area you are in to say what will be best.

[dpb]

Bonzai wrote: ...

Then you're not in retail. Take that $700, divide it up amongst the driller and his crew, add in a little for such incidentals as his insurance and benefits costs, office/warehouse expense, etc., and decide if he's _really_ getting rich or not. I'd guess not...

You got (or want to rent or build) the rig to hang 200 ft of pipe/well down the hole and be _sure_ you don't drop it, etc., etc., etc., ...???

You'll have your hands full w/ the house methinks. I cringe when write the check to the well guy here when needed (almost identical in depth/water level, etc.), but I personally don't really want to have to deal w/ the hassles when it comes to pulling it, etc. Once in, maintenance or repair of the occasional above ground item is something else again as long as one has sufficient knowledge to diagnose the problem...

imo, $0.02, etc., etc., ...

--

[Jacque Asse]

Not a DYI project. WOuld not mess around with this. Also .. depending on locality, Board of Health may require a licensed well-driller to do the install.

[Pete C.]

If you're GC'ing your house, you're saving enough money as it is. No reason to try to nickel and dime the well where a problem will cost you a lot more than the potential savings. Let the drilling company do the complete job and warrantee it. If you're doing the plumbing in the house yourself you'll have plenty of savings there. Replacing an existing well pump is a relatively easy DIY project, but I wouldn't recommend DIYing the first one in a freshly drilled well.

[Pat]

If you try it and lose the pump in the well are you capable of having a new well drilled?

[Bonzai]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I appreciate it. I think I'm going to go ahead and let this one go (ie let the drillers do it) and spend my time on other projects.

john

[The Reverend Natural Light]

Probably a wise decision.

Watch them set the pump and then you'll know how to replace the pump if it ever quits.

[dpb]

And what it takes to (efficiently) pull/drop one...it ain't rocket science but there are some "tricks of the trade", so to speak...

[M Q]

Other possibilities:

Get a separate pump guy to set the pump. Around here (Northern california) there are people that install and maintain pumps, etc. but don't drill.

Also, the pressure tank can easily be DIY.