We can't find our well?

Question

I'm hoping someone can help us.
We will have just closed on our first house 2 weeks ago Monday. We had a full house inspection done, which showed low water pressure and the inspector recommended the "well" pump be replaced. Now, we hired a guy to replace the well pump. He checked the well pump and said it wasn't bad, but the foot valve to the well itself needs to be replaced. The problem is.We can't FIND the well! And no, we're not idiots! There is more than an acre and I really don't want to dig up every single inch of land to find it. I called the County Courthouse to see if they had maps of the property on record, and their records only go back to 1977, the house was originally built in 1945. We've tried following the water out line from the well pump in the basement, dug down 6 feet, and still nothing. We've tried having someone "witch" it, dug where they said, still nothing. We tried a metal detector and picked up all sorts of things but haven't found the well. Any suggestions?

We do not have a well house, there is a large 3 car garage, but it's all concrete slab, I am HOPING it's not under there, I'm guessing probably not. The house was a foreclosed property so the seller (the bank) knows nothing about the property, never even set foot on it, so getting help from them is out of the ? Previous owners are no longer living in the state, we have no way of contacting them. I've had the Mayor and Chief of the Police Dept over and neither can find it or know where it is located. Still trying to get ahold of the Chief of Fire Dept to talk to him about it. Every well I've EVER seen has had a "pipe" or some sort of cylinder sticking out of the ground about a foot, we can't find anything like that. We tried following the pipe from the well pump out, but it's in the basement, once it goes through the cement wall, we can follow for about 8 feet and then nothing. We are seriously at a loss and not sure what to do. Keep the comments and suggestions coming please!

There is a guy from the Department of Health that is going to meet us down there this afternoon at 4 to try to locate the well. I'll keep you all updated and let you know what we find.

Answer 1

normally the well pump is placed adjacent to the well sounds like your well is straight down under the house they did that a lot back then.

Answer 2

A lot of good answers to a very tough problem. Before I did anything I would get a water quality test done because you may be trying to locate a well that is not producing potable water. If it is unsafe to drink your efforts will be wasted. This would mean drilling a new well which is an ouch in the wallet but would leave you with safe, clean, reliable water.
As for finding the wellhead, try a "line locater" service, the guys who company's call before they dig up the streets etc. If you disconnect your piping they should be able to connect on with their source signal and detect it outside with their locator, at least, that's what I have done here in the past. The only issue I had locating buried pipe was I was unable to locate plastic pipe without a trace wire or anything buried beyond approx. 12 feet deep.
From what you have said my bet is your house is on top of your well as this was a common thing back in the 40's and 50's.
I know this doesn't help but, if I were you,I'd be budgeting for a new well. You will be much happier, safer and better off with a modern system.
Good Luck.

PS....NO, I'm not a water well driller nor do I work in that industry. I'm just a rancher with 4 water wells.

Answer 3

Finding the well: The only way to find the well is to follow the pipe from the pump to the well, whatever effort that takes. Most old wells will be an 1 1/4 inch metal pipe driven straight down into the ground. This pipe will have an elbow on top and a pipe will go directly from the elbow to the pump (maybe with some twists and turns along the way). At one point you mentioned following the pipe out 8 feet, then it disappeared? That is probably where the well is, if I understand you correctly.
Usually the well head (top of the pipe) will be fairly shallow. If the ground freezes in your area, it may be deep enough to allow for that. Having said that, during the 60 years that well may have been used, fill may have been added on top of the well. I would measure from the pump up to the existing ground level, and expect to find the well head at approximately that depth. And yes, it could be under the cement slab, I have seen several like that, where the garage was added to the house later.
Pressure problem: From your description, it is difficult to diagnose why your pump man thinks you have a foot valve problem. If your pump pumps water up to say 50 psi (there should be a pressure gauge near the pump) you should have 50 psi in the house, unless there is a restriction between the pump and the house, or the pipe supplying the house is too small (1/2 inch would be too small).
Again, an old well will be a pipe driven straight down. This pipe would not have a foot valve. It might have a well screen (a pointed section of pipe with slots and screening to keep dirt from getting into the pipe). It is possible that this screen (if it exists) could become clogged over time and restrict water flow from the well to the pump. This would restrict how quickly the pump could pump water to build up pressure. There would be nothing you could do to repair this problem, you would have to drill a new well. But if you dig up the pipe between the pump and the well head, you might find a bent, or constricted section of pipe that could be replaced. Also, there could be a check valve on the pipe near the well head. This could be sticking partly closed, which would cause the problem the pump man is talking about (a foot valve is a check valve with screen around it which is installed on the bottom of the well pipe).
A more modern, or at least better way of drilling a well would be to drill a 2 to 4 inch pipe into the ground (this is the casing). Then the 1 1/4 inch pipe, with a foot valve, is lowered into the casing to a depth of say 40 feet. If you had this type of well you could lift up the suction pipe and replace the foot valve. I doubt you have this.
You need to find that well head, or you will live with low water pressure, or have to drill a new well. Good luck.

Answer 4

You might check with your Department of Natural Resources - I know in many states, those state agencies have maps that include well locations.

And ... just because your home was built in 1945 doesnt necessarily mean that your well is that old too....I know that my property originally had a 25 ft well, then sometime in the 50's a 60ft well was dug. Shortly after we bought the place, we had a 250ft well put in. Just to make things fun... somewhere along the line, our house was moved back up the property, and wound up sitting over the second well, hehehe.

Now... let me mention something about your water pressure.
Water pressure, when supplied by well water, is controlled by the pressure switch, and bladder tank, usually. This is usually when the pump itself is down in the wellshaft. The pressure switch tells the pump when to kick on and off...if left to itself, your 'in house' water pressure would be rising and falling with the pump kicking on and off. But the 'bladder tank' helps to regulate the pressure so that it maintains a more steady pressure, regardless of whether the pump is running or not. The bladder tank is usually a small steel tank, maybe 2ft high. It has an air bladder inside it. Normally, there is a valve stem (like you see on bicycle or vehicle wheels), and stamped near it, should be the recommended air pressure. You can use a tire pump, or air compressor to air up the bladder tank, if you find it is low on air pressure when checking it with a tire gauge. Increase the air pressure, and you will increase the water pressure. This is the most common cause for consistent low water pressure in these types of wells. Quite often the pressure switch and bladder tank are located very close to each other, and not far from the well head.

Good Luck

Answer 5

I grew up on a farm that had well water. Now, our well was not buried, it was in a hole, under the ground, but it had a cover over it. I hope we're talking about the same thing...Ours had a four foot (or so) circular board over it so no one would fall in. It was located within maybe 30 feet of the house. That's so odd that you can't find it. I've never heard of that. Maybe it's hiding in an out building. You don't have a well house, do you? Obviously, I think you'd know if you did. Any way you can contact the previous owners? That's the only thing I can really think of. I hope someone has a better answer than me.

Answer 6

if the guy who did the testing was able to tell you that the foot valve is bad, then he has to know where the well is.
re contact this person
as they maybe able to shed some light on where it is
most wells at least here in CA and in my experience have small to large tanks setting over well sites, they can be any color from silver to white, blue etc. can be 3'-4' tall or 6'-10' or more tall. could be 2'-4' around or 3'-5' or more around
they could be just siting in plain site or in a small shed type building.
but if you pump motor and tank are in your basement, then depend on size of motor on pump, well I think i would go ask nearest neighbor who might have knew last owner and possibly they could tell you where to look

Answer 7

thats a deep subject!! WELL i think.. that maybe the top is coverd over ...could it be under somthing like a shed? do you know who drilled it? it cant be to fare away where your wear line goes out fallow that direction i would bet about 50 ft or more.. most of the time there is a cap on them good luck

Answer 8

Just follow the incoming pipe to the pump ,you,ll get to the well.