Should I be mad?

[Chris142]

8 or so weeks ago my well stopped producing water.

Called a guy out and he was beyond expensive. Called a 2nd guy out. Much more reasonable. Determined that the pump is shorted.

Also determined that the water level in the ground is pretty low.

I decided that I cant afford to drill a new well so I asked them to put in a new pump and i'll see what happens.

They came out and put in the new pump and some new drop pipe. All said and done...No water!

They took their $2800 and left. Called a couple days later with an estimate to drill a new well.

Panicked I started thinking. I bought a 275 gallon tank, pump, hoses etc and I have been hauling water every other day.

So I did my own investigating. I measured the well casing, water depth etc. I determined that the casing holds 68 gallons of water and it will take 18 gallons of water to fill the drop pipe.

Hense I should have atleast 50 gallons of water on the ground if I turned the pump on.

I had nothing!I called ,They came back out and measured the water then left.

That night I slid the well cover over and listened. It sounded like a water fall in there!!! Pump was pulling amps like it should.

I called them and told them that I believe the drop pipe is broken.

They came back out today and pulled the first 60 ft of pipe out to get past the check valves in the drop pipe. Then dropped an electric water sensor down the drop pipe. Determined that the new pipe @ the 220 ft was where the water was standing.

So they pulled it out and I was right! The pipe was cracked!!!

Put a new piece in and its working again.

I'm irked in the fact that they were so fast to decide that my well was junk and the only repair was to redrill @ a cost of about $20000.

Yes mistakes happen. But IMO they jumped the gun instead of figuring out the problem.

I have been hauling water for 8 weeks, bought pump,hoses etc due to their goof. Plus stressing over trying to max out all my credit cards to try to pay $20K for a new well.

They did fix it today @ no charge.

Do I have a reason to be irked or am I being stupid?

 

[Turk]

Just an FYI for everyone creating threads...

You may get more responses & benefit from topic specific questions if you at least elude to what you're asking in the subject line.

 

[JTK]

Ugh.. I guess hardware failures could happen anywhere, anytime. Do you think it was a flaw in the pipe that let go? I'd be more concerned with this happening again, when it won't be a no-cost repair.

 

[fdcg27]

Cali+multi-year drought+falling ground water levels=you need a deeper well.
If these guys jumped to that conclusion, I can understand it.
OTOH, when you have to call in "the people" to remedy something beyond your knowledge or ability, you shouldn't have to diagnose the problem for them.
You should be a little mad, but with your help, the problem got fixed on time and on budget.

 

[OneEyeJack]

You should be angry, not mad.

angry

having a strong feeling of or showing annoyance, displeasure, or hostility; full of anger.

mad

having or showing severe mental illness
unable to think in a clear or sensible way

Try not to let others dictate your emotions. There's an old saying, don't get angry, get even.

 

[dlundblad]

Many contractors and the like are too quick on assuming the worst. This makes getting a second opinion very important.

 

[SuperDave456]

I'd be irked.

I've learned that most "professionals" are in the business to make BIG sales.
They don't sell a "fix" they sell "THE WHOLE THING".

Take my A/C unit that stopped working this past summer.
I have an A/C guy who is a 2nd Generation A/C repairman, and his only marketing is word of mouth.
He and I got to talking about this very thing.
He replaces the motherboard controlling everything for $300, where a guy who works for a chain of "A/C REPAIR" would want $10,000 to replace the whole indoor and outdoor units.

There is no profit in a "Fix" when you have huge overhead due to Company truck fleet, warehouses, Healthcare for all the workers, salaries, bonuses, and everything else I am missing.
They have to sell BIG in order to make the overhead to stay in business.

Yes, they are in the business of taking people's money who don't know any better.
It sounds like something similar happened to your well.
It makes me angry also.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Cali+multi-year drought+falling ground water levels=you need a deeper well.
If these guys jumped to that conclusion, I can understand it.
OTOH, when you have to call in "the people" to remedy something beyond your knowledge or ability, you shouldn't have to diagnose the problem for them.
You should be a little mad, but with your help, the problem got fixed on time and on budget.
I rightfully ASSumed that the pump was shorted. The tripping breaker was my clue. But both places wanted to ck it themselves which I understand.

Its the fact that they condemned a well that was working a day before. I will need to redrill but at least this will allow me some time till then

 

[eljefino]

Are you in where everyone's wells are going dry? They could be out flat crazy busy making deeper wells and basically used to the diagnosis.

Not excusing them. If you hear hoofbeats, it's usually not a zebra.

 

[3800Series]

I would have been furious, what ever happened to process of elimination?

If there mistake cost me $20k I think I would be reaching for a gun. Hate to say it but its true.

 

[Chris142]

No major well problems here. I asked a few neighbors and nobody has had problems other than a failed pump. My well is one of the oldest in my area and is only 290 ft deep and most are 500

 

[FastGame]

So how much would this have cost to repair only the problem ? I think I would be

"mad

having or showing severe mental illness
unable to think in a clear or sensible way"

if something like $18,000 was wasted....

 

[BISCUT]

I'm way confused. You said 20k to drill a new well? 1st, how could you get a price when you wouldn't know how deep the NEW well would have to be? Based off your 200ft or so and assuming 16-20ft casing, that should be, by high NY pricing, 4k tops....add Goulds 1hp pump and ur at 5.5k with hard labor and wiring hit.

My well is 240ft, guy across the street, 600+. Drilled by same guys, and the drillers are solid hydrologists.

Just wondering if its that nuts where you are.

 

[tom slick]

Originally Posted By: BISCUT
I'm way confused. You said 20k to drill a new well? 1st, how could you get a price when you wouldn't know how deep the NEW well would have to be? Based off your 200ft or so and assuming 16-20ft casing, that should be, by high NY pricing, 4k tops....add Goulds 1hp pump and ur at 5.5k with hard labor and wiring hit.

My well is 240ft, guy across the street, 600+. Drilled by same guys, and the drillers are solid hydrologists.



Just wondering if its that nuts where you are.




In my area it's $30k for a 750' well and a 6 month waiting time because the (several) drilling companies are backed up. I have a few neighbors having water trucked in.

 

[edhackett]

If you do run out of water, look into having your well deepened rather than a new one drilled. That will save you the cost of 290 feet of drilling. Deepening can only be done once, so if you can go that route, be sure and go a bit deeper than is thought necessary.

If you have a 6" casing, they will drill with a bit that fits inside your current casing and re-case the well with 5", filling between the casings with gravel. Not all wells are candidates, but it is something to check out.

Ed

 

[Chris142]

Wells cost $100 per foot here just to drill. Then you need permits,casing, wire,pipe etc. The permit alone is $4k.

He does not think he can deepen my existing well as it's only a 8 inch casing. He said $20k if he could go down the existing well and $60k to redrill a 500 ft well.

The problem with the 8 inch casing is getting his bit stuck. I must pay for it plus labor etc if it gets stuck.

 

[edhackett]

They should be able to do an 8" with 6" no problem. The example of the 6" to a 5" was my well in Reno. Other factors may rule it out, like the depth or formation, but this might be another case for a second or third opinion.

Ed

 

[aa1986]

Should you be mad?

No, you should accept that this is how things work in this country and come up with some rules to follow for dealing with any goods and services you need.

 

[edhackett]

Originally Posted By: Chris142

The problem with the 8 inch casing is getting his bit stuck. I must pay for it plus labor etc if it gets stuck.


OK, so no physical reason, he's just chicken.

That's a valid concern. Drills get stuck all the time, but can usually be freed if in the formation. Hanging one on the bottom of an existing casing can be another issue.

They got stuck deepening mine, but was 75 feet below the existing casing. A rock broke loose and tipped into the bore. They were able to get it free after working for about an hour at it. They wanted to quit there as we were getting good water. I convinced them to go 25 ft more. That went quickly and I told them 25 feet more. That was it for them, they didn't want to risk it.

Ed

 

[JHZR2]

Yo can understand why they jumped to conclusions, but what worries me is if there was any basis of due diligence built in. For example, if they say it could be this much worst-scenario, that would be one thing. Jumping straight to drill baby drill mode, without at least advising on the checkout process for the old well bothers me.