How to Increase the Water Flow Rate or Quantity -Guide to Improving Well Yield InspectAPedia® -
How to Increase the Water Flow Rate or Quantity - How to Improve Well Yield for Drinking Water Wells
What is the minimum acceptable well yield or flow rate?
Types of wells and water supply systems and what to watch out for with each
Well pump & water tank diagnosis & repair procedures
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This article describes How to Increase the Water Flow Rate or Quantity - Improving Well Yield for Drinking Water Wells. We provide advice about what to do when things go wrong.
The sketch at page top, courtesy of Carson Dunlop, outlines what happens during a well drawdown or well flow test procedure. At WATER PRESSURE LOSS DIAGNOSIS & REPAIR we outline the first steps to take if you have lost all water pressure. We discuss well flow rate and methods for testing the well yield in detail at How Much Water is In the Well?
Readers should also see
Water Tank Types and before assuming that a water problem is due to the
well itself, see
Water pump and pressure tank repair diagnosis & cost an specific case which offers an example of diagnosis of loss of water pressure, loss of water, and analyzes the actual repair cost.
What is the Minimum Acceptable Well Yield or Well Flow Rate?
Some wells can produce a flow rate of 20 gallons per minute (gpm) or more. But for a single family home, 5 gpm is good, and 3 gpm is livable. In some communities the health department or building department will require at least 3 gpm (or more) to approve a new well for new construction.
These are general flow rates, but a more accurate answer to the required well yield flow rate for a specific property depends on the anticipated water quantity need for a given home, number of occupants, types of water usage, and thus the anticipated daily water usage, factored against the well yield (and possibly well recovery rate).
A risk with a well that already has a low yield is that the yield is at risk of dropping still further seasonally or permanently (common), or possibly failing entirely (less common). Therefore in buying such a property it would be prudent to presume that you will face additional costs to provide more or better water quantity. You might want to consult with local well drillers to get an idea about their experience in success in drilling wells in your immediate neighborhood as well as the typical well depth, yield, and cost. See WATER USAGE TABLE for a table that will help calculate the water flow rate or daily water usage for a property.
In the worst case with a slow or low yield well people install additional water storage/holding tanks to collect water at the low rate available from a well and provide water and then deliver it at the needed rate.
If a well yield is too low, in addition to reducing unnecessary water usage (conservation), increasing the onsite storage quantity (holding tanks), making sure equipment is working properly (no leaks), and the option of drilling a new well and hoping for a better yield, there are various methods to increase well yield.
Just below we explain How to Improve Well Yield or Improve the Quantity of Water Available. Other Related articles:
How do We Get Enough Water From a Well with a Poor Recovery or Flow Rate?
Before drilling a new well to get more water, some plumbers or well installers will try these things:
Check for clogged piping or well piping leaks: before doing something costly when you think that the well yield is too low, check that there is not a simpler problem such as a leak in the well piping inside the well casing or between the well and the building.
A leak in the well piping lines will result in less water reaching the building than is being sent up by the pump. Next, if water pressure in the building is poor, the problem could be clogged pipes, perhaps by rust or mineral deposits.
Other problems with the well pump, water pressure regulator, or water pressure tank can also cause bad water pressure in a building. To diagnose these causes of insufficient water pressure or flow, See WATER PRESSURE LOSS DIAGNOSIS & REPAIR.
If the well has a very large static head inside the building the occupants may never notice that the well flow rate is poor. However
a very poor well flow or recovery rate might mean that the well has a limited future life if minerals are also clogging up the rock fissures through
which water is flowing into the well.
If the well has a small static head and a poor flow rate the installer may place a very large water holding tank inside the building and
control the rate at which the water pump will draw water out. Building occupants live off of the water tank itself and the pump and well recover
slowly, pumping water back into the tank and recovering during periods when occupants are not drawing water out. A large water storage tank is not the same thing as a typical well water pressure tank:
At WATER TANK SIZE & VOLUME we describe the water quantity stored in typical water pressure tanks.
At BIG WATER STORAGE TANKS we describe large holding tanks used to accumulate a large volume of water supply when a well suffers from a low flow rate.
Well yield increase methods
are used when a well's yield has dropped too low or if a well has "gone dry" entirely (due to sediment-clogged rock fissures and
unconnected water-bearing cracks which are preventing water from entering a well).
Patented processes such as AquaFreed™'s "hydrofracking" or similar attempts to open rock fissures in the existing well may be tried using
special equipment and gases or ice such as frozen CO2. (We no longer use dynamite to increase well yield but we used to.) AquaFreed, a water retrieval specialist, claims a 95% "success rate" at improving residential well yields.
Limit water use in the building such as by use of gray water recovery systems, low water or no-water flush toilets, general water conservation. Shower with a friend.
Drill a new or auxiliary well this more costly solution may be necessary - though first we'd ask the well driller's experience with
cost and necessary well depth for the neighborhood and we'd ask for typical costs for nearby successful wells.
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Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education, publications, report writing materials, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
Water Tank Maintenance & Repair Chapter Index
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Water Supply & Drain Piping, Wells, Pumps, Water Supply Equipment
Access Water Energy, PO Box 2061, Moorabbin, VIC 3189, Australia, Tel: 1300 797 758, email: sales@accesswater.com.au Moorabbin Office: Kingston Trade Centre, 100 Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin, VIC 3189
Australian supplier of: Greywater systems, Solar power to grid packages, Edwards solar systems, Vulcan compact solar systems, water & solar system pumps & controls, and a wide rage of above ground & under ground water storage tanks: concrete, steel, plastic, modular, and bladder storage tanks.
Cheating on water tests: Testing Water for Real Estate Transactions - make sure your water test is valid
Smart Tank, Installation Instructions [ copy on file as /water/Smart_Tank_Flexcon.pdf ] - , Flexcon Industries, 300 Pond St., Randolph MA 02368, www.flexconind.com, Tel: 800-527-0030 - web search 07/24/2010, original source: http://www.flexconind.com/pdf/st_install.pdf
Typical Shallow Well One Line Jet Pump Installation [ copy on file as /water/Jet_Pump_Grove_Elect_Jet_Pumps_1.pdf ] - , Grove Electric, G&G Electric & Plumbing, 1900 NE 78th St., Suite 101, Vancouver WA 98665 www.grovelectric.com - web search -7/15/2010 original source: http://www.groverelectric.com/howto/38_Typical%20Jet%20Pump%20Installation.pdf
Typical Deep Well Two Line Jet Pump Installation [ copy on file as /water/Jet_Pump_Grove_Elect.pdf ] - , Grove Electric, G&G Electric & Plumbing, 1900 NE 78th St., Suite 101, Vancouver WA 98665 www.grovelectric.com - web search -7/15/2010 original source: http://www.groverelectric.com/howto/38_Typical%20Jet%20Pump%20Installation.pdf
Water Fact Sheet #3, Using Low-Yielding Wells [ copy on file as /water/Low_Yield_Wells_Penn_State.pdf ] - , Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, Cooperative Extension, School of Forest Resources, web search 07/24/2010, original source: http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/XH0002.pdf
Water pressure tanks - how to diagnose the need for air, how to add air, stop water pump short cycling to avoid damage - water storage water pressure tank safety.
Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair
Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.
The Home Reference Book - the Encyclopedia of Homes, Carson Dunlop & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, 2010, $69.00 U.S., is available from Carson Dunlop, and from the InspectAPedia bookstore. The 2010 edition of the Home Reference Book is a bound volume of more than 450 illustrated pages that assist home inspectors and home owners in the inspection and detection of problems on buildings. The text is intended as a reference guide to help building owners operate and maintain their home effectively. InspectAPedia.com ® author/editor Daniel Friedman is a contributing author. Field inspection worksheets are included at the back of the volume.
Crystal Clear Supply provides portable ceramic water filter purifiers and portable reverse osmosis water treatment equipment - see http://www.crystalclearsupply.com/category_s/7.htm
Handbook of Disinfectants and Antiseptics, Joseph M. Ascenzi (Editor), CRC, 1995, ISBN-10: 0824795245 ISBN-13: 978-0824795245 "The evaluation of chemical germicides predates the golden age of microbiology..." -
This well-focused, up-to-date reference details the current medical uses of antiseptics and disinfectants -- particularly in the control of hospital-acquired infections -- presenting methods for evaluating products to obtain regulatory approval and examining chemical, physical, and microbiological properties as well as the toxicology of the most widely used commercial chemicals.
Potable Aqua® emergency drinking water germicidal tablets are produced by the Wisconsin Pharmacal Co., Jackson WI 53037. 800-558-6614 pharmacalway.com
Principles and Practice of Disinfection, Preservation and Sterilization (Hardcover)
by A. D. Russell (Editor), W. B. Hugo (Editor), G. A. J. Ayliffe (Editor), Blackwell Science, 2004. ISBN-10: 1405101997, ISBN-13: 978-1405101998.
"This superb book is the best of its kind available and one that will undoubtedly be useful, if not essential, to workers in a variety of industries. Thirty-one distinguished specialists deal comprehensively with the subject matter indicated by the title ... The book is produced with care, is very readable with useful selected references at the end of each chapter and an excellent index. It is an essential source book for everyone interested in this field. For pharmacy undergraduates, it will complement the excellent text on pharmaceutical microbiology by two of the present editors."
The Pharmaceutical Journal: "This is an excellent book. It deals comprehensively and authoritatively with its subject with contributions from 31 distinguished specialists. There is a great deal to interest all those involved in hospital infection ... This book is exceptionally well laid out. There are well chosen references for each chapter and an excellent index. It is highly recommended." The Journal of Hospital Infection.: "The editors and authors must be congratulated for this excellent treatise on nonantibiotic antimicrobial measures in hospitals and industry ... The publication is highly recommended to hospital and research personnel, especially to clinical microbiologists, infection-control and environmental-safety specialists, pharmacists, and dieticians."
New England Journal of Medicine: City Hospital, Birmingham, UK. Covers the many methods of the elimination or prevention of microbial growth. Provides an historical overview, descriptions of the types of antimicrobial agents, factors affecting efficacy, evaluation methods, and types of resistance. Features sterilization methods, and more. Previous edition: c1999. DNLM: Sterilization--methods.
U.S. Army Field Manual 21-10, Field Hygiene and Sanitation, 1988, web search 07/02/2010, original source: http://www.enlisted.info/field-manuals/fm-21-10-field-hygiene-and-sanitation.shtml The purpose of this manual is to assist individual soldiers, unit commanders, leaders and field sanitation teams in preventing disease and environmental injuries. The manual provides information on preventive medicine measures (PMM) to the individual soldier as well as essential information for the unit commander, unit leaders, and the unit field sanitation team on applying unit level PMM.
When Technology Fails, Matthew Stein, Chelsea Green Publisher, 2008,493 pages. ISBN-10: 1933392452 ISBN-13: 978-1933392455, "... how to find and sterilize water in the face of utility failure, as well as practical information for dealing with water-quality issues even when the public tap water is still flowing". Mr. Stein's website is www.whentechfails.com/
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