Water Well

[PMK]

Does anyone know of good water well digging contractor in the Pattaya-Sattahip area? Also, if you have had one dug, what did it cost you?

Thanks,

Peter

[onzestan]

I don't know any good ones, but there are plenty available.

The cost depends on how deep they have to drill to get clear water.

Most drill only to a maximum of 25 meters but then your water would be brownish.

A friend of mine had a well drilled to about 60 meters.

Perfect drinkable water and it cost him about 100.000 baht including well pump.

Unfortunately he has moved to better pastures so I cannot ask him anymore which company he used.

Hope this helped.

cheers

onzestan

[PMK]

Any information is helpful, so yes, it does help. It seems like 100,000 is not uncommon. I don't know why it should be so much - maybe this is a business worth looking into. ;-)

Peter

I don't know any good ones, but there are plenty available.

The cost depends on how deep they have to drill to get clear water.

Most drill only to a maximum of 25 meters but then your water would be brownish.

A friend of mine had a well drilled to about 60 meters.

Perfect drinkable water and it cost him about 100.000 baht including well pump.

Unfortunately he has moved to better pastures so I cannot ask him anymore which company he used.

Hope this helped.

cheers

onzestan

[Rimmer]

Does anyone know of good water well digging contractor in the Pattaya-Sattahip area? Also, if you have had one dug, what did it cost you?

Thanks,

Peter

Mine cost 75k for a 35mtr well including the Franklin submersible well pump at the bottom of the well.

Don't skimp by fitting a pump at the well head as they have to suck and are not as efficient as one that pushes water up from the bottom.

You will also have to buy a small control box and some breakers to control the pump.

Try this number. 0814584431 or 086 0205436. He has the oldest most beat up rig in the world but put down a good well on my land in 2 days.

[Humphrey Bear]

Does anyone know of good water well digging contractor in the Pattaya-Sattahip area? Also, if you have had one dug, what did it cost you?

Thanks,

Peter

Mine cost 75k for a 35mtr well including the Franklin submersible well pump at the bottom of the well.

Don't skimp by fitting a pump at the well head as they have to suck and are not as efficient as one that pushes water up from the bottom.

You will also have to buy a small control box and some breakers to control the pump.

Try this number. 0814584431 or 086 0205436. He has the oldest most beat up rig in the world but put down a good well on my land in 2 days.

Yes - a down-the-hole pump and a gravel filter basket surrounding it, to prevent silt getting in. Grundfoss or similar if you can.

Are these deep wells lined? If so, with what?

[monty]

I paid the same amount (75k) for a 40 m deep well.

Plentiful good quality sparkling clean water

[wilko]

Do you know how deep your water table is? Just going deep isn't necessarily the right way to go about it.

[Humphrey Bear]

Do you know how deep your water table is? Just going deep isn't necessarily the right way to go about it.

There will probably be different aquifers at different levels.

The top layer is mainly the soak from current rain and other discharges. Dirty, not recommended.

Other levels, from -30m down to -60m are the most common for potable water - the depth of sand/soil above means quite good filtration.

But I would still chlorinate and UV any water I took straight out of the ground, as well as basic filtration.

[Humphrey Bear]

This may help

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/privatewells/index2.html

You can also Google <well water> or <water wells>

[Lindsey]

never though about this; how do you know if the water from the ground is clean or dirty, and who can you trust? interesting idea!

[Humphrey Bear]

never though about this; how do you know if the water from the ground is clean or dirty, and who can you trust? interesting idea!

Go deep, young man.

Never use the top aquifer (usually considered the 'water-table') as this is contaminated with all sorts of things - from your dog's leavings through the petrol spillage from the wife's motorbike to the old food the maid threw out to feed the birds.

Don't know how controlled the well-drillers are in Thailand, but in many countries you have to be licenced to drill. (008)

[PMK]

Same way you know if the municipal water is clean or dirty, I guess - you don't and just assume dirty and never trust anyone. It is not so much for drinking water although I would not have any qualms about drinking it after going through a RO or charcoal + UV filter. I figure mine are at least as good as the local water delivery guys and all they do is filter tap water. Also, I study I saw on bottled water in India showed a lot of contamination in Nestle and other multinational brands so bottled water is not necessarily safe or healthy either.

It's really more of a financial decision for me. To pipe in municipal water they want 45,000 baht and said 'don't complain if there is no water' (!). I have to watch the budget right now so it is not an easy decision, but I'm going to call the guy Rimmer suggested and get a quote.

Thanks for all the info thus far.

Peter

never though about this; how do you know if the water from the ground is clean or dirty, and who can you trust? interesting idea!

[monty]

Just for info, drilling a well is a gamble!

Although the blokes drilling them pretty much guarantee you will have water, one thing they can't do is guarantee the quality of the water.

I have one well which pumps up perfectly drinkable water, and two others pumping up utterly useless water.

Not unhealthy per se, but the iron content is so high, that upon contact with the oxygen in the air it turns instantly brown (it comes out the well perfectly clear!).

Stains the sinks and toilets, unusable to fill up swimming pools (chlorine is an even bigger oxydator then oxygen!), and although the water itself is not really unhealthy since quite a lot people have an iron deficiency in their diets, the main problem is that the iron is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria, so much so that the water starts to smell bad pretty quick!

[PMK]

Have no idea! Only that a neighbour's property has had a well - the property is abandoned now so I can't ask details.

Peter

Do you know how deep your water table is? Just going deep isn't necessarily the right way to go about it.

[Rimmer]

Just for info, drilling a well is a gamble!

Although the blokes drilling them pretty much guarantee you will have water, one thing they can't do is guarantee the quality of the water.

I have one well which pumps up perfectly drinkable water, and two others pumping up utterly useless water.

Not unhealthy per se, but the iron content is so high, that upon contact with the oxygen in the air it turns instantly brown (it comes out the well perfectly clear!).

Stains the sinks and toilets, unusable to fill up swimming pools (chlorine is an even bigger oxydator then oxygen!), and although the water itself is not really unhealthy since quite a lot people have an iron deficiency in their diets, the main problem is that the iron is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria, so much so that the water starts to smell bad pretty quick!

Ah ah that's really interesting Monty, my water has a lot of iron in it and when the tank gets hot it smells like a dead thing is inside it, toss in a swimming pool tablet and the smell goes away but the chlorine reacts with the iron and we get a nice shade of brown.

I put in a filter system but so far have not used them as the builders are still using the water for building and such.

Apart from the smell and stained bathroom fittings is there any other downside to iron in the water?

And I gotta ask how come you know so much about so many things?

[soundman]

If you bore a well don't let the water authority find out about it. If they know of its existence they will make you put a meter on it & charge you for the volume of water drawn (at a higher rate than supplied water), irrespective of you allready have a water supply or not.

Something to do with a lowering of the water table.

Cheers,

Soundman.

[monty]

And I gotta ask how come you know so much about so many things?

Supposedly, according the select and few forum members who know me personally, I'm some kind of technical nerd :D

Joking aside, 14 years in Thailand doing this and that, you pick up a bit of knowledge here and there:)

If you need some more info on how to get the iron out, let me know. Most standard filters here only have a small percentage of the filter medium suitable to take out iron.

From your case it seems it's not too bad, with our wells the water turned dark red with the addition of only a tiny bit of chlorine!

Best is just to go with one filter with a dedicated filter medium to take out the iron, followed with a filter to take out the normal impurities.

Cheers,

Monty

[monty]

If you bore a well don't let the water authority find out about it. If they know of its existence they will make you put a meter on it & charge you for the volume of water drawn (at a higher rate than supplied water), irrespective of you already have a water supply or not.

Something to do with a lowering of the water table.

This is the first thing I ever hear about this.

You do need to have a permit if you drill deeper then 20 meters, this permit is usually arranged by the team who drills the well. Best to insist that they show you and handover the license, since the more shady outfits will try to drill without the license!

The above from soundman might be true in the center of cities but out here on the outskirts of Pattaya it's definitely not true!

[suiging]

My builder who sank my well registered it with the Water authority in BK.

There are no charges for the water.

[soundman]

If you bore a well don't let the water authority find out about it. If they know of its existence they will make you put a meter on it & charge you for the volume of water drawn (at a higher rate than supplied water), irrespective of you already have a water supply or not.

Something to do with a lowering of the water table.

This is the first thing I ever hear about this.

You do need to have a permit if you drill deeper then 20 meters, this permit is usually arranged by the team who drills the well. Best to insist that they show you and handover the license, since the more shady outfits will try to drill without the license!

The above from soundman might be true in the center of cities but out here on the outskirts of Pattaya it's definitely not true!

I don't know whether its someting decided at "jungwat", "tesabahn" or "or bor tor" level, however, we have two 60m water bores at our petrol station in kabin (Prachinburi province).

Four years ago we were required to put meters on both bores, & have been billed monthly on each.

The water authorities have not decided to charge us for water drawn from a 25m deep dam, even though that draws mainly on artesian water.

Cheers,

Soundman.

[suiging]

Not surprising. The only thing consistent with the authorities, is their inconsistency.