Water Well / Pump

[JaiLai]

Can anyone give me a ball park figure for the cost of drilling a water well.

Also what is the best set up, submersible pump in the well or suction pump at surface?

Thanks.

[RKASA]

We have several wells put in around here - mine was way back when. 40m deep 1hp submersible pump 1 1/4in pipe. 8in casing. 80k at the time but the pump they provided was a bit cheap ended up replacing it a few years later. Went to a 1 1/2hp 1 1/2 pipe for 16k baht that was 6 years ago still works fine. Two years back a well much the same went 40m deep with casing and owner as advised provided own (better) pump - but cost of just the well had gone up to 130k. You can find fly by night drillers that often don't even finish the job and have small rigs - stay away from them as it is wasted time - well maybe - what area are you in these wells we have are into rock up in the hills. If you are in bottom land it might be easier but the water may not be that good ether - ours is drinkable from the pump.

For a real good well the submersible is the way to go. We use float switch operation to fill storage tank and other pump for distribution - this is much less abuse to the expense sub pump and with out back pressure using a pressure switch operation it then uses less power. As well you can draw mess amount of water from the storage and it can take its time to refill. Our storage is 6high stack of 2.5m rings.

[JaiLai]

We have several wells put in around here - mine was way back when. 40m deep 1hp submersible pump 1 1/4in pipe. 8in casing. 80k at the time but the pump they provided was a bit cheap ended up replacing it a few years later. Went to a 1 1/2hp 1 1/2 pipe for 16k baht that was 6 years ago still works fine. Two years back a well much the same went 40m deep with casing and owner as advised provided own (better) pump - but cost of just the well had gone up to 130k. You can find fly by night drillers that often don't even finish the job and have small rigs - stay away from them as it is wasted time - well maybe - what area are you in these wells we have are into rock up in the hills. If you are in bottom land it might be easier but the water may not be that good ether - ours is drinkable from the pump.

For a real good well the submersible is the way to go. We use float switch operation to fill storage tank and other pump for distribution - this is much less abuse to the expense sub pump and with out back pressure using a pressure switch operation it then uses less power. As well you can draw mess amount of water from the storage and it can take its time to refill. Our storage is 6high stack of 2.5m rings.

Hi, thanks for all the info and specs. Do you have the brand name of sub pump so i can do some research and look at the specs.

I was told in the region of about 30-40K by several different people, those prices are a real eye opener, what area is this in? i will be in central thailand.

So, your sub pump goes to a storage tank and from there it's supply on demand, ie if you open a tap / shower / water the garden your pump kicks in, is that correct?

Thanks for your help.

[RKASA]

Yes - we use a surface pump with 1in line to feed the property from the storage tank which is filled according to the float level by the submersible well pump. We have a large property 2 rai and the house footprint is 296sq meter alone so we can use a load of water in the dry season with all the trees and stuff. The 12,000lt tank can refill in about 20 minutes from the submersible pump. The surface pump is a standard 350lph pump cost about 5k - that one is pressure operated on demand, but the storage is above it - we also have installed a check valve from the inlet to the outlet of that pump which means with above ground storage if the power is out the water will by pass the surface pump and gravity feed the toilet tanks etc in the house. We lose normal pressure but still have water in the house when the power is out. You can't do that using a submersible in pressure switch mode and having an expense submersible that is hard to change out kicking on and off all day didn't seem like the greatest idea anyway.

There are about 5 or 6 brands of the sub pumps in most outlets ranging from 1hp to 2.5hp brand names are all warranty and should be fine.

We are in central but not flatlanders - we are in the hills. If your digging down below it would seem a lot easier and maybe not as deep ether - maybe cheaper then - but you would spend again as much filtering that water anyway as it will be coming up brown.

[Gary A]

Over a year ago we had a well bored. The driller was a professional and we had confidence in him. You don't want to go for the cheapest price. He first got pretty good water at 26 meters but he decided it had too much iron so he went deeper and ended up at about 40 meters. It was a set price of 35,000 baht regardless of how deep he had to go. It is a six inch casing.

We are using a one HP submersible pump with a 1 1/2 inch outlet pipe. It is a US made Franklin submersible motor. There are cheaper motors but it is a real hassle to get the pump back out. It is heavy and is at the end of 36 meters of PVC pipe. I wanted to use black flexible pipe but no one had the 1 1/2 inner diameter, so I went for the PCV using glue on threaded joints. I probably could have gone with a 1 1/2 HP pump but wanted to make sure the well would recover fast enough to feed the pump. The quickest way to destroy a submersible pump is to allow it to run dry. You should be able to buy a good submersible pump for less than 15,000 baht.

I too believe that it is a good idea to pump water into a large storage tank rather than a pressure tank. The expensive submersible pump will last much longer. Jet pumps from the storage tank to the house are fairly cheap and very easy to service if needed. They are a lot cheaper than a new submersible.

[JaiLai]

Thanks everyone, info very helpful.

[JaiLai]

Over a year ago we had a well bored. The driller was a professional and we had confidence in him. You don't want to go for the cheapest price. He first got pretty good water at 26 meters but he decided it had too much iron so he went deeper and ended up at about 40 meters. It was a set price of 35,000 baht regardless of how deep he had to go. It is a six inch casing.

We are using a one HP submersible pump with a 1 1/2 inch outlet pipe. It is a US made Franklin submersible motor. There are cheaper motors but it is a real hassle to get the pump back out. It is heavy and is at the end of 36 meters of PVC pipe. I wanted to use black flexible pipe but no one had the 1 1/2 inner diameter, so I went for the PCV using glue on threaded joints. I probably could have gone with a 1 1/2 HP pump but wanted to make sure the well would recover fast enough to feed the pump. The quickest way to destroy a submersible pump is to allow it to run dry. You should be able to buy a good submersible pump for less than 15,000 baht.

I too believe that it is a good idea to pump water into a large storage tank rather than a pressure tank. The expensive submersible pump will last much longer. Jet pumps from the storage tank to the house are fairly cheap and very easy to service if needed. They are a lot cheaper than a new submersible.

Is there a test they should carry out on the water, will they do this automatically OR must you request it?

Thanks.

[RKASA]

Ask around your area - you can buy a test kit with instruction. The driller may know where in your area to get one.

[SantiSuk]

15,000 to 18,000 on a success fee basis was the going rate for drilling in my part of Issaan three years ago. Probably 25% up on that by now. Excludes pump equipment and you may be asked for a further contribution if they have to go deep (say over 30m). Issaan is likely to be much cheaper than other less rural areas.

We had two drillers who failed/gave up (we are on rock) and I was a softy and gave the second driller 5,000 baht for trying hard. My builder then recommended a third regional driller who seemed more professional with better kit. He charged 25,000 on a success fee basis, because he knew that he had to go to 40m or more and that past local attempts had failed. For some reason all three drilled different holes in slightly different locations (all within 40 metres of each other). All three took the best part of a week and I felt I was getting appropriate value for money.

We use bottled water for drinking and tea/coffee making so I've never had the water tested. After a year of badgering my TW not to drink the well water she finally relented - only because a respected local Thai guy told her it was dangerous of course!! In converse situations she gets annoyed when I poo poo some local witch-doctory and pronounce sthat I should trust her 'because I am Thai' Drives me bats.

[JaiLai]

15,000 to 18,000 on a success fee basis was the going rate for drilling in my part of Issaan three years ago. Probably 25% up on that by now. Excludes pump equipment and you may be asked for a further contribution if they have to go deep (say over 30m). Issaan is likely to be much cheaper than other less rural areas.

We had two drillers who failed/gave up (we are on rock) and I was a softy and gave the second driller 5,000 baht for trying hard. My builder then recommended a third regional driller who seemed more professional with better kit. He charged 25,000 on a success fee basis, because he knew that he had to go to 40m or more and that past local attempts had failed. For some reason all three drilled different holes in slightly different locations (all within 40 metres of each other). All three took the best part of a week and I felt I was getting appropriate value for money.

We use bottled water for drinking and tea/coffee making so I've never had the water tested. After a year of badgering my TW not to drink the well water she finally relented - only because a respected local Thai guy told her it was dangerous of course!! In converse situations she gets annoyed when I poo poo some local witch-doctory and pronounce sthat I should trust her 'because I am Thai' Drives me bats.

Thanks for the numbers, good to know.

[Fatdog]

We had a well drilled yesterday.

Went down to 41 meters. We are in a village just of highway 24 in Surin. The total cost including pipe and surface pump was 23k Baht.

Hope this helps.

FD

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect App

[Boksida]

Just to make you guys feel better about your wells, the going rate for an industrial size water well in the Bangkok area is roughly 10,000 baht per meter, not including pump.

[JaiLai]

We had a well drilled yesterday.

Went down to 41 meters. We are in a village just of highway 24 in Surin. The total cost including pipe and surface pump was 23k Baht.

Hope this helps.

FD

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect App

Sounds like a good deal, thanks for the info.

[jamescollister]

Going rate around here has not changed much over the years, cheap hole, high water table 15,000 for pipes and the pump. We don't drink the well water, but get our drinking water from a magic spring. Cook, wash, brush teeth from the well water, no problem.

You can test it yourself really, taste it. If it tastes OK put some in a bottle, sealed and leave in the sun for a month. If nothing grows, it's clean water. That is of course if you don't have a nuclear power plant near by. Jim

[JaiLai]

Drilled in approx 12 hours, well depth 105 meters with a 8 meter water zone, sub pump lowered in hole till 'bottomed out' then raised about 3 meters and 'hung off'.

Total cost 120K everything included, drilled / liner down to 16m ( where they hit stone ) / imported Shaffer SS sub pump c/w all electrical cable and fittings.

Overall experience relatively painless, quite a well run outfit - very happy with service.

Guy went straight down the road and started the next well, pretty good business IMHO, he's not short of work either!

Where can i buy a test kit to check the water quality?

Edited April 23, 2013 by JaiLai