Wells, Sump Pumps and Septic Sewage Systems - running water from well, bedrock everywhere
Doityourself.com community forum was created to provide answers to all questions related to home improvement and home repair. Doityourself community can help you find information about how-to topics on small fixes to large remodeling projects. With comprehensive how-to content and expertly moderated community forums DoItYourself.com makes it easy to tackle even the most complex home improvement projects.View Full Version : running water from well, bedrock everywhere
XsTatiC
09-19-09, 10:34 PM
This past spring I purchased 16 acres of boondocks. The intent is to build a strawbale home on it in the next couple of years. However before I do anything else on the property I first want to get a well put in.
The building will be fun. Having worked for many years in home construction and renovation I'm very comfortable with most things. One thing has been bothering me though as I have no idea what the solution is.
First, to get to the problem I need to describe my property. Two words should do it: Canadian Shield. Although it looks like a nice, forested property, hiding not far under the surface level is solid granite.
Obviously because of this I will need to have a well drilled vs. a dug well. Unless there are any volunteers who wish to dig through granite :p.
The climate here in the winter is cold. Frost line is 4 feet below grade as far as building codes are concerned. So water would freeze if not below the frost line. Now... there's the problem.
How do I run the water from the well to a building when I can't put the piping between them below frost level because of the granite?
I have no idea. I've never run into this before. I guess either drilling horizontally (which would be horrible and crazy expensive.. ok, horrible because of it being crazy expensive) or, is there heated piping? Heated piping also sounds quite horrible as there's obviously wasted electrical resources. Maybe/hopefully there are other solutions.
Enlightenment would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you for your time.
Cheers,
Gerry
The building will be fun. Having worked for many years in home construction and renovation I'm very comfortable with most things. One thing has been bothering me though as I have no idea what the solution is.
First, to get to the problem I need to describe my property. Two words should do it: Canadian Shield. Although it looks like a nice, forested property, hiding not far under the surface level is solid granite.
Obviously because of this I will need to have a well drilled vs. a dug well. Unless there are any volunteers who wish to dig through granite :p.
The climate here in the winter is cold. Frost line is 4 feet below grade as far as building codes are concerned. So water would freeze if not below the frost line. Now... there's the problem.
How do I run the water from the well to a building when I can't put the piping between them below frost level because of the granite?
I have no idea. I've never run into this before. I guess either drilling horizontally (which would be horrible and crazy expensive.. ok, horrible because of it being crazy expensive) or, is there heated piping? Heated piping also sounds quite horrible as there's obviously wasted electrical resources. Maybe/hopefully there are other solutions.
Enlightenment would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you for your time.
Cheers,
Gerry
Bud9051
09-20-09, 02:47 AM
Good morning Gerry and welcome to the forum. You are lucky as Canada is loaded with folks who have done all of this before you, although a 4' frost line is modest compared to Maine, 5' and have seen it go well below that at times. Instead of adding heat, you add insulation and utilize the heat from the water and ground below. I'll add a link below for shallow foundations, but the principle is the same. There are also insulated pipes that I have seen for the outside wood boilers that may be available for the well line.
Enjoy your project,
http://www.nahb.org/assets/docs/publication/Energy-efficient-frost-protected-shallow-foundations_1211200244041PM.pdf
Bud
Enjoy your project,
http://www.nahb.org/assets/docs/publication/Energy-efficient-frost-protected-shallow-foundations_1211200244041PM.pdf
Bud