Cost of water hookup vs. well repair

 Cost of water hookup vs. well repair

Hello all.  My wife and I find ourselves in a position of having to
have our well repaired, and it sounds like it's more or less an entire
well system replacement because the system currently uses galvanized
pipes, and the webb head is buried underground at the moment.  So,
after digging it up, replacing everything from the well casing itself,
pump, pipes to the house and the pipes and expansion tank, we're
talking in the $7k-$8k range by all estimates.

My question is this... would it be cheaper to just get hooked up to
municipal water instead?  Forgetting the monthly water costs, I'm
wondering if that might not be a better idea in the end.  I'm of
course going to contact the town and get a real estimate, but before
that I was hoping people with similar experience could ballpark it for
me.

I know it will differ by area, and we're in Pennsylvania in the
Pottstown area if anyone is in the area, but even if it's an estimate
from somewhere else in the state or even a surrounding state, my
suspicion is that it won't be too far off.

My other option, and it's frankly looking more and more likely, is for
me to do much of the work and just leave the pipes and well casing in
place, but that may or may not solve the underlying problem, which is
a clunking sound when the pump turns on, after a couple of seconds
delay.  We've been told it's either a whole in the line somewhere
letting air in, or a sticking check valve, and in either case the pump
has been down there for 20 years as near as I can tell (the house'
previous owner past away, so there's no real records or person to
consult, the company that did the well we haven't been able to locate,
but from anecdotal evidence from neighbors, 20 years seems about
right, possilby longer, so the pump's lifetime is probably nearing
it's end anyway).

Thanks in advance all!

  "None" wrote in message

I don't see why you would need to replace *everything*. Can't you just
replace the pump and the check valve? i.e. Repair the problem rather than
replace everything (and get several estimates for doing this).

Would you get a new car every time you had a mechanical problem?

Water departments are really sticking it to their customers these days. I
would stay with the well if possible. Also check into solar electric panels
to power your well, then your water would be less expensive in the long
run. (May need a special pump to go with solar.)

 On Sun, 23 May 2004 17:06:47 -0400, someone wrote:




Depends.  Would it cost more or less than $7-8k?  How far is it to the
main from your house?  It would have to be pretty far to be worth more
than $8k to hook it up.

-v.

 v wrote:

In the midwest I found I was able to buy the water from the city more
cheaply than I could pump it myself.  That is, the electrical cost of
running my pump exceeded the per-Kgallon cost of water.  Run the
numbers.

 On Tue, 25 May 2004 21:26:26 GMT, someone wrote:



OP already made some remark about excluding the monthly cost of the
water, and just wanting to know the hookup costs.

I think most people making this decision are NOT mainly concerned with
the monthly cost, but are more concerned with capital and repair costs
(or more precisely, avoiding potential costs).

People who have "city" water available and switch usually do it to
avoid the cost of well repairs or potential repairs, and people who
are being pressured by their city to switch and don't want to usually
complain about the cost of the hookup.

The other scenario is when someone's well gives bad water, or the
opposite where they don't beleive in chlorination or flouridization,
but that doesn't seem to be the concern here

-v.