Last week we had a customer that lost the preverbal coin toss, and had a leaking water line between their well and their home. I say the coin toss, because it’s a fairly uncommon event. I would say out of 10 well pumps we replace, maybe only 1 needs a new water line.
When a water line goes bad on a well, it’s a fairly intrusive process to replace it. Essentially, it requires you to dig down approximately 8’ around the well casing in the yard, and dig a trench of equal depth from the well to the home. This often involves destroying whatever landscaping is in the path.
In addition to digging the trench to install the water line, we also generally update the hardware on the well casing to prevent a premature failure—if we’ve already got it dug up, it sure would be a shame for something else to fail shortly after we’re done. When we’re making a repair of this nature, the goal is to essentially prevent having to do it again for 30+ years.
When these kind of repairs are required, generally they exceed $5,000.00. Years ago when I had just gotten into construction, an old builder had once told me that a good rule of thumb is to set aside 1% of a home’s value each year for repairs and updates. As a progress in my construction career, I see more and more circumstances where he was spot on. Some years you won’t have any costs incurred, and then 1 year multiple appliances might fail.
As far as maintenance is concerned, there really is not much a person can do to prevent issues with the well’s water line. Old water lines were frequently made of galvanized steel, which eventually rust out. The new water lines we install are made of a composite plastic which should have a far longer lifespan than conventional steel.
If you’re having issue with your well and need a repair or replacement, give us a call today!
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