# Artesian well?



## checkitnice (Aug 10, 2010)

We are looking at a property with a "flowing well" on it. Is that the same as an artesian well? What do we do with it? 

(Right now the water isn't even hooked up to the house. The realtors/bank don't know what it is either.)


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## copperkid3 (Mar 18, 2005)

checkitnice said:


> We are looking at a property with a "flowing well" on it. Is that the same as an artesian well? What do we do with it?
> 
> (Right now the water isn't even hooked up to the house. The realtors/bank don't know what it is either.)


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Is your thinking along the lines of "this will save us the expense of having a well drilled".....or are you 
asking if it will be safe to 'hook it up and use it without any problems??? Only time and research 
will be able to answer that. What is the flow rate of this spring.....will it be enough to supply domestic 
usage AND possibly any farm activities that you might have planned??? I.e. the washing the dishes, 
the clothes, the kiddos, watering the garden, the cattle, the chickens, rabbits,.......and a countless 
number of things not even thought of as yet. Is it safe to drink or use in washing? Get it tested for
hardness and bacteria, heavy metals, toxins, etc. Is the source safe from past or future contaminants? 

Is there an old dump on the other side of the hill from the well? So many questions, but someone 
(most likely YOU or the people you hire) are going to have to take the initiative to find the answers.


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## checkitnice (Aug 10, 2010)

It was used previously. The house is winterized right now so the water is shut off because of that. It's the only source of water for the property, so the previous owners (really old farm) used it for everything. There's a pump in the basement.

I just really have no clue what to do with the bubbling bit out front, other than to make a really cool waterfall. I've never seen one before. I'm definitely going to get it tested and call the well company to have them check it out.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> We are looking at a property with a "flowing well" on it. Is that the same as an artesian well?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artesian_aquifer



> An *artesian aquifer* is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. This causes the water level in a well to rise to a point where hydrostatic equilibrium has been reached. This type of well is called an *artesian well*. Water may even reach the ground surface if the natural pressure is high enough, in which case the well is called a *flowing artesian well*.


It sounds like a great thing to have!


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

Yes, DH#2 and I ended up with a flowing well at the house we built. Initially, the driller had some problems finding water, so ending up with a flow made us VERY happy! As I recall, when he shut down for the night, he put a rubber cap topped by a cement block on top of the pipe ... the water pressure blew the block off! W00t!  IIRC, it was producing about 5 gallons a minute.

As for what to do with it, we had the driller install a pipe underground to run the excess water under our driveway and into a pond that we had dug on the other side. (We'd wanted a pond anyway, so NBD.) The constant influx of cold water allowed us to have trout in the pond. It was set up (I'm not sure how) so that when you turned on the water in the house, the flow would shut off temporarily ... the house would get all the water. Never had a problem with running out of water there, and as I was gardening in what seemed like pure beach sand (grrrr) I did a lot of watering.

Oh, I just remembered that we did have to dig a trench and run pipe underground to drain the pond into a ditch down by the road as sometimes during the spring rains it would overfill. I suppose if you didn't want a pond, but had a ditch that would accommodate the volume of water, you could just pipe the excess there. 

I guess the take-away, from my perspective, is that a flow can be a nice thing. Since there is already a house on the property, I'm guessing the previous owners probably had something set up to accommodate it.


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## checkitnice (Aug 10, 2010)

There is a large drainage ditch right near the house, so that wouldn't be an issue.

The larger issue is now that the house is a freaking mess, and I don't even know if it would pass inspection. We took a long hard look at it this morning. It needs a furnace, water heater, plumbing (wasn't winterized until 1/18, but we don't know when they moved out), the propane tank is bone dry, and the roof is just weird. :awh:


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## unregistered168043 (Sep 9, 2011)

I have one. I have a pipe that runs the excess to a run off. The good news is I always have water even in the worst of drought. The bad news is if that run off gets stopped it blows the top off the well. Not a big deal if caught within a day or two but if I don't see it gets to be a swamp around the well.

Being that it runs constantly, it wont freeze unless the pressure is reduced by running water somewhere else for a long time.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

I'd taste it first.... artesian water is great (as flowing water), but that that I've tasted was loaded with minerals.


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