Replacing mains water with well water
Following on from a topic on heating @editor asked for some info on our well
We have mains water on the street, but Scottish Water demanded a huge connection fee, which I wasn't prepared to pay, plus water charges are high. So prompted by our ground works team lead, I looked at a borehole / well.
Made contact with a couple of companies, but eventually settled on GRC Aquatec, they insisted a water deviner came first. He arrived and did his thing. 10 to 15mins later, said, we will drill here, then wondered off up our hill and came after another 10 mins. Told we had 4 good underground streams feeding our well. Then got his pocket watch out and it spun over the drill location. He then told me they will hit water at 15m, but that is just a stream, at 34m will be the main water.
A month later the drill team came, water hit at about 14m, final drill depth was 36m. However drilling was mostly through sand, some clay and a bit of sand stone, so we needed 30+m of steel liner, normal is a few meters of steel the rest in plastic, so bigger bill.
Getting the water suitable for consumption, is a turbidity back wash filter, with a added stuff to get rid of iron, a 10 and 5 micron filter and a UV filter. The well has a submersible pump and that feeds a 100L accumulator. Pump is switch on and off via a simple pressure switch on the accumulator.
We service it once a year.
Was it a smart move
For me, yes. Scottish Water add chlorine to water and I hate the taste it leaves. We have pure treated water, tastes great. It's hard compared to the soft water from the normal tap. So we have to descale the kettle once on a while, but that's ok.
We now have a battery and generator, so are fine in a power cut.
Costs (2021)
Drilling and liners £5k
Filter system, 40L/h pump and accumulation vessel, all manhours to install, testing water, almost another £5k.
So £10k, but claimed the vat back so £8k.
Maxa i32V5 6kW ASHP (heat and cooling)
6.5kW PV
13.5kW GivEnergy AIO Battery.
I too have a well, but this one is a c1500 drystane well around 30 feet deep. It is fed via underground stone drains over a considerable area. It holds around 900 gallons continually and can refill from near empty in around 45 minutes. The water is beautiful and soft and was our main supply until the water main arrived some years ago. Yes, Scottish Water do chlorinate but that I can filter out at point of use. We switched to gain mains pressure as pumping to the tanks in the loft to get sufficient head for a gravity system was too limiting.
The company that did the borehole were expecting us to have a low volume pump and overhead storage. The accumulator vessel allows us to have a steady supply presssure of 2.5bar or more if we want. So we have invented cylinder and everything in the house is a good flow rate.
Maxa i32V5 6kW ASHP (heat and cooling)
6.5kW PV
13.5kW GivEnergy AIO Battery.
- 22 Forums
- 2,069 Topics
- 45.3 K Posts
- 40 Online
- 3,343 Members
Join Us!
Trusted Installers
Struggling to find a reliable heat pump installer? A poor installation can lead to inefficiencies and high running costs. We now connect homeowners with top-rated installers who deliver quality work and excellent service.
✅ Verified, trusted & experienced installers
✅ Nationwide coverage expanding
✅ Special offers available
Latest Posts
-
The point about needing a legionella cycle at all and h...
By bontwoody , 49 minutes ago
-
RE: Getting the best out of a heat pump - is Homely a possible answer?
@johnnyb I was on Smart, mostly because I was on Agile ...
By Arundalep , 1 hour ago
-
RE: Forum updates, announcements & issues
@editor Fairy Nuff Mars, I doubt that my ramblings woul...
By Toodles , 7 hours ago
-
RE: Antifreeze top up for my heat pump - is this a rip off?
@johnmo You are correct, standard Ethylene glycol used ...
By Brendon Uys , 8 hours ago
-
RE: Confusion about heat pump sizing
We’ve published a deep dive into heat pump sizing, and ...
By Mars , 13 hours ago
-
We’ve published a deep dive into heat pump sizing, and ...
By Mars , 13 hours ago
-
RE: Kensa GSHP finally installed - now to start the optimisation process
Just had a quick scan of the manual and should be weath...
By Johnmo , 1 day ago
-
RE: Potentially more choice including air to air heat pump grants
Hi all, I agree, the consultation documents are alway...
By madbilly , 1 day ago
-
RE: Commencing on an ASHP Installation Process
I think those are pretty much the standard figures that...
By JamesPa , 1 day ago
-
RE: Load Compensation and Weather Compensation
I think that maybe what the adia thermal system does, b...
By JamesPa , 1 day ago
-
RE: Enabling WiFi: Samsung ASHP on Smart Things App
@old_scientist @profzarkov thanks to you both for the v...
By Grahamh-uk , 1 day ago
-
RE: Nibe F2040 periodic warm water increase fails
@tribol here's an official reply from NIBE on your case...
By Mars , 1 day ago
-
RE: Vaillant & OVO partner up to offer Heat Pump Plus
@ecodan-efficiency On the other hand, the fact that the...
By Richard24738 , 3 days ago
-
RE: How accurate was your heat loss survey?
@scalextrix for our house 1950s detached the air leakag...
By Judith , 3 days ago
-
-
RE: Air Changes per Hour - ACH and the MCS requirement
@matwin If you plan to commission one it might b...
By JamesPa , 3 days ago
-
RE: Jokes and fun posts about heat pumps and renewables
In a similar vein, this recent spell of sustained good ...
By Majordennisbloodnok , 3 days ago
-
RE: Home energy storage & battery register
By the end of next month... 8 kW PV + Tesla Powerwall...
By Algienon , 3 days ago
-
RE: Various different approaches to battery storage.
I thought I'd share my story/journey and experiences he...
By Old_Scientist , 4 days ago