Any advantage to having an auxiliary well? (sears captive air tank and pump etc I'm not using)

[tickbitty]

When we bought our house the electrical panel had to be upgraded, because we couldn't even hook up a dryer. The electrician moved our panel from a closet inside the house down into the small utility basement that you enter from outside on a screened porch.

The house is on city water. The old well is outside the basement about 10' away, and the former owners had it hooked up to a "sears captive air tank" and pump etc that was down there in the basement. It was my understanding that they used that well water for gardening, washing cars, etc.

When the inspector came to check out the new electric the whole pump setup was unacceptably close to the panel, so we had to disconnect it and move it away. It's been sitting in the basement for almost 6 years now.

If we want to hook it back up, we have to hire a plumber and get him to reroute the pipes so we could put the thing somewhere that it's not a problem for the electrical panel. There's not a lot of room down there anyway. Is there sufficient use for something like this to even worry about it? Should we just sell the tank and pump? If we did, should we expect to get anything much for it?

 

[shawneyboy]

If you are on city water, I really don't see a use in having the well water and system hooked back up. There will be no or at very best minimal savings using your own electricity to pump the water from the well, and if it hasn't been used in a while you don't even know if the pump and pumping system is even operational.

If I were you I would get rid of it, as far as what you may get for it? I have no idea. Do a search on ebay or local CL. It may be better to scrap it than sell it.

Now that is just one mans thoughts.

Shawn

 

[SolarAndWood]

Same situation here with the same equipment sitting in the basement although ours is connected. Reconnecting the plumbing would be trivial. The kids get a kick out of the hand pump and it is nice to know its there as long as it doesn't cost anything.

 

[tickbitty]

Thank you both for the replies! Solar and... my setup's not quite so picturesque as yours though - the well is a concrete well head out back, (no cool hand pump; well head has a slab of stone sitting on it so it looks kinda like a bench) and I guess they used the water through a hose they brought up from the basement. I may send them an email and see whether they felt it was all that helpful to have it, (maybe it was just already there when they bought the place and before the city water got hooked up?)

I guess I could find out if it would cost much to hook it up, and if it's not worth it, I'll just sell the sucka or give it to someone who needs it. Might be able to barter and get some firewood or something out of it I suppose. I googled and saw similar setups for sale for more than $400, so I imagine it would be worth something, if it works, and I have no reason to think it wouldn't. If I get a chance I'll take a picture of it in case anyone recognizes it!

Thanks again.

 

[lazeedan]

I know a few people who have wells for watering lawn, garden etc... And have city water for everything else. They do this because of high water and sewer rates.

 

[tickbitty]

Well, I heard back from the old owners, they said that they had not used it too much toward the end because it was losing pressure or something and they hadn't worried about figuring out what it was because it wasn't totally essential. So, it seems like it might not be worth the trouble to try to get it hooked up again. I may give the thing to someone I know who can use it and see if they can figure out the status. (Don't know if the problem at my house was with the actual well or with the pump, so...)
Thanks all!

 

[backpack09]

It could be a large savings if you are on city sewer. With sewer you pay for the water coming in and going out, no matter what you use it for unless they allow you to install a second meter.

 

[maverick06]

Might not be bad to hang on to just in case.....

water prices go up
you decide you want to water your lawn a lot
you think the water is better quality
zombie apocalypse
etc

 

[tickbitty]

LOL Zombie apocolypse!! Yeah, I guess our inertia (things in basement tend to stay there?) might not be that bad in the long run just in case?

 

[maverick06]

my thought is if the equipment is still functional, and you dont need the space, and its not a hazard, etc, leave it there. Who knows what you will decide later. Might also help resell, I would have liked it a lot if my house had a well in addition to city water.