Water supply of the country house

Recommendation points

• Well
• Abyssinian well
• Well on the sand

The water supply of the country house can be carried out from a collective artesian well or be autonomous. In the first case, the water supply scheme is the same as from the central water supply. Autonomous water supply has more options, and most importantly, you can do it yourself.

Well

If the dacha is located in an ecologically safe area, then the quality of water in the well is higher than that from an artesian well. Water in the first aquifer, having undergone natural purification in the filtering layers of the soil, contains a minimum amount of metal salts and, in terms of its mineral composition, can be suitable for consumption without the use of a water treatment system.

The construction of a classic well is of the mine type. If earlier the walls were reinforced with a frame made of logs, now they use reinforced concrete rings more often. The most common brands are KS 10-9; and KS 15-9, where KS is a wall ring, the first digit means the diameter in decimeters, the second – the height (GOST 8020-90).

The erection of walls from below is possible if the well is shallow (up to 6 m), the soil is solid and does not crumble, and when the aquifer is reached, the inflow of water is small. These conditions are rare, so more often the walls are built up from above..

First, they dig a hole (until the soil walls of the mine keep their “shape”). Then, several crowns of the log house are collected on the ground, lowered into the mine, and, as the well deepens, the log house is built up from above, gradually settling it down.

The assembly technology from concrete rings is even easier – in principle, it is the same, but it is easier to work with rings.

Another feature of the well is that, unlike wells with casing pipes, the tightness of the walls must be ensured manually. Therefore, in order to protect the well from the ingress of top water, it is necessary to seal the seams, install a clay castle to the depth of soil freezing, construct a blind area, and in some cases even arrange the simplest storm sewer.

A truly autonomous water supply from a well is raising water with a gate with a bucket. In principle, even if there is electricity and a pump is installed, this simple device will not be superfluous – the quality of electricity supply in rural areas is much worse than in cities..

The choice of pump type depends on the depth of the well. If the water mirror is not lower than 8 meters, then surface pumps are installed. For deeper aquifers, submersible pumps or pumping stations with an external ejector must be used. The pump power is determined by the height of the water rise and the productivity (flow rate) of the well.

The surface part of the water supply system of a country house depends on the nature of its operation and the type of sewage system. The higher the comfort level of the country house, the more complex both systems..

Connection diagram of the pumping station to the well: 1 – mesh filter; 2 – external ejector; 3 – pipeline below the depth of soil freezing; 4 – well; 5 – pumping station with a hydraulic accumulator; 6 – water supply to consumers

The most important advantage of the well is real autonomy from power sources. You can always raise the required amount of water.

The second advantage is that all the arrangement work can be done manually without the involvement of special equipment. But you need to know that the KS 10-9 ring weighs 600 kg (KS 15-9 – a ton). Therefore, it is better to choose rings with a side height of 60 cm (KS 10-6 or KS 15-6), which weigh 1.5 times less and are easier to work with.

An important advantage is the ability to clean the well, and the well on sand, if silted up, cannot be restored.

Disadvantages:

• a large amount of earthworks that are carried out manually (only for lifting the soil you can use an electric winch);
• as it deepens, the penetration rate decreases, so digging deep wells will take several days (professionals talk about 3-5 rings a day);
• if a lot of people live at the dacha, then the flow rate of the well may be insufficient to meet all needs;
• in environmentally disadvantaged areas, well water may require a complex filtration system.

Abyssinian well

Strictly speaking, this is not a well, but a well. What the well has in common is that such a well works with aquifers located at a shallow depth. But if the wells can be deeper than 8-10 m, then for the Abyssinian well this is the limit. This is due to the small diameter of the pipe (up to 1.5 inches) and the use of a hand pump, a surface pump without an ejector or with a built-in ejector for lifting water. The diameter of the pipe of the Abyssinian well does not allow using deeper surface pumps with a remote ejector.

A pumping station equipped with a storage tank, mechanical cleaning filters and automation is best suited for lifting water. In addition to raising water, such a station will be responsible for its transportation to the points of analysis. And so that it and the upper part of the well does not freeze, and the water can be pumped even in winter, the pipe head should be located in the caisson below the depth of soil freezing. An Abyssinian well can even be arranged in a basement or cellar, the main thing is that the height from the floor to the ceiling is 30–40 cm higher than the split pipe section for the well. Such deepening allows already working with aquifers at depths of up to 10 m from the earth’s surface.

The process of arranging the Abyssinian well itself depends on the nature of the soil. In the classical version, I literally pierce the soil with a pipe, hammering it in with a “grandma” – for this it has a sharpened tip of a slightly larger diameter. Behind the tip there is a perforated part, covered with a metal galloon mesh (this is the simplest mechanical filter for removing solid particles suspended in water). As it deepens, the next segment is screwed onto the previous one, and so on until the aquifer is reached. But this method is good for loose soils, for dense soils – drilling is necessary.

The advantages of the Abyssinian well include, first of all, the simplicity of the device and the speed of penetration (the method itself was invented to obtain drinking water during the campaigns of the British army during the colonial wars).

Connection of the pumping station to the Abyssinian well: 1 – tip with a strainer; 2 – squeegee clutch; 3 – pipe; 4 – check valve; 5 – pumping station; 6 – coarse filter; 7 – tap for draining water for the winter; 8 – caisson; 9 – hand pump

There is only one drawback – with a prolonged downtime, the well can get silted up, but it is not always possible to swing it again.

Potential downsides include low production rates or poor service life. But neither wells nor wells in the sand are insured against this..

Well on the sand

It can be drilled with your own hands if it is not deeper than 20 meters and this allows the nature of the soil (for example, there is no exit of rocks).

A tripod made of pipes or timber with a height of three meters or more is used as an oil rig. And for lifting the drill string, a hand or electric winch and a pulley suspended from the top of the tripod are suitable. Drill rods can be bought used and sold again after drilling. Drills and a bailer can be rented – the main thing is to decide in advance on the diameter of the casing pipes and the type of submersible pump.

Drilling takes place in stages. Every 40-50 cm, the drill is lifted and cleaned of soil. As the drill deepens, the rods are increased, and after reaching wet sand, they are removed and inserted into the well with a casing pipe with a lower segment having perforation and a metal mesh filter. Then, a drill of a smaller diameter is brought into the casing pipe, and, alternating with the bailer, the well is deepened and cleaned out just below the level of the next waterproof layer.

At the end of drilling, a layer of fine gravel is driven to the bottom and the well begins to swing.

Installation of a caisson is completing the construction of the well. It must be of such a size that the head of the well and the connection to the external water supply are located below the level of soil freezing. It also accommodates automation and shut-off valves..

In addition to the submersible pump, a pumping station is also involved in the water supply scheme, which is responsible for delivering water to consumption points.

Well pumping station: 1 – well pump; 2 – HDPE pipe; 3 – head; 4 – hydraulic accumulator; 5 – coarse filter; 6 – pressure switch; 7 – pump control station; 8 – year old crane; 9 – caisson

The advantages of a sand well include stable water quality and higher productivity than a well or an Abyssinian well..

Disadvantage – more expensive equipment for drilling and water supply.