We are about to drill a well and would like recommendations for pipe material to use in well and to transport water to home and livestock other than pvc.
As far as I know, you only have two choices for the well casing, steel or PVC. Your local jurisdiction will probably dictate that beyond a certain depth, the well casing must be steel. Both of these materials will leach stuff into the water at low levels over time. If the idea of PVC contaminating your water supply is your concern, get a good filtration system.
The distribution piping is another matter entirely and a lot will depend on how you plan to set it all up.
So how will you design the water system? Will you be using a VFD well pump that supplies water on demand, or are you using the well to fill a tank and then have the tank feed a jet pump and pressure bladder? Will the distribution pipe be underground, above ground, or a combination of both? What distances are we talking about from the well head or tank to point of service? Do we have severe winter conditions to contend with? Will any of these service points be gravity fed, or are they all in need of pressurized water?
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Leaching I think needs clarification.
From wiki; Leaching is the loss or extraction of certain materials from a carrier into a liquid (usually, but not always a solvent), §it is not an i§meadiate action and if
water is actually not being stored in the well system l=eaching may not be an issue.
Water is generally stored in the gravel aquifer that the well protrudes into.
Stainless steel pipe which is used in food industries a lot is also available.
What is a ' VFD well pump' please?
BUT DO YOU NEED A WELL?
Rainfall catchment may be worth looking at.
My signature has a link to a topic on the matter.
@John C Daley VFD is "Variable Frequency Drive". These pumps have a softer startup than conventional pumps and are often called "on demand" pumps. Basically, there is no equipment other than piping and a pressure switch (might have a bladder to control pressure) between the well pump and the point of water use. This is the type of system I currently have on our shared well. I put a 1000 gallon storage tank at our new place with a small jet pump and pressure bladder. I did this primarily because of power outages that can occur frequently in the area we are moving to. The bottom of our storage tank is set at a higher elevation than the kitchen counter inside the house. In case of prolonged loss of electriciy, I can turn two vales and gravity feed eveything in the house.
About leaching:
Well casing goes from the surface down to almost the bottom of the well. So if you start drilling and hit water at 150 feet, and then continue drilling to 350 feet to maximize water "head" you have 200 feet of well casing that is basically always full of water. This eliminates the possibilty of dry pumping by creating 200 feet of "draw-down" water. That 200 feet of pipe is where the leaching occurs. Stainless steels are more stable than non-stainless varieties, but are very costly to install. They also typically contain high levels of nickel and chromium, both of which are toxic to humans in their pure forms. The alloying does make them more stable though and most studies have shown them safe for potable water. Exposure to both of these metals have been linked to several neurological disorders including Parkinson's.
Galvanized steel pipe has been used for potable water for centuries, but was eliminated several decades ago because it leaches zinc into the water supply at an alarming rate, causes connection issues with other metal piping like copper, and generally rusts out over time. Plain steel piping just rusts and rust in your water is never a good idea. Carbon steels can be oxidized before installation to help inhibit rusting, but eventually, they do rust. So most well casings are either schedule 40 or 80 PVC or a low grade steel. Something to note about PVC vs. steel casings is that should you ever need to extend the well depth, it's much easier with steel than with PVC casing.
Basically, all ground water contains contaminents, like bacteria and other micro organisms, free minerals, and depending on where you live, heavy metals. None of which are terribly healthy to consume. This is why I suggest a filtration system on all well water systems.
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