We have had some problems with the well people, to say the least they upset us by not calling us back when our well was doing the artesian thing all over our yard. Actually the thing that upset us is that when they drilled the well and did the pumping tests I asked them if we were going to have an artesian problem and they said no then looked down the well said “oh crap” and left within five minutes. As they were driving down the road we looked at the well that was overflowing. The other thing that bothered us is that they start calling us to pay, so I kindly ask for them to invoice me for the work done, there reply was, “are you going to be in the city tomorrow, I’ll come by and pick up a cheque from you”. They run a horrible business. I don’t mind the well flowing over, I understand it’s not their fault, but we’re pushing week three since I asked for a invoice and still nothing.
Since I’m spilling the beans about the well I may as well say that we put a pneumatic plug in the well ten feet below ground, which is below the frost line so that we could install our snappy and pump anytime we wanted. Well, the well guy decided to remove it and extend our casing; the result is that we have a casing (white pipe) sticking four feet out of the ground that has water inside it to the three foot level that is frozen. Now if I want to install a submersible pump I’m going to have to melt five or six feet of frozen ice. I asked him about cutting the casing near the ground and putting a sealing well plug in it, the guy stumbled on his words and said that it would cost a thousand dollars to do that then he advised against it. The reason he deters us from doing this is because the casing that they used has a five inch inside diameter, and it’s very very uncommon, and he doesn’t know where to get a plug for it. Everyone else uses a 4 or a 6 inch casing. The thing that I found is a lockable well plug from a distributor in Edmonton for $26 plus shipping. It’ll be a lot cheaper than the one thousand dollar option and that’s what we’re going to use in our well.
I just want to hand him a cheque, get my plug back from him, and never speak to them again. I just shake my head; you’d think someone that drills wells for a living would have more common sense than to remove my test plug in December. And don’t bother complaining to them, their solution is to seal the well and we won’t owe them anything, I’d do it except we spent lots trenching the well to the house and we would have to do it again to connect the new well.
Don’t get me wrong, they did an excellent job drilling the well, installing the casing, and developing the well. We have 30 gallons per minute of flow, and a water level of three feet above ground. I couldn’t be happier with the well, it’s the service we got from them that they lost my respect with.