Bonners Ferry Idaho - Well digger and advice please (sale, how much)

[Jassaj]

I am starting a new thread (original here: https://www.city-data.com/forum/idaho...d-looking.html) to get more specific about well digging.


We are looking at a couple properties in the Paradise Valley area. We will require a well for watering the orchard we plan to have. That, and I prefer to be off the city water.


So where to start, the chicken or the egg? Do we contact a digger before we buy, to make sure there is water to drill on the property? or, do we buy and then contact the digger and hope for the best?


As for the well digger, I saw an older thread recommending Minden Water Wells, but I phoned and they no longer dig wells. Does anyone have a well digger in the area they would recommended? I have read so many horror stories, I am scared

We are "Well Newbies"

Thanks all!


Janna

[Cnynrat]

Janna -

Like you, we're new to wells also. That said, I think it makes sense for you to contact a local well driller before you make a commitment to buy. They will know the area and have an opinion about the probability that you will be able to get a well on your property. They probably won't be offering any guarantees, but they will have more knowledge about whether there are wells in that particular area and how deep they typically run.

Dave

[Clark Fork Fantast]

We're also upset that Minden no longer drills for wells. They had a stellar reputation. I'll try to find out if anyone has found a good alternative.

You can get a well driller to look at the property, but since they can't drill, because you're not the owner, it will only be an educated guess, like Cnynrat says. There may be public records of wells predating the city water company service, so I'd call up the Boundary Ct office if I were you. But there is another possibility, all depending on how eager the seller is/how much the market has heated up: I remember when looking at properties, a few listings said that the seller would be willing to dig a well prior to the sale. You might make the sale contingent on a well, and in that case it would be the seller doing the digging. Or you might offer more on condition that there is a well. In an area of city water that is probably not going to be an option, but it wouldn't hurt to ask, through your realtor.

[banjomike]

Water quality can be an issue. Some shallow wells may have bad tasting water, while a deeper well in the same hole may be very sweet. Water flow is also important, and the same stuff applies.

We struck water at 75 on one well we drilled, but the flow was very poor, so we kept going. At 350 feet, we hit very high flow and very excellent tasting water.

A good experienced well driller often develops a sense of what can lie below, but until the hole is drilled, nothing is certain. Sometimes the worst can be a dry hole, and other times, it could be a sour well.