We recently bought 21 acres unimproved pasture land. This is our first house, first well, etc. Looking around for the best deal regarding water well installations. Got a quote to drill a 400' to 500' well w/4" pipe with a submersible pump for $7000.00. Which is better? A jet pump or submersible pump?

A submersible is about your only option. I am not aware of jet pumps that can go much past 75 to 100 feet. I certainly would not consider one at the depths you are talking about. At any rate, a submersible pump is more efficient no matter what depth you are talking about. The jet pump is nice when it comes time to trouble shoot it or work on/replace it.

I prefer a surface based pump if only for the ease of servicing. They do make jet pumps for deep wells. Check then out at : Residential Water - Goulds Pumps, Jet Pumps, deep well pumps, shallow well Jet Pumps, surface mounted deep well pumps, Pump Accessories, Vertical Jet Pumps, Submersible Motors, Booster Pumps, lawn sprinkling, irrigation (http://www.goulds.com/GP-Residential-Water.asp) Good luck, Tom

Speedball, thanks for that link! I did not realize the jet pumps could go so deep. If I read the specs properly, it would seem that 200 feet or so would be the limit. Not sure how efficient they are at that depth. This document gave a lot of good information.

http://www.goulds.com/pdf/IM102.pdf