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 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