[danzitzke1]

Hi I am new here and looking for some advice. I may be purchasing a cottage near a lake that has a point well. The owner of the property states that the point well is 34feet deep and the static water level? Is 19 feet. When I inspected the home, I ran a faucet until the pump tank turned on... it took a few minutes for the tank to fill and the pump to turn off. My questions:
1. how does one tell how much gallons per minute a pump draws?
2. how long do point wells last? Does the screen ever get clogged and if so how do I fix that?
3. Is there anything else I should be concerned about regarding a point well?
Thanks for any insight. Dan

[jlisenbe]

1. Run water until the pump cuts on. Turn off the water and let the tank fill and the pump cuts off. Now start running water from a hose into a five gallon bucket. See how many gallons you get until the pump cuts back on. That is your tank's reserve capacity. Then measure the time it takes for the pump to refill the tank and it cuts off. Let's say your reserve is 10 gallons and it took 2 minutes for the tank to refill. That is 5 gpm that the pump is delivering.
2. The well can last many years. If the screen gets clogged, there are times you can put high pressure air or water down the well pipe and clear it. If that doesn't work, then you have to pull the pipe, replace/clean the screen, and then put it back down.
3. Water level of 19 feet is fine, but just be aware that if it drops much below 25 feet, the pump will stop working.