Water Borehole
Discussion
Has anyone had experience of installing a borehole for water? With water prices looking to go over £4 a tonne in the not too distant future it's starting to rack up pretty quickly for me when we burn an average of 2.5 tonnes a day over a year (I can thank the horse requirements and multiple of a certain group in the house that take obscenely long showers for that one lol). In Bedfordshire so if anyone has used any companies in and around that area, would be interested to hear what you think. There's a 1930's borehole a few doors down in the church yard but couldn't dig up any more information than that. And before anyone says about cutting down, back when water was £1.50 a tonne we were over 3 tonnes a day, getting down to nearly 2 is an achievement!
I lived with a borehole for six years - I didn't install it, the house came with it. Very few, if any, problems - apart from the water was too hard for me to drink.
A friend has very recently had one installed - not cheap. I think he paid nearly £20k for everything to be done - however it works very well. He had it done as there was absolutely no way of getting mains water to the land.
A friend has very recently had one installed - not cheap. I think he paid nearly £20k for everything to be done - however it works very well. He had it done as there was absolutely no way of getting mains water to the land.
We looked into getting one 3 or 4 years ago.
Costs for initial survey, setting up on site, drilling and fitting out were quoted at about £25k from memory.
However that didn't guarantee a successful drill and I think we were told it'd be £8-9k for each subsequent test bore until water was found.
I'm sure the survey (basically a review of geological maps of the area) suggested a 90-95% chance of success on the first drill.
So it seemed costs could potentially be open-ended.
Costs for initial survey, setting up on site, drilling and fitting out were quoted at about £25k from memory.
However that didn't guarantee a successful drill and I think we were told it'd be £8-9k for each subsequent test bore until water was found.
I'm sure the survey (basically a review of geological maps of the area) suggested a 90-95% chance of success on the first drill.
So it seemed costs could potentially be open-ended.
Same as above - my house came with one - and also as above, the water is very hard!
In my garage I have a bunch of filters, a UV light and an industrial softener with requires a few bags of salt in it every few months.
Drinking water comes via reverse osmosis gubbins under the kitchen sink to a separate tap (also plumbed to the fridge)
I think most of this is belt and braces stuff though - I'm pretty sure drinking straight from the borehole would be fine!
I do also keep a few of those big bottles of supermarket water in at all times just in case of power cuts etc.
I don't have any regrets about not being on mains water. Especially in light of recent events.
Sorry I have no idea of the installation costs.
In my garage I have a bunch of filters, a UV light and an industrial softener with requires a few bags of salt in it every few months.
Drinking water comes via reverse osmosis gubbins under the kitchen sink to a separate tap (also plumbed to the fridge)
I think most of this is belt and braces stuff though - I'm pretty sure drinking straight from the borehole would be fine!
I do also keep a few of those big bottles of supermarket water in at all times just in case of power cuts etc.
I don't have any regrets about not being on mains water. Especially in light of recent events.
Sorry I have no idea of the installation costs.
Chris240 said:
Has anyone had experience of installing a borehole for water?
We've looked into it at one property, and have a spring on another.The process of evaluating is pretty straightforward. Desk based geological exercise initially, followed by test holes/actual bore as appropriate. If water strike is shallow then it's actually possible to DIY. We didn't proceed as the geology made it far from certain that we could cost-effectively access water via a bore.
The spring however brings some other things into consideration that would still be relevant. The main point being to consider that treating the water isn't free. If you want a full potable solution then it can get pricy. We only use for livestock so a testing a filtration regime works fine (and we simply regard it as non-potable for humans): the supply runs in through a series of large cartridge filters that range from an initial silt trap all the way down to 1 micron filtration. The advantage of that arrangement is that it's entirely passive: UV or RO treatment would consume electricity. Just a case of cleaning/changing filters every few months.
The other biggie is distribution. Water pumps can end up being meatier than you might initially expect, especially if you need to pressurise.
We peak at around 10-12m3 per day for non-potable so the savings are really very material.
ETA: just checked my files and the "borehole prognosis report" that we had commissioned in 2022 cost under £150(+VAT), which made having a look something of a no brainer.
Edited by LooneyTunes on Friday 14th August 15:28
5 In a Row said:
We looked into getting one 3 or 4 years ago.
Costs for initial survey, setting up on site, drilling and fitting out were quoted at about £25k from memory.
However that didn't guarantee a successful drill and I think we were told it'd be £8-9k for each subsequent test bore until water was found.
I'm sure the survey (basically a review of geological maps of the area) suggested a 90-95% chance of success on the first drill.
So it seemed costs could potentially be open-ended.
Wow that's a crazy amount of money. I know of someone who had a ground source borehole dug for around £9k a few years back but that was 200m deep so kind of expected something around that figure. Probably not a particularly viable business case at those prices and unknowns. Costs for initial survey, setting up on site, drilling and fitting out were quoted at about £25k from memory.
However that didn't guarantee a successful drill and I think we were told it'd be £8-9k for each subsequent test bore until water was found.
I'm sure the survey (basically a review of geological maps of the area) suggested a 90-95% chance of success on the first drill.
So it seemed costs could potentially be open-ended.
LooneyTunes said:
We've looked into it at one property, and have a spring on another.
The process of evaluating is pretty straightforward. Desk based geological exercise initially, followed by test holes/actual bore as appropriate. If water strike is shallow then it's actually possible to DIY. We didn't proceed as the geology made it far from certain that we could cost-effectively access water via a bore.
The spring however brings some other things into consideration that would still be relevant. The main point being to consider that treating the water isn't free. If you want a full potable solution then it can get pricy. We only use for livestock so a testing a filtration regime works fine (and we simply regard it as non-potable for humans): the supply runs in through a series of large cartridge filters that range from an initial silt trap all the way down to 1 micron filtration. The advantage of that arrangement is that it's entirely passive: UV or RO treatment would consume electricity. Just a case of cleaning/changing filters every few months.
The other biggie is distribution. Water pumps can end up being meatier than you might initially expect, especially if you need to pressurise.
We peak at around 10-12m3 per day for non-potable so the savings are really very material.
ETA: just checked my files and the "borehole prognosis report" that we had commissioned in 2022 cost under £150(+VAT), which made having a look something of a no brainer.
That's really interesting. did the report result in a fixed price to get water out of the ground or just give an indicative depth?The process of evaluating is pretty straightforward. Desk based geological exercise initially, followed by test holes/actual bore as appropriate. If water strike is shallow then it's actually possible to DIY. We didn't proceed as the geology made it far from certain that we could cost-effectively access water via a bore.
The spring however brings some other things into consideration that would still be relevant. The main point being to consider that treating the water isn't free. If you want a full potable solution then it can get pricy. We only use for livestock so a testing a filtration regime works fine (and we simply regard it as non-potable for humans): the supply runs in through a series of large cartridge filters that range from an initial silt trap all the way down to 1 micron filtration. The advantage of that arrangement is that it's entirely passive: UV or RO treatment would consume electricity. Just a case of cleaning/changing filters every few months.
The other biggie is distribution. Water pumps can end up being meatier than you might initially expect, especially if you need to pressurise.
We peak at around 10-12m3 per day for non-potable so the savings are really very material.
ETA: just checked my files and the "borehole prognosis report" that we had commissioned in 2022 cost under £150(+VAT), which made having a look something of a no brainer.
Edited by LooneyTunes on Friday 14th August 15:28
Chris240 said:
5 In a Row said:
We looked into getting one 3 or 4 years ago.
Costs for initial survey, setting up on site, drilling and fitting out were quoted at about £25k from memory.
However that didn't guarantee a successful drill and I think we were told it'd be £8-9k for each subsequent test bore until water was found.
I'm sure the survey (basically a review of geological maps of the area) suggested a 90-95% chance of success on the first drill.
So it seemed costs could potentially be open-ended.
Wow that's a crazy amount of money. I know of someone who had a ground source borehole dug for around £9k a few years back but that was 200m deep so kind of expected something around that figure. Probably not a particularly viable business case at those prices and unknowns. Costs for initial survey, setting up on site, drilling and fitting out were quoted at about £25k from memory.
However that didn't guarantee a successful drill and I think we were told it'd be £8-9k for each subsequent test bore until water was found.
I'm sure the survey (basically a review of geological maps of the area) suggested a 90-95% chance of success on the first drill.
So it seemed costs could potentially be open-ended.
Chris240 said:
Wow that's a crazy amount of money. I know of someone who had a ground source borehole dug for around £9k a few years back but that was 200m deep so kind of expected something around that figure. Probably not a particularly viable business case at those prices and unknowns.
I think you'd get hot water at that depth!Chris240 said:
LooneyTunes said:
We've looked into it at one property, and have a spring on another.
The process of evaluating is pretty straightforward. Desk based geological exercise initially, followed by test holes/actual bore as appropriate. If water strike is shallow then it's actually possible to DIY. We didn't proceed as the geology made it far from certain that we could cost-effectively access water via a bore.
The spring however brings some other things into consideration that would still be relevant. The main point being to consider that treating the water isn't free. If you want a full potable solution then it can get pricy. We only use for livestock so a testing a filtration regime works fine (and we simply regard it as non-potable for humans): the supply runs in through a series of large cartridge filters that range from an initial silt trap all the way down to 1 micron filtration. The advantage of that arrangement is that it's entirely passive: UV or RO treatment would consume electricity. Just a case of cleaning/changing filters every few months.
The other biggie is distribution. Water pumps can end up being meatier than you might initially expect, especially if you need to pressurise.
We peak at around 10-12m3 per day for non-potable so the savings are really very material.
ETA: just checked my files and the "borehole prognosis report" that we had commissioned in 2022 cost under £150(+VAT), which made having a look something of a no brainer.
That's really interesting. did the report result in a fixed price to get water out of the ground or just give an indicative depth?The process of evaluating is pretty straightforward. Desk based geological exercise initially, followed by test holes/actual bore as appropriate. If water strike is shallow then it's actually possible to DIY. We didn't proceed as the geology made it far from certain that we could cost-effectively access water via a bore.
The spring however brings some other things into consideration that would still be relevant. The main point being to consider that treating the water isn't free. If you want a full potable solution then it can get pricy. We only use for livestock so a testing a filtration regime works fine (and we simply regard it as non-potable for humans): the supply runs in through a series of large cartridge filters that range from an initial silt trap all the way down to 1 micron filtration. The advantage of that arrangement is that it's entirely passive: UV or RO treatment would consume electricity. Just a case of cleaning/changing filters every few months.
The other biggie is distribution. Water pumps can end up being meatier than you might initially expect, especially if you need to pressurise.
We peak at around 10-12m3 per day for non-potable so the savings are really very material.
ETA: just checked my files and the "borehole prognosis report" that we had commissioned in 2022 cost under £150(+VAT), which made having a look something of a no brainer.
Edited by LooneyTunes on Friday 14th August 15:28
It then gave some indicative costings for a trial borehole and expected cost, but no guarantees, to run a project that would see a small array of shallow boreholes installed to abstract water over a slightly larger area.
From the report and advice, it was clear that it'd be highly speculative. As a result we didn't proceed with it (all in it would have been north of £25k with no guarantee). As a result of other work we now know that parts of the site reliably see water just a few metres down, so we might revisit it in the future.
I'm just in the process of buying supplies for our borehole system: replacement UV bulbs, quartz sleeve for the UV system, some bags of salt for the ion exchange system, and finally a 20x4.5 inch 20 micron wound filter and a 10x4.5 inch 5 micron wound filter. Works out at about £250 per annum in consumables. And the pump uses about 200kWh ... so about another £50 pa. We replaced the submersible borehole pump a few years ago for about £1k and they should work for about 10 years ... so maybe add another £100 a year for depreciation. Grand total: about £400 a year for water.
Sewage system costs? Typically a princely £0 as the septic tank and its drainage field just work. Hurray!
Sewage system costs? Typically a princely £0 as the septic tank and its drainage field just work. Hurray!
We have a well that supplies our water and it’s soft and tastes nice and doesn’t cause limescale anywhere. I’ve tested it end it’s perfect for human consumption, so that’s a win. The next house down the lane is also fed by our well, but they have a borehole too. Apparently the borehole water always tastes of sulphur and smells a bit funky. I’d be interested to know why the deeper borehole water tastes different to the well water (which comes from halfway up a hill), I guess it’s just down to from whence it percolates.
I had to put one in last year after our well ran dry, we’re in Devon:
Borehole - no water no fee, ended up 70M deep and cost £6,000
Pump/Pipe/Cable/Control Box & installation cost Cost £2,000
13” * 54” Media Filter plus Clack WS1 head plus Pyrolox media cost £1,500
Brine Tank (Potassium Permanganate), Odds and Sods (new UV bulb some connectors etc etc) £400
Water Testing £200
That’s for a very hands on DIY job, neighbour and I dug the trench, cast the Manhole around the borehole, ran all the tests etc
Annual running costs:
Potassium Permanganate £100
UV Tube £60
Clack Stack and piston £50
Electricity for pumps ~£100
Water Testing £200
Jim
Borehole - no water no fee, ended up 70M deep and cost £6,000
Pump/Pipe/Cable/Control Box & installation cost Cost £2,000
13” * 54” Media Filter plus Clack WS1 head plus Pyrolox media cost £1,500
Brine Tank (Potassium Permanganate), Odds and Sods (new UV bulb some connectors etc etc) £400
Water Testing £200
That’s for a very hands on DIY job, neighbour and I dug the trench, cast the Manhole around the borehole, ran all the tests etc
Annual running costs:
Potassium Permanganate £100
UV Tube £60
Clack Stack and piston £50
Electricity for pumps ~£100
Water Testing £200
Jim
My place has one too, not sure on the cost as it’s a rented place but there’s a large pump too and it’s very hard water, so bad that we use bottled water for the kettle and iron as I was descaling it every week, and my skin is definitely dryer than it used to be, you can see it all over the shower chrome after even 1 shower
Probably destroy my washing machine despite using Calgon regularly too
Probably destroy my washing machine despite using Calgon regularly too
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff