ᐅ Garden Irrigation Well – Seeking Ideas for Improvement – Please Share Your Input

We need quite a lot of water for our garden. There are a few minor issues with the current setup (using drinking water for the garden, wastewater charges, use of outdoor taps located before the water softener – a mix of poorly thought-out planning and careless behavior). So, we want to install a well.

With an elevation difference from the well depth (about -30m) to the top of the garden (+20m), the pump will have to be quite powerful. Therefore, I am considering filling a 5m³ (1320 gallons) water tank from the well and then using a second pump to supply the garden irrigation from this tank, which also collects rainwater from the carport roof. Conveniently, I could control the well pump to fill the cistern using electricity generated by the photovoltaic system and a float switch, so it runs only on self-generated power.

The water tank and additional pump are already planned anyway.

Who has experience with this?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of my ideas?
Are the cost estimates realistic?

Finding water and choosing the location – feasibility study: 150€
Drilling the hole including piping: 80€ per meter at 30m = around 2400€
Well pump with hose and tap: 1000€ including installation
5,000-liter (1320 gallons) water tank: 2000€ including delivery
Pump in the water tank with tap: 700€
Additional work done by ourselves, including material (pipes, hoses) and finishing: 350€

Total approx. 6600€ (I understand this won’t pay off economically quickly, given the annual savings of around 400-500€ on water and wastewater charges)

Thanks in advance for any ideas, criticism, or encouragement.

Have you checked whether you are allowed to drill a well? For example, we are not allowed to. And drill deep enough with a buffer. Friends of ours had their well dry up during the last hot summers. They then had to drill a new one together with their neighbor.

In principle, the idea is good, but you still have to drill 50m (164 feet), or did I misunderstand that? Furthermore, do you really want to place a 5sqm (54 sq ft) tank in your garden?

Why use a pressure tank and an additional pump? Just install a proper well pump and that’s it. For example, a Grundfos SQ 5-70. It doesn’t matter whether you use it to supply an automatic irrigation system or water taps.

hampshire schrieb:

We need quite a lot of water for our garden.

Does that mean in liters or cubic meters?
100,000 liters or 100 cubic meters (100,000 liters)?

haydee schrieb:

Have you checked if you’re allowed to drill a well?

Yes, my preliminary inquiry with the district was positive.

gmt94 schrieb:

In principle, the idea is good, but don’t you have to drill 50m (165 feet), or did I misunderstand?

The 30m (100 feet) is an estimate; another 20m (65 feet) in elevation comes with the property to reach every point where water is needed.

gmt94 schrieb:

Also, do you really want to put a 5sqm (54 sq ft) tank in the garden?

No one will see it at the planned location, and it can be buried. I have meanwhile found IBC containers with overflow, costing about 100€ per cubic meter (27 US gallons), so you can start with two or three.

rick2018 schrieb:

Why a tank and an additional pump?

The tank with the pump is intended anyway to drain the carport. There is a 35sqm (377 sq ft) roof area on it.

rick2018 schrieb:

Just use a proper well pump and that’s it. For example, a Grundfos SQ 5-70.

The idea is to use a pump with lower flow rate because it only refills the storage during use. It needs less power and can therefore be smaller, right? Would a SQ 3-40 not be enough for this? Honestly, I don’t understand the specifications. In the past, a small pump from the hardware store worked in a small hole...