Okay, so I’ve been getting a lot of questions about well water lately, specifically about flow rate. People wanna know, “What’s a good flow rate for my well?” So, I figured I’d share my little experiment and what I learned.
My Well Water Flow Rate Journey
First off, my situation might be different from yours. I’m not building a brand-new house, more like trying to understand my existing well. My main concern was if my current water pressure and supply were, shall we say, not terrible.
Initially, I noticed things were a little slow. Showers weren’t exactly invigorating, and if someone flushed the toilet while I was washing dishes… well, let’s just say the water pressure dropped like a rock. I needed to figure out if this was just “old house charm” or a real problem.
So, I started with the most basic test. I got a 5-gallon bucket, turned on the outside spigot (the one not connected to any water softeners or filters), and timed how long it took to fill.
- Step 1: Grab a bucket (I used a 5-gallon one because, well, it was handy).
- Step 2: Find the outdoor spigot. Make sure it bypasses any fancy water treatment stuff.
- Step 3: Turn the water on FULL BLAST.
- Step 4: Time it! I used my phone’s stopwatch.
My first try? It took, like, forever to fill that bucket. Way over a minute. That’s definitely not a good sign.
I did some digging (not literally, my well is already dug!), and it seems like for a normal family, you want something around 5 gallons per minute (GPM). Anything less than 3 GPM, and you might start having problems, especially if you have a lot of people using water at the same time.
I ran the bucket test a few more times, just to be sure. I even tried it at different times of the day, thinking maybe water usage in my neighborhood was affecting things. Nope. Consistently slow.
Now, I’m no expert, but this told me I probably needed to call in a pro. They got a much better, more professional tool than my 5 gallon bucket and stopwatch, and they could tell me all kinds of fancy things.
Armed with my “bucket data” and a better understanding of what a good flow rate should be, I felt way more informed when I talked to the well guy. I wasn’t just saying, “Uh, my water seems slow.” I could say, “My flow rate is way less than 5 GPM, and here’s how I tested it.”
Long story short, sometimes the simplest methods can give you the most important information!
