Spring feed waterfall and brook

[DrCase]

I was thinking you might have black plastic.
I have seen pin holes and splits in it once it ages .

Replacing the pipe from the pump house to the water feature would be my first move

 

[Meyer Jordan]

It's black plastic pipe inside the well house which is on the back side of the waterfall. In the well house the 1.5" black plastic "T"s one branch to the waterfall, the other to a 50 gallon gravity tank with a shallow well pump I use for outside water. I added a valve to both ends of "T" several years ago. When the weather breaks I'll stop the spring flow, pump out the water and start knocking the calcified growth off the water fall. Once I find out what's behind all the overgrowth I can make more of plan to deal with the leaks. At that point I'll post some more pictures.

Is this 'spring-fed' as you first stated or 'well fed' (you mentioned well house in the above post).

 

[jdieter]

I was thinking you might have black plastic.
I have seen pin holes and splits in it once it ages .

Good point it's a pretty short piece, I'll check it.

 

[jdieter]

Is this 'spring-fed' as you first stated or 'well fed' (you mentioned well house in the above post).

Yes it's spring fed. I just call that little room the well house for want of a better term. When we bought the place both water systems were in that room; the pressure tank and water softener for the well, and for the spring fed system the pump and gravity tank. I've since moved all the well equipment to a utility room in the house.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Yes it's spring fed. I just call that little room the well house for want of a better term. When we bought the place both water systems were in that room; the pressure tank and water softener for the well, and for the spring fed system the pump and gravity tank. I've since moved all the well equipment to a utility room in the house.

I am still confused. Why would you need a pump for a spring-fed system? Natural spring flow is determined by hydrostatic pressure.

 

[tbendl]

Meyer, I think in his original post he says that the spring used to be the water source for the home. I'm assuming the pump was used to feed water into the house. He is now on a well but not sure if the pump is in use any longer.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Meyer, I think in his original post he says that the spring used to be the water source for the home. I'm assuming the pump was used to feed water into the house. He is now on a well but not sure if the pump is in use any longer.

Thanks, t. I guess my question is if the water from this source is or was supplied by use of a pump then that would have required some initial drilling to reach the water source. How does he know that it is a spring and not a shallow well?

 

[tbendl]

Now that I don't know. I would assume the previous owners told him it was a spring since jdieter indicated he had the original owners install a well for them before purchasing the house. Would the well or spring make a difference in fixing the waterfall area?

 

[tbendl]

Would the well or spring make a difference in fixing the waterfall area?

@Meyer Jordan not trying to be rude at all by the way. I posted it and then thought it sounded rude but I was just curious if there would be a permitting issue or water concern that I hadn't thought of. Just wanted to clarify.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

@Meyer Jordan not trying to be rude at all by the way. I posted it and then thought it sounded rude but I was just curious if there would be a permitting issue or water concern that I hadn't thought of. Just wanted to clarify.

Not rude at all.
Now that it is known that the water is coming out of a pipe, it makes no difference what the source is. It is just that the original post was misleading.
Harnessing the water flow from a natural bubbling spring is infinitely more complicated than water coming out of a pipe.

 

[tbendl]

I gotcha. So glad I didn't offend you! Sometimes it's hard to convey tone on these dang sites.

 

[jdieter]

Thanks, t. I guess my question is if the water from this source is or was supplied by use of a pump then that would have required some initial drilling to reach the water source. How does he know that it is a spring and not a shallow well?

We live on the side of a steep hill and between two deep ravines. Near the top of the hill there are three springs that pop out of the side of one of the two ravines. Just below the springs a small 6' wide by 4' tall concrete dam was constructed across a narrow area of the ravine. The 1.5" black pipe is in the center of a small pond formed by the dam. The pond is about 400' uphill from the well house and waterfall. This was the original water supply to the house. Inside the well house the spring pipe keeps a gravity tank full and the overflow discharges to the waterfall. A shallow well pump tied to the gravity tank supplied pressurized water to the house fixtures. Anytime water was used in the house the flow over the water fall would be reduced. The flow could completely stop if water in the house was used long enough. The original owners also had a small distiller installed with a separate line for drinking water.

When we bought the house it couldn't be sold without a well so the owner had a well driven and installed a submersible pump and pressure tank. The well was extremely low producing so the well driller suggested we keep the spring water system for dirty water and use the well for drinking water, with 3 kids we thought that was a good idea. So all the sinks in the house were tied to the well. The shower, washer, toilets etc. were tied to the spring. That meant we had 2 water heaters to maintain, one for each system. As soon as the last kid moved out, I switched everything over to the well and only use the spring for outside water.

 

[tbendl]

You've got such an interesting set up j I guess we just want to know everything about it. It is definitely the coolest spring.waterfall/pond/stream thing I've ever seen. Thanks for being patient with us.

 

[jdieter]

You've got such an interesting set up j I guess we just want to know everything about it. It is definitely the coolest spring.waterfall/pond/stream thing I've ever seen. Thanks for being patient with us.

Not a problem at all. Ya, when we bought the place I didn't know anything like that even existed. I had a hard time getting my wife to look at the place because it was so remote. After she saw the waterfall, brook and patio she said 3 words, "let's buy it". The original owners tried a well eventually but hit water with the rotten egg smell and decided not to us the well. We were lucky and the well driller from the first well drilled ours and he knew what to expect. They even had an old amish guy walking around with the forked stick deal to locate water because it has been so hard to find water in this immediate area. The well driller said there is so much sand, gravel, ravines and springs in the area that the underground water doesn't pocket. It seeps out into all the ravines around here.

 

[tbendl]

Where in Indiana are you if you don't mind me asking. I've got family in Ft.Wayne and Pierceton.