Well pump, hose, and wire cost question

[Inukshuk]

Does this expense make sense? Its at my mom's cabin in NY State. Do you need all these new items with a well pump? I'm not sure how old the other one was.

Invoice for the removal of pressure switch installed a new pressure switch.
For the removal of the well pump and installing the new 1hp. Well pump 400 feet of one inch poly pipe
400 feet of #10-2 copper wire
400 feet of rope
For turning on the water for the summer.
Labor and materials
$5230.00.

 

[RDub]

Replaced a well pump 100 feet down at a buddy’s place in Upstate NY last year. Reused the plastic pipe from the pump to the surface, all wiring, pressure switch, etc. Works fine. Cost was only the pump, labor was me and him.

 

[BritKLR]

Ouch.....yet, prices are all over the place now. FWIW, maybe 5 years ago our well pump went out on a Saturday so that was considered an "emergency" call out to replace it.
To pull the pump from 600', replace the pump and drop it back down and upgrade the wiring at the pump head it cost $2900 included the weekend emergency call out premium.
I suspect a good portion of your cost is the 400' copper wire and the pump itself due to the amount of copper components it has inside (oh, and it's the east coast..) As long as the poly pipe is good I'm not sure why they replaced it. Ours was the original pump and piping from 1994 and the piping was still good. Same with the wiring, not sure why it needed replacing unless it was just old. Good luck.

 

[SteveH]

My last well pump (3/4 hp, and reusing all other bits) was $2000 in 2008. Depth was 200'.

I could EASILY see this job now costing 3x that for pump, labor, and materials. The only 'upgrade' I got was replacing a bunch of plastic couplers with stainless steel ones. I was told well pumps last around 20 years, which is how long our previous pump lasted. If you have a defective captive air tank and the pump cycles incessantly, they will burn out faster.

 

[LARGEONE]

They just finished drilling the well on my property. It is 340’ and I’m getting a quote soon for new pump, pipe, wire, etc. Hoping it’s not $5k!!!

 

[Inukshuk]

Replaced a well pump 100 feet down at a buddy’s place in Upstate NY last year. Reused the plastic pipe from the pump to the surface, all wiring, pressure switch, etc. Works fine. Cost was only the pump, labor was me and him.

you speak to part of my question. I wonder why did it need new wire and hose.

Bottom line I think is this person is a helpful and mom thinks honest.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Did he break down material costs?

Based on what we're seeing I would not be surprised if #10-2 is perhaps $2/ft at a retail price and the cost for motors and starters has skyrocketed. It's a serious struggle to just get anything electrical or electronic right now.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Yeah. That seams about right.
It was around $4,000 for replacement of my pump. And I ran all the new wires to the well head from my house by my self.

 

[Inukshuk]

Did he break down material costs?

Based on what we're seeing I would not be surprised if #10-2 is perhaps $2/ft at a retail price and the cost for motors and starters has skyrocketed. It's a serious struggle to just get anything electrical or electronic right now.

No. Mom did not ask him for that. Mostly he does smaller jobs like turning the water on/off at start/finish of summer season and small repairs. Its not his full time gig and he's assisted for years, so I'm glad to hear we are in the ballpark!

Thx all!!

 

[powderpig]

I would guess the guy that is doing it is buying at retail and maybe marking up the price a bit. Price a new 1 HP pump these days,
big name, like over 1200, some other names, Franklin, Red Lion, ETC are going to be around 900, then you have the Cheap stuff.
Made in China cheap, 300-500. I have a need currently for my property in AK, the 1/2 HP pump is going to cost me 400-500 for a 2 wire
no controller style. I will be re using the wire and pipe.
One mind set is to replace everything when doing a deep well, as to have no issues. The other is labor to re pull 400 ft of Pump, Wire,
pipe if something goes wrong. You may want to ask him if he would do the job with out replacing the pipe and wire. Then again, how long has that wire and pipe been in the ground? 30-40 +years. or 10-20 years, may make a big difference Daniel.
Anyhow, that might figure in on his decision to do the work. You state he is Handy man, not a well pump service company.

One thought, I would ask what pump he is using and what the warranty is. Too me, that would make a huge part of any well pump
decision.

 

[Inukshuk]

He probably paid retail and replaced it all "deep well, as to have no issues"
I e-mailed him a thanks and asked the age of the parts.
The well has been in since the 80's and I don't recall other work except a pressure tank replacement maybe 20 years ago.
Its only used seasonally and even then not heavily, so as long as there has been no water infiltration damage, it would have little wear and may have lasted a very long time.

 

[BritKLR]

A little scrooge/penny pincher advice: Keep the old pump and recycle it yourself. I got $45.00 scrap for mine due to all the copper in the older ones. Heck, in todays copper market it might be worth more....... It's bonus beer money for either the repair guy or yourself!

 

[Corbet]

Well pump life expectancy is 10 years. Our first lasted 23. When we replaced it last year the poly was fine. I believe they did the wire. (I was not home to watch). Cost was similar. 288’ deep here.

 

[powderpig]

Close to 40 years of service, that is good. I would put to you that seasonal service is hard on a well pump, just like a car. When I go to
pull the pump, I will check the wire for Corrosion and if it goes up past a certain length(corrosion) , where I can not use the wire due to shortness.
I will need to replace.
I would also warn you, the new pumps may never reach the years of service you got out of that old pump. The amount of reading I have done
on this suggests, all the pump makers, have lighten up the pumps. Well respected people in their fields state one may see less life out of the newer pumps installed.
then again, the real expensive pumps are using new technology, like ceramic coating and teflon to seal the pumping parts. So, that would lead
to long life, but those pumps are like 2x the cost. I personally would use that style for year round use, not for seasonal use. Sandy soil seems to be the killer of the pump pressure and flow, where pumps are just not made as stout.

 

[Inukshuk]

Close to 40 years of service, that is good.

We have no idea how old it was.

 

[LARGEONE]

Just got my bid to do a higher end 1HP pump ($2300 retail) and 340 feet of wire and pipe to surface. He is also putting on extra wire and a plug to uses with my 7500w generator since I don't have full power yet.

Just over $5000. He said its about $900 more than what he could have done it a year ago...before the chit we're in.