Find Out How Much Water Your Well Really Produces.
You don't need expensive equipment to get a useful estimate of your well's production. With a bucket, a timer, and about 30–60 minutes, you can estimate your well yield in gallons per minute and see how much water it could produce in a day.
Filling a 5-gallon bucket from a hose tells you how quickly your pump and plumbing can deliver water at that moment. The test below is designed to estimate how quickly the groundwater itself replenishes your well after it has been drawn down.
Four Simple Steps.
The goal is simple: start with the well at a low-water condition, let it recover for a known amount of time, then measure how much water is available before it reaches that same low-water condition again.
Draw the Well Down
Run one or more hose bibs or faucets until you see a major loss of pressure or flow, your low-water protection shuts the pump down, or the well reaches its normal "out of water" condition.
Stop immediately once water delivery is lost. Do not leave a pump running dry.Let It Recover
Turn the well pump off using its normal labeled breaker or disconnect and start a timer. We recommend beginning with a 15-minute recovery period.
Leave the test hose open so stored pressure-tank water is drained and isn't accidentally counted in the test.Capture the Water
When the recovery timer ends, place the hose into your bucket or marked container. Turn the well back on and immediately start a second timer.
Count every full bucket plus the amount in the final partial bucket.Stop & Record
Stop the timer when the well reaches the same low-water condition again. Record the total gallons collected and how many minutes the pump ran.
Those two numbers, along with your recovery time, are all the calculator needs.Never intentionally leave a well pump operating after water delivery stops. If your system does not have low-water or dry-run protection, or you aren't comfortable operating the normal well breaker/disconnect, have a well or pump professional perform the test instead. Do not open pressure switches, electrical enclosures, or wiring.
Enter Your Test Results.
We'll calculate your estimated well yield and approximately how much water the well could produce over 24 hours under similar groundwater conditions.
Once you enter your measurements, we'll estimate how much water your well could produce over a full day.
Estimated GPM = gallons collected ÷ (recovery minutes + pump minutes)
Gallons per day = estimated GPM × 1,440
A Slow Well Can Still Produce A Lot of Water.
Household water demand happens in short bursts. Showers, laundry, dishwashers, and irrigation may need many gallons per minute right now—even though the well may only replenish at a fraction of that rate.
That's where storage changes the equation. Instead of asking the well to match peak household demand directly, water can be collected gradually and stored for when the home needs it.
Collect Slowly.
Use Water Normally.
The Well Harvester® is designed for low-yield, seasonal, uncertain, changing, and difficult-to-measure wells. It manages the existing well pump, protects the well from over-pumping, and stores available water so household demand doesn't have to match the well's instantaneous production.
Base system storage. Water can continue replenishing the tank throughout the day as the home uses it.
Great for Planning. Not a Certified Pump Test.
This short recovery test is intended to give homeowners a practical estimate of low-well production. Actual well yield can change with groundwater level, season, nearby pumping, rainfall, pump depth, well storage, and other conditions.
For permitting, real-estate transactions, engineering decisions, or a certified yield number, use a licensed well professional and the testing procedure required in your area. Longer controlled pumping tests provide more confidence in a well's sustainable output.
Let Us Help You Make the Most of the Water You Have.
Tell us what your well produces, how many people are in the home, and what happens when you run out. We'll help determine which Epp Well Solutions system makes the most sense.