Well Services near you

A drilled well is bored by a drilling rig, lined with a steel or plastic casing and usually reaches water in bedrock or in deep layers of sand and gravel. Its narrow casing, sealed at the surface, leaves surface water few ways in, which is why a well-built drilled well tends to resist contamination and dry spells better than a shallow one.

A dug well is a wide, shallow hole lined with concrete tiles, stone or brick that collects groundwater close to the surface. Because its lid and joints are harder to seal and the water it draws is shallow, a dug well is more exposed to runoff, to a nearby septic system and to a falling water table in a dry summer.

A submersible pump sits down inside the well casing and pushes water up to the house through a drop pipe, with its power cable running alongside. A jet pump sits above ground, in the basement or a pump house, and draws water up by suction, which suits dug wells and other shallow sources.

Whatever the pump, a pressure tank sits between it and the plumbing. Inside, a cushion of air compresses as water comes in and pushes water back out when a tap opens, so the pump doesn't start every time someone runs the water. A pressure switch starts and stops the pump between two set pressures. When the tank loses its air charge or its bladder fails, the pump turns on and off in rapid bursts that wear it out early.

Most well problems first show up as a change at the tap. Some point to the pump or the tank, others to the well itself or to the water it draws. When the pump runs without stopping or the house has no water, switching off the pump's breaker, if the panel is dry, protects the motor until a well contractor arrives.

In Ontario, wells fall under the Wells Regulation (Regulation 903) made under the Ontario Water Resources Act. The province explains that licensed well contractors must use licensed well technicians holding the proper class of licence to do or supervise any work on your well, and that a well record must be completed and sent to the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. Keep a copy with your property papers.

In Quebec, the drilling and construction of residential wells are governed by the Water Withdrawal and Protection Regulation, and the Régie du bâtiment du Québec has a contractor licence subclass, 2.1, specifically for drilled wells. The environment ministry publishes a technical guide on water withdrawals subject to municipal authorization, so contact your municipality before a well is drilled, deepened or sealed, and ask the contractor for a copy of the drilling report, the form the ministry provides to document that work.

An abandoned well is a direct path from the surface to the aquifer. Health Canada recommends having any well that is no longer used properly sealed by a licensed well contractor, and in Ontario the owner must plug and seal a well that is neither in use nor maintained for future use.

Contamination usually gets into a well from the top or along the outside of the casing. Health Canada and the Ontario government both list checks owners can make through the year; any repair to the casing, the cap or the seal around it is a job for a licensed well contractor.

A well contractor usually starts at the surface, checking the pressure, the tank's air charge, the switch, the flow and whether the pump is getting power. If the fault is down the well, a submersible pump has to be lifted out with its pipe and cable, inspected, repaired or replaced, then lowered back to the right depth. Any time the well is opened, it should be disinfected afterward and the water tested before the household drinks it again.

The pump runs on its own circuit, and new or modified wiring, a new control box or a relocated disconnect switch is electrical work for a licensed electrical contractor: in Quebec, a member of the Corporation des maîtres électriciens du Québec; in Ontario, a contractor licensed through the Electrical Safety Authority. Water, a metal casing and household voltage are a dangerous mix, so this is never a do-it-yourself job.