So my fiancée's father is buying a house. He was in Florida and we did all of the walk-throughs with the realtor, set up the inspections and any other due diligence necessary before making the purchase offer. The offer was accepted as nothing glaring came up on any of the inspections, tests or disclosure statement. We set up a closing date and he returned from FL to be present at closing.
Fast forward to closing day and we go to the house for our final "walk through" before heading to the realtors office to do all of the paperwork. While looking at everything, I tried the kitchen faucet and to my surprise there was no water. I go to the closest bathroom and again, no water. Not a big deal, I just figured they shut off either the well pump or main valve while nobody was occupying the house. Off to the basement I go to check circuit healers and valves. The breaker was still on and all of the valves were open. NOT GOOD! I look at the pump saver/alarm box and it's flashing "dry run/dead head". REALLY NOT GOOD!!! Luckily I was accompanied by the listing realtor who is a personal friend. He sees exactly what's going on and calls the office to let them know we have a problem. He explains the issue and has someone call the seller. They explain the issue to the seller and she sends over her son-in-law who knows a bit about the mechanics of the house. He looks at the same items in the basement as I did and comes to the same conclusion as I did, nothing abnormal here but the pump saver. Then he has an epiphany and tells us to follow him upstairs. He says that the valve in the master bathroom toilet sticks and did so a few days ago. He walks right to it and sure enough the handle is stuck, the chain pulled up and the valve open/running. He manually puts it down, the tank fills and the valve closes/stops. Problem solved but questions come to mind. I ask how often does this happen? He mentioned that the valve has stuck open twice in the last few weeks and the well has run dry both times. He also divulges that over the last few years while having family visit, when multiple people are taking showers, the water also runs out. Then he tells us that while her husband was alive(4-5 years ago), he had water issues while gardening and watering the lawn as it would also run out. So, he leaves and I immediately ask the realtor if he has a copy of the disclosure statement in his email. He does and we go to the section on well questions. One question specifically asks if the "well has ever run dry" and her answer was NO. I call a local well driller that I've done business with and he advises to delay the closing ad see how long it takes for the well to recover. He also knows the area because he has drilled several wells in the development and it is an area with low yield and slow recovery. We agree to delay the closing to figure out what to do since there was a problem found and a material misrepresentation on the disclosure statement.
We end up going to close a week later with a concession on the sellers end for the possible future need to drill a new well. We do another walk-through and all is well, enough water to fill up a large jetted tub so we figure all is good. Or so we thought. A week her father is showing friends and family the house and unknowing to him, someone goes and uses the master bathroom. Yep, I get a call yesterday that there's no water again. I go to the house and sure enough the toilet handle is down, the chain is up and valve/water running. I shut off the supply line, remove the handle and shut the door explaining that nobody can now use the bathroom.
Sorry for the long read, but I want to give everyone the whole back story and what has lead up to this point.
Now, I don't think that the well will be an issue moving forward since there are just 2 older people living in the house, but I worry about damage to the wheel and aquifer that they are tapped into. Without the support of water, they can collapse. We've had that issue here in the development at several nearby properties. 2 other homes close by have had to drill new wells after their original ones went dry. We have never had issues with our well, but being "a smarter than the average bear", I know the limitations and keep diligent on our water useage. I don't want issue and certainly don't want to ever have to drill another well here.
My question for the hive is will the well recover and continue to run without issue if there are no leaks or mishaps? Do wells suffer damage when run dry numerous times? The well is drilled to 600' but I'm still trying to find out at what level the pump is hung. I also have a call in to a driller who had equipment that can test the water level in the hole. Even though he has the $$$ from the seller to drill a new well, there is adequate access to the yard to get the drill rig in there, doing it would be a pain. We are hoping for the best but planning for the worst. Anyone here with deep well experience???
Thanks for reading all of that.
