Water Supply for a Country House

In this article, we will discuss how to organize reliable and uninterrupted water supply for a country house: we’ll talk about wells and their types, pump stations, hydro-accumulators, and much more.

Water from a Well

Currently, after several dry years, a real boom in drilling has begun across many regions of Russia. People are now drilling wells not only for household needs but also for irrigation and garden maintenance. This trend has led to a sharp increase in the number of companies offering well-drilling services, as well as a rise in imported drilling technologies from abroad.

For example, in Russia, hydraulic drilling is now widely used to create the most cost-effective wells. Hydraulic drilling has rapidly replaced traditional screw drilling. Let’s examine the differences between wells drilled using these two methods.

Hydraulic Drilling

It involves washing away soil with a powerful water jet, while simultaneously, under pressure, a polypropylene or polyethylene pipe (diameter 32 or 36 mm) is inserted into the resulting hole. In the end, we have a pipe extending from the ground, connected via a special transition coupling to a polypropylene pipe leading to a surface pump station. The limitations of this method are as follows:

• maximum compressor power allows cleaning the well to a depth of no more than 30 meters—beyond that, water pressure is insufficient;
• the water table (so-called 'first water') must be no more than 8 meters below the pump station level—otherwise, the station cannot generate the required pressure difference for lifting water;
• only a surface pump station can be used on such a well, since the pipe diameter (only 3 cm) does not allow insertion of a submersible pump.

Screw Drilling

In contrast to hydraulic drilling, traditional screw drilling allows wells to be drilled up to 100 meters deep or more, equipped with casing pipes of 160–180 mm diameter. Such wells are ideal for areas where water lies deep underground. In conventional wells, submersible pumps are typically installed, so there is no dependency on distance to the water table. The only major drawback is cost—such wells cost, on average, ten times more than those drilled using hydraulic methods.

Organizing Water Supply in a House

Once the well is ready, it's time to bring water into the house. This can be done using either polypropylene or metal pipes. Typically, the external part of the water supply line is installed underground, below the frost line. For central Russia, this is approximately 1.2 meters.

A hydro-accumulator is usually installed at the house entry. Its capacity is chosen individually based on the number of water outlets and the number of household members. Usually, 50–80 liter capacities are sufficient for uninterrupted water supply and full household needs.

A hydro-accumulator is a rubber bladder enclosed in a metal housing. Water is pumped under pressure into the bladder. When the system pressure reaches the preset value (usually 2.5 atmospheres), the pump automatically shuts off.

When a user opens a tap or turns on any water-consuming appliance, the bladder compresses and pushes water out, creating a pressure of approximately 1–1.5 atmospheres at the tap. When system pressure drops to the lower limit (around 1.5 atmospheres), the pump turns back on, replenishing the system and refilling the hydro-accumulator until pressure reaches 2.5 atmospheres again.

Water supply in a country house should be set up so that pipes branch off from the hydro-accumulator via a tee or other distributor to all water outlets. As a safety backup, a bypass pipe can be installed around the hydro-accumulator, equipped with valves at both ends. Under normal operation, the valves are closed. If maintenance or replacement of the hydro-accumulator is needed, the valves are opened, allowing well water to flow directly to all consumers, bypassing the accumulator.