You should have had the agreement down on paper from the beginning.

If things got nasty, there's no telling of how it would turn out.

Does your ownership agreement say _anything_ about this? Is it
listed as an easement?

I think it's _way_ too late to consider recouping the cost of the
initial installation. Chalk that up to experience, and don't do
it again.

You could purchase a Killawatt meter and monitor the power consumption
for a month or more, split the power consumption in half, and bill him
for that at the current going rate. This only works if the pump is
120V (and preferably plug-connected). Killawatts are only about $40.
At 240V, I dunno of any solutions that cheap.

As for maintenance - the common plumbing elements a well, pump,
pressure tank, and anything else his water goes through before it
goes off to his house. Like a water softener. He should pay half
the repair bills of any equipment in your place it goes through before
it gets to his. If he objects to that, you will have to consider
whether it's in your best interest to eat the costs, or go the legal
route.

Without some pre-agreement on maintenance, paper or otherwise, you
may well be screwed. A court may consider what little agreement
that there was to be a binding "contract", in which case you're stuck
with it. Legal advice is advised, but don't threaten/start proceedings
until you're ready to make a long term enemy.
--
Chris Lewis,

Age and Treachery will Triumph over Youth and Skill
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

Wow! Lots of responses! Thanks for all the advice.

I'm surprised the mere idea of well sharing is so foreign to
everyone. It's very common in Wisconsin. It makes a lot of sense.
There are rarely any problems, and I personally have never heard of
any first-hand. Sharing a well causes no problems with deeds,
mortgages, buying, selling, etc. Our deed, and our neighbor's deed,
both have the same language regarding the well and pump, and the deeds
were reviewed by attorneys, title companies, lenders, etc. This is
all legit.

My only problem is *HOW* to split the electricity. We both agree that
we'll split it, and our deeds stipulate that we'll split it, but how
do we split it? I'm waiting to hear back from my neighbor to see if
he agrees on a reasonable amount like $15/mo. I have no reason to
believe he'll argue about it. If he does, I'll just have to install a
meter on that circuit, watch it for a few months to come up with an
average, and then charge based on that. If the cost of a meter is
reasonable, I may do that regardless, as I'm a lover of information,
and I'd just like to know how much juice the pump uses.

I'm satisfied that the cost to run the circuit in the first place is
negligible, and I won't bother my neighbor with that. Besides, we'd
have to run that circuit even if we didn't share a well, and our
neighbor had to run a similar circuit to control the pump, so it's not
worth analyzing.

As for the pressure tank... I'm going to have a non-biased third
party plumber look at the installation and make sure it's fare, and
explore the "check valve" to make sure my neighbor doesn't benefit
from it, or, if necessary, figure out what initial costs should be
shared.

Thanks for all the information everyone!

- Johnnie

On Feb 26, 5:27*pm, wrote:
Wow! *Lots of responses! *Thanks for all the advice.

I'm surprised the mere idea of well sharing is so foreign to
everyone. *It's very common in Wisconsin. *It makes a lot of sense.
There are rarely any problems, and I personally have never heard of
any first-hand. *Sharing a well causes no problems with deeds,
mortgages, buying, selling, etc. *Our deed, and our neighbor's deed,
both have the same language regarding the well and pump, and the deeds
were reviewed by attorneys, title companies, lenders, etc. *This is
all legit.


If it's all so common and a swell idea that doesn't lead to any
problems, why are you here asking questions about how to resolve it?



My only problem is *HOW* to split the electricity. *We both agree that
we'll split it, and our deeds stipulate that we'll split it, but how
do we split it? *I'm waiting to hear back from my neighbor to see if
he agrees on a reasonable amount like $15/mo. *I have no reason to
believe he'll argue about it. *If he does, I'll just have to install a
meter on that circuit, watch it for a few months to come up with an
average, and then charge based on that. *If the cost of a meter is
reasonable, I may do that regardless, as I'm a lover of information,
and I'd just like to know how much juice the pump uses.

And what happens when he says, screw you, you're charging me too much,
I'm only paying half? Or when lightning hits the pump and you pay
for it's replacement? Or he sells the place and the new neighbor
decides to put in an irrigation system for 2 acres of lawn?




I'm satisfied that the cost to run the circuit in the first place is
negligible, and I won't bother my neighbor with that.

That's cool. How about the cost of the well and pump? Who paid for
that? Here we call guys like you a sucker.



*Besides, we'd
have to run that circuit even if we didn't share a well, and our
neighbor had to run a similar circuit to control the pump, so it's not
worth analyzing.

As for the pressure tank... *I'm going to have a non-biased third
party plumber look at the installation and make sure it's fare, and
explore the "check valve" to make sure my neighbor doesn't benefit
from it, or, if necessary, figure out what initial costs should be
shared.

Thanks for all the information everyone!

- Johnnie

wrote:

Wow! Lots of responses! Thanks for all the advice.

I'm surprised the mere idea of well sharing is so foreign to
everyone. It's very common in Wisconsin. It makes a lot of sense.
There are rarely any problems, and I personally have never heard of
any first-hand. Sharing a well causes no problems with deeds,
mortgages, buying, selling, etc. Our deed, and our neighbor's deed,
both have the same language regarding the well and pump, and the deeds
were reviewed by attorneys, title companies, lenders, etc. This is
all legit.

My only problem is *HOW* to split the electricity. We both agree that
we'll split it, and our deeds stipulate that we'll split it, but how
do we split it? I'm waiting to hear back from my neighbor to see if
he agrees on a reasonable amount like $15/mo. I have no reason to
believe he'll argue about it. If he does, I'll just have to install a
meter on that circuit, watch it for a few months to come up with an
average, and then charge based on that. If the cost of a meter is
reasonable, I may do that regardless, as I'm a lover of information,
and I'd just like to know how much juice the pump uses.

I'm satisfied that the cost to run the circuit in the first place is
negligible, and I won't bother my neighbor with that. Besides, we'd
have to run that circuit even if we didn't share a well, and our
neighbor had to run a similar circuit to control the pump, so it's not
worth analyzing.

As for the pressure tank... I'm going to have a non-biased third
party plumber look at the installation and make sure it's fare, and
explore the "check valve" to make sure my neighbor doesn't benefit
from it, or, if necessary, figure out what initial costs should be
shared.

Thanks for all the information everyone!

- Johnnie

we share a well with the well's owner (whos never here) and another
neighbor. the well's owner charges us $35 a year and i know that i use
alot more water than he does
cj in michigan

wrote:
....
I'm surprised the mere idea of well sharing is so foreign to
everyone. It's very common in Wisconsin. It makes a lot of sense.
There are rarely any problems, and I personally have never heard of
any first-hand. Sharing a well causes no problems with deeds,
mortgages, buying, selling, etc. Our deed, and our neighbor's deed,
both have the same language regarding the well and pump, and the deeds
were reviewed by attorneys, title companies, lenders, etc. This is
all legit.

Well, you left out the part of it being included in the deeds,
easements, etc. The discussion was over the case in which, as it
sounded like from the original post, one property owner was supplying
water to an adjacent lacking anything other than a very nebulous verbal
arrangement for power.

My only problem is *HOW* to split the electricity. We both agree that
we'll split it, and our deeds stipulate that we'll split it, but how
do we split it? I'm waiting to hear back from my neighbor to see if
he agrees on a reasonable amount like $15/mo. I have no reason to
believe he'll argue about it. If he does, I'll just have to install a
meter on that circuit, watch it for a few months to come up with an
average, and then charge based on that. If the cost of a meter is
reasonable, I may do that regardless, as I'm a lover of information,
and I'd just like to know how much juice the pump uses.

If the agreement were were complete, it would adjudicate the split as well.

Lacking a formal agreement, estimating is fine if you and the neighbor
are both agreeable. Whether that's equitable depends on relative water
use, though, not simply the power charge. While the incremental
operational cost isn't probably enough to worry about excessively, what
about the distribution of repair costs, etc? Are they to be shared
50:50 or on some estimated basis or what? If one uses far more over
time than the other, is it fair that that user pay less than the
fractional amount of water used?

The point really isn't that you and the current neighbor couldn't work
this all out between the two of you (although I'm curious as another
respondent that if there weren't some friction that you would feel
prompted to post the question to usenet) without anything further, but
the scenario of future neighbors who may not be so easygoing. If
there's a firm legal basis for all the ancillary costs besides simply
the incremental power cost, then there's a basis for settlement that
minimizes potential bickering. Again, the basis for this shouldn't be
to try to favor one party over the other but to make it an equitable
(and well-defined) arrangement.
....
As for the pressure tank... I'm going to have a non-biased third
party plumber look at the installation and make sure it's fare, and
explore the "check valve" to make sure my neighbor doesn't benefit
from it, or, if necessary, figure out what initial costs should be
shared.

As a shared well, what's not "fair" about him gaining some "benefit"
from the pressure tank -- it's part of the system and the _system_ is
shared. One would presume the well feeds the pressure tank and the tank
then feeds both properties.

Again, the agreement should include the system and costs for maintaining
it, not simply the operational costs.

What happens if the well fails and you're out of town for an extended
period? The neighbor have access to everything they need to get the
problem resolved before you return?

So many questions, so few answers...

--

My only problem is *HOW* to split the electricity. We both agree that
we'll split it, and our deeds stipulate that we'll split it, but how
do we split it?

You could measure the time the pump runs by adding a clock to the circuit.
The amount of electricity used by the pump can be measured with a amp meter
or watt meter.

On Feb 26, 2:27*pm, wrote:
Wow! *Lots of responses! *Thanks for all the advice.

I'm surprised the mere idea of well sharing is so foreign to
everyone. *It's very common in Wisconsin. *It makes a lot of sense.
There are rarely any problems, and I personally have never heard of
any first-hand. *Sharing a well causes no problems with deeds,
mortgages, buying, selling, etc. *Our deed, and our neighbor's deed,
both have the same language regarding the well and pump, and the deeds
were reviewed by attorneys, title companies, lenders, etc. *This is
all legit.

My only problem is *HOW* to split the electricity. *We both agree that
we'll split it, and our deeds stipulate that we'll split it, but how
do we split it? *I'm waiting to hear back from my neighbor to see if
he agrees on a reasonable amount like $15/mo. *I have no reason to
believe he'll argue about it. *If he does, I'll just have to install a
meter on that circuit, watch it for a few months to come up with an
average, and then charge based on that. *If the cost of a meter is
reasonable, I may do that regardless, as I'm a lover of information,
and I'd just like to know how much juice the pump uses.

I'm satisfied that the cost to run the circuit in the first place is
negligible, and I won't bother my neighbor with that. *Besides, we'd
have to run that circuit even if we didn't share a well, and our
neighbor had to run a similar circuit to control the pump, so it's not
worth analyzing.

As for the pressure tank... *I'm going to have a non-biased third
party plumber look at the installation and make sure it's fare, and
explore the "check valve" to make sure my neighbor doesn't benefit
from it, or, if necessary, figure out what initial costs should be
shared.

Thanks for all the information everyone!

- Johnnie

There should be much more than just shareing the cost of the
electric. It sounds like he is reasonable so a sit down to hash out
some details is in order. In any case, do not present him with a
'decision' without discussing it with him first.

Picture zero dark 30 on a stormy night when you discover you are out
of water. How are the costs of the plumber going to be shared? That
needs to be in a legal contract. Any reasonble neighbor will
negotiate it.

As for the initial cost that went into drilling/equipment/piping etc.
of the well: That is water under the bridge. You agreed to whatever
the assignment of them were when you bought the lot from the developer
even if yuo didn't consider it. Those costs don't even involve the
neighbor. In effect you want to go back and renegotiate the selling
price. Ain't a gonna happen.

Harry K

.

No one would fall for that in NJ. Shared driveways make houses harder
to sell

On Feb 26, 5:27*pm, wrote:
Wow! *Lots of responses! *Thanks for all the advice.

I'm surprised the mere idea of well sharing is so foreign to
everyone. *It's very common in Wisconsin. *It makes a lot of sense.
There are rarely any problems, and I personally have never heard of
any first-hand. *Sharing a well causes no problems with deeds,
mortgages, buying, selling, etc. *Our deed, and our neighbor's deed,
both have the same language regarding the well and pump, and the deeds
were reviewed by attorneys, title companies, lenders, etc. *This is
all legit.

My only problem is *HOW* to split the electricity. *We both agree that
we'll split it, and our deeds stipulate that we'll split it, but how
do we split it? *I'm waiting to hear back from my neighbor to see if
he agrees on a reasonable amount like $15/mo. *I have no reason to
believe he'll argue about it. *If he does, I'll just have to install a
meter on that circuit, watch it for a few months to come up with an
average, and then charge based on that. *If the cost of a meter is
reasonable, I may do that regardless, as I'm a lover of information,
and I'd just like to know how much juice the pump uses.

I'm satisfied that the cost to run the circuit in the first place is
negligible, and I won't bother my neighbor with that. *Besides, we'd
have to run that circuit even if we didn't share a well, and our
neighbor had to run a similar circuit to control the pump, so it's not
worth analyzing.

As for the pressure tank... *I'm going to have a non-biased third
party plumber look at the installation and make sure it's fare, and
explore the "check valve" to make sure my neighbor doesn't benefit
from it, or, if necessary, figure out what initial costs should be
shared.

Thanks for all the information everyone!

- Johnnie

According to :

I'm surprised the mere idea of well sharing is so foreign to
everyone.

It's not foreign. However, entering into one of these without a firm
legal basis for it is not only foreign, but very unwise.

At least you seem to have a reasonable relationship with him.

Sharing electrical costs on a guess of, say, $10-20/month is perfectly
reasonable if you're both happy with it. Measuring it may be more trouble
than it's worth. You could put it in a repair fund.

The real issue is repairs. You need to discuss with him circumstances,
cost sharing, and what constitutes "shared equipment". That will
be well, well supply lines, pump, control systems, and almost certainly
pressure tank (unless you have checkvalves between it and where his feed
taps off). If you have a water softener that feeds him, it's shared too.
Do you have filters? Do they feed him? Etc.

How things get done if your neighbor can't get access to the equipment
while you're away is also an issue. Do you trust them enough to give
'em a key?

As for the initial installation cost, it's probably too late, but,
perhaps no harm in asking if your relationship is that good.

Now, once you get that all thrashed out, write it down in simple and
plain language (should be less than a page), and each should keep
a signed copy. That will keep things sane in the future.

Note: because of various incidents over the past years, people are
getting considerably more leary of small-scale water sharing. You don't
want to face major lawsuits over a contamination problem you didn't
catch. You'll probably need to advise your insurance company.
--
Chris Lewis,

Age and Treachery will Triumph over Youth and Skill
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

replying to JohnnieMarr, debi randel wrote:
I also have the same question..howerever I think you are wanting to be paid
for the existing well and all the happy crap that goes. With it...usage fine
fees like the phone conversation...all that stuff was already paid for when it
was installed by whoever....done deal..your sharing the daily cost of it
operating now....put a clause in saying you will split cost if it breaks

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...ge-290676-.htm

replying to JohnnieMarr, steve a. wrote:
you answered your on question..you said "we agreed"
We agreed that we would pay for the electricity along with the rest of our
electricity,..why cry now?if your neighbor had of made the same agreement i
sure if he was trying to go back on his word you would have a problem


--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...ge-290676-.htm

On Wed, 29 Nov 2017 18:44:02 GMT, steve a.
m wrote:

replying to JohnnieMarr, steve a. wrote:
you answered your on question..you said "we agreed"
We agreed that we would pay for the electricity along with the rest of our
electricity,..why cry now?if your neighbor had of made the same agreement i
sure if he was trying to go back on his word you would have a problem


The well dried up a long time ago.

Did you ever find out what to do ? I am having the same issue . We rent and the water pump is in our yard. But the landlord said that will paying for the neighbors down below us also.

--
For full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...ge-290676-.htm

On Friday, February 19, 2021 at 9:15:07 AM UTC-5, jessica69872006 wrote:
Did you ever find out what to do ? I am having the same issue . We rent and the water pump is in our yard. But the landlord said that will paying for the neighbors down below us also.

--
For full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...ge-290676-.htm

From the limited info, it sounds like the water pump for a duplex is on your meter.
Not unusual. Presumably the landlord told you this before you signed a lease or
moved in. The landlord should have it in the lease. If you knew about it before,
what's the issue? I hope the landlord didn't tell you to go collect money from the
other tenant. The electric used for the pump isn't much, I'd think it's no
more than $5 a month or so, unless it's used for lawn watering or similar.

On 2/19/2021 9:15 AM, jessica69872006 wrote:
Did you ever find out what to do ? I am having the same issue . We rent
and the water pump is in our yard. But the landlord said that will
paying for the neighbors down below us also.


Interesting to me as a well owner. Google tells me it could be costing
about $2 a day for electricity. Landlord should adjust your rent to
account for this. Maybe he already has. At least as a renter you are
not responsible for well. I needed a new one two years ago and it cost
me $7,000. I have enough water to supply our small development but
thankfully do not have to.

On Friday, February 19, 2021 at 9:35:05 AM UTC-5, Frank wrote:
On 2/19/2021 9:15 AM, jessica69872006 wrote:
Did you ever find out what to do ? I am having the same issue . We rent
and the water pump is in our yard. But the landlord said that will
paying for the neighbors down below us also.

Interesting to me as a well owner. Google tells me it could be costing
about $2 a day for electricity.

Sure, if you're watering an acre of lawn. A 1hp pump is about 750 watts.
at 0.13 per kwh, that, 0.10 per hour. To get to $2, the pump would have
to be running about 20 hours a day. If it runs an hour or two a day, it's
ten or twenty cents.

Landlord should adjust your rent to
account for this. Maybe he already has.

The issue is if he told them before they rented. And even if he didn't
when it's a few bucks a month in a rent that's probably 200 times that,
I wouldn't go looking for trouble over it.

On 2/19/2021 9:15 AM, jessica69872006 wrote:
Did you ever find out what to do ? I am having the same issue . We rent
and the water pump is in our yard. But the landlord said that will
paying for the neighbors down below us also.


The only satisfactory answer is to never share a well. Either spit cost
equally or put meters and split proportionally.

On Friday, February 19, 2021 at 9:54:30 AM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 2/19/2021 9:15 AM, jessica69872006 wrote:
Did you ever find out what to do ? I am having the same issue . We rent
and the water pump is in our yard. But the landlord said that will
paying for the neighbors down below us also.

The only satisfactory answer is to never share a well. Either spit cost
equally or put meters and split proportionally.

Not really practical. There are many duplexes and similar, houses with two different
tenants. Two meters would require two pumps and two separate water systems.
Many, probably most of these were never built with that in mind. Even two pumps
isn't possible, if it's a submersible, which is the most common type today. As I
see it, it's a $2 a month issue. But if this renter plans on going to the other
tenant to ask them to pay, I can see $2000 problems before it's over.

On 2/19/2021 10:03 AM, trader_4 wrote:
On Friday, February 19, 2021 at 9:54:30 AM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 2/19/2021 9:15 AM, jessica69872006 wrote:
Did you ever find out what to do ? I am having the same issue . We rent
and the water pump is in our yard. But the landlord said that will
paying for the neighbors down below us also.

The only satisfactory answer is to never share a well. Either spit cost
equally or put meters and split proportionally.

Not really practical. There are many duplexes and similar, houses with two different
tenants. Two meters would require two pumps and two separate water systems.
Many, probably most of these were never built with that in mind. Even two pumps
isn't possible, if it's a submersible, which is the most common type today. As I
see it, it's a $2 a month issue. But if this renter plans on going to the other
tenant to ask them to pay, I can see $2000 problems before it's over.


Can be done with one pump and pressure tank. In an older house it may
be harder to split the systems but from scratch it is just a tee fitting
and meters. In reality, the cost of the meters is probably 10 years of
pump electricity.

On Friday, February 19, 2021 at 11:01:21 AM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 2/19/2021 10:03 AM, trader_4 wrote:
On Friday, February 19, 2021 at 9:54:30 AM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 2/19/2021 9:15 AM, jessica69872006 wrote:
Did you ever find out what to do ? I am having the same issue . We rent
and the water pump is in our yard. But the landlord said that will
paying for the neighbors down below us also.

The only satisfactory answer is to never share a well. Either spit cost
equally or put meters and split proportionally.

Not really practical. There are many duplexes and similar, houses with two different
tenants. Two meters would require two pumps and two separate water systems.
Many, probably most of these were never built with that in mind. Even two pumps
isn't possible, if it's a submersible, which is the most common type today. As I
see it, it's a $2 a month issue. But if this renter plans on going to the other
tenant to ask them to pay, I can see $2000 problems before it's over.

Can be done with one pump and pressure tank. In an older house it may
be harder to split the systems but from scratch it is just a tee fitting
and meters. In reality, the cost of the meters is probably 10 years of
pump electricity.

I would take bets that the cost of meters and all the other BS to solve
a problem that does not exist is going to be a lot more than 10 years
of pump electric usage. By my calculations, it's a couple bucks a month.
So, to even it out, so that the other party is paying their $2 a month
accurately, it would seem to me that it's going to cost a lot more than
$240 bucks, ie ten years amount. And where does it end? I'm sure
there are plenty of duplexes where the landlord told one on the tenants
that they were responsible to mow the lawn. So now, what? Calculate
that value to the dollar? If you were a landlord that had a duplex where
the pump was on one tenant, what would you do? Tell the one tenant
that's the way it is, you're paying it, or go re-plumb the place, put in more
electric meters, etc?