Received a call today with a question that I wasn’t sure how to answer. Going into the question I know that well flow rate is only a portion of the equation as to wether or not a home might have enough water. Well capacity, recovery rate, etc. all play factors in the equation but the specific question was for a 3 unit apartment with 4 full baths and 3 half baths with 3 washing machines. The caller asked what would be acceptable parameters for well flow rate? I’m aware of the FHA standard of 3 gallons a minute for an hour but always assumed that was meant for a standard 2.5 bath single family home. I also asked if the home had a storage tank which I was told it didn’t.
I would never answer this question. There are way to many variables involved. They need to get an engineer involved for those calculations or a plumber with a huge amount of experience in wells.
That’s ultimately what I told them more curious if there were any kind of rule of thumb?