Water well

I don't think any well is a sure thing. If the driller is familiar with a certain area and good water is abundant then it's obviously a good thing. My grandfather had a well drilled a few years ago for the purposes of watering his garden/orchard. They went 175ft and hit a vein of coal. His water is absolutely undrinkable and has an extremely high iron content. Still uses it to water the plants but he can't get any on the leaves or it will burn them. His neighbors have successfully had great wells drilled FYI. Just bad luck I guess.

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Could they have gone deeper looking for better water?

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Yes but there was no guarantee they would find it and costs were adding up of course.

We have a current well that is 115 deep and it has a lot of iron. It's enough that you can smell it heavily when showering and of course it stains the toilets and such. Considering doing a new deeper one but I hate to waste the money.

We get like 2 gpm from the above ground pump could you recommend something that would work?

I used to have an iron water well, too. Still have it, but I use it for garden irrigation only now. City water line finally came through here and I tapped on it quick as I could. Iron water really makes a mess of everything. Clogs up waterlines, any household filters, dishwashers, washing machines, hot water heaters, and you are always fighting iron bacteria. Not to mention iron water discolors clothes and dishes. Two gallons a minute with an above ground is about what I had. I assume you have some kind of holding tank? Iron water will eat up those galvanized tanks, too. I'd get a bladder tank and install the water softener between the house and the holding tank. That softener will really reduce significantly the iron coming into your house. But it won't do anything to reduce the iron residue (rust) that's already in your pipes and plumbing. Also, you will have the same problem I had in that you have to use the raw iron water to recharge or clean out your softener. But it's still much better than NOT having a softener. Stay away from Culligan. Overpriced and not any better than anything you can get from Lowe's or Home Depot. Hope this helps? Edited to add: You have to have a minimum water pressure to recharge the softener, so you have to adjust that pressure on your above ground pump and be sure your holding tank can handle the pressure.

Tried the filters first, also. Yep, you're right. They don't work. Edited to add: I even installed filters between the pump and the holding tank and filters between the tank and the house. It kept me hopping just changing the filters between the pump and the tank ever 48 hours. That got expensive real quick. There was so much iron in those pre tank filters that water couldn't go through them, so I know they removed SOME of the iron, but that approach wasn't feasible. My neighbor still uses his iron water well, but he also has a water softener. He changed out his plumbing pipes and has minimal water problems now. I forgot to add that you will probably need to add a chlorinator to your system as well to kill the iron bacteria. That bacteria is what causes the iron water smell. It really accumulates, especially in your toilet tanks and water heater.

I don't have a holding tank just the charge tank maybe 20 gallons then on to 2 rvs.

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They went 175ft and hit a vein of coal. His water is absolutely undrinkable and has an extremely high iron content.

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Not surprised at this. Iron water and sulfur water are often found in close proximity to coal veins. Got that same situation here in Virginia. But a mile south of me, there is no coal, only limestone, and the well water is just fine.

What Parish?

Minimum pressure. Your GPM on the discharge side is limited by the size of your discharge pipe, the amount in your tank, and your pump pressure settings. If your water softener recharge cycle requires a minimum of 40 lbs. pressure, for instance, you must reset the low side of your pump to activate at no less than 40 lb. Check the discharge pressure on the holding tank to see what you have when your pump kicks on and go from there.