The company was founded as a water well drilling contractor in 1966 by Thomas Mahan, Jr. A young man with the belief that the customer was the number one priority, Tom spent his first few years in business teaching himself how to drill water wells and keeping up with his simple motto, “Treat people exactly how you wanted to be treated.” As the business grew, the company was moved from the back of a chicken farm in Naugatuck, Connecticut to a larger facility in nearby Beacon Falls CT. The company soon had two rigs running six days a week to keep up with demand for water well drilling in Connecticut.
As construction declined in the late 1980s, a decision was made to head west and drill for oil. Tom set up shop in Marietta, Ohio where the oil and gas industry was in a boom. The oilfield was short lived, but the experience gained there helped develop a process known as hydro-surge, which helps low-producing wells make more water. Once back in Connecticut, the company drilled its first geothermal well in 1986 at Tom’s own house. The idea of heating and cooling with wells in New England was just catching on and it became an interest of Tom’s.
Leader in Geothermal Drilling
In the process of building his new company, Tom hired Anthony Ganio in 1987 as a water well driller’s apprentice. Over the years, Anthony learned every facet of the well drilling business, all the while sharing Tom’s vision that geothermal heating and cooling would eventually become a popular alternative to fossil fuels. Anthony is now president of Connecticut Wells, in charge of all aspects of running the company, and can be credited with helping to more than double the company’s sales in the past three years. In 2001, the company signed on with Connecticut Light & Power to become a certified vendor for CL&P’s Energy Star program, which promoted the use of alternative energy sources, especially geothermal technology. Connecticut Wells went from drilling one or two geothermal wells a year to 20-30 wells a month, and now drills three to four wells a day. As a leader in geothermal drilling throughout New England and eastern NY, Connecticut Wells still drills for almost all of the HVAC contractors met through the CL&P program.
