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Well drilling

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marvin

09-18-2000 07:42:55




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I have been thinking for many years about drilling a well at the house to have my own supply of water. The neighbor has an old well drilling outfit sitting in the front yard. It has a derrick and winch along with a big heavy long steel shaft. My assumption is that this type of well driller just raises and drops the steel shaft and force the soil to the side, kind of like when you drive a steel fence post in the ground. I know that this is a slow method of drilling compared to the new modern rotary drills. I would like to put together a small system like this to drill my own well. My intent would be to find scrap metal and supplies. I do have a welder and a son who is a good welder.
Has anyone done this? Is it feasible? What are the concerns?

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george

09-19-2000 13:32:48




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 Re: Well drilling in reply to marvin, 09-18-2000 07:42:55  
Hire a licensed professional. The liability of contaminating the community aquifer will be staggering. I'm sure that drilling on your own is illegal.



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A- Farmall

09-18-2000 20:33:27




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 Re: Well drilling in reply to marvin, 09-18-2000 07:42:55  
As a licensed andcertfied welldriller you have to have both here in tn no private individual can drill their own well and we have to be at least 125 ft from aseptic system also when we finnish a well a state inspecter comes out and looks it over and places a state seal on it



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Cal S.

09-18-2000 17:51:04




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 Re: Well drilling in reply to marvin, 09-18-2000 07:42:55  
Twenty years ago freind of mine drilled a well in Indiana for me to water straberry patch. He used a 4 inch caseing(plastic) capped off sto that he could feed a two inch line from a trashpump hooked to a 500 gallon tank on his truck, water inside the casing came out the bottom and acted like a geyser around the outside letting 40 foot of casing slide in by hand. then dropped a sand point down the casing with hand pump, got 5 gallon per minute and could run one horse pool pump all day at about 20 gal min without going dry. of course it depends on the soil. Whole process only took two hours to complete.

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bbott

09-18-2000 16:22:34




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 Re: Well drilling in reply to marvin, 09-18-2000 07:42:55  
When I was a kid, my dad drilled several wells with a homemade 'drop weight' rig like you describe. run by a little Clinton gas engine, it would cam up and and drop the weight over and over...

A hand cranked cable winch was used to raise the
drop weight out of the hole to insert more casing.
(still have it)

The weight was a piece of 6" shaft about 6 feet long with hardfacing on the end and is still laying out in back. Ditto some of the driller frame, but it's rusted to pieces.

I think he did one hole down over 150 feet. That little diameter hole wouldn't produce much water though. I have fond memories of listening to it chunk away for hours and hours as I would explore the woods I'd always be able to find my way back to it..

Your success depends on you ground I think. We did go through quite a bit of shale..

Ok. Legalities. Here in 'Red' California, I think they've made it illegal to drill your own well.

If you do have a well and municipal water you have to have double backflow suppressor valves in place on your primary water system.

bbott

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tony

09-18-2000 14:55:54




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 Re: Well drilling in reply to marvin, 09-18-2000 07:42:55  
Before you begin you should ask around to see how deep you have to go to hit water. If the depth to hit water is greater than 25-30', make sure to use at least a 2" diameter pipe. If you use smaller 1 1/4" pipe and have to go past 25-30', the ejector that drops down the pipe will not fit and to my knowledge there isn't one made for the 1 1/4" pipe. I helped put in several shallow wells (down to 25-30') using 2" and the 1 1/4" pipe in a matter of a couple hours. We used a steel rod about 1" diameter welded to some heavy steel plates. A steel loop on top of the plates was used to hook up the rope, which ran up to a pulley on a A frame. The hardest part is getting the point started. The first section of pipe with the point on it is around 10', so your driver is pretty high up and kinda wobbly. Menards sell the driving points, pipe, couplings etc.

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paul

09-18-2000 18:38:22




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 Re: Re: Well drilling in reply to tony, 09-18-2000 14:55:54  
Wow, 30 feet? Menards is in my region, but we have to go about 250-260 feet here to get drinking water. That's with 5" casing & a deepwell pump. Wouldn't want to do that with a home-made rig & no experience! :)

--->Paul



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it might be illegal

09-18-2000 12:15:46




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 Re: Well drilling in reply to marvin, 09-18-2000 07:42:55  
There may be legalities connected with this in that only certified well drillers may be able do this as a protection of the underground water supply. Not sure but I'd sure find out before going ahead.



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Hartshorn

09-18-2000 14:32:54




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 Re: Re: Well drilling in reply to it might be illegal, 09-18-2000 12:15:46  
this will probably differ by locality. In our town(ship) the governing agency in such a case would be the health department. they will allow a private well in a residential neighborhood but not to be hooked into the household potable water system, even if the well is tested. The thinking is that in a residential neighborhood there is no surety of what the neighbors may or may not do that might contaminate the well so the health department will not certify it for drinking water. It can be used for watering lawns and gardens and possibly for filling swimming pools, perhaps for gray water uses if on a separate system from potable water system.

but every community is prolly a bit different

good luck

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Mudcat49

09-18-2000 20:07:08




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 Re: Re: Re: Well drilling in reply to Hartshorn, 09-18-2000 14:32:54  
Where I am at here in South Florida, we have to get all our water from a well, the health dept. requires that the well be at least 75' from any septic system. we have a 2" well with a shallow well pump on it, but we are only 1/2 mile from Lake Okeechobee, the second largest freshwater lake in the USA



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