Driving a Well Point

[NonTypicalCPA]

I will be driving a shallow well this spring and was wondering if there are any tricks out there using a tractor that would make this job easier? I have a Kubota L3940 with loader. Any ideas?

[tommu56]

We drove one at my FIL's cabin years (more like decades) ago and he put soap on the outside of the pipe and all over the screen before we drove it.

We did start with a post hole digger to get started plumb and had a tripod with a pully to pull up guide pipe/weight and and let it slide down over pipe.

Use schedule 80 pipe (heaver wall)



tom

[Willis Fecon Bushhogging]

Originally Posted by NonTypicalCPA

I will be driving a shallow well this spring and was wondering if there are any tricks out there using a tractor that would make this job easier? I have a Kubota L3940 with loader. Any ideas?

If the soil is not hard (clay/rock) this is what I did about 30 years ago in sandy soil,I found a truck axle, a heavy piece of 8" round stock, that someone had drilled a hole in it, it just fit the axle. I slid it over the axle and welded it, then I welded a Tee handle across the top, I think it was out of 1 1/2" cold roll. The whole thing probrably weighed about 100 lb. It was a slam and bang method. I used 4-5ft joints of gal. steel pipe, used a throw away coupling on top each time. I did this by myself, about 65-70ft in the summer, it wasnt too bad back then. I really cant think of a way for the tractor to help, productively. check with local old timers, to see how far you really need to go. Make sure before you stop with the last joint, that the top, is below frost level.
Good luck, get lots of friends over and have a well drilling party

[john_bud]

If you have a 3pt pto driven post pounder that may do it.

jb

[sandman2234]

I built an attachment to use my tractor during a well drilling operation similar to what you're describiing. I used three poles to suspend a pulley from and used a rope to suspend a weight, which was a 4' piece of 5" steel with a 4' piece of 1" treaded into it. The tractor attachment pulled the rope, and then I released it, causing the weight to be lifted, and then dropped. Worked ok, but the pto was a little on the fast side even at idle on a 540 pto tractor.
David from jax

[ChuckinNH]

I might use the tractor's hydraulics to run a rented hydraulic post driver?

[daTeacha]

If you have access to water, say from a stream or pond, there are water powered "drillers" that basically use the erosive force of high pressure water to move the soil from around the point and back up the hole. It takes a lot of water and some decent pressure behind it, but you don't do much pounding.

[Bud Soda]

Originally Posted by daTeacha

If you have access to water, say from a stream or pond, there are water powered "drillers" that basically use the erosive force of high pressure water to move the soil from around the point and back up the hole. It takes a lot of water and some decent pressure behind it, but you don't do much pounding.

I have drilled a few wells down to about 30 feet with a 6.5 hp 2" water pump. I used 3/4" steel gas pipe and slant cut one end. I cut three 10 foot pipes in half and threaded the ends so I could couple them together. It made a hole about 2" in diameter. I then pulled the steal pick back up and put pvc in its place.

[NonTypicalCPA]

Thanks for all of the replys. Thankfully this will be a shallow well, only 25-30 feet. This will be on my hunting property. I need clean water for my sprayer on my food plots. I do have a river running through the property. I considered using a trash pump to fill my sprayer, but was told the sand that I pulled up would ruin the pump on my sprayer.

I will have to look into a hydraulic driver. That might be the ticket. If not, I'll have to call in a few favors.

I am anticipating this to be a flowing well, as some of the neighbors wells are. Anyone had any experience with a flowing well?

[bucmeister]

No deeper than that you might consider a hybrid pump/drive method that would use a slush pit to recirculate water so it would not take but a few hundred gallons. We have drilled several by hand for 4" PVC casing and submersible pumps.

Dig a deep post hole for the well, then dig a pit 3-4' dia 2-3' deep a couple of feet away from the first hole and dig a 6" deep ditch between them. Rig up your tripod or rig a gin pole on the FEL to hang a pulley from. Next fill the pit and post hole up with water, drop a 2" centrifugal pump intake into the pit and connect the output to the double elbows swung from the pulley, (I would point the intake el 90* to the well pipe one so that as the pipe was worked up and down the hose would be off to the side of the workers. This should work much like sinking ground rods with one 20 oz bottle of water. (If you run into a rock layer all bets are off on this method, however.)

As you work the pipe up and down the pump will wash it right on down and you just add water to keep the pit full, after you get down to what you figure is close to your water sand level then pull all the pipe put your drive point screen on and drive the last few feet to give a better chance at a seal in case you have a free flower, (we don't have that luxury around here, we have to pump from between 120-200'.)

Just an idea, hope all this made sense, don't know what your soil is like up in that part of the country, but I figure if you can drive it you can wash it down. Might not even need the overhead if it is only going to be 30', a couple of guys could just lift and lower 2" pipe especially if you use pvc for the first 20' of washing.