Driving A New Well

[bp fick]

Update:

Since I've driven 12' already, from now on, I'll drive shorter, 4' pieces of pipe.
More pieces means more drive couplings at $10 a crack, but oh well. Teflon on each connection, at least I am doing so.

That home made driven has been a godsend. You do have to stop and constantly re-tighten the couplings as the whacking tends to shock them into a loose state, which is a no no on the threads, of course.

When it comes time to hook up the pump, I may be asking some questions and some advice. So, all you jet well pump gurus, you may need to help me out on a few things.

 

[foggy1111]

When we drove our sand point....after about 12 feet I tried pumping via the pitcher pump with each new section of pipe. We were still not pumping water at 30 feet. YIKES! THEN I discovered we had not properly primed our pitcher pump after I pulled a secton of pipe from the well and tried pumping again. In reality we were hitting water at about 12 feet....IIRC. Duh! (Oftentimes I go too fast for my own good. )

Quick Tip: A good way to check the water in the pipe is to tie a nut on a string and slowly drop it down the pipe - in say.....two foot increments. At some point you will hear a "splash". You can measure the water standing in the pipe by measureing the water on the string / vs dry string with the nut laying on the "floor" of the sand point to determine how deep the water is.

 

[Brake Weight]

I'm going get with a neighbor that has an existing well to see what kind of footage my water table is at. I may have a try at this technique in the near future.

 

[bp fick]

The homemade driver is working very, very well. I'd recommend this style over the the more traditional two handled pipe style any day. I've slipped a large washer, with a 1 1/4" center over the axle shaft. This washer is taking a beating, but it is protecting the surface of expensive drive coupling. No marking them at all now.

I also wanted to mention that I find I have to keep the pipe wrench handy. The impact causes the couplings to loosen a bit. After 20 reps with the driver, I re-tighen the coupling as a pre-caution.

We're down 17 feet now and the point is in water. Yes, as foggy1111 mentioned, we use the nut tied on the end of a string method for checking. We have 4' of water in the column. I'd like to go on down another 5-6 feet and see if we can have 8 feet of standing water.

I admit, doing this when I was younger didn't hurt so bad the next morning.

 

[Duffster]

I really want to stop using our deep, submersible well for irrigation of the gardens.

Why is that BP?

It has been my experience that most household wells could use a little exercise.

 

[Brake Weight]

I've got an uncle that had a rig come in and do his a few years back. Went to around 750', although everyone in the area are less than 100'. He pulled it in by filling 3 decent sized catfish ponds. Ice cold.

 

[bp fick]

Why is that BP?

It has been my experience that most household wells could use a little exercise.

Do you think so? I've been pounding on the household well for two years. Kinda thought having a separate irrigation well would save wear and tear on the household well. No?

 

[bp fick]

OK, got it down around 19 feet and have almost 6 feet of water in the column. Probably try pumping on it. I've got another 4' section to drive, if I think it is needed. We shall see.

You guys have thoughts on "conditioning" a new point well?

 

[Brake Weight]

Do you think so? I've been pounding on the household well for two years. Kinda thought having a separate irrigation well would save wear and tear on the household well. No?

I've not much water well experience, but I have some oil well experience. If you pull too hard it will sand up. Which is what the propping agents are to help avoid. Such as a gravel and screens. Each well is different. Now if you have two wells on the same property and at the same depth/zone, you'll deplete it faster. But water will replenish itself to a certain degree the shallower it is. Deep water wells are also different as they may be fed continuously by another source. On the same note, some shallow water wells are just pockets of water, just like oil/gas. Once it's gone, it's gone. My wife's grandfather hand dug and bricked his well back in the '40s and it lasted up until the '60s, which is about the time community water made it that far as the story goes.

 

[foggy1111]

Do you think so? I've been pounding on the household well for two years. Kinda thought having a separate irrigation well would save wear and tear on the household well. No?

That would be my take too. I'd save on my domestic deep water....and use the sand point for irrigation where possible.

If your area is anything like mine (which I think it is) you have an abundant supply of shallow water....but it's most likely not potable.

I have never got our shallow well tested. Keep forgetting. It sure seems clear and cold.....but we drink bottled water at my "deer land" and dont have much need for drinking water.