Drilling Water Well

[ocaj11]

Hello All,

It's been a couple of years since I've posted on the site. My projects around the property have kept me pretty busy. This is the best site I've found to discuss all the crazy ideas we come up with to improve our properties.....

I've spent lots of hours over the last couple of weeks figuring out the best way for me to drill my own well. We live on mostly red clay with varying shades of clay under the red. I don't think we have any rock between the surface and water, but I don't know how deep that is yet. I'm guessing I'll need to go about 80 - 100 feet to get enough water to irrigate the lawn/garden, fill above ground pool, wash cars, etc. We have city water for household use.

I want to take a 4000 psi pressure washer with one of the 0 degree tips (attaching the hose along a length of 3/4 pvc) and wash a 6 inch PVC pipe down into the ground until I get to water sand. I'm confident the pressure washer will pulverize the clay, but I don't have a good handle on getting the muck out of the hole while I'm sinking the casing. I've watched the videos on using water connected to a 2 inch pvc pipe to wash the cuttings back to the surface, but I don't think that's going to work effectively with a 6 inch casing.

I've read some on bailers, but I don't have a grasp on ease of use. Does anyone on here have experience using a bailer to clean out a 6 inch well casing? I'm thinking about hooking up a pulley over the top of the casing and using a 4 wheeler to raise and lower the bailer so we're not doing it manually. Does anyone have a recommendation for an easier way to get the pulverized clay/slurry misture out of the casing as I'm going down?

The bid I got to put in an estimated 80 foot well, pump, casing, screen, wire, etc. was $4,900 flat rate. I think I can do it for much less.....

 

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon ocaj11,
That sounds like a pretty agressive project !

In the northeast, we use a pounder or rotary drill, Im sure just as in your area, to get down into the ground that first few feet and then use the rig to pound the casing into the ledge or bedrock. At that time the casing acts as a guide for the remaining drilling.

With that being said, I would think you could fabricate a bailer out of a smaller diameter PVC pipe, with a mechanical trip device on the bottom, to allow the muck into the pipe. And then raise and empty...

Have you given any thought also to ane of those heavy duty sewage type pumps, I have seen in Northern catologues etc ?

Rather than going through all the motions of raising and lowering a bailer, this might possibly a time saver...

You would have to investigate the amount of lift that the pump could provide...

Alos keep in mind that if your only going to have a 100 ft deep well, at 6" diameter, and your static level is at say 50 ft, 1 1/2 gals per ft, thats only 75 gals of reserve !

Depending on your GPM rate of return, thats not much water !

Good luck !

 

[Baby Grand]

Unless you drop the pump down the well hole, I don't think you can lift the water much above a 32ft depth, due to the water vaporizing (cavitating) from it's own weight.

I really like the idea of using a pressure washer for a cutting jet - that should do a fine job on clay. I don't see why you couldn't use a separate water supply, pumped down hole to move the cuttings to the surface per the usual jetting routine.

Disclaimer: I have no practical experience at all, so I may be talking out of my hat, but the subject is dear to my heart as The Plant Manager has "Dig Well" on her short list.

-Jim

 

[MarkV]

I hope you will keep us up to date with your project. My first impression after watching my well drilled is you are biting off more than you can chew. I think the first thing I would do was ask neighbors and well drillers what depth range water is normally hit in your area. I think anything over thirty feet is asking too much for a do-it-yourself project with 6" pipe. Hope I am wrong.

MarkV

 

[Pipestone Kid]

My first question is--
Why 6 inch? I have lived in the country all my life and all I have ever seen for residential use is 4 inch casings. Well drillers used to use a bailer with a flapper on the bottom to clean out the muck. I would bet you might be able to find one if you did a little search.

 

[ocaj11]

All,

Thanks for all the replies. I will certainly keep you updated on the project and I may very well be dreaming. I got this idea from a couple of different things I've read. First, they use hydro-excavation all the time to cut clay with a pressure washer. I've actually used a pressure washer in the past to dig a hole to pour concrete piers. Going 4 feet was very quick and I cleaned the hole out with post hole diggers. If I don't hit rock, I don't see why it would get any harder the deeper I go with the exception of removing the muck from the hole at depth. That's where the water pumped down the pipe comes into play. Second, there is a guy on the internet advertising it's possible to use an air drill attached to the end of pvc pipe along with water to drill a well. I'm a bit more skeptic about that method, but it seems logical.

I may rent a trash pump to pump a bunch of water down the hole every two - four feet. I have a 10 acre lake I can draw from (it's not spring fed and I live in Southwest Arkansas, I really don't want to pump this water to irrigate), so that might work with all the muddy water running back into the lake. I'll experiment with the first 10 feet before I rent the pump.

As for casing size, I was thinking 6 inch so I would have room to drop a submersible pump. Do they make submersible pumps that fit inside a 4 inch PVC pipe? I'm going to do a search for pumps tonight. The smaller the better as far as I'm concerned.

They also have eductors for materials transport/mixing that works with compressed air. Does anyone know if using a big air compressor pushing a lot of air at higher psi would push water/muck up 60 feet?

If I do get the pipe sunk, I'll have to have some kind of well screen. I don't have that part figured out yet unless they make a well screen the size of the 3 inch pvc that I can push down once the pipe is sunk.

My Dad thinks I'm crazy. I may be. :thumbsup: But, I think I'm going to give it a try before I cough up 5K to get an 80 foot well dug. If I hit rock. all bets are off. I'll then have to figure out if I want to rig something up to pound through it.

 

[ocaj11]

Scott,

My hope is that water flows back into the pipe as I'm pumping water out. Im afraid I won't be able to depend on too much reserve in the pipe. If I don't get a satisfactory GPM, I might look at burying a 1000 gallon storage tank?? I'll have to see what we've got.

Thanks.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon ocaj11,
We will be following along. so be sure and keep us posted !

 

[paulwestski]

Have you checked out this website?

How to Drill Your Own Water Well

Not sure if this will work for a 6" casing but it might for a 4" casing.

 

[gerard]

Do you have gutters on your house or do you have a barn? I use roof run off to keep my koi pond full and fill water troughs for 15 horses. Youd be surprised how much water runs off on a decent rain. You could bury a 1500 gal plastic septic tank, drop in a high pressure pump on a switch and run a hose off that. If all you want to do is water your garden that would seem to be a lot less work than drilling a well.

 

[ocaj11]

I have seen the drillyourownwell site and I watched those videos. It's probably one of the main reasons I'm trying this method. :laughing:

I do believe that method will work through regular dirt/sandy loam, but I'm not convinced it will work in hard pack clay. This stuff around here is hard as a rock when it's dry and it's sticky as bubble gum when it's wet. It's really just pitiful for anything but building a pond.

I had 10,000 square feet of sod installed this year and we're not getting any rain. The grass is burning up, so I'm using a ton of expensive water for the yard and garden. Also, I planted another 10,000-12,000 sq ft of Bermuda and I'm having to keep it watered as well. I have another 3 - 4 acre area I need to get some grass established, but I decided not to do that this year with the lack of rain. All of that to say I don't think the rain gutter into a cistern approach will work for me.

Update:

I went today and purchased a 4200 psi pressure washer from Sams and picked up 4 10 foot sections of 4 inch pvc. I started jetting a hole and it took me about 30 minutes with pressure washer and post hole diggers to get through the tree roots and reach the end of my wand. I'm down about 4.5 feet now. I'll go in the morning and pick up another 50 foot of pressure hose that I'll zip tie along sections of 3/4 inch pvc as I work my way down.

Right now, with very little time spent, I'm thinking my biggest issue will be getting all the cuttings/muck back to the top of the hole. I may have to rent the water pump to help with that task. We'll see.......

 

[MNBobcat]

After my experience trying to wash-in a well I would not recommend that approach. What drillyourownwell doesn't tell you is that it takes him 10 to 12 hours to do a well. That is 10 - 12 hours non-stop.

I tried it. I stuck the pipe 3 times. Let me tell you...it can stick before you know what happened. It can be loose as a goose one minute and then stuck like the sword in the stone the next minute. I had a backhoe available to pull the pipe but I don't envy anyone who doesn't have something like that available when washing in a well.

I think washing in a well would work if you had a trash pump and an exceptional supply of water. If not, plan on spending a lot of hours on it.

I ended up finding a pneumatic jackhammer on craigslist for $75. My portable air compressor can only run it about 3 minutes before needing to catch up. Even so, I put in 18 feet in about a half hour.

Haven't been able to get the water to pump yet, but I'm close. Will check the standing water level in the pipe in the morning.

 

[ocaj11]

Good info Bobcat. I'm sure the washing with a water hose thing would take awhile with lots of frustrations. I can really see how the pipe could stick.

I worked on the well for about 5 hours today. We tried putting the pvc into the ground as we were blasting, but I got tired of that and pulled the 4" pipe. I then continued washing a hole and made it to 30 feet today. I tried to make sure I was staying straight and washing a nice 5-6 inch hole, but it's not perfect. The pressure washer was pulverizing the clay into a fairly thick mud which was flowing to the top of the hole for the first 15 feet. Then, I noticed we didn't have any water at the top of the hole because it was going in the ground somewhere?? I continued down and it finally started coming to the top again at about 25 feet. I guess the mud finally sealed whatever was sucking up all that water.

At 20 feet, I ran out of 1" pvc that I use to zip tie my pressure wand and tip to the bottom. I zip tie it tight for about 5 feet and then just let the hose follow the tip into the hole. I found 40 feet of 1 1/4 inch pvc and used that to get down to 30.

A few of my thoughts after making it to 30 feet:

1. A 4200 psi pressure washer is strong and has no problem cutting into the clay. Unless I hit rock, I think this may work.
2. We might be able to work the 4 inch pvc down into the hole, but I think I'm going to need a 4 inch metal coupling, screwed to my 4 inch male adapter, to help cut away the imprefections in the hole as I go down. I'll get the coupling and cut some aggressive teeth into it. We'll attach to the bottom of the pipe and see if it'll work down easily.
4. I need a better way to put a handle on my pvc pipe so we can twist/lift/slam down/twist to cut away the sidewalls of the hole. So far, I've use pipe strap screwed into a 2x4 and a large C clamp. Neither do a satisfactory job.
3. If the pvc won't work, I'll end up getting 4 inch steel casing in 10 foot sections. I have a trackhoe I can use to tap the casing into the ground. Since I'm cutting out the inside of the hole, the casing should tap in fairly easily.

I'll try to get some pictures posted in the next couple of days.

 

[MNBobcat]

ocaj11,

I cut teeth on a threaded metal coupler and then screwed it to the threaded male end of the pvc pipe. I secured with 2 set screws driven in from the sides. That worked well. Instead of a bench grinder like drillyourownwell recommended, I used an abrasive cut-off wheel on a 4 1/2" angle grinder. I made the teeth about 3/4" deep so that they were pretty aggressive.

I'm curious what you will find when you return to the hole. I found the hole would close shut overnight and drilling the next day was like starting over from scratch. I hope you don't run into that. We're all sand here. If you have clay, you may not have the same problems that I ran into.

 

[ocaj11]

I'll trade you some clay for some sand.

I hope I don't experience any cave in issues. I don't think I will, but I pulled my 1 1/4 pvc pipe out of the ground so I don't experience any cave ins or settlement in the hole sticking my pipe.

I'm going to give the metal coupler with teeth a try before I give up on the pvc.

 

[EddieWalker]

Interesting thread. I tried washing in a well a few years ago, but got stuck at 20 feet and sort of lost the desire to get back at it. I think I hit iron ore, which is found in pockets of my red clay. I just couldn't get it to go any farther, and that's where I left it.

I didn't even think of a pressure washer. That's brilliant!!!!

Keep up the great work, and the updates. Pictures would sure be nice to see how you have it all put together.

Eddie

 

[ocaj11]

Update on my progress:

1. I purchased the 4" metal coupling and cut teeth in it then attached to the threaded male adapter. We could twist the PVC pipe, but we weren't making too much progress in the clay. It's just too sticky and won't let the pipe slide down the hole as it cuts.

2. I decided to use my FEL to help push the pipe down the hole. The best method was to raise and lower the pipe in a pumping motion and I could send the pipe down pretty quickly and it seemed to shave off the clay around the edges of my hole as long as I didn't try to force it to quickly.

3. After getting 30 feet of PVC casing in the ground, I started jetting deeper. I hit gravel at about 40 feet. Unfortunately, gravel/rock is not good for the pressure washer method.

4. I found about 10 foot of 3.5 inch steel pipe in the scrap pile and purchased 75 foot of 1/4 inch cable and a snatch block. My idea was to use the pipe as a battering ram and punch through the gravel that wouldn't let me dig any further with the pressure washer.

5. The pipe was very slightly bent and ended up getting stuck in my 4" PVC before it made it to the bottom of the hole. So, I had to pull up the PVC and unstick my metal pipe.

6. Before pulling the PVC, I thought clay might be sticking the metal pipe to the PVC pipe, so I tried washing it loose. I ended up filling my hole full of water in the process.

7. After the PVC pipe was pulled, we tried dropping the metal pipe down the open hole, but I don't think it was generating enough force traveling through 40 feet of water. So, that whole excersize was a bust.

8. Since the water in the hole slowly seeps down, I may try droping the pipe again after a couple of days. This may or may not produce any results.

9. I'm now thinking about purchasing about 60 feet of some used 2 7/8 oilfield drill stem and seeing if I can punch through the gravel with that.

10. I haven't posted any pictures because I don't know what's going to work. Once I've figured out what works, I'll post some pics and explain the process.

I still think this can work if I can get the gravel out of the bottom of my hole. It doesn't take that long for the pressure washer to cut through really hard clay, but the rock is a different story......

 

[MNBobcat]

ocaj11,

Instead of plain pipe, you can make a sand sucker which will cut through clay, too. Basically, on a lathe you drill a 1" hole in the center of some round stock that is slightly larger than the diameter of your pipe and about 3 inches thick. Then starting from that hole, you cut a 45 degree bevel out towards the outside of the round stock. Then do the same on the opposite end of the stock. Then turn down the outside of the stock until it just fits inside your pipe.

Find yourself a 1" - 1.5" metal ball bearing. Place the ball bearing inside of your pipe, then put your turned metal fitting into the end of the pipe and weld it in place. About a foot above the ball bearing, drill a hole through your pipe and slide in a bolt (as a pin) and weld it in place. This keeps the ball bearing from being able to escape the pipe.

The way this thing works is it acts like a pump. Water and sand will enter the bottom of the pipe...the ball bearing falls down into the beveled circle and plugs the hole so that the sand/water can't exit.

You plunge it up and down inside of your casing and it digs a hole as it traps the sand...then you keep working your casing further into the ground. It works but its slow going. You have to remove the sand sucker every 5 minutes and empty the sand.

I haven't tried, but I'm told it works in clay too. It won't do much for your gravel situation, but thought I'd mention this technique as a point of interest.

 

[MNBobcat]

Interesting thread. I tried washing in a well a few years ago, but got stuck at 20 feet and sort of lost the desire to get back at it. I think I hit iron ore, which is found in pockets of my red clay. I just couldn't get it to go any farther, and that's where I left it.

I didn't even think of a pressure washer. That's brilliant!!!!

Keep up the great work, and the updates. Pictures would sure be nice to see how you have it all put together.

Eddie

Eddie,

I used my sand sucker and got 3" casing in 15 feet when I started getting red sand coming up. I assumed I must have been right on the edge of some red clay. Though I think our clay is typically grey. Not for sure what caused the red coloring.

I ended up giving up. 20 feet was the depth to clay and there wasn't enough water for a well. I moved near a swamp and hit water at 18 inches. I went down 10 feet plus 3 feet for the point and have over 9 feet of water in the pipe. Don't know if this will run dry on a dry year or not but the sand is very light colored and looks like its been water bearing sand for a long time....

 

[Egon]

Bobcat:

At the end of the ball pump weld on a chisel the width of the desired hole and thread that onto a one or 1 1/4 in. pipe. Rig up a boom that will raise and fall with the pipe attached by a rope. Fill the hole with water and start the boom going up and down while rotating the pipe. It will chisel out the well bore and pump the debris to the surface.

At the surface you dig a pit about four feet deep ad four feet square, in the middle use a post hole digger to put in a piece of casing larger than the well bore and have it extend above the bottom but not over the top of the dug hole The debris will end up in the pit bottom, water will flow over the top of the casing back down the well bore. You have to add water every so often
and shovel out the pit. When you get to water the pit will start overflowing.

A ball and seat from a downhole oilwell pump works well for inside your home built pump.

My Father and Grandfather drilled many wells this way.