New water well

[Valveman]

My well is actually..."MY well"

Back in the 60's I dug a 6' x 6' x 10' pit, (sand) and blocked it in.
Used a 6" hand auger, and by adding 5' extensions, dug a hole 20' deeper, to top of water (hole begins to collapse at top of water).
I quickly dropped in two glued together 10' sections of 4" PVC.
Now I was a total of 30' to top of water, from ground level.

Next dropped in a piece of 2" PVC 28' long, with a 3' SS # 8 slotted screen point added.
Next lowered a combined 31' length of 1-1/4" galv. pipe into the 2" PVC.
Set up a tripod, and used a 100 lb driving weight with driving cap on the 1-1/4" galv. pipe.
Drove 11 more feet into the sand, and pulled up the 1-1/4" pipe.
Top of water at 20' below top of well, and bottom of well is 31' below top of pipe, 41' to bottom from ground surface.

Could use a shallow well pump, and I had 7 of them....used (free) identical, Burks 1HP shallow well pumps.
Rebuilt several, as they would only last about 10-12 years...but they were free.
Finally.....became impossible to find replacement Burks parts.
'
Bought a new 1HP Goulds shallow well (J10S) pump.
They last 15+ years.
I have a rebuilt spare on hand. Very low cost, and an hour or so, to swap a pump!
Can easily pull the PVC pipe from 11' of sand, and then drive it back down again, if cleaning the SS point should be necessary.
A low cost well,...... that I can maintain by myself.....even at 80 years old .....I think?

(moderately) Deep well pumping at shallow well cost!

My hat is off to you sir! That was a lot of work. A good water well is one of the best investments a person can make even when paying someone else to do it. But maybe even more so when it comes from blood, sweat, and tears like yours did.

 

[JethroB]

I had a 4" well drilled last year. Casing to 460', pump at 420', static water at 305', 120 gallon pressure tank. Getting about 8 gpm with a 1.5 HP pump & motor. Cost will definitely will get your attention.

 

[sld]

Man you guys have deep water tables. Most wells around here are only 80-100 feet.

 

[workinonit]

Yea, I used to think mine was deep at 180.

 

[mred2]

Mine is 155 feet, with rock after the first 40 feet. I have one old well at edge of pasture that is only 50 feet with water at 35 feet. But if only flows back in at about a gallon of water every 2 minutes. I plan to put an old hand pump on it just to look good.

 

[fried1765]

Mine is 155 feet, with rock after the first 40 feet. I have one old well at edge of pasture that is only 50 feet with water at 35 feet. But if only flows back in at about a gallon of water every 2 minutes. I plan to put an old hand pump on it just to look good.

I have a 42'- 2" galvanized well, with a rod style hand pump.
Sits just outside the kitchen door of this 290 year old house.
So power outage is not also a water problem.
I can pump what I need into buckets (though I do have a generator )

 

[Valveman]

I have a 42'- 2" galvanized well, with a rod style hand pump.
Sits just outside the kitchen door of this 290 year old house.
So power outage is not also a water problem.
I can pump what I need into buckets (though I do have a generator )

290 years old? Now that's cool! How old is the pump?

 

[fried1765]

290 years old? Now that's cool! How old is the pump?

I really do not know how old this pump is.
My mom bought this house in 1932 ($875, set back from ocean about 1/4 mi. on a bluff top, with 11.7 ac. of land)
I grew up here, and A pump was here when she bought the place, it was the only water there was.
I found an old, much classier looking pump, with a bulbous top about 40 years ago.
I would estimate that style deep well rod pump might have been new around 1900.

 

[BackRoad]

I really do not know how old this pump is.
My mom bought this house in 1932 ($875, set back from ocean about 1/4 mi. on a bluff top, with 11.7 ac. of land)
I grew up here, and A pump was here when she bought the place, it was the only water there was.
I found an old, much classier looking pump, with a bulbous top about 40 years ago.
I would estimate that style deep well rod pump might have been new around 1900.

Mr. Fried, how far is the house from the ocean now? Has erosion taken any of your land?

50 years ago, used to camp just back from on a large bluff overlooking Lake Ontario in upstate NY.

Went back to visit, but the camp...and the bluff were gone...

 

[fried1765]

Mr. Fried, how far is the house from the ocean now? Has erosion taken any of your land?

50 years ago, used to camp just back from on a large bluff overlooking Lake Ontario in upstate NY.

Went back to visit, but the camp...and the bluff were gone...

I am well back from the water, and actually have a large abandoned cranberry bog between me and the water.
I am 40' above sea level, so no problem there.
I am on the inside of the peninsula, but the outer side looses 3+ feet every year.

250'+ of that side has disappeared since I was a child.
Our local lighthouse was moved back from the edge of it's cliff 24 years ago.
It was a major move to watch. Inches per hour!