Can anyone tell if this well is bored or drilled by looking at this pic?

[Wakey]

There is absolutely no info plaque or paperwork. The home was built in 1994. It has 220 volts / 20 amp circuit.

 

[Wakey]

I talked to someone about this well and he said that I'd have to remove the cap and look inside to know for sure but he was a manager with perhaps limited knowledge. I can do that but it looks like a bit of work to disassemble and then rebuild the PVC parts..

 

[Egon]

It may be a bored shallow well with a submersible pump. ??

But only a visual inspection will tell you.

If you pull the plug on the fitting comming out the casing and drop a line down the depth may be an indication.

 

[Firemanbuck82]

It may be a bored shallow well with a submersible pump. ??

But only a visual inspection will tell you.

If you pull the plug on the fitting comming out the casing and drop a line down the depth may be an indication.

THIS. Since boring and drilling have the same meaning, I'll assume OP meant dug or drilled.... It looks like a dug well, although a bit small on the diameter. Could have been drilled with a bucket auger to a shallow depth. The surface completion looks neat and tidy though.

As Egon said, remove the sounding plug on the seal cap and drop a weighted line down to check depth. If you're careful on the way down, you can hear the "plunk" when the weight hits the water. Mark that depth and then keep going till the line goes slack and that will be the total depth. The difference is the amount of water column you have to work with inside the well.

What exactly concerns you about the well? Does it make a difference to you if it was drilled or dug?

 

[Egon]

In well terminology there is a difference between boring and drilling. Quite different equipment and methods will be used as well as the depths can be significantly different.

A dug well is a different method completely.

 

[fried1765]

There is absolutely no info plaque or paperwork. The home was built in 1994. It has 220 volts / 20 amp circuit.
View attachment 521236
View attachment 521237

A 1994 well using galvanized fittings?
Get rid of that galvanized pipe, if you possibly can!

 

[oosik]

The picture gives mixed information. The well cap would indicate a drilled well of some type. The large concrete casing - some other method of construction.

Be careful dropping weights on strings down the steel casing. You very likely have a submersible pump down at some depth and a weight on a string could become lodged between the casing and the pump.

I would contact your local Health Dept and see if they have records of your well. The Health Dept may recommend other agencies with pertinent information.

 

[Wakey]

Great idea..

This all started with me trying to decide what sized generator would be needed to run the well and we've got that squared away by just getting a whole house setup.

When it was suggested that this well was bored I asked what the difference was and all I paid attention to was that it was shallow depth. Like not underneath bedrock.

These broodmares hang out here until the sun tops the tree line, every day. They are standing about 30 feet from the well.

I'll be testing the water after the storm passes!

THIS. Since boring and drilling have the same meaning, I'll assume OP meant dug or drilled.... It looks like a dug well, although a bit small on the diameter. Could have been drilled with a bucket auger to a shallow depth. The surface completion looks neat and tidy though.

As Egon said, remove the sounding plug on the seal cap and drop a weighted line down to check depth. If you're careful on the way down, you can hear the "plunk" when the weight hits the water. Mark that depth and then keep going till the line goes slack and that will be the total depth. The difference is the amount of water column you have to work with inside the well.

What exactly concerns you about the well? Does it make a difference to you if it was drilled or dug?

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

THIS. Since boring and drilling have the same meaning, I'll assume OP meant dug or drilled....

I would have thought so, too, but this thread made me look into it.

Difference Between Drilling and Boring: Drilling vs Boring Compared

I didn't find much on the difference when used about wells, but perhaps comparing these two videos gives a clue:

3 inch bored water well being drilled (bored actually) Lostant, IL - YouTube

Watch a Water Well Being Drilled - YouTube

 

[LouNY]

Just looking at your picture I would guess that you have a bored well;
View attachment 521292 I tried to attach a image of a bored well and it didn't work well Search for shallow bored water well.
A bored well is the modern equivalent of a dug well, normally done with an large auger, than lined with a casing of some type.
A "drilled" well can be done in a couple of different methods, the newest is a rotary drilling machine which can get lots of footage
in a day by using high horsepower applie to a drill bit with high pressure "mud" being injected down hole to lubricate the bit and flush the
drilled material to the surface. Some people are convinced that a rotary water well drill will seal and plug some of the smaller veins of water
between rock layers.
The other "older"method of drilled water wells is done by using a pounder, a heavy bit is raised on a cable an then dropped repeatedly to drive
a hole in the ground and also to drive the casing into the ground, a pounder, driver is believed to fracture the rock surrounding a well to
enable the small veins of water bearing material the well bore passes thru to enter the bore and the combination of lots of small veins can
create a good well as well as locating the larger veins of water. In some areas driven wells will produce good water flow rates at less depths
then rotary drilled wells, as much as 100 ft compared to two to five hundred feet.

 

[fried1765]

Just looking at your picture I would guess that you have a bored well;
View attachment 521292 I tried to attach a image of a bored well and it didn't work well Search for shallow bored water well.
A bored well is the modern equivalent of a dug well, normally done with an large auger, than lined with a casing of some type.
A "drilled" well can be done in a couple of different methods, the newest is a rotary drilling machine which can get lots of footage
in a day by using high horsepower applie to a drill bit with high pressure "mud" being injected down hole to lubricate the bit and flush the
drilled material to the surface. Some people are convinced that a rotary water well drill will seal and plug some of the smaller veins of water
between rock layers.
The other "older"method of drilled water wells is done by using a pounder, a heavy bit is raised on a cable an then dropped repeatedly to drive
a hole in the ground and also to drive the casing into the ground, a pounder, driver is believed to fracture the rock surrounding a well to
enable the small veins of water bearing material the well bore passes thru to enter the bore and the combination of lots of small veins can
create a good well as well as locating the larger veins of water. In some areas driven wells will produce good water flow rates at less depths
then rotary drilled wells, as much as 100 ft compared to two to five hundred feet.

I have a 220' drilled well.
I originally did not think about the drilling mud having plugged some of the minor fissures.
Pump sits at the 200' level, to allow for sludge to fall.
My well GPM has increased over the 12 years since it was drilled.
I attribute this to the gradual opening of small fissures in the rock that were initially sealed by the drilling mud.

 

[Egon]

Drilled rotary well the cuttings are continuously flushed out usually through the annulus.
Bored rotary well the drill bit is pulled every time it fills up and then emptyied at the surface.

Cable tool rigs use a bailing bucket to remove cuttings.

Baptist type rigs use the tubing as pump to bring cuttings to the surface. The tubing is raised and dropped and rotated. A bit on the bottom cuts the hole.

 

[dfkrug]

I would have thought so, too, but this thread made me look into it.

Difference Between Drilling and Boring: Drilling vs Boring Compared

That's interesting. I read the link, but existing tools for making holes don't always fit either
category perfectly.

A Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) is a drill by the link's definition, since it makes the
initial hole.

A Posthole Digger (PHD) is also a drill by that definition.

I use a "boring bit" on my lathe to make existing holes bigger, but only from one
side. I use a "reamer" or drillbit to make a hole bigger otherwise.

I had a well drilled here in the 90s and the process was very interesting as they
used a smaller bit initially, then enlarged the hole to something like 8.75" with a bigger
tool. Water and bentonite (driller's mud) were pumped down the annulus in both processes.

I also had some holes "drilled" with 2" carbide-tipped drill bits that used air power
for both rotary/impact action, and to eject tailings. The annulus was used to
inject the air, then concrete was pumped thru it to anchor the bit in place. These were
tiebacks for a retaining wall, about 30 feet long each.

 

[bigtiller]

Go to your County Planning & Zoning/Development office. They will have everything you want to know about your well on record. And it's free.

 

[Egon]

Drill Rig: Boring, cable tool, baptist, rotary.

 

[dmccarty]

In my area, the county health department issues well permits and they keep the permits in their records. If you have to pull a permit to put in a well it is likely the paper work is on file. A quick conversation with the building department will tell you who you talk to get the building permit, as well as other permits, which should lead you to the department dealing with wells.

Our well goes down 223 feet and is capped with a concrete pad. My understanding is that the pad is to prevent ground water from going down the well casing.

Later,
Dan

 

[mapper]

Around here they mostly use big rotary drilling rigs, our good water table is 80-100' deep. New neighbor had one drilled a week or so ago, it took less than eight hours start to finish.
When my neighbor to the north drilled theirs the driller started with a hammer rig, got down about thirty feet or so a jammed the bit between a couple of big boulders and could not get it loose. A few days later they brought in a rotary rig about four times bigger than the hammer rig. They tried pulling the bit with that and just ended up parting the cable several times. Finally gave up on the first location, moved over a bit and drilled a second hole. Our geology around here is formed by ice age glacier activity and there are a lot of really big rocks under the surface.

 

[dfkrug]

Our well goes down 223 feet and is capped with a concrete pad. My understanding is that the pad is to prevent
ground water from going down the well casing.

Here in CA, they cap the well with concrete, but also seal the top 50 feet with concrete pumped down
between the casing and the raw hole. It is called a "sanitary seal". The state (not county/city) governs
well permits and inspections, and mandates that you can't pump water less than 50 feet
from the surface.

I always wondered how the concrete seal depth is controlled. I know my well driller ran out of
concrete in his truck and had to get more. It was more like soupy mortar.

 

[coldsteelva]

This is similar to the cementatious grout used for sealing the oil wells after drilling.

 

[Firemanbuck82]

I would have thought so, too, but this thread made me look into it.

Difference Between Drilling and Boring: Drilling vs Boring Compared

I didn't find much on the difference when used about wells, but perhaps comparing these two videos gives a clue:

3 inch bored water well being drilled (bored actually) Lostant, IL - YouTube

Watch a Water Well Being Drilled - YouTube

That's an interesting link "the difference between" and it doesn't seem to have been written by knowledgeable people. In my 30 years as a hydrogeologist, drilling and boring are interchangeable in describing making a circular hole in the ground (vertical or horizontal as in the TBM). Terminology changes depending on area. For instance, in Kenya a "borehole" is one that has been drilled using air-rotary or mud rotary techniques, while a "well" is one that has been dug. What the link describes as "boring" (enlarging an existing hole), is called "reaming" in the drilling business. Drill a pilot hole with a smaller bit, and ream it to a larger diameter using a bigger bit.

View attachment 521498

Drilling rig drilling a borehole for water supply using air rotary techniques. Rapid method of drilling in hard conditions such as in bedrock.



Drilling rig drilling a boring for landslide evaluation using hollow-stem auger techniques. This method allows for the collection of relatively undisturbed soil samples in unconsolidated material.

The overall point is don't get hung up on semantics. Drilling and boring in most parts of the US are interchangeable.