Do it Yourself well drill?

[MotorSeven]

I am going to need 2 possibly 3 wells on my property. Does anyone here have any experience with the small homeowner type well drills. They run around $3k which about the price of one "hired" well. Any info is appreciated!

RD

 

[Deerlope]

Those home drill rigs are only good for drilling into soil or a gravel field. I don't beleive they can drill into bedrock where most of the water is found.

 

[Bird]

Rick, it might depend on how deep you expect to go. My brother traded for one of those home well drilling rigs a few years ago. It hadn't been used in years, the motor wouldn't run, etc. so he got it cheap. Some neighbors told us you could get a well most places in the area at 30-40 feet; not good drinking water, but good enough to water gardens, lawns, etc. Well, we got the thing running, he bought a new bit, and we drilled over 80 feet but didn't hit water, so fortunately, he had not bought well casing and didn't waste anymore money. He just about broke even when he traded it off to someone else. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Dale_Alan]

In the 80's I hand drilled a well 55' deep using 5' sections of 1" pipe, a flat bit on the end about 1 3/8 wide. I had a "chick-san" (a swivel that you can pump pressure through) and used a 2" pump to pump with from your pits. I turned it with a pipe wrench and made some slips (to keep the pipe from falling down into the hole). You can feel the water sands as the pipe goes down easily compared to the clay. Your return water also gets sandy looking in the sand, you could also lose circulation. The water sand has a clay bottom and you can feel this also and stop there. Then make a ream and ream the hole to accept the size tubing you will use. There are some books out there and it was quite interesting to do and have thought about doing another at my retirement place, kinda for fun. Used a 2" PVC screen and had the greenest yard in Houston with a minimum water bill.
Important and easy to drill a small hole to the water sand then ream it out.
Dale

 

[MotorSeven]

Bird,

Up here in E. TN i have alot of rock on the ridge(s) and i mean ROCK, even with their advertized carbide bit i am leary. However, the barn is going down near the creek in a bottom land type pasture so it may work there. My real estate guy lives 10 miles away and about 100 to 200 feet higher than my ridge(house) site and he went 400' for his well. If i give it a try, i most definatly will buy a used rig and start in the pasture. I hope some of the Tbners here have some more input. Thanks...

RD

 

[Bird]

That's one big difference, Rick. The area in which we drilled had NO rock at all!

 

[BB_TX]

The water table can really vary a LOT. As a kid, we lived on top of a hill that quickly dropped off probably 100' elevation down toward the city park. Behind our house, there was an old well. The water in the well was consistently about 10' below ground level even in the driest summers. I live a few miles away now. There is an old well nearby that is maybe 30' deep and I have never known it to have water in it. Both of these were hand dug (as in pick and shovel) and both going down into rock.

 

[Egon]

If your State requires registration of all water wells you may be able to get information pertinate to your area from the proper department. Local well drillers may?? share their info with you.

Do you know what types of rock may be present , how hard and extensive the rock is?

Have you any experience in drilling or completing a well.

Does you State have specific requirements for wells? IE: distances, casing type, casing size, water rights etc. ?

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[MotorSeven]

Egon,

I plan on talking to the local guys this spring. The rock varies from slate like (shale?) to what looks to be granite, but i am no rockoligist /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif. Zero experience in drilling wells, but i make it a habit to research & learn as much as i can before attempting to tackle any unknown. Before i built a log house in TX my previous experience in building was a pair of stereo speakers in high school. I learned alot, made some mistakes, but ended up with a beautiful home. Haven't checked with the authorities(plan on it), but there are very few building codes in this part of the country. The bottom line is that i hate to farm out things that could be done myself /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.
RD

 

[EastTexFrank]

Check with your local City Hall or Court House. I know that in some places, such as here in East Texas, the information on water sands, depth from some datum point and thickness of the sand is on file and the maps and information are available for a small fee or so the guy that dug my water well told me.

I've seen those home owner drilling rigs advertised but never seen one in action. I can't see them being able to go very deep and as I remember, they use "fishtail" type bits which would come to a grinding halt on the first rock you hit or even hard clay would slow them down. There have been thousands of oil wells in the last hundred years drilled with the same sort of set-up though, so the principle does work.