drill your own well?

[twodogs]

I live in SW PA, and I built a barn a few years back. I am toying with the idea of getting cows in a few years, and I started thinking about getting water to the barn. Has anyone 'drilled' their own well? I looked online & noticed a few sites suggesting driving a well point in the ground, but I don't know that it will work where I live. I would prefer skipping the idea of trenching 3' from my house to my barn.

Thanks!

 

[paulharvey]

If you have any hard rock it probably won't work. Basically you use a hi pressure water jet to sink the well points, 20-40 ft. I don't know if you can go much deeper, and I don't know if you'll hit good water at that depth in your area. Another thing to consider is if a 2" well will supply your needs. With that said, your only out maybe $100 if it doesnt; so worth a chance if you can save $3500 on a professional.

Someone will bring up legalities, but no one will ever know unless you tell them.

 

[oldnslo]

How much water per day would you require. Most well points or sand points have a limited flow rate. They worked pretty well for the old hand pumps but have had limited success with electric pumps unless your water table is real high and the ground allows water flow real easy.

We used these some as a kid in Central MN where the water table was around 4 foot and the soil was gravel. Expect to get a lot of sediment since the screen on the point is not real fine and if it is it plugs.

 

[Egon]

What do the neighbours have?

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I wouldn't think it would be worth the hassle unless your in a low area with a high water table. WE just drilled our well three years ago for the horses and ended up going about 280' deep to get enough flow.

 

[MossRoad]

I live in SW PA, and I built a barn a few years back. I am toying with the idea of getting cows in a few years, and I started thinking about getting water to the barn. Has anyone 'drilled' their own well? I looked online & noticed a few sites suggesting driving a well point in the ground, but I don't know that it will work where I live. I would prefer skipping the idea of trenching 3' from my house to my barn.

Thanks!

This makes no sense...
You want to drill a well, which could be 50-many hundreds feet deep to avoid digging a three foot trench???

Is there a typo there and you really have to trench a lot farther than 3'??

As for driving a well point, it only works if you have soft soil and not rock. Rock requires drilling. For example, we have sand and can hand drive a well very easily.

 

[jix]

Drill. No other way is worth the hassles.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

This makes no sense...
You want to drill a well, which could be 50-many hundreds feet deep to avoid digging a three foot trench???

Is there a typo there and you really have to trench a lot farther than 3'??

I think he means 3' deep.

It all depends on how far down the water is. There are places on my property where I can hit water with a post-hole digger. My dad paid a well-driller to drill a 600+ foot dry hole.

It really becomes a different game if you have to go more than about 20 feet. With a shallow well you can have the pump on the surface and pull the water up. Beyond 20 feet or so you can't pull water, you have to push it, which means a submerged pump at the bottom of the well, which means casing and wiring and a pretty big hole.

Depending on your soil you could go 20 feet with one of these:
Amazon.com: Seymour Mfg. AU-S6 Post Hole Auger: Home Improvement

Read the comments. I made a 10' hole with one and it wasn't much work.

Amazon.com: Seymour Mfg. AU-S6 Post Hole Auger: Home Improvement

 

[EddieWalker]

I've looked into those things, but keep coming back to the limited size of the hole you can drill, which means the pump has to be above ground instead of in the ground, which is what I prefer. The depth is also limited, and you really need to pick a spot that doesn't have any rocks.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get water to my garden, but I think drilling a well at the garden is out. My current plan is to go down to the low spot on my land that is always wet and dig a hole there and pump the water from there using a solar powered pump.

Eddie

 

[paulharvey]

I've looked into those things, but keep coming back to the limited size of the hole you can drill, which means the pump has to be above ground instead of in the ground, which is what I prefer. The depth is also limited, and you really need to pick a spot that doesn't have any rocks.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get water to my garden, but I think drilling a well at the garden is out. My current plan is to go down to the low spot on my land that is always wet and dig a hole there and pump the water from there using a solar powered pump.

Eddie

Sounds like in your situation you could use a "Kelley well". No idea if that's a real term, but it's what we call it. Dig out a good 6-8 ft or deeper hole, put a good sized piece of plastic or metal pipe (8 or 12") with slits or small holes in it. Wrap the pipe with filter fabric and back fill around pipe with #57 stone. Then simply drop a suction hose in it for a gas pump or even the 1" Harbor Freight 110v pump with a small length of 1" pvc.