Driving a well point?

[robbianderson@netzero.net]

If you live someplace where it rains and rains why do you need water for irrigation? What are you trying to grow? How much of that high dollar water do you use in a month?

 

[J_J]

zmoz,

I don't think there is enough volume of water to bring up the solids using only the jet nozzle.

 

[J_J]

This is my recommendation. Home Depot sells a well jetting kit for about $15.00. It is a 2 in unit with 2 garden hose bibs on it, and a 3/4 in thread inside the pipe as the jet supply. the inside 3/4 pipe should be as long as the 2 in PVC pipe. Take the 2 in PVC pipe and cut notches in the bottom end. On the other end, add a 2 in tee. Then add the well jet unit to the tee. Dog a starter hole . Connect the two hoses up and turn on the water. use a strap of something to rotate the 2 in PVC as you jet down. Feed the out put from the tee to a container so you can see the material coming out of the well. After jetting to about 18 to 20 ft, you might hit a hard-pan. If there was sand coming up before the hard-pan, then back the pipe out about a foot. Connect a pump to the output of the 2 in tee and see if the pump will pump a good volume, and if it does, let the pump run until the sand stops. It should work. It worked for me many times.

 

[Tim Stuart]

zmoz,

I don't think there is enough volume of water to bring up the solids using only the jet nozzle.

I agree with JJ, I don't think those nozzle will handle enough volume to wash the fines to the ground surface.


Regards

Tim

 

[zmoz]

If you live someplace where it rains and rains why do you need water for irrigation? What are you trying to grow? How much of that high dollar water do you use in a month?

It rains for about 8 months of the year. The other 4 require irrigation, and LOTS of it if you want it to match the last 8 months. Not to mention a garden in the summer, car washing, pool water, pond water, etc. Let's just say I have a good quality 3/4" garden hose and I use it a LOT. What can I say, I like to play with water...

I'd be willing to pay a reasonable delivery fee to the city for that water, but, not a sewage fee. And I don't need it treated and chlorinated first. The second meter idea is a good one, but, I'm guessing the connection fee is more than it would cost me to dig a well of some kind. My city government has really run amok, it's a hot topic around here.

Thanks everyone for the tips so far!

 

[The Dougster]

JJ is 100% right ... you've got to include some kind of additive to bring the cuttings to the surface... well drillers use VERY high capacity compressors or a drilling fluid, mud or other additive. Check with your local drilling supply businesses. The name escape me at the moment, but there is an additive that creates a ton of foam that carries the cutting to the surface... Unless properly researched, I forsee a lot of disappointment in these projects.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Zmos, I am not sure what part of Oregon you are in, my vote is MckMinville, Ashland or Bend. We are just across the river in WA and the state and county has a much tighter control on the water than OR.

The land we live on does one thing really well, and that is runs off water to the river. In the winter, shallow wells work great, but in the summer they go dry quickly. My feeling is unless you hit an aquafer, you are going to be unhappy at shallow depths.

The other thing that you should be aware of and is a growing issue in our area is Arsenic. Due to the volcanic nature of the area, the water is loaded with it and metals. If you know of company that does water testing, they may be able to tell you if the area is prone to these issues.

This winter (spring) has been stunningly wet in our area, but last year was really dry. Climate is changing and who knows what the water level is going to be like in the future.

Carl

 

[Ford tractor]

I'd be willing to pay a reasonable delivery fee to the city for that water, but, not a sewage fee. And I don't need it treated and chlorinated first. The second meter idea is a good one, but, I'm guessing the connection fee is more than it would cost me to dig a well of some kind. My city government has really run amok, it's a hot topic around here.

Thanks everyone for the tips so far!

Many if not all places in the Pac NW have legal water rights requirements. You may be putting yourself at risk.

Here is a sample link

Water Rights in Oregon

 

[pat32rf]

Didn't you mention that you have a pond? Where does it get its water?....

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Many if not all places in the Pac NW have legal water rights requirements. You may be putting yourself at risk.

I'd been thinking this same thing throughout the discussion. There's a big battle that's been going on for a few years in Idaho between irrigators in the Twin Falls area with old water rights and newer irrigators on the west dessert that draw from wells. The Twin Falls guys allege that the wells are pulling water that they actually own because it would otherwise come out of the ground further south and run in the rivers from which they pull their water.

Water is a very hot issue. That's one of the reasons that such things as water rights and well permits exist.

That being said, I'm lucky enough to have three wells on my place. One is a 6" cased well for culinary use. The other two are sandpoint wells. One of the sand point wells is in the basement of the house with a cap on it. The other is what I irrigate from. I get great flow out of mine. I don't know how old it is. I do know that when I upgraded the pump from a 3/4 hp to a 2 hp a few years back, I was pulling sand a silt out of it for the whole summer. It's like the larger pump was clearing a bigger reservoir underground or something like that. It's all good now. I haven't had to unplug a single sprinkler this spring.