Driving a well point?

[zmoz]

I am in Oregon, and I have been looking at water level data provided by the water resources department. There is a listing of every well drilled in my area, and the closest one is about 1/2 mile away. It was drilled in 1952. They say the static water level is 30 feet. There are a select few other wells in the area, many of them in the 30' range, but again, they are few and far between. Basically my city is in a valley, all the people outside the city limits who have wells are about 1000 feet higher in elevation than I am, so I don't consider that data relevant.

I do know one thing: It rains, it rains, and it rains here. That water is hiding somewhere.

Before you begin, you really, really, really need to interview old timers in the area. If no one has ever had a driven well in the area, there's likely a good reason. The old time local hardware guy likely knows too, because if there are driven wells, he has sold them points, drive couplings, 1 1/4 pipe in 6' length to drive down, the driving cap, (goes on top to protect pipe threads, then gets replace by coupling, next section added, driving cap goes on top and the process starts again) and other hardware. That guy has also sold them shallow well jet pumps, check valves and tanks. If none of this stuff is being sold in your area, that's a pretty good indicator that it isn't a locale that will make a good candidate. The whole set up is around $600 minimum.

LOL, there are no "old timers" in the area to interview. I've been here since '89, and that puts me in the top 5% of poeple who have lived here the longest. There have been no wells drilled because city water pipes are plentiful, and, it may in fact be illegal to drill a new well where I'm at. The vast majority of the former population has been replaced in the last decade, by californians *sigh*, and, the old guy at the hardware store was replaced by Home Depot many years ago.

City water didn't used to cost as much as gas, so people in the past have always been inclined to use it rather than drill a well. My water useage hasn't changed in the last decade, but it's gone from being a small bill, to a car payment.

I may even think about one of those DIY gas powered drillers, but, that's a bit more than I was wanting to do...

 

[Egon]

They say the static water level is 30 feet.

this well could be much deeper than 30 feet before water was encountered.

Consider water jetting.

 

[bp fick]

Anything deeper than 25 feet puts you out of range for the simple jet pump's lift capabilities.

 

[John White]

I am in sort of the same boat too. I need to get away from using city water to wash out my tanker truck some times. I think I would hit water at around 20' to 25'. I am thinking of digging as deep as I can with my little back hoe, which would be about 12' and then see what it would cost to have some one with a big track hoe that could dig another 10 or 15'. I have a 32" PVC solid culvert about 40" long and I made a cement top (cap) for it with a reducing hole down to 8" and bring it on up to grade with the 8" pvc pipe I have on hand. My thought is that I would have more reserve than just driving a well point down. Will this work or not? I am not fimular with shallow well pumps. Does only 1 line run from the well to the pump or does it require 2, like a jet pump?

 

[Egon]

You would be better off just bringing in the large hoe to start.

Do some google searches for jet pumps for more information.:thumbsup:

The max lift for a centrifugal pump will be a little less than the atmospheric pressure.

 

[bp fick]

A drive point, also called a sand point, for good reason, coupled with a shallow well pump, is designed to work and work efficiently only in an area of sandy/gravelly soils where there is soil saturated with a known high water table. The water must be of sufficient quantity to flow quickly through the gravelly soil below, flooding the little sand point grill with water. Think of putting it into a saturated sponge and sucking out the ample water. There is but a single water line.

Such "wells" are typically only 20 feet deep as 25 feet is the maximum lift in such "well" systems. Driven sand points are not an answer to getting water unless your immediate area fits the above description.

A sand point in not a drilled well looking for a deep view, nor a dug well designed to collect a large volume of water in a water crock or pit. It's column of water is very small, thus, again, requiring it to be pushed into a water saturated soils, located just below the surface, relatively speaking.

 

[jenkinsph]

I would check with the local well drillers to find out what they know about this.

Years ago my dad and I drove a point down in an area known to be good and were sucessful. We went down the first 12 feet with a 6" auger on our tractor and made extension to dig down. The first 9 to 10 ft was a clay soil that was so good we could unwind it from the auger when it was pulled up in one piece. So I would think that having a clay layer on top might not necessarily be a bad thing. Just depends on where the water is coming from, if in your case it may be coming down from the higher hills you may have a flow well. But don't get your hopes to high.

 

[zmoz]

Just depends on where the water is coming from, if in your case it may be coming down from the higher hills you may have a flow well. But don't get your hopes to high.

That's a good point, the view from my backyard is the small mountain where all the California millionaires live about 1000' above me. Many known streams/springs in the area originate in these hills.

Somewhere I saw on the state's water resources department website a "cutaway" picture of the soil showing several feet of clay (varying depths) and then some kind of rocky/sandy aquifer underneath. Of course just how deep that is under my lot I have no clue and I can't find that image again. The lowest ground water depths were all around the same elevation as me, ~300'.

Basically what I understand is the difference between a "deep well" and a "shallow well" is that a deep well is drilled through the bedrock to cleaner water below, while a shallow well stops before the bedrock and only gets what could be contaminated ground water.

I understand the "gravitational limit" with "shallow well pumps", but I could use a jet pump if I really have to. I like that hand powered post hole digger/auger thing...maybe I could do that for the first 10-15 feet and then start pounding a pipe from there.

I'm looking more and more towards the gas powered drillers right now for about 2 grand...kind of expensive, but I could sell it when I'm done. (or buy one from somebody else doing the same thing? ) Has anybody used one of those? Can they conceivably drill even a deep well?

If I can keep the bill under $2,000, and, am able to cut my city water consumption in half, it could easily pay for itself in 2 years. Now I saved enough money to buy a fancy tractor.

 

[zmoz]

Another thing - I don't have a tractor with an auger but how about the 2 man gas powered style? Can you add extensions and go extra deep with one of those?

 

[mikefromnh]

Ask your water department about a double meter. Many municipalities allow the installation of a second meter, just for the exterior irrigation. This saves you the sewer computation on that portion. You should also know that this isn't a cheap install, typically $500-700, which means your payback is way out there, 5 years or more.

Or you could just bypass the water meter completely. Probably not legal though