Dug a small well this weekend

[Jimbrown]

Im with you I don't think it will freeze if everything drains back to the bottom. The top might freeze for 3 or 4 inches but the rest should be OK. Might just stack some of those castle blocks around the top of the culvert. Make it look pretty and ad some insulation. I just can't belive that you guys get water that shallow. Ain't no way in XXX you could dig a well around here with a backhoe. Well maybe if you started at the bottom of a mine shaft.

 

[bucmeister]

Jimbrown,

I was thinking the same thing about the water depth/table issue. We would not have dig as deep as those of you out in AZ, but we would not be able to dig down and find water with a backhoe or a track hoe for that matter. Wish it were not the case.

 

[shvl73]

By the looks of the attached picture of the BH you need to make another purchase. Say a pressure washer. LOL
The Gotcha Man

Got one. The mud is there so people know I actually use it!

 

[shvl73]

Im with you I don't think it will freeze if everything drains back to the bottom. The top might freeze for 3 or 4 inches but the rest should be OK. Might just stack some of those castle blocks around the top of the culvert. Make it look pretty and ad some insulation. I just can't belive that you guys get water that shallow. Ain't no way in XXX you could dig a well around here with a backhoe. Well maybe if you started at the bottom of a mine shaft.

Its not like that everywhere, just at our place. Not so good if you want to dig an 8' deep foundation! If this does work, I'll be real happy. Keeping it simple was the idea.

 

[RichNJKubota]

Do you get a sufficient amount of water from your well?
I was thinking about doing the same thing. Water for the chickens and some for the garden. And it would dry up the area behind the chicken coop so I could expand the garden. Could run an overflow pipe out down the hill.

 

[shvl73]

I would have to go larger in diameter and deeper to water my garden. There isn't a quick enough recovery in this little well. Also, this little pump isn't made for pressure.

 

[bx24]

I would bet that if you mount up some dirt around the plastic where it is above ground (even if you have to cut it shorter) and leave the plywood on (maybe with some hay or grass clippings on top), you will be fine.

Here in Indiana, we had temps in the single digits for more than a week and my water meter did not freeze and it was in a gravel base tube about a foot below the surface with only a plastic cover on top. Some may point out that the water was moving, but at this location, the water was not in motion at all (no one was living there at the time)

 

[ldabe]

I would have to go larger in diameter and deeper to water my garden. There isn't a quick enough recovery in this little well. Also, this little pump isn't made for pressure.

I was wondering...I myself don't have the means to run electric right now.

So how do you think a hand pump would work with something like this?

 

[shvl73]

I was wondering...I myself don't have the means to run electric right now.

So how do you think a hand pump would work with something like this?

A hand pump was the original idea. After I ran electricity to the barn, that was the end of that idea. I do think a hand pump would work just fine.

 

[Defective]

So how do you think a hand pump would work with something like this?

Basically a 10' deep well...

Hand pump would be fine...darn near shallow enough to suck the water out with a straw...