Help With Burried Water Lines

[CurlyDave]

Thanks.

The real stress is over at this point -- the well is "good enough" that it doesn't have to get any better. At least my head knows that, even if my heart doesn't.

One of my future projects was going to be a water storage tank anyway. We get enough power failures to make one worthwhile. I just wanted to be able to put one in at my leisure, instead of getting it installed now.

We clearly need a generator, and that is the subject of a future question, gas vs. diesel vs. propane vs. PTO from the tractor. But, the well is 400' from the house and the generator should be at the house. So a gravity-feed water tank might be a nice project.

The other big stress reliever is that the place we had gone to in town, when the driller came out, was the bank. God smiled on us, and we were qualified for a constuction loan whch was quite a bit higher than we, and the contractor, believe the house will cost.

Having a contingency fund available makes it a lot easier to drill an extra 100' or even 200' if necessary.

 

[CurlyDave]

Where did he drill at? Was it on the ridge, close to the road or some place different? What made him chose that particular sight?

It was close to the road. I chose the site, well, kind of sort of.

A neighbor recommended a traditional dowser, who walked the land with me and identified three places he thought would be good. All but this one were very inaccessible and would have required many thousands of road development before the drilling rig could get in.

The driller recommended a second dowser, who used some kind of electronic equipment his girlfriend carried all over the property in a backpack while he talked to her by radio from a truck at the base of the property.

I had removed the stakes the first dowser had placed and marked the spots with various pieces of debris (crushed soda can, old bottle, etc.), so the second dowser wouldn't know what the first one had selected.

He was only willing to mark one place which was different than any of the places the first dowser had selected, but I casually led the woman with the electronics over my favorite spot which was right next to the existing road, and as she stepped over the crushed can I had left in the spot the first dowser had picked, over the radio came "got a hit" loud & clear. We walked around for another 30 minutes and then I led her back to the same place and again "got a hit" just as she stepped over the can.

I took this as confirmation of the spot selected by the first dowser, and since the primary place this guy selected would have required $10k of road development compared to the $15-20k the other places the traditional dowser selected, I decided that the one place they had both sort of agreed on, and which was only 10 feet from an existing gravel road was the right place to try.

 

[Farwell]

I was thinking that it might be the crushed soda can that was triggering the electronic device. LOL
I have heard great stories about dowsers, would not hesitate to use one that had a good success record.
At some point I am going to start searching for a natural spring on my property but am not sure how go about it unless I find a dowser in my area.
Great that you found your water supply.
Farwell

 

[bugstruck]

Dave,

Glad that you have water!! Around here we just punch more depth for reserve so we don't need a storage tank. Fairly costly, but it works. Our county requirements are only 1 GPM but 500 gallons available withing 2 hours of combined reserve and flow. I wouldn't be happy with a 1GPM well, but 3.5 is not bad. You probably need a couple of hundred gallons a day straight house-hold use and you have way more than that. Hope you find some more in the next run down.

You had me smiling when I saw the dowser comments. I don't know about water but why not> I know the old metal rod technique has some merit locating underground utilities.

 

[CurlyDave]

I was thinking that it might be the crushed soda can that was triggering the electronic device. LOL

I didn't worry about it at the time but now that you mention it, it does seem funny.

At some point I am going to start searching for a natural spring on my property but am not sure how go about it

We have at least two year-round natural springs, and possibly a third. I am thinking of developing one for irrigation water, but I would only use one for my primary water supply if all else failed. Wells are pretty much the standard and anything non-standard is going to cause a hit in resale value.

Springs tend to be in inaccessable places -- bottom of a ravine for instance, or on a steep hillside.

Monday morning we start drilling again. I am keeping my fingers crossed. The neighbor has 30+ gpm at 180' and the elevation we are starting from is about 20' higher.

 

[turnkey4099]

If nothing else, just watching the drilling operation is fascinating. Especially when it hits a water seam. Seeing how fast and far the drill can duck. I assume you have a rotary rig. Amazing that only one man and a bunch of hydralics can handle 20 ft drill stems, drive casing and all the other ancilliary operations.

Harry K

 

[CurlyDave]

Well, now comes the hard decisions. At the end of the day today the driller was at 600' and water was 5 gpm. Barely enough to get by without a holding tank.

He says that the rock formations have a lot of color and appear to be fractured, just the fractures don't have any water in them.

This is enough to get by on, but not to water any kind of lawn or garden.

The way I left it with him was to continue drilling until:

A. he gets 10+ gpm, or

B. he comes to the end of the fractured rock, or

C. he goes down another 200'.

We talked about possibly choosing another place to drill, but as a practical matter, we have enough water for a house and if we want a garden or lawn in a few years drilling will not be any more expensive then than now. In fact, it might be a lot less expensive, since I will have developed better access to the other parts of the property. Also, there is always the possibility of developing a spring for irrigation.

Fortunately the water is deep enough that he doesn't think there is any real possibility of it going dry in a drought.

 

[3RRL]

CurlyDave,
I know how excited you must be drilling your well and also the anxiety, hoping to hit more gallons per minute without going the other 200' deeper. I was fascinated with the drilling operation on my property. I hope you get as lucky as I did and hit that big one on the next shaft he sends down. I don't know if you ever saw that thread about digging the well, but here's a link to our website detailing the experience with our well.
Digging the Well

 

[CurlyDave]

Looks just like what they did at our place. Except for the results.

Hoping for more tomorrow...

 

[dubba]

CD, don't rule out hydrofracking. My abridged story.

7 years ago, I had a new well drilled. End result 320 ft deep, 4GPM.

Last year we planted a lawn, decided to water, called the well guys.

They drilled to 650 ft. Nothing but dry powder everytime they turned off their water supply. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

The salesman said to me, "I know you just spent 4 grand with no results, so let us come & hydrofrack it. If the result is still the same, I personally will pay for the hydrofracking."

Great, another $1500 gamble /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

They came the next day with the hydrofracker. The well was "fracked" in three places, 200', 300' & 400'. The Frackers only carry one pump with them, a 25 GPM job with a matched generator. They pumped out my well for 3 1/2 hours at 200' ( the level of my pump), never ran the well dry.

So the hydrofracking saved me from blowing more money drilling deeper. I was prepared to go to 900', but they had to get more rods, hence the call to the salesman.