New Well - vacuuming a hole?

[foggy1111]

I have been reading about driving sand point wells on the web....and have never driven a well point before. I will likely get started on a well sometime this summer. I believe I will only need to drive down about 20 feet or so as there is standing water in the swamp nearby indicating the water table. My soil is quite sandy.

Somewhere I read where a guy dug his "starter hole" about six feet deep by using a shop vac and a rigid plastic pipe to probe the soil and then suck the soil outta the hole.

I figured I may try this for my "starter hole" before driving an 1 1/4" pipe and a sand point. I don't have a post hole digger or other method to start the hole straight....so the "vacuum hole" intrigues me. Anyone ever done this vacuum hole method?? Any tips??

 

[greasemonkeyok]

In the oil patch, that is similar to air drilling where they use compressed air down the drill pipe to force the cuttings up the hole outside the drill pipe. My best guess, and it is just a guess, is that you will be disappointed as to the effectiveness of a vacuum after going down just a few feet or so. You might try it from a barn loft first to test how much sand can be picked up as you increase the vertical distance.

 

[Egon]

Get a hand operated posthole digger and put extensions on it. Going down 20 feet should be no problem unless the sand keeps caving in.

If you really want a vacum method bring in a vacum truck!:thumbsup:

 

[RonMar]

Yep, I think you are going to run out of lift after a few feet. An eductor in conjunction with the vacume might be more effective.

Aspirator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Kays Supply]

Around here we have clay soil. One method to put down rods, etc is to use a hole to start, put a bucket of water in the hole and then work the probe up and down using the water to wash out the soil. You just keep going up and down and adding water. It works pretty well.

 

[foggy1111]

OK....but I'm not trying to vacuum a hole deeper than about 4 feet. Its just to replace a post hole digger....and used to establish a straight hole for my 5' metal driven well pipes. Its hard to hold the pipe and drive it into the ground without a starter hole supporting the pipe.

I may just give it a try in a few days.....seems like a novel way to get a hole started.....and I don't have any water or a post hole digger to help out.

 

[LRTX1]

I have done vacuum excavation for underground utility surveys before. The shop vac will be seriously under powered for digging your hole. A pair of PHD's would probably be a better choice. With that said it will be worth a try anyway.

Here a few tips that might help.

1. Loosen the soil first with compressed air, and try to minimize the diameter of you hole in this process.

2. Try a 2 foot section of 2" pvc attached to the end of your shop vac hose. While running the vacuum it may be necesary to tap or bang on the hose to keep the soil from sticking to the inards of the pipe and hose.

3. Keep your hose sealed tight, duct tape joints and over any holes.

4. Don't try to force the hose into the ground, once you bite more than the vaccum can handle you will be peeing in the wind. Use a up and down popping motion. Basically you should only let the end of the pipe/hose stay in contact with the ground for a second. By pulling it back up, it will allow the vacuum to catch up.

While I have never tried to dig a hole with a shop vac, I have spent countless hours running Vac Trucks. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[foggy1111]

This is occupying waaay to much of my brain (this starter hole)....lol. BUT, I think I got a plan. Thanks for the feed-back.

I am going to use a 2" "cultivator" in my cordless drill to bore a hole and then suck the sand up with my vac. I've used this drill/cultivator before...and it's kinda like an earth auger on a long rod that you chuck into the drill. I just need a hole big enough for an 1 1/2 schedule pipe....so this and the vac (with a pvc pipe duct taped onto the hose) oughta do the trick. :thumbsup:

If it works I'll take pics....if not....you'll never hear about it again. :laughing:

 

[CurlyDave]

If you drill the right size hole in 1/3 of a sheet of plywood, you can put a put pipe holding clamp (U-shaped) on a sawhorse and by moving the sawhorse on the plywood make a jig which will hold your pipe perfectly vertical for driving. Screw the legs of the sawhorse to the plywood when you level says it is right.

Total cost is in the $30 range, and if you are going to drive pipe anyway, this lets you drive pipe instead of fooling around with all kinds of distractions.

As an alternative put some kind of bracket on your FEL with a C-clamp and use this to hold the pipe vertical.

Quit fooling around with sandbox toys and start driving pipe.

 

[Wis Bang]

I used to work w/ pnumatic shipments of plastic pellets. When a trailer wouldn't unload we would have to use a thief on a hose to vacuum the pellets over the top w/ a vacuum/pnumatic trailer.

The thief was simply a 4" aluminum pipe cut at an angle and punctured w/ a few 1/2" holes. The holes let the vacuum suck some air and keep the product moving.

Some guys would duct tape the holes thinking the vacuum would go faster and all they did was plug the hose.

Think about this if you want to vacuum your starter hole. Perforate that PVC pipe and let the vacuum suck some air.