Well, guess what I found!

cedarranch · Mar 29, 2004

For the past two weekends I have been leveling off a knoll on the corner of my pasture in preparation of a barn next year. After digging down about 15 inches I struck...

A well! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

It was capped and buried until I ripped off the cap with the box blade. It appears to be quite old (the pipe is rolled and ribetted about six inches in diameter) and measures 13' down to the water and 5 feet of water but I able to very easily push a 20' pipe 21' down (as far as I could reach) through the muck at the bottom. Any ideas on how I could clean out the bottom to deepen the well. It would be a great source of water at the barn for washing and such.

DavidJ · Mar 29, 2004

If it's too soft to use an auger, one suggestion would be to get a well bucket and push it into the muck using a piece of pipe. You should be able to force the muck into the bucket and lift it out one load at a time.

GerardC · Mar 29, 2004

Call a well drilling company. They should and will most likely give you the answers you need.

cedarranch · Mar 29, 2004

Well bucket in a six inch pipe? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gifI know I am draggin' from the weekend /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif, but am I missing something here? Is there another type of well bucket than the obvious? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

leaddog · Mar 29, 2004

I think what is being refered to is called a bailer. It is a pipe with a check valve in the bottem that you drop in the pipe and you can pull up and then empty the bailer. will only work if the muck is VERY soupy.
leaddog

RonR · Mar 29, 2004

Where I grew up, we called those sand buckets. When you get the casing in, using the sand bucket inside the casing cleaned it out and allowed it to be lowered more into the water table.

Hope this helps.
Ron

Bird · Mar 29, 2004

( Well bucket in a six inch pipe? )

Or even in a 4" pipe. For just one example, you can go to this well bucket and see what I used to have to use with a rope and pulley to draw water from the well. There is a rod attached to the check valve in the bottom that runs up to the top and has a small loop in it, so you simply pull up on that little loop to dump the water out the bottom into a bigger bucket, watering trough, or whatever.

mahlers · Mar 29, 2004

If the muck is 'mucky' enough, you can use a 3" trash pump to suck it out and pump it away. Just don't try and suck too much out all at once or you'll plug everything up. Just go down far enough so that you see mud pumping out, and work the inlet hose down into the well about an inch at a time. I've sucked the muck out of wells that way, and it works pretty good. To make it easier, it sometimes makes sense to pump water into the well as you're sucking the muck out. That way you don't have to wait for it to re-fill naturally.

By the way, I found an *OLD* well the same way you did. Unfortunately, though, I was using a Bobcat to clear and level the ground and the old well was a deep hand-dug well. What made it unfortunate was that the well was about five feet by five feet square and about fifty feet deep - and it was capped by redwood planks. The Bobcat was sitting on top of the well on what I always knew as solid ground, and all of a sudden the ground below the Bobcat 'disappeared' and the Bobcat went into a brief free-fall. We managed to drag it out, but it sure makes me wonder about what might be below me whenever I'm working these days...

cedarranch · Mar 29, 2004

Byrd, Leaddog, and RonR
That well bucket looks interesting but wouldn't it fill with water before it got down to the mud? I like Mahlers trash pump idea. Too expensive to buy one, but maybe rent for a day to clean it out and see how deep it is and how fast it recovers. It is very soupy. I had almost no resistance incerting a pipe three feet into the muck and it barely stained the pipe like dipping it into a paint bucket. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Now wouldn't it be great to have pump that would run off my tractor for this! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The pipe is rolled and ribetted about six inches in diameter. I have never seen a casing that was not solid. Have any of you seen this or have any guess how old this well might be?

Bird · Mar 29, 2004

( wouldn't it fill with water before it got down to the mud? )

I think it would. I just posted that because I thought maybe you'd never seen that kind of well bucket. Personally, I don't think it would work for what's being discussed in this thread.