well question

[tommu56]

I am a ware of the ozygen issue I am still trying to figure that out for sure. But my main concrete sides will not sink and break my lines of since It is 6' round and I will only be making the hole in the center of my well 3' round. I am about 4 miles from brookville dam but for elevation purpose I am really close. Since I am not on a spring currently sice my well has poures in it all the way down the sides all the way around just takes ground water. I was always wondering about driving pipes in the ground in the center and having them bring water up into my well. I am not sure but my pump is about 2' long and about 5" round and the intake is about in the middle of the pump anybody know how low I can lower my pump down to the bottom of what I have and try that first.

Sense you have a submersible pump I would concider poking a 8" hole in the bottom of you well about 5' down and put the pump in there'

I didn't see what your soil type is but if its soft you could jet the pipe in with out much trouble.

If its rock drilling is the only option to lower the pump or switch to a shallow well jet pump then you could get uction down the 2' you need.
tom

 

[Mousefield]

You could look at putting in a small tank (500 gallon?) near the well and either have a float or timer on the well pump. This way it will fill up the tank as needed and you then have the tank full. Once the tank is full, if you put a float control in it, then the pump will not come on until water is used out of the tank and the float drops. On our system we have a float in the 2,000 gallon storage tank and when the float drops the well will top it up. Works great for our application.

 

[badbowtie]

I am not sure what the soil is like but I am thinking already being 20' down I don't think it will be rocky I have done some reading on jetting pipe in but figured I really need to be way bigger than 2" diameter. I figured If I am going to set my pump down in it I need a decent size diameter maybe 12" min.
I thought about another holding tank with a float pump but just not in the budget right know.

 

[tommu56]

I am not sure what the soil is like but I am thinking already being 20' down I don't think it will be rocky I have done some reading on jetting pipe in but figured I really need to be way bigger than 2" diameter. I figured If I am going to set my pump down in it I need a decent size diameter maybe 12" min.
I thought about another holding tank with a float pump but just not in the budget right know.

Most wells are drilled 6" I was thinking of just getting your pump down so it could get the last 2' of water out you did say it would keep running in at the 2' level

A piece of 6" pvc pipe then take a 1/2" steel pipe flatten the the end to create a fan hook it to a hose put it down in side the 6" and press down on 6" while washing the bottom of the dirt under the pipe out with the lance

tom

 

[badbowtie]

Okay I think I will try the 6" pipe trick I may even try it sunday I am going to cut firewood saturday it is getting cold. So can you describe more what to do with the 6" pvc and how to hook the hose and what to do with the 1/2 steel plate. I am not picturing it is there a picture somewere so I can picture it.

 

[rScotty]

I have a well at my house that is 6' round and about 20 feet deep it has holes about 1-1/2" round evey cuple inches all the way around and all the way up and down it.....dig deeper.....Any ideas or ever heard of anybody ever do anything like this?

From the description it sounds like you have six foot diameter concrete well rings with perforated sides. That's good. Your description sounds like a very standard design for a shallow well. Yes, the concrete lid will be heavy. We could figure yours out with some measurements.

About digging deeper, I see no reason at all why you cannot do that. As an engineer I designed exactly ONE (1) state-approved shallow well like you are describing, so take it with a grain of salt. But that one was done recently and it does sound similar to your description.....five to six foot diameter, heavy top, perforated well rings, about the same depth, with washed gravel & sand fill around the outside and in the bottom. It's pretty common in that type of well to work inside. We all did. Most shallow wells have a low enough inflow that a small pump will pump them enough to work in wet ooze instead of standing water.

If some of the holes in the side walls are making water real good then consider driving some four foot perforated pipe out laterally through those holes to increase the flow. Sometime you can do that with a water jet. Deeper isn't always the only answer.

Be smart about the ventilation, electricity, and lighting. Obviously you should leave the dirt supporting the bottom of the ring walls. Probably ought to have a buddy standing by too....at least at first.
When you get all done inside the well you'll need to re-disinfect it with a chlorine (Chlorox) solution.

And there's always the chance that you will dig down and hit a dry sand layer instead of a wetter layer and "kill the well". Not common, but I've seen it happen - again...., only once and that was in a farm pond decades ago. If that happens in a well it should be easy enough to fix by putting in a layer of clay and compacting it.
good luck, rScotty