Drilling Water Well

ocaj11 · Jun 24, 2011

Hello All,

It's been a couple of years since I've posted on the site. My projects around the property have kept me pretty busy.

This is the best site I've found to discuss all the crazy ideas we come up with to improve our properties.....

I've spent lots of hours over the last couple of weeks figuring out the best way for me to drill my own well. We live on mostly red clay with varying shades of clay under the red. I don't think we have any rock between the surface and water, but I don't know how deep that is yet. I'm guessing I'll need to go about 80 - 100 feet to get enough water to irrigate the lawn/garden, fill above ground pool, wash cars, etc. We have city water for household use.

I want to take a 4000 psi pressure washer with one of the 0 degree tips (attaching the hose along a length of 3/4 pvc) and wash a 6 inch PVC pipe down into the ground until I get to water sand. I'm confident the pressure washer will pulverize the clay, but I don't have a good handle on getting the muck out of the hole while I'm sinking the casing. I've watched the videos on using water connected to a 2 inch pvc pipe to wash the cuttings back to the surface, but I don't think that's going to work effectively with a 6 inch casing.

I've read some on bailers, but I don't have a grasp on ease of use. Does anyone on here have experience using a bailer to clean out a 6 inch well casing? I'm thinking about hooking up a pulley over the top of the casing and using a 4 wheeler to raise and lower the bailer so we're not doing it manually. Does anyone have a recommendation for an easier way to get the pulverized clay/slurry misture out of the casing as I'm going down?

The bid I got to put in an estimated 80 foot well, pump, casing, screen, wire, etc. was $4,900 flat rate. I think I can do it for much less.....

scott_vt · Jun 24, 2011

Good Afternoon ocaj11,
That sounds like a pretty agressive project !

In the northeast, we use a pounder or rotary drill, Im sure just as in your area, to get down into the ground that first few feet and then use the rig to pound the casing into the ledge or bedrock. At that time the casing acts as a guide for the remaining drilling.

With that being said, I would think you could fabricate a bailer out of a smaller diameter PVC pipe, with a mechanical trip device on the bottom, to allow the muck into the pipe. And then raise and empty...

Have you given any thought also to ane of those heavy duty sewage type pumps, I have seen in Northern catologues etc ?

Rather than going through all the motions of raising and lowering a bailer, this might possibly a time saver...

You would have to investigate the amount of lift that the pump could provide...

Alos keep in mind that if your only going to have a 100 ft deep well, at 6" diameter, and your static level is at say 50 ft, 1 1/2 gals per ft, thats only 75 gals of reserve !

Depending on your GPM rate of return, thats not much water !

Good luck !

Baby Grand · Jun 24, 2011

Unless you drop the pump down the well hole, I don't think you can lift the water much above a 32ft depth, due to the water vaporizing (cavitating) from it's own weight.

I really like the idea of using a pressure washer for a cutting jet - that should do a fine job on clay. I don't see why you couldn't use a separate water supply, pumped down hole to move the cuttings to the surface per the usual jetting routine.

Disclaimer: I have no practical experience at all, so I may be talking out of my hat, but the subject is dear to my heart as The Plant Manager has "Dig Well" on her short list.

-Jim

MarkV · Jun 24, 2011

I hope you will keep us up to date with your project. My first impression after watching my well drilled is you are biting off more than you can chew. I think the first thing I would do was ask neighbors and well drillers what depth range water is normally hit in your area. I think anything over thirty feet is asking too much for a do-it-yourself project with 6" pipe. Hope I am wrong.

MarkV

Pipestone Kid · Jun 24, 2011

My first question is--
Why 6 inch? I have lived in the country all my life and all I have ever seen for residential use is 4 inch casings. Well drillers used to use a bailer with a flapper on the bottom to clean out the muck. I would bet you might be able to find one if you did a little search.

ocaj11 · Jun 24, 2011

All,

Thanks for all the replies. I will certainly keep you updated on the project and I may very well be dreaming.

I got this idea from a couple of different things I've read. First, they use hydro-excavation all the time to cut clay with a pressure washer. I've actually used a pressure washer in the past to dig a hole to pour concrete piers. Going 4 feet was very quick and I cleaned the hole out with post hole diggers. If I don't hit rock, I don't see why it would get any harder the deeper I go with the exception of removing the muck from the hole at depth. That's where the water pumped down the pipe comes into play. Second, there is a guy on the internet advertising it's possible to use an air drill attached to the end of pvc pipe along with water to drill a well. I'm a bit more skeptic about that method, but it seems logical.

I may rent a trash pump to pump a bunch of water down the hole every two - four feet. I have a 10 acre lake I can draw from (it's not spring fed and I live in Southwest Arkansas, I really don't want to pump this water to irrigate), so that might work with all the muddy water running back into the lake. I'll experiment with the first 10 feet before I rent the pump.

As for casing size, I was thinking 6 inch so I would have room to drop a submersible pump. Do they make submersible pumps that fit inside a 4 inch PVC pipe? I'm going to do a search for pumps tonight. The smaller the better as far as I'm concerned.

They also have eductors for materials transport/mixing that works with compressed air. Does anyone know if using a big air compressor pushing a lot of air at higher psi would push water/muck up 60 feet?

If I do get the pipe sunk, I'll have to have some kind of well screen. I don't have that part figured out yet unless they make a well screen the size of the 3 inch pvc that I can push down once the pipe is sunk.

My Dad thinks I'm crazy. I may be. :thumbsup: But, I think I'm going to give it a try before I cough up 5K to get an 80 foot well dug. If I hit rock. all bets are off. I'll then have to figure out if I want to rig something up to pound through it.

ocaj11 · Jun 24, 2011

Scott,

My hope is that water flows back into the pipe as I'm pumping water out. Im afraid I won't be able to depend on too much reserve in the pipe. If I don't get a satisfactory GPM, I might look at burying a 1000 gallon storage tank?? I'll have to see what we've got.

Thanks.

scott_vt · Jun 25, 2011

Good Afternoon ocaj11,
We will be following along. so be sure and keep us posted !

paulwestski · Jun 25, 2011

Have you checked out this website?

How to Drill Your Own Water Well

Not sure if this will work for a 6" casing but it might for a 4" casing.

gerard · Jun 25, 2011

Do you have gutters on your house or do you have a barn? I use roof run off to keep my koi pond full and fill water troughs for 15 horses. Youd be surprised how much water runs off on a decent rain. You could bury a 1500 gal plastic septic tank, drop in a high pressure pump on a switch and run a hose off that. If all you want to do is water your garden that would seem to be a lot less work than drilling a well.