Just got the phone call...

stumpfield · Sep 28, 2006

After waiting for nearly 6 months, I just got the phone call from my well driller that he's going to move his drilling rig to my property tomorrow and start drilling my well next week. Yahooooooo!!! I never had a well drilled in the past. Any advice?
The more I research and try to learn how to find water...where to drill, the more confused I got and realized how little I know about this subject. So, I leave it totally up to him to decide where to drill. He has no idea how deep and how long it will take and how much it's going to cost. It's kinda scary. It's like writing him a blank check and ask him to fill in the numbers.

HomeBrew2 · Sep 28, 2006

Sure wish you the best of luck.
It's a pretty boring job for him and spectators. Mostly just stay out of his way but be ready when he wants you.
The last one I had done, I needed to decide if I wanted him to dig further to get more than 20GPM (@~90') I said keep going a bit ... got 100+GPM @ 110'. Then he felt bad about the amount of casing he was pushing and wanted me to know that he didn't like the feel yet due to cobble stone. I assured him that if he didn't like the feel, I surely didn't either ... "keep pushing it", I said. Got about 90' of steel casing ... sure more than I was hoping for.
You are writing him a blank check!
I knew my driller for 20 years and, at the time, he was my brother in law ... didn't make me feel much better. It's all part of pioneering though. Enjoy it

kevincook · Sep 28, 2006

All I can say is if you are going to watch then you better bring ear plugs. Those machines are LOUD.

When they drilled my well they had experience with my neighbors property and pretty much new how many feet then would drill and how much casing they would use. The casing goes to the bottom in my case because of all the sand and gravel.....I have tons of water though.

Kevin

RobertN · Sep 28, 2006

HomeBrew2 said:
I said keep going a bit ... got 100+GPM @ 110'.

Show off

We're barely 10gpm at 450'

And, it is icky water... We have to run through multiple filtration...

HomeBrew2 · Sep 28, 2006

RobertN said:
Show off ...

I feel very blessed every day with this property.

MtnViewRanch · Sep 29, 2006

Homebrew, I was wondering how much of that 110 GPM does your pump, pump. In other words, what is the GPM of your pump? Just curious if you are able to take advantage of all that water.

Brian

3RRL · Sep 29, 2006

Tom,
Congratulations! Now the fun stuff begins. Like being in Vegas with $25,000 Blackjack hands. Hahaha. Even if you don't get water from the spot he picked, whatever you do, tell him to "keep drilling". Put a limit on it of course, but it might be cheaper than moving to another spot and starting over.

You know our story? We hit 10-15 gals/min at 228' and told him to drill to 300' the first day. On the second day we told him to drill to 400' and we were at about 20-25 gals/min. But we all had a feeling that there was more, considering our neighbor got 70 gals/min and his well was on the same ridge. So we took a chance and had him add another 20 footer...nothing.(now 420') Then another and nothing (now 440') except he said there were fragments of quartz coming up and he said that was a good sign.

Well, I left it up to Loretta and she said "OK, put one more on". He went down 2' and hit the big one! 100+ gals/hr. It's all documented on our website.

So good luck and keep drilling man! Be sure to post the results.

HomeBrew2 · Sep 29, 2006

MtnViewRanch said:
Homebrew, I was wondering how much of that 110 GPM does your pump, pump. In other words, what is the GPM of your pump? Just curious if you are able to take advantage of all that water.

Brian

Brian, I just put in a modest 20GPM Grundfos stainless pump at 100'. As yet, I have no designs on using more. Nor, have I had my well proofed for actual sustainable production or drawdown profile. I have a domestic well, not an ag well ... those of us that know how the drillers test/report GPM of a domestic well do not for a moment think it's applicable to "real life" ... but it sure looks good on paper

Rob, sorry, none of my well drillings are documented anywhere except in the State reports ... just too danged boring for this country boy

Cheers all!

stumpfield · Sep 29, 2006

3RRL said:
Tom,
Congratulations! Now the fun stuff begins. Like being in Vegas with $25,000 Blackjack hands. Hahaha. Even if you don't get water from the spot he picked, whatever you do, tell him to "keep drilling". Put a limit on it of course, but it might be cheaper than moving to another spot and starting over.

This will be the 1st well in the area. The nearest known well is 4 miles away on the same road. So, there's not a lot information out there.
My limit will be his drilling rig's limit. He said 600ft or a little more if he must. We'll have to start over with a new hole if we don't hit water within 600ft. Anyway, I chose this old timer with older drilling equipment because I felt more comfortable working with him and worth the long wait. Too bad I'm not going to be there to watch him drill. Hopefully by the time I get there next week, he's done. Wish me luck....

scott_vt · Sep 29, 2006

Mornin Stumpfield,
Even though the nearest well is 4 miles away I would still be inclined to go to that neighbor and see if you could get some info from him. At the very least it might give you an idea how far you might have to go and what kind of GPM they got out of their well. I realize that the aquafier changes in distances much less than that but you might get an idea !