well drilling / puunding

osprey · Mar 8, 2006

then you have a good 750 gallon reservoir above the bottom. 

That would be dependent on the diameter of the well casing..IE 6" or 8" etc....

Highbeam · Mar 8, 2006

I figured 8 but I suppose 6 is more typical. Dang. And the 8 was ID.

osprey · Mar 8, 2006

I think mine is an 8 " casing...been a while since I even thought about it. I will have to go check when it is daylight.

3RRL · Mar 8, 2006

His reasoning for the pump depth had something to do with the size of it (hp) and the standing water level. Meaning he felt a 2-½hp pump would not stress lifting/pumping from where he set it. (I guess) Also, he used a Ø6" steel casing set directly into the granite. The first 12' - 15' had Ø12" steel casing around the 6' and filled the gap with concrete.

We were told that indeed, we were fortunate to have that amount of water available. However, in the South Fork area of Three Rivers, CA almost all the well are over 25 gals/min. Someone he just did was a gusher...like a billion gals/ min /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif(more like 200) but a lot more than ours. Our direct neighbor got 80 gals/min and he is below us about 200' in elevation. Funny thing there, he had to go almost 400' down there too.

I don't know how he manages to certify his wells other than he drill almost ALL the wells in our area for sure and many many in the rest of Tulare County.

When his dad started out, he remembers drilling in Los Angeles, Riverside and out where I live in Rancho Cucamonga and even out to Temecula. But the brothers now stick to the local area as they are so busy with referrals. It's funny, their office is in Lemon Cove, about 10 miles down the hill from us and the building is ...no kidding...about 15' x 20' max! I don't know if it's got a bathroom in it or not. Of course they have a larger office in Exeter.

They came very well reccomended and sure delivered. When we first met them, they walked the property and asked where we planned to build our home. Then looked up and down this ridge for about 5 minutes and said, you could put the well up along tis ridge anywhere above the house. Better up there by that Oak. Heck, after we did all that water-witching, we couldn't have been more than 25-30'' from the spot he reccomended! Those guys were amazing!

Attached is a pic of them drilling. You can see all the grey granite.

3RRL · Mar 8, 2006

This is what it looked like when they finished.

scott_vt · Mar 9, 2006

Hi Beam,,
With a well that deep, quite often the well guy keeps the pump at least 50 ft from the bottom of the well, so as not to suck any setiment into the pump. And like you said, even if the flow is not great you have one heck of a reserve.

scotty

osprey · Mar 9, 2006

the pump at least 50 ft from the bottom of the well 

My pump is 9 feet from the bottom of the well,hit water a 435' and drilled the the well to 509' and the pump is set at 500' deep with a 75' resevoir above the pump. Drilled the well in 1988.

turnkey4099 · Mar 9, 2006

( His reasoning for the pump depth had something to do with the size of it (hp) and the standing water level. Meaning he felt a 2-½hp pump would not stress lifting/pumping from where he set it. (I guess)
<snip>
)

Being a bit pedantic here.

The 'lift' from a well does not depend on the depth the pump is set. The lift is measured from the static water level as it is height above that that the water must be pushed. There does have to be some consideration made for drawdown however.

Harry K

scott_vt · Mar 10, 2006

( the pump at least 50 ft from the bottom of the well 

My pump is 9 feet from the bottom of the well,hit water a 435' and drilled the the well to 509' and the pump is set at 500' deep with a 75' resevoir above the pump. Drilled the well in 1988. )

Osprey,
I asked about why so far off the bottom, come to find out if the pump guy had positioned the pump lower in my well he would have had to go with a higher HP pump. Sorry for the confusion on that one. Although he did say that he stays away from having the pump too close to the bottom.

scotty

osprey · Mar 10, 2006

come to find out if the pump guy had positioned the pump lower in my well he would have had to go with a higher HP pump 

I understand now what you are saying,but seems to me like a few extra $$$$ for a more powerful pump would have been more practical.

scott_vt · Mar 10, 2006

Osprey,
The well was originally 165 deep. They redug that well to 450 with a rotary and ended up fracking the well for sufficient flow. After the well was fracked my static level returned to 40 ft below grade. So I have 360ft of reserve while the pump is suspended at 400 ft. I was told if I went down to 440 that I would have to upgrade the pump and at the time we felt that 360 ft of reserve was sufficient along with 5gpm. Although its nice to know that I have another 50 ft of water /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

scotty

3RRL · Mar 10, 2006

osprey,
I understand what turnkey4099 means about the lift above the staic water level now. In your case it seems you needed to have the pump set that deep to get below that level and still give you a reserve for drawdown.

As scott vt implied, my well guy positioned the pump to use a lessor hp pump and still have adequate water level above it. He also told me to have it set lower in the well would require a mor powerful pump? In my case he needed to consider the energy requirements of the off-grid solar system and using a lessor hp pump helped /fit my situation and still give me plenty of water. I have not yet, but will install a 5000 gal reservoir tank.

3RRL · Mar 10, 2006

tommu56,

Do you have any updates on your situation yet? Did you decide to go with the rotary or pounder?

osprey · Mar 10, 2006

I never heard of it being done that way or I don't remember if I did,but it sounds logical to me.

turnkey4099 · Mar 11, 2006

Well, there is a need for a more powerful pump when it is set deeper for two possible reasons.

1. The deeper it is set below the static leve, the more inertia the pump hasa to overcome starting the colume of water moving. The water in the pipe between the pump and static level essentially has no weight, but it does have mass. I can't really see it being of much significance though as at startup the pump has to get the entire column of water from the pump to the pressure tank moving. Adding a few feet of depth would be a minor part of that column.

2. If the drawdown brings the water level down then that has to be considered.

Harry K

tommu56 · Mar 12, 2006

Well No pun intended I met with the driller on Saturday he witched the area around the cabin and suggested moving well out front. There was a "vein" under were I hopped the well would be able to go but he said moving it back away from the ridge edge would cut the length of casing and might have a shallower well. He will get back to me in two weeks with price and schedule. He said that he usually only had to go 1/2 to 2/3 the depth of rotary rigs at ~20 ft per day he said was average the other cabins 440'*.666 293f t about 2 weeks drill time. I am hoping to put a solar pump in so the closer the water to top cuts how many panels and how large of pump I need.

I will post more as I get info

Tom

osprey · Mar 13, 2006

20 ft per day 

Thats about what a rotary rig will drill in probably 40 minutes or less.

Egon · Mar 13, 2006

If the water is comming from rock fractures the rotary rigs just may seal off many of the small cracks just with the circulating fluid.

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

osprey · Mar 13, 2006

If the water is comming from rock fractures the rotary rigs just may seal off many of the small cracks just with the circulating fluid. 

I could see that happening in rock you might drill past the water and miss it entirely /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif,my water was in a vain of sand 70' thick and I had a lot of water coming into the pocket. I guess their is pros and cons of both.

tommu56 · Aug 1, 2006

the first driller kept brushing me off the weel after july 4th I called a couple mort drillers the rotary guy was 8 to 10 weeks out the other one had both machines and said he could be out in 2- 3 week he came out and looked at site and said he could pound it with out any problem. the rotary rig would have had issues trees and rough forrest roads to get up to sight. I called the first driller and told him to forget it. the new guy showed in 2 weeks The well driler started monday 7/31 got about 25 feet that day got about 40 more feet today. only about 8 more days to go for 300 ft guesstmate. I had to go home and back to work I will be back up there this weekendto check progress.