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.

mahlers · Mar 29, 2004

I keep finding rolled and riveted 6" pipe installed all over the place, and I am pretty sure it was used at least 50 years ago. The folks that built/worked on my place used it for just about everything - from drainage culverts to sewer line. It seems to have held up pretty well considering the age and application.

SPIKER · Mar 29, 2004

I would try the big trash pump too. then dig a pit or have a large tank near by and pump the sludge into it, then let the settled out water bak in and re-pump if it does not re-fill fast enough... maybe a water truck standing by? use solid line to drop into the much and suck it out that way. sump water down to get enough head to get suction started and then really suck her clean!

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

TBAR · Mar 29, 2004

With your FEL dig two shallow troughs about 6'x8'x1' close together and connect them with a small trench only 6" deep. Fill both troughs with water and place your suction hose in one and your trash return in the other. Dirt, mud and muck comes out of the well via the trash pump into the first trough and the solids settle to the bottom. The water then spills through the connecting trench into the other trough and is pumped or siphoned back into the well where the process starts all over again.

Or, if the garden hose will reach just fill the well as you pump the mud and muck out onto the ground.

TBAR

Poppa · Mar 29, 2004

( That well bucket looks interesting but wouldn't it fill with water before it got down to the mud? )

They do fill with water but they still work to clean out the well. I used them quite a bit in the environmental industry on 2 and 4 inch wells used for water sampling. Quite often, on a poor well install it wasn't unheard of to get sand from the sand pack into the well. Or, if the soil itself is very silty and the sand pack wasn't done properly the silt migrates into the well. yeah I know, too much info /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif. Anyway, the cheap solution on a hundred or two hundred foot well is to drop a bailer (what you are calling a well bucket) to near the bottom of the well and then vigorously raise it and lower it to get the muck or sand into suspension and that is what (hopefully /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif) gets into the bailer. Lots of work and no where near as rewarding as using a pump.

for the shallow well you describe, go trash pump. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Mike

cedarranch · Mar 30, 2004

I thank each of you for the help. As alway, this board is well worth the time I spend reading the threads. I will look into renting a trash pump this summer and clean it out. If it recovers well and provides enough water I will use it for the barn which brings up another question. How to pump the water! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I must keep cost to a minimum and I will not have electrical access. I did a little searching for pumps. The solar pumps seam a bit expensive, the hand pumps may be a choice since the water level begins at 13'. DC pump with a solar rechargable battery is not too high priced if I do it myself and not buy a kit. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I would like to hear any of your ideas!

NIXON · Mar 30, 2004

If you're looking for non electric things try www.lehmans.com
Even if you don't find a pump you like it's a pretty neat site to visit . John

SPIKER · Mar 30, 2004

Cebersu right across the street is GERBER lumber that is where all my pole barn stuff came form we have lots of amish people around here, though kidron is about 20 ~35 min drive from my farm it was a less expensive place to buyu that kind of stuff from. NICE stores and peole too.

Mark M Jeromesville ohio /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

NIXON · Mar 30, 2004

Spiker (Mark ). While I don't have an interest in most non -electrically powered things ..... I do love Alladin Kerosene lamps ! Lehmans has a great inventory of them .
I also have furnished my house with Amish furniture . Mostly from New Wilmington Pa . Like You said . Nice folks ! And a great sense of humor once they know you !
John

TOMDUALLY · Mar 31, 2004

THE FASTEST AND EASIST WAY THAT I KNOW OF IS TO GO AND RENT ONE OF THOSE BIG COMMERICAL AIR COMPRESSOR (THE ONES THEY USE FOR JACK HAMMERS ON THE HIGHWAY) HOOK IT UP A FULL LENGTH OF 1" PVC PIPE THAT IS INSERTED IN THE WELL PIPE TURN ON THE AIR AND WATER AND MUCK WILL FLY OUT AND ALL OVER EVERYTHING INCLUDING YOU. THE WAY TO CONTROL THIS IS TO PLACE A 4"X2" ABS TEE ON TOP OF THE WELL PIPE BEFORE INSERTING THE 1" PIPE THEN SEAL IT WITH A WET RAG ON TOP THE 4X2 TEE. TURN ON THE AIR AND IT WILL PUMP OUT THE WATER AND MUCK , JUST KEEP FEEDING THE !' AS IT CLEARS OUT. I'VE SEEN SEEN THIS WORK ON A 180' WELL. JUST KEEP ADDING THE 1" PIPEAND KEEP THE OUTLET IN THE WATER, HOPE THIS HELPS.