[n8sjh]

Just wondering if anyone has driven a well point before for a water well? I have some property up north and I have a travel trailer on it. Right now I have to drive a few miles and fill up about 4 jugs that are 6 gallons from a pitcher pump every day. I want to drive a 2 inch well into the ground and use a 1-1/4 drop pipe with a electric pump. I called a local well driller from the area and he said that the closest building to my place has a well at 40 feet deep. I am only about a 1/4 mile from that building and the ground is flat around us no real elevation change. He said for sure 40 to 60 feet maybe even less. The soil around us is sand. I dug a hole last year about 4 feet deep for some poles for a deck and it was all sand.
I will try and drive it by hand but if it gets tought I can rent a jack hammer from the hardware store that has a attachment that can drive the pipe down.
So any wise advise for this? I plan on digging a hole about 4 or 5 feet deep or until I get sick of digging at it first. Then I was told to dump water in the hole and let it settle and then start driving it into the ground making sure it is straight.

 

[Buggy_Tim]

Then I was told to dump water in the hole and let it settle and then start driving it into the ground making sure it is straight.

I'm going to do the same thing here to water the lawn....but why would you have to dig a hole like that?

 

[bigjay]

thats how my uncle did it...when i was in florida. we had a 2 inch pipe 20 ft tall with a pump connected at the top pushing water threw it. to clear the hole..but u prob dont have acess to large amounts of water..but we put in kelly wells in 5 min like that,,

 

[n8sjh]

The reason for the hole is so I can use a longer piece of pipe and not have to try and hit the top from a ladder or hold a jack hammer that far in the air. Also when I hit water I plan on pouring a concrete base in the bottom and then do something so the sand will not cave in on the walls and insulate it for the winter time. Just to get it below frost line.

 

[ckupq]

Just out of curiosity where you dropping the well at? I know what you want to do, its how our house has been run for the last 30 years. If you go about 5 feet and put a floor in you can stack the blocks like you said then run white bead board or that pink stuff around the inside and you should be ok. We have about 2" of that white bead board type stuff here on the inside of ours and have had no problems.

Oh yea BTW the closest well is 40 feet deep, where is the water line at? Not the water line going to the house but the depth at which water is present in the well. We have a 75' well we just put in but we've been running off a point that is only 20' deep at most. The water line is at 12 feet in sand.

 

[n8sjh]

The property is near Traverse City. Not sure how far down the water is in that well but I figured the worst case it will be around 40 feet. I plan on doing like you said with the block and insulation. This is not something I will use for a house it is just to fill a travel trailer with water.

 

[GreaseMonkey]

Ask swampjeep. He has extensive experience when it comes to wells. :tonka:

 

[Grandman]

Ok you want to do it old time .

To start with flat land means nothing , the water vain does not follow the contour of the surface . You well driller is correct that it will be with in 20 ' or so of the neighbor most likely . 30 ' is minimum for drinking water . Its also getting close the limit you are going to hand drive a well . 40 ' ya maybe . 60 ' will not happen .

You are going to hit a hard pan just before the vain , you will think you landed on a rock as the pipe will all but stop moving . You will beat your ass off to get through the hard pan . When you think you are in a vain pour water down the pipe . If the water keeps going down you are in a vain . If the pipe fills up with water and just sits there your not in a vain .

Now about freezing , unless it is an area with artsian wells whats to freeze the water will be down the pipe some distance , several feet most likely .

Id sugest you rig a tripod and pulley set up to run the well driver . Trying to run it by hand will take you out . This also makes adding pipe much easier as well . Make sure to tighten your pipes frequently other wise you will beat the threads out and bust the pipe .

 

[BRUSER]

Take some time and ask around the area for a water witch ( someone who knows how to find the vein), when I built the first house I hand drove the first well. Everybody told me the water was there. After driving three wells to 30' nothing.... I called around found a "witch" and had him locate a spot on the property where 2 veins cross he even told me how deep the water was ( 21 feet). Told me if I didn't get all the water I could pump between 19 -22 feet he would refund my $20.

The spot he told me to drive was within 15' of a spot I had drove the week before and came up dry. I drove that spot, hit the water at 21 feet and put a gas powered pump on that well, pumper that thing at 25gal a min. for over an hour.

Built my house on that spot, lived there 10 years and always had good water ( the current owner is still using that well 26 years after it was driven).

 

[Buggy_Tim]

Let's say you are 15 or 20 foot down and you hit a rock maybe the size of a basketball....could be the size of a VW....who knows....do you leave the pipe and start over somewhere else?

 

[Grandman]

Let's say you are 15 or 20 foot down and you hit a rock maybe the size of a basketball....could be the size of a VW....who knows....do you leave the pipe and start over somewhere else?

This happens , maybe you can pull the pipe maybe not . If not you loose your point as well .

Witching for wells is pot luck voodoo . If water ran like a river it would be possible but it does not . Water is underground like a lake ok , it only seeps in there for no magnetic pull can be made . If it was all little rivers you would stand a fat chance of ever hitting one .

To coat hangers bent in an L shape hold the short end both pointing out in front of you , walk slow and they will cross and uncross . This is suppose to locate water . They will do what i typed but there is no truth to the water being there what so ever . It is magnetic pull caused by iron in the ground .

 

[Fatty Matty]

Let's say you are 15 or 20 foot down and you hit a rock maybe the size of a basketball....could be the size of a VW....who knows....do you leave the pipe and start over somewhere else?

That would be a real shitty way for karma to bite you in the ass.

 

[ckupq]

Let's say you are 15 or 20 foot down and you hit a rock maybe the size of a basketball....could be the size of a VW....who knows....do you leave the pipe and start over somewhere else?

Wish me luck I'm pulling one next week. I've been told you can do it with a pin jack and a possibly a pipe wrench but I've got another old one here that says it can be done.

 

[sglide]

Ok you want to do it old time .

To start with flat land means nothing , the water vain does not follow the contour of the surface . You well driller is correct that it will be with in 20 ' or so of the neighbor most likely . 30 ' is minimum for drinking water . Its also getting close the limit you are going to hand drive a well . 40 ' ya maybe . 60 ' will not happen .

You are going to hit a hard pan just before the vain , you will think you landed on a rock as the pipe will all but stop moving . You will beat your ass off to get through the hard pan . When you think you are in a vain pour water down the pipe . If the water keeps going down you are in a vain . If the pipe fills up with water and just sits there your not in a vain .

Now about freezing , unless it is an area with artsian wells whats to freeze the water will be down the pipe some distance , several feet most likely .

Id sugest you rig a tripod and pulley set up to run the well driver . Trying to run it by hand will take you out . This also makes adding pipe much easier as well . Make sure to tighten your pipes frequently other wise you will beat the threads out and bust the pipe .

we do ours this way, ill pay some one next time, there expensive cuz there worth it:thumb:

 

[Rattler]

My buddy in Wolverine's neighbor drills wells. I can get his number if you want.

 

[n8sjh]

I am going to try it myself first and see what happens. I was told if the well point hits a rock and you want to pull it up use a exhaust clamp and then try and use a Hi-Lift jack to lift it up and ussually once it starts it should come out. We will see I will try it in a few weeks. I will start to drive it by hand but It looks like I may need to rent the jack hammer just to save me from hurting myself. I checked with the well guy and he said he will not do a 2 ich well as it would cost just as much as a 5 inch. I want to build a house there someday but not sure on the exact spot and I want the well close to the house not 1/4 mile away. Thats why I want to just stick with a small one. Also I only use the water in the trailer for cleaning dishes and taking a shower it is not used for drinking.
Thanks

 

[Monkeyevil]

Water witch... *lol*

Crazy old people.

As a kid my grandpa conned me into hammering pipe for a well. It was about 40'. It was not fun.

 

[jeepfreak81]

Wish me luck I'm pulling one next week. I've been told you can do it with a pin jack and a possibly a pipe wrench but I've got another old one here that says it can be done.

My dad and I used my Hi-lift... we pulled ours near Tawas last year.

The well point is at only 20' there with the water table at 5' or 6' IIRC, been using it for years, but I think our pump is messed up... need a new one, we thought the point had clogged.

 

[Buggy_Tim]

Is it possible to have the water thing at say 10 feet and you ram one down to 40 feet and miss the water? I just have no idea how you know when you hit water

 

[matt99tj]

I am a well driller and I agree with Grandman that witching is joke. All it does is find tiles and boulders in my opinion. The only thing I will add is that you should make sure that the pipe is full of water the whole time you are driving the well. Keeping it full of water prevents the point from getting all plugged up with any layers of clay you might find, if any. It also tells you when you have reached water, once you get down past the water level in the ground it should take water as already mentioned.