DIY well drilling?

[deeiche]

rm /

[billswan]

Biohazard and forum

You should check your states laws on who can build a well. It might be legal after all.

I started doing some reading on the web and found a minnesota publication dated 2009 and there is a paragraph that reads

"You may construct your own well without a license if you own or lease the property where it will be constructed — and the well will be used 1) for farming or other agricultural purposes, or 2) to supply water for your personal residence. The well must be constructed in accordance with Minnesota rules (the "Well Code") and the proper notification must be filed. If you are planning to construct a drive-point well, be sure to pick up a copy of the "Requirements for Construction of a Drive-Point Well," which should be available where you purchase the drive-point well or contact the MDH."

So bio I think you should search the web for your states rules and they may make legal just what you are thinking of doing. No sneaking around needed. Of course you have to PAY the government for the permission to drill and you need to follow the legal method of construction but that only makes good sense. The doing it right part not the paying for permission.

Personally I still would not try to replace my 130 foot deep water well but those geothermal wells I might want to build just keep me thinking of trying those. No casing needed but the part about grouting the well shut is perplexing me. When you read about drilling they talk about mud pumps and I have not found a good explanation of how they work. Or what they are made of and how they can pump mud and have much life?? Any of you experienced guys able to answer about mud pumps and grouting a well shut or a casing into a new bore hole.............

Billswan

[BioHazard]

My guess would be the "mud" pump you are talking about is some sort of diaphram pump, like this:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200418137_200418137

Then again I obviously don't know much about wells...

[unimog_jason]

A true mud pump that is used for drilling is a multi cylinder piston pump.  It's been quite a while since I seen the inside of one, but the pistons are rubber and I think the bore is chrome plated. 

Also the term mud a little misleading, drilling mud is more like thick water designed to hold the cuttings and carry them to the top of the hole.  Once at the top the mud is dumped into a multi chamber settling tank where the cuttings will settle out and then the mud is pumped down the hole again.

A diaphragm pump like the one pictured above wouldn't have the ability to move the mud the distance since these smaller pumps tend to have pretty limited lifting capabilities.

Jason

[bschwartz]

I thought for a small home done well, something like this was used with porta-drills, hydra-drills etc...
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_793_793

[TheEquineFencer]

I did not read the entire thread, but here's some input. Check with the local health department, they have something to do with well water. The local sanitarian will know who you can contact about soil conditions. They have to know this for doing septic systems. In here in Eastern, NC, to do your own well "for irrigation only" there's not much required. This includes for cooling purposes too. If you do decide to connect for home use, you MUST disconnect from the public water supply. You could potentially cross contaminate the public system. This has happen and can have disastrous results. An example is introducing e-coli or other bacteria into the system and someone down stream on kidney dialysis dying from it. I live with a retired State of NC civil engineer, she's also retired from local government as the health director. She's a good source of information. I'll be doing my own driven well in the next few months for my shop to cool it. I'm using a post driver I use for driving fence post that runs off my tractor to put the piping in. I'm like you, What does it matter if it's just for me. Then I listen to my "personal engineer" and it makes since why they have the rules. I'd get the water tested too. I'd never cooked a pig or turkey on the grill with a meat thermometer until I met her. I'm glad I did, I found out I was cooking them too long!

[billswan]

welcome aboard Equine the more experts the better

Billswan

[cujet]

Here in South Florida, 30 foot wells are quite easy. I simply hook up 2 garden hoses to a 30 foot section 2 inch PVC pipe (with internal couplers). Then jet it down 30 feet.

I put a smaller PVC 1.5 inch (with internal couplings) inside the 2 inch drill. There is a well point at the end of the 1.5 inch PVC.

I then pull out the 2 inch drill.

Lowes and Homeless Depot both sell well jetting kits locally. (a cap that allows the connection of 2 garden hoses to a 2 inch PVC pipe) And, they sell the well point and internal couplers.

I have a 4HP Kawasaki water pump and big reels of fire hose. I jetted 6 wells down in an H pattern. Manifolded them together and my fire pump really puts out the water.

[Mad_Labs]

I drilled a 63' well using the item the orginal poster showed. Wasn't fast but I did get it done. Seems like the price is a little higher than when I did it two years ago. When finally hit some rock that it wouldn't go through. I bought a gas powered compressor that need new rings and rebuilt it. I have been using the well for two years now, so so far so good. I used a very scientific system for decided where to put the well. I thought that since it would be nice to have water close to my power setup, I selected the most convient spot and drilled there. The only thing I would have done differently is to buy real well screen instead of making it myself, I think I would have gotten a higher GPM. If you do decide to go this route PM me an we can talk details, of which there are many.

Jonathan

[billswan]

mad-labs

Well I for one would like to here more about your 63 foot well and how you drilled it yourself!! Please tell the group more, my guess is there are plenty reading this thread with interest.

Billswan

[Mad_Labs]

Well, lets see. First off I would say that this type of rig is best for clay/sandy small amount of rock soil types. We have a hard pan that is like cement (literally) and that was slow going. You need a compressor with a lot of CFM, most shop compressors won't do it. I did the math and figured I was better off buying a compressor cheap (it needed new rings) as long as I drilled for more than two days, which I did. While the drill bits provided worked OK, me and a buddy welded up a much better bit. One issue is that you can never let the drill stop or lose air pressure, even for a few seconds. When that happens mud and crap instantly gets sucked into the air motor of ther drill, requiring complete tear down, cleaning and re-assembly. We had an air fitting pop off that required us to do the drill.
You need water to drill with. What I did was set up an above ground pool and fill it with a water tender. I am a firefighter, so that part was easy for me. I just borrowed the FD's. I set up a support (think basketball hoop with no hoop but with the backboard) to support the PVC pipe where it loops out of the well and onto the ground. Only broke the pipe once, when we were removing it for the final time. Safety rope pulled the rig up fine. While the hole was far from straight, inserting the well screen and pipe was no problem. I spent a total of four days, the first day working out the kinks of the system and only getting about 12' down. Day two we drilled right along. On day three we hit the rock, I think it was shale, at about 60'. Spent 1/2 of day four trying to break through, then gave up. We could see that we hit water at about 35' and it rose to 27' afterwards, where it remains today.

I spent a total of $1200. Of course, I still have the nice gas powered compressor, which is great, I use it all the time. Perfect for an off grid setup like mine, compressors use a lot of juice. and I have the drill. Want any more details just ask, I was very happy with the outcome and the drill kit.

[billswan]

Thanks for the story mad-labs. I find I have a great interest in do it yourself well drilling.

When I was about 13 or 14 years old I used a 8 inch post hole digger with some home made extentions that my dad helped me dream up to dig to about 30 feet before I hit a rock and gave up. Was hard work and I don't remember how long it took but it was fun for me then. Fought that rock for ever but just could not budge it. There was some  ground water but never hit sand so just filled it back up.

Billswan

[cujet]

In years past, hardware stores and the Sears catalog sold well drilling equipment. Post WWII, my grandfather and great grandfather drilled a 160 foot well in the NJ sand, pebble and shell bed (Jackson NJ). They described the drilling to me in detail, when I was a kid.

The rig consisted of a handle that attached to iron pipe, sorry don't remember what size, but I suspect 4 inch. 2 men would turn the handle and the pipe had a bit that would bore into the ground. There was a rope and very skinny bucket assembly that went inside the pipe to remove the cuttings. The work was hard and the well took many weekends to finish.

They found shallow water, but it had too much iron and would have been prone to seasonal drought. So, they pressed on. The level they chose provided clean, iron free water.

Many years later, there was a problem with the iron casing (rust) and grandpa placed 1.5 or 2 inch black poly pipe down the well. That improved the situation, but I think he did not go down all that deep with the plastic pipe. The casing continued to rust and I suspect rusted through at the level of the first water found. Because the water quality and smell suddenly changed.

When my 94 year old grandmother died last year, the family sold the house. The well passed inspection and still flowed enough water to meet code!

[fabricator]

I'm pretty fortunate, in this area of Michigan you can buy a stainless drive point and punch it down 15-20 feet with a fence post type driver and get pure sweet water that tests perfectly.