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11/13/06, 10:47 PM
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Nohoa Homestead
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: SW Missouri near Branson (Cape Fair)
Posts: 5,398
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Crazy idea regarding a deep well
I am a real control freak when it comes to my space. I don't like to have to rely on ANYBODY for anything. That having been said, I am having a REAL problem dealing with the well that we are going to put in at the homestead.
The driller estimates 600 feet (ah, the Ozarks, gotta love 'em), which precludes most any type of alternative pumping system such as a windmill. Dh and I are really, really hoping to go off-grid one day, so the idea of an electric pump is not attractive to me at all. Yes, I know there are generators (which isn't much better than electric IMHO, since you still have to rely on "the man" for gas/diesel/propane to operate it and there is solar, which of course, requires BATTERIES and periodic maintenance and replacement of parts.
Now, I know you may think I am crazy, but *if* you had a small enough container and *if* you had a long enough rope and *if* you didn't mind taking 1/2 hour to bring up a coffee can full of water (stopping to rest every few minutes, cause your arm is hurting like a son-of-a-gun), couldn't you just haul it up manually? Surely there has to be a way that I can be self-sufficient in an situation where I can't count on ANYBODY.
What are your thoughts. You guys have more experience than I do.
donsgal
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Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)
Last edited by donsgal; 11/13/06 at 10:53 PM.
Reason: too many quotation marks
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11/13/06, 10:59 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Eastern North Carolina
Posts: 34,198
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Why not build a cistern and store rainwater to use in emergencies? You'd need a well about 16 inches in diameter to be able to haul up a coffee can of water
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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
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11/13/06, 11:15 PM
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Nohoa Homestead
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: SW Missouri near Branson (Cape Fair)
Posts: 5,398
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm
Why not build a cistern and store rainwater to use in emergencies? You'd need a well about 16 inches in diameter to be able to haul up a coffee can of water
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Soup can?
We'll be using rainwater barrels for catchment, and possibly a cistern at some point for sure.
donsgal
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Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)
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11/13/06, 11:19 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Dysfunction Junction, SW PA
Posts: 4,808
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yes, leahmans sells a 4" diameter well bucket thats 36" long with a valve on the bottom for doing just what you want to do...
600 feet... thats a long way to haul a bucket but...
http://www.lehmans.com/jump.jsp?item...81%2C878%2C881
better hook on 2 ropes... 600 ft. yikes.
yer welcome!
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11/13/06, 11:22 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Dysfunction Junction, SW PA
Posts: 4,808
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Quote:
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I am a real control freak when it comes to my space. I don't like to have to rely on ANYBODY for anything.
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you depend on us to think up an answer for ya...
lol
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11/13/06, 11:28 PM
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quocunque jeceris stabit
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: N.E.Mississippi
Posts: 110
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Hi Donsgal, you should find out from your welldriller (or a close neighbor with a well) and ask what depth the water will rise to ....that is the actual depth that you will have to pump from. I inquired with a local driller about putting in a well, and my well depth (n.e. ms) is estimated to be 600 feet too.....but the working depth of the water will be approximately 150 feet. Hoping that your well would be similar to mine.....??? best regards, dave_p
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11/13/06, 11:35 PM
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Master Of My Domain
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 7,220
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ok...i am seeing a bicycle frame mounted to a manual pump. ok, so you are not lance armstrong...hmmm...how about an animal powered pump feeding into a cistern?
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this message has probably been edited to correct typos, spelling errors and to improve grammar... 
"All that is gold does not glitter..."
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11/13/06, 11:53 PM
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Nohoa Homestead
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: SW Missouri near Branson (Cape Fair)
Posts: 5,398
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by dave_p
Hi Donsgal, you should find out from your welldriller (or a close neighbor with a well) and ask what depth the water will rise to ....that is the actual depth that you will have to pump from. I inquired with a local driller about putting in a well, and my well depth (n.e. ms) is estimated to be 600 feet too.....but the working depth of the water will be approximately 150 feet. Hoping that your well would be similar to mine.....??? best regards, dave_p
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Oh, that would be the best news of the year! for sure!
donsgal
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Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)
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11/13/06, 11:54 PM
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Nohoa Homestead
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: SW Missouri near Branson (Cape Fair)
Posts: 5,398
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by comfortablynumb
you depend on us to think up an answer for ya...
lol
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There's lots smarter folks on here than I am! And folks with lots more practical experience. I'm so new at this. Besides, I love you guys!
donsgal
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Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)
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11/13/06, 11:58 PM
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Nohoa Homestead
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: SW Missouri near Branson (Cape Fair)
Posts: 5,398
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by comfortablynumb
yes, leahmans sells a 4" diameter well bucket thats 36" long with a valve on the bottom for doing just what you want to do...
600 feet... thats a long way to haul a bucket but...
http://www.lehmans.com/jump.jsp?item...81%2C878%2C881
better hook on 2 ropes... 600 ft. yikes.
yer welcome! |
1.9 gallons?????? whew - that's 15.2 pounds (plus 4 pounds for the bucket)!!! I'll look like Arnold Schwarzenegger in no time at all! (I wonder how long it would take for *me* to pull 19.2 pounds straight up 600 feet) egad, Mildred!
donsgal
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Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)
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11/14/06, 12:02 AM
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Banned
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Dysfunction Junction, SW PA
Posts: 4,808
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I hope the leamans bucket is what you need... they look like a handy thing to keep tucked away in the closet.
my well is 260ft deep... my only water scouce other than an large artisian well ring about 500yds away in the field.
my neighbor said [bless his heart] if I ever needed water I could bail it from there as it overflows 365 days a yr.... cold as ice and clear as glass.
there is another one in the woods behind me, the ring around it is as big as a swimming pool.... we used to swim in it as kids.... THATS COLD!! we didnt seem to notice.
anywho... I better order one of these buckets, now that I think of that 500yd walk.
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11/14/06, 12:04 AM
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Banned
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Dysfunction Junction, SW PA
Posts: 4,808
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you would need to set up a large wooden spool rig to take up the rope, and a geared belt/crank to turn the spool.
slower bbut easier....
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11/14/06, 12:23 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 6,722
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Have you witched to see if you can find water closer to the surface? When we considered drilling a new well we ask several of our neighbors how deep their wells are. They are anywhere from 60' to 1000'. All within a few miles of each other. We witched our place and found several places with water anywhere from 10' to 300'.
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.Everybody has a plan.
Do you know yours?
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11/14/06, 12:50 AM
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Eastern North Carolina
Posts: 34,198
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If I were going to use the well bucket Id rig up a heavy duty fishing reel to wind it. They make 12 volt electric reels for bottom fishing that will hold more than enough strong line. Rope would be too bulky. I doubt they ever intended it to be used in a well that deep
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11/14/06, 01:54 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Safe distance from Seattle, WA
Posts: 2,120
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Ya'll gotta be kidding, right? In a well casing you really expect to have room to freely drop anything? Get a generator.
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11/14/06, 02:30 AM
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Nohoa Homestead
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: SW Missouri near Branson (Cape Fair)
Posts: 5,398
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Spinner
Have you witched to see if you can find water closer to the surface? When we considered drilling a new well we ask several of our neighbors how deep their wells are. They are anywhere from 60' to 1000'. All within a few miles of each other. We witched our place and found several places with water anywhere from 10' to 300'.
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I have given it serious thought. I don't think I could do it myself, never having tried, I'm sure there is a geezer around though, who can handle the task with no problem. I think before plunking down $4500 I'll find that geezer and give him a go.
donsgal
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Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)
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11/14/06, 02:35 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
Posts: 7,425
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just a thought to consider here related to an open top well. Where I live, as I believe it may be in a lot of places, wells have to be capped for safety.
I just read an account of a cat that fell into a well just like you describe that was used with ropes to pull up a bucket. Besides not only having something like a cat or other animal fall into such an open well, the contamination of that. yikes! 
don't mean to scare you, but just to think about that.
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The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.
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11/14/06, 04:45 AM
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Enjoying Four Seasons
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Beautiful Milton, New Hampshire
Posts: 3,092
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We are thinking about this one from Lehmans. Deep Well Pump Would this work where you are? We have an electric pump now...but no electricity no water....
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11/14/06, 05:19 AM
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 7,154
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Put a pulley above the well to run your nylon rope over. Put a dish of candy kisses as far away as you need to go to get the water to the top. Tie the rope around some kids waist and send him after one candy kiss each trip he makes out to the dish. If you buy Hersheys, you might want to take a trip once in a while your self. Pulling the rope with a riding lawn mower might be more humane. Getting a barrel of water at the neighbors house would be more cost effective.
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11/14/06, 05:47 AM
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Max
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Near Traverse City Michigan
Posts: 6,560
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by comfortablynumb
you depend on us to think up an answer for ya...
lol
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ouch! stick the knife in and twist it,lol
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