Driving a Well

Navotifarm · #1 07/09/10, 09:05 AM

One of the participants on here sent me a marvelous website:
http://www.fdungan.com/well.htm
Has anybody on here driven your own gonzo well in your basement or elsewhere? Successfully?
I paid thousands for an enormous well drilling rig to come in and pound away for a couple of weeks through solid rock so this hand driven well wouldn't work in my area but. This website and any helpful comments (yikes not from Haypoint and the zoning zombies) might be exceptionally helpful to us scofflaws with muscle and enough smarts (which I myself don't have) to understand all the complex things like removing threads and pipe parts or whatever.

ronbre · #2 07/09/10, 09:28 AM

my FIL pounded a pipe in with a backhoe..back in the 80's for a well at his little cabin..and it worked really well.

Bearfootfarm · #3 07/09/10, 11:00 AM

You can pretty much put in a 20 ft irrigation/livestock well anywhere you want around here.
If you want DRINKING water you need to go at least 100 ft, but it's still all sand or clay

Nevada · #4 07/09/10, 11:17 AM

They're illegal in Nevada for anything except a test well, which must be abandoned within 60 days.

******
NAC 534.4367 Drive point wells. (NRS 534.020, 534.110, 534.140)
1. A well driller may construct a drive point well without placing in the annular space of the well the gravel pack and seals required pursuant to NAC 534.4357.
2. The diameter of the casing used in a drive point well which is not constructed pursuant to the provisions of NAC 534.4357 must not be larger than 2 inches in nominal size.
3. A drive point well which is not constructed pursuant to the provisions of NAC 534.4357 must be abandoned within 60 days after the well is constructed. Upon abandonment, the casing must be removed from the well bore and the well bore must be plugged in the manner provided in NAC 534.4371.
http://www.leg.state.nv.us/NAC/NAC-5...#NAC534Sec4367
******

Even if drive point wells were legal, all wells drilled in Nevada must be done by a licensed driller, so an individual wouldn't be allowed to drive one anyway.

Just Cliff · #5 07/09/10, 11:40 AM

Good Site with good information. Thanks!

geo in mi · #6 07/09/10, 12:12 PM

"Check with county health officials concerning regulations and permit requirements. County officials have access to well logs and other geological data and can advise you as to subsurface composition (silt, sand, and decomposed granite are suitable for driven wells; hard clay or rock may prove difficult or impossible to penetrate), the approximate depth at which you can expect to find water, and the quality of the aquifer beneath your site."

It should be noted that even the website recommends doing it lawfully....
But....if you wanted to, maybe you could watch "Escape from Alcatraz" first, where the guy does his pounding during a thunderstorm. Or one could be a patriot and do it on the Fourth of July when the fireworks are booming and thus disguise any illegal activity.(Except the fireworks, which may be illegal in some states....)

But, yes, I've thought about it, for garden irrigation and emergency supply, if I thought it would be safe to drink at that depth. I think TSC also has well points and well casing couplings, and maybe Menards, for that matter.

"If the drivepoint hits a large rock, pull the point out and start again in a new location.' That would be my luck......

geo

fishhead · #7 07/09/10, 01:35 PM

I've driven a few wells. The last 3 were done with an electric driver but I'm starting to have second thoughts about using those machines. I have trouble keeping the joints tight and I think it's because of the way they tap on the pipe. They give a lot of smaller taps compared with using a fence post driver which hits fewer taps but harder.

My last well was done in December on a 5 degree day. After hooking it up I found that a joint had come loose and the well loses it's prime so I have to pull it up and redo the joints with lots and lots of threading dope. Fortunately it's only 24' of pipe and the soil is mostly sand.

akmyilee · #8 07/09/10, 04:56 PM

just marking this thread - interesting info

Wayne02 · #9 07/09/10, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishhead

I've driven a few wells. The last 3 were done with an electric driver but I'm starting to have second thoughts about using those machines. I have trouble keeping the joints tight and I think it's because of the way they tap on the pipe. They give a lot of smaller taps compared with using a fence post driver which hits fewer taps but harder.

Interesting. I have been thinking about giving this type of well a try on our back 40 using our small excavator for the muscle. The excavator has a vibratory bucket that might drive the pipe but your point about vibration possibly damaging the couplings is a good one. I could also maybe drive the pipe just using downward pressure with the bucket, although I've found it is harder than one would think to keep the item being driven straight as it goes in.

The other thing is figuring out a location on the property to drive the pipe that has the best chance of hitting water. Maybe near the bog where there are pockets of year round standing water.

fishhead · #10 07/09/10, 07:23 PM

The water in the bog should be separated from the aquifer. Usually there is an impervious layer overtopping the aquifer. Otherwise the aquifer runs the risk of being contaminated and unsafe to drink.

The trick is to stop often and retighten the joints. It seems the electric driver causes the joints to loosen faster than what I've seen with a post driver.

ErinP · #11 07/09/10, 07:32 PM

I just don't get all of this zoning stuff, I guess.
If you don't like the zoning rules of your locale, wouldn't it just be easier to move?

Many of of us live in areas with little to no zoning regs...

(Including for wells, btw. I can drill a well anywhere I want. I have to register it, but I can do the entire process myself)

**highlands** · #12 07/09/10, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geo in mi

"If the drivepoint hits a large rock, pull the point out and start again in a new location.' That would be my luck......

Rock? We live on top of a piece of granite the size of Vermont. I hear there is one next door the size of New Hampshire...

The good news is the mountain leaks - they're called springs and so far have done us well. I do keep wondering about drilling. We get about a half gallon to 1.6 gallons a minute from each spring. Several combined do us well and just uses gravity feed, no pumps, but I still wonder about trying to drill a well too to improve the springs. Our neighbors drilled 400' into the rock of the mountain and that sounds like a lot of work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne02

I could also maybe drive the pipe just using downward pressure with the bucket, although I've found it is harder than one would think to keep the item being driven straight as it goes in.

This is how I set fence posts, until I hit the ledge. It works very well. I put in the trees upside down with a sharpened point on top (now the bottom). Cedar preferred but spruce last 10 to 20 years too. 18" to 4' of depth and I'm fine. Less than that and I end up building upward and concreting. Fortunately we use have rocks and trees for most of our heavy posts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErinP

I just don't get all of this zoning stuff, I guess.
If you don't like the zoning rules of your locale, wouldn't it just be easier to move

Agreed. Fight bad regulation and zoning is the top of the list. Both times I have bought homes in the last 30 years I've picked the locations based on the town not having zoning. There are enough towns with no zoning to make this work. Then you just have to fight the people who come in, build and try to implement zoning so nobody else can build.

ronbre · #13 07/09/10, 07:49 PM

we thought about trying it again, for a flowing well for our pond, we then would have emergency water running..our neighbors all around us have them

Pony · #14 07/09/10, 07:50 PM

I'm pretty sure my FIL, his brother, and his father did a sand point well at their lake house. Still working, to the best of my knowledge.

Just Cliff · #15 08/03/10, 11:04 PM

Bump

I think this thread goes well with Cyngbaelds recent post on the well pump in S&P.

suitcase_sally · #16 08/04/10, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronbre

we thought about trying it again, for a flowing well for our pond, we then would have emergency water running..our neighbors all around us have them

I see you're from Michigan and we all know that Michigan is nothing but a floating island above a giant aquifer. I have a friend in Tuscola county (Thumb area, east of Saginaw) and his neighbor did that and stupidly put in a 4" pipe. The flow was so great that it not only flooded his property, but every farmer's land for miles (can you say "lawsuit"?). They had to bring in a team from Texas (I think it was) to cap the well.

Right now, there is another one about a mile from my cabin that shoots a 4" stream straight out sideways. His little pond is now competing in size with Lake Huron.

Be careful what you wish for in Michigan.

ronbre · #17 08/04/10, 09:39 AM

yeah there have been people in our area that have put in huge gushers..so i'm aware..we were a bit concerned when they drilled our well for our house as there are flowing wells all over our area..but they said the flow was susatiainable in our well and no problem, but were concerned about going deeper.

there is a flowing well next door to us...it is a 2" pipe and flows quite strongly

we thought about installing a valve into the pipe to control the flow..but as you said, that might not work if you hit a gusher..we already have a drainage system off of the property as the county has all the water in the area routed through our property..which we were NOT happy about..so yeah it is wet here..

that is why we have waited..just aren't sure..but it is still legal to do in our area.

HomesteadXing · #18 08/04/10, 11:40 AM

Would anyone know if this has been done in South Eastern Missouri? It's mostly Clay and rock down here, and where I live there's no zoning, building codes or restrictions, however it costs around $1-3,000+ per foot to drill a well, though we have several underground caves with springs in them around the area and are lucky to hit one of them at about 400-600ft.

But, I can't fork out $10-15,000 at once for a drilled well, and the first few feet of water are no good to drink I hear, what would be the best approach to this?

watcher · #19 08/04/10, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HomesteadXing

Would anyone know if this has been done in South Eastern Missouri? It's mostly Clay and rock down here, and where I live there's no zoning, building codes or restrictions, however it costs around $1-3,000+ per foot to drill a well, though we have several underground caves with springs in them around the area and are lucky to hit one of them at about 400-600ft.

But, I can't fork out $10-15,000 at once for a drilled well, and the first few feet of water are no good to drink I hear, what would be the best approach to this?

Depends on where you are. When I was a kid, about 3 million years ago, I live in the bootheel of MO and we drove our well. We only had to go 18 feet for good water. We used what could be described as a post driver on steroids to drive it. In the other places its a no go due to all the rock.

Have you checked on having a well "washed"? You just use a large pump to shoot water through PVC pipe. You force the pipe into the ground and the water cuts through the soil. I don't know if this is even legal any more due to the fact once you hit water you shoot all that drilling water into the underground water supply.