More water issues :(

sisterpine · #1 08/07/05, 04:48 PM

Some of you probably remember me telling you we drilled a 400 or so foot dry well last fall....Well we have just about saved up enough money to case the dry well and sink a pump down there to see if the water in the hole will recharge to the tune of 400 or so gal's a week. Just for grins today I decided to go down and check (i have no idea why) to see if the recent two earthquakes we have had did any damage to our uncased but in solid granite bore hole. Sadly I must report that our 380 foot well is now only 111 feet deep! Such a big big bummer. While it will cheaper to case and set the pump in , the hole will hold much less seep water and therefore less water that can be pumped into my tanks weekly. Not to mention shoving that 8000.00 a bit further down into the planet!

fordy · #2 08/07/05, 07:18 PM

....................Looks like now , You've got to spend enough to get that hole cleaned out . My question....IF , you get the hole cleaned out , WHY can't you find an OLD submersible pump and attach the PVC pipe string to it with power cord , then Suspend in the hole and see if the well will recharge itself.........WITHOUT having to set the casing . Surely , leaving it in there for a week or so is NOT going to hurt anything even if there is NO casing to maintain the Integrity of the well bore????????? fordy...

sisterpine · #3 08/07/05, 09:29 PM

fordy you are absolutely correct! our well driller has given us an old submersible pump for just this purpose. we thought we were gonna drop it down 380 feet so were saving up money for all the wire , cable and pipe. now we have much less distance to travel so will soon be dropping that pump down the uncased well to see if it will recharge a bit. if it does we will case the "less deep" hole that we now have. I just keep telling myself it is all in his plan and I am just here to go along with it! hard to do sometimes though, i will not give up on having water or my belief that the Lord will provide if I work hard at it too!

rambler · #4 08/07/05, 09:59 PM

Surely the water will seep down the hole/ cracks to 380 feet? I'm not sure you will ever see water coming up to 110 feet????? I'm thinking the hole did not close up/ seal the bottom, just shifted a bit on you.

--->Paul

agmantoo · #5 08/07/05, 10:12 PM

I suggest that you attempt to determine the water level in the remaining hole prior to dropping a pump in there.

sisterpine · #6 08/07/05, 10:15 PM

agman...i know the top of the water is 22 feet below the surface and the well hole is now 111 feet deep is that what you mean. i tried to lower a heavy wrench (LOL) today and it only went down 111 feet total from surface to the point where it "landed". almost forgot...the well driller gave us this old pump so that if we lowered it into the well and the well collapsed upon draw down of the water we would not lose an expensive new deep well pump rather this older used but still working one ...at which time the hole will be abandoned and the old pump left at the bottom of the hole.

BobK · #7 08/07/05, 10:30 PM

Well shift happens but sorry it happened to you :-(

Have you considered putting the pump down as it is and then evaluate (and price) having the well bore reamed out and cased. If the well recovers from a 111-22 ft pump down it might be a worthwhile investment to gain access to the remaining water depth. Couldn't get a better time of the year to try it!

BobK · #8 08/07/05, 10:36 PM

I also wanted to say if you have water up to 22 ft you must have some type of artesian influence forcing the water up. the diagnosis of a 'dry well' might be because it is below what they typically measure for a 'successful well'. As I mentioned before our homestead has a 1/2 gal per minute recharge but with the right well/pump controls you can suck alot of water out of the ground in a days time.......and anything beats hauling!

sisterpine · #9 08/07/05, 11:10 PM

AMEN! Hauling now for six years and one month. I know I can do it forever but....keep those prayers and good water thoughts coming and hopefully we will soon be able to fill our holding tanks a bit at a time from our own source! What I cant figure out is where the other 270 feet of water went. By my account that is over 400 gal's that just up and vanished during the quake. It sure did not pop up out of the hole as the water level has not changed even one foot? A puzzle for sure! Thanks for the good thoughts and words of wisdom! Kathleen

twstanley · #10 08/08/05, 10:07 AM

I don't think the water below 111 feet is gone, I imagine a piece of the side of the well just tipped out during the quake and is blocking your wrench from going further down. Water might bypass whatever is stopping the wrench and will come up the hole to your 22 foot level, so you may have access to more water reserve then you think right now. Also, you might try dropping something heavier a few times ( on a well secured rope ) and see if you can knock the blockage out of the way down to the bottom of the well.

Dropping the pump and having it rest on the blockage and vibrate and pump for a bit may knock it loose as well, when you drop the pump leave some slack at the top so you can visually glance at it and see if it has moved down from time to time.

agmantoo · #11 08/08/05, 12:08 PM

Sister, I can tell you how to determine how much water the well will yield without pumping! All it will cost is the forfeiture of some hauled water. A well will roughly take on as much water as can be pumped. All you need to do is start flowing water into the well until it overflows and then meter the water in and determine how many gallons you can pour in per minute without it running over. That amount is roughly the recovery rate that you can expect.

rambler · #12 08/08/05, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agmantoo

Sister, I can tell you how to determine how much water the well will yield without pumping! All it will cost is the forfeiture of some hauled water. A well will roughly take on as much water as can be pumped. All you need to do is start flowing water into the well until it overflows and then meter the water in and determine how many gallons you can pour in per minute without it running over. That amount is roughly the recovery rate that you can expect.

Be careful with that. You are dumping stuff into the aquifer, which in many cases is illegal. You don't want to cause problems like the contaminated well thread going on here.....

--->Paul