Drilling a well

fantasymaker · #21 11/16/12, 09:08 AM

I think Id buy a semi Tanker and contract with a local trucker to take it to be filled once a month.for that price.

rambler · #22 11/16/12, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arabian knight

That is why it is cheaper to get city water. If given a option should would be a no brainer City water is it.

Depends on the situation, but if you are out in a rural area that has good water, and you have livestock and do some garden watering, the well probably comes out cheaper over the long haul.

Might be a 'here' thing, but - private wells get a bad rap, they often pencil out real well if you consider 20 - 40 years.....

Probably part of that 'independent' streak homesteaders/ farmers have as well.

Interview a few farmers in the area, they will point you to _the_ good well driller in the area. Blindly calling in the yellow pages sets a person up for a bad experience.

My well driller came out to do a repair a few years ago, he started talking about the old wells on the place, he knew more about them than I did! From memory. He was 72 years old, 2 of his kids are carrying on the business, doing well. Dependable and honest on the money. I'd be _terribly_ scared calling blindly from the yellow pages, don't know whoyou get.....

Drilling a well is a bit of a risk. There are veins of water running around down there below our feet, some are 50 feet, some are 500 feet, some areas got nothing. A well driller experienced with your area will have a real good idea what to expect. Increases the odds of of hitting a good well more quickly. But their is always risk, if you work with a good well driller, you share that risk - he charges less, charges you by the foot, and maybe you get to stop at 100 feet, maybe you need to go to 300 feet....

Depends so very much on your local area and soils and bedrock and such....

But do tyour research, find 'the' well digger for your area, not just a name in the phone book! you are buying years of experience and value, will greatly increase the odds oif a cheaper, good flowing hole.

--->Paul

Drizler · #23 11/16/12, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by francismilker

Just my two cents here..............

Agree on a "per foot" price to drill the well. Then, if you're able, go watch the well being drilled. If you notice the fellow operating the rig ease over and turn "his" valve off on the truck that sends water down the hole to lubricate his drill bit and still continue to see water and mud coming out of the hole after he's drilled another joint of pipe ask him to shut down and let you have "your" water tested for safe drinking.

I've not only heard others complain about it, I seen it with my own eyes when mine was being drilled. The problem was, he didn't think I'd notice him turning his water off.

Lots of drillers will continue to drill even after they hit a good vein of water if the drilling is easy to absorb a little more of your money. (Not all of them, but some of them) Once they've went through the trouble to set up and start drilling if the drilling is easy they're making $10-20 per foot for standing there pulling on a lever and watching a drill collar spin.

Sometimes, they'll also hit a 6-8 gpm well (which is plenty for a house) and tell you it's not enough.

Just be careful. Not trying to make you paranoid or say that well drillers are dishonest. Just saying that having someone come and give you a turn key quote for "X" dollars might get you shafted. (especially if the water's not that deep)

Not to dispute your statement as we all know how greedy people can be but there is another angle to digging deeper. My guy, the local guru did a dowsing right in front of me and got a strong hit which also was conveniently located. He hit water at 50' and told me straight out. He also said that all the other neighbors most of which he had drilled were at around 100 which was actually where the aquafir is generally located here. It was my call but I ageed with him that the 50' stuff was pretty shallow to exclude all the surface water and such especially considering we were near an apple orchard that got the usual chemicals you would expect. Anyways we went to the next hit and he sealed past the first. Again, not saying yea or ney either way but sometimes there are considerations worth listening to.

francismilker · #24 11/16/12, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drizler

Not to dispute your statement as we all know how greedy people can be but there is another angle to digging deeper. My guy, the local guru did a dowsing right in front of me and got a strong hit which also was conveniently located. He hit water at 50' and told me straight out. He also said that all the other neighbors most of which he had drilled were at around 100 which was actually where the aquafir is generally located here. It was my call but I ageed with him that the 50' stuff was pretty shallow to exclude all the surface water and such especially considering we were near an apple orchard that got the usual chemicals you would expect. Anyways we went to the next hit and he sealed past the first. Again, not saying yea or ney either way but sometimes there are considerations worth listening to.

Completely agree on your statement.

In Oklahoma, a well must exceed 60' by today's DEQ standards and have surface casing down to 50' to keep groundwater out.

What I was referring to is when a driller hits 6-8 gpms at 90' and keeps drilling down "looking for more" all on the landowner's dime. 6-8 gpms is more than adequate for a family and small farm is they use their head and don't try filling up a swimming pool everyday or keep automatic waterers on the huge water trough.

StayPuff · #25 11/18/12, 10:08 PM

I live in Northern IL, and it averages about a $100 per foot for a drilled well with submersible pump. That doesn't include any Cadillac stuff like a variable speed pump with a programmable control unit like I have, which is about the neatest thing I've experienced. We can run all of our showers, flush all of our toilets, run the dishwasher, the clothes washer AND turn a hydrant on outside and you will experience NO decrease in water pressure or temperature fluctuations while showering. It has really spoiled us...

Seeria · #26 11/18/12, 10:32 PM

As long as city and county rules aren't against it, I would definitely go cistern and then work on drilling my own well. Run a search for self-drilling, lots of YouTube bits out there, showing mostly how common it is in South America to do it yourself. Heavy work, granted.

Luck!

Wendy · #27 11/18/12, 11:11 PM

Quote:

yeah the quote was for 200-250' deep. We have decided to use a cistern!

That's good as long as we don't have a big drought like this year. We used to haul water & was happy when we could finally hook on to county water. Way cheaper in the long run for us. We also have a hand dug well out by the barn which is used for the animals, so we aren't totally dependent on the county water. We have a second hand dug well that is covered over, but could possibly be used if TSHTF.

Catalpa · #28 11/19/12, 05:30 PM

I'd definitely think a little harder on that cistern. It may be less starting off, but if you don't get enough rain to fill it to keep up with your demand, you're signing off on being dependent on an outside source for your drinking water. To me that's terrifying. Also how do you keep it clean? How do you keep it from freezing? How do you protect it from birds, insects, etc.? They can be a great asset when other water isn't available, or if you have the room and knowledge and ability to handle it, but there's a lot to think about.

Check with the health department. Not only will they know who drills in the area, they can, simply by their tone of voice, warn you off the 'deepholers'. And talk to the neighbors. Everyone around here knows who the deepholer is and he can't get business in this county anymore due to his rep. The old guys will have an amazing amount of info in their heads and could probably tell you right out how deep and how much water you can get on your place, and if they've been in business a long time, chances are better they're honest.

It would be a deal breaker for me if a parcel of land had to have hauled water or city water. In both cases you don't know for sure what you're getting and you have no control if something goes wrong. Sure, if my well quits I bear the cost of fixing it, but no one is dumping fluoride in it or hauling it from a chlorine plant.

woodly1069 · #29 11/19/12, 06:11 PM

Good thoughts, thank you! I will try to do a little more research as I did not think about trying to contact the health department...

Seymour · #30 11/19/12, 10:41 PM

northern ontario its about 35$ per foot just for the hole, plus plus plus... need at least 50 feet of casing or hit bedrock whatever comes first. also remember that with a 6" casing which is most common, every foot deep is one gallon. so if your 100' deep and static level is 30 feet deep you have 70 gallons of reserve.

ChristieAcres · #31 11/20/12, 02:46 AM

When we looked for a property, not having a private well was a deal breaker. Our well output is 25gpm; we water our fruit orchard and our garden beds, not our lawn. Even here in the PNW, I wouldn't consider a cistern, and we DO get enough rain...

Right after we moved in, our well pump quit. DH replaced it himself with a better one.

For added prepping for SHTF scenarios, be sure and include a large water tank, as part of your system. Your pump runs less and if the power goes out, you have a large tank full of water...

I cannot begin to even convey how awful city water tastes to me. As for bathing in it? Your skin absorbs water, so NOT good to have all those chemicals on your skin...

Wendy · #32 11/20/12, 07:15 PM

Quote:

I cannot begin to even convey how awful city water tastes to me.

Just had to say it depends on where you live. Our water is from an underground aquifor. It tastes really good. Of course we do have a whole house filter that takes out the chlorine taste & any odor. Our water tastes better than any we have had.

Waterwheel Farm · #33 11/22/12, 01:22 AM

Woodly1069-

My water supply is a spring to a cistern, then pumped to the house, then filtered and UV purified. It has never run dry, but sometimes runs a little slow in very dry weather so for the heck of it I had an estimate for a well drilled and it was $14,000. That was for an estimated 500' depth, 1 1/2 H.P. Flynn and Wallings pump, and 1" PVC water line. Also included the "drywell" which houses the pressure tank and 4 1 inch outlet water taps. That price was more than I wanted to swallow also at this time, so I'm still using my trusty spring water. I'm fairly close to you (Meade County) and I got the estimate from a driller located here. They have been in business for years.

woodly1069 · #34 11/22/12, 07:21 AM

Waterwheel farm, may ask whom you contacted about drilling in your area? We are just into Oldham county and can't find anyone other than the Reynolds guys that were so expensive

Waterwheel Farm · #35 11/22/12, 04:59 PM

Woody1069-

No problem. Yeah, Reynolds does good work but they mostly do commercial stuff. The driller in our area is Cox's Well Drilling. There are two divisions of the family. The one I talked to was Kerry Cox. I think this is them.
Cox Pump & Drilling Service - Office - Water Well Drilling Contractors in Brandenburg, KY - Meade County

fatrat · #36 11/25/12, 09:09 AM

I bet the high prices you are seeing in Kentucky are due to the limestone. Most of the state is covered with it. I've seen places in KY where you dig down a couple feet and hit rock. That's got to be expensive to drill through. Some of these cheaper prices look to be from regions that don't have rock so close to the surface.

Catalpa · #37 11/25/12, 08:07 PM

Not necessarily. Within thirty miles of my house we have everything from 300 ft. of glacial drift to bedrock at the surface. Mostly sandstone and granite. There's karst topography (fractured limestone, which I saw in the famous Cave Hill Cemetery in Lousiville KY) down around Monroe and up in the UP too. Rotary rigs can handle rock pretty easily.
It just sounds like they're going awfully deep.