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  • Water well question

    Hello everyone

    I'm kind of new at this and need some advice. I live on 2.5 acres of land in the suburbs and would like to put in a well in the middle of the trees in the back of my property. I do have neighbors on two sides so I can't just hire somebody to bring a truck over and drill since a) i want the well to be hidden by the trees so a truck cant get in there, b) don't want to deal with permits and advertise to all, and c) in my area it would cost $1500 and up.

    I did some research and found out that in my area well water is 7-12' deep. After some calling around I found out that no tool rental place has power augers with extensions more than 3'. One place did have a manual 6" diameter auger (they called it post hole digger) with all extensions I need.

    So couple of questions for all the experienced out there:
    Will it be possible to drill with the manual auger? The land in my area is not rocky, mostly clay and sand.
    Will a 6" diameter well be enough?
    How deep do I aim for? If I hit water 10' down, do I go to 15'? 18'? 20'?
    A landscaper i spoke to told me to drill the 6" well, put in a 4" PVC pipe and fill the remainder of the space with gravel so it would filter the water and keep the dirt out of the pipe. Another one suggested using sand and landscaping fabric (the one that is used to prevent grass from growing) to wrap the pipe and filter the water and prevent the dirt and sand from clogging the pipe. Does anybody know if this fabric has any tar or other unhealthy chemicals that will leak into the water?

    Any suggestions will be appreciated
    Thank you

  • #2
    While I can't really address the auger part and whether you could drill with that, I do have a couple of comments on the plan in general.

    What is this well for? If it's for drinking water, then that seems awful shallow. Any lawn chemicals would wash down into the well at that depth.
    After the case is installed, I believe it should be filled on the outside with a slurry (grout) that will seal the casing from anything leaching in. Gravel or sand is a bad idea.
    If you have it buried in the trees and you take a lightning strike to one of those trees, it will probably blow a PVC casing to h**l and back.
    What kind of pump are you planning on using to lift that column of water? The theoretical max for a jet pump is around 25 feet.
    Just my .02 and I may be mistaken on some of it.
    What a long, strange trip it's been.....

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    • #3
      Disclaimer: I have never done this.

      click on the

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      • #4
        Check this one or search "jetting a well"

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        • #5
          Back in the late 90's we tried one of these "drive your own well" kits from Lehmans. WHAT A JOKE!

          If it's really only $1,500. to drill a deep well there, I'd suggest checking that out. Get it drilled, let it sit for a while, if your neigh bores ask, tell them it's for irrigation of your wife's flower beds. Give it six months or so and then put in a deep well hand pump.

          There is a thread on the forum here with pics of a deep well hand pump we had put in.

          Their is other options of course. Everyone's shallow wells around here are sporadic at best.

          Water.... IS life

          Lowdown3
          www.homesteadingandsurvival.com

          www.survivalreportpodcast.com

          "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed..."

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          • #6
            Thank you for all the replies.
            To clarify on some things:
            I want to place the well in the woods because my neighbor has an in-ground pool that i suspect was improperly installed (the guy is in construction and he did it himself). I want the well as far as possible from the possible chlorine contamination and thus have the well in the middle of the trees where a drilling truck can not get in.

            From my searching into this i learned that water in the wells is always above the ground water level. So if well water is at 10', then groundwater is deeper, maybe 15' ? I know its not the ideal but it's better than nothing i guess.

            When I mentioned gravel and sand I was referring to placing it 10' down, not all the way on top. As was explained to me, it would serve as a filter between ground and the pipe. I'm planning to have a 4" layer of concrete on top of the well to secure the pipe. My main concern is that landscaping fabric mentioned. I know that it will filter the water and prevent dirt from clogging up the pipe, but I am not sure what it's made out of or if it will leave some residue in the water. For a water pump I'm planning to get a Lehman hand pump.

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            • #7
              Do not use the black fabric ground cover. Contrary to landscapers opinions it degrades within 2 yrs. I found this out to my dismay after putting big $$ to have all my flower beds done and mulched. Check at Lowe's or Home Depo, they have self help desks that can tell you about the various coverings and their ingredients. Back in the 60's a man started the underground housing fad and built his own, he used plain thick black plastic to insulate the logs from the earth and he's still living in it 30 years later with no leaks. Just an idea.

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              • #8
                I've done a lot of jetting poles for houses and marinas and it takes a LOT of water/pressure to jet down that far. If you put a point on the actual well pipe that's going in the casing, that kind of takes care of the filtering issue.
                What a long, strange trip it's been.....

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