Has anyone drilled their own well ?

Anonymous-0 · Feb 24, 2009

I need to drill a new well for a homesite in what was a pasture. My cousin has a drill that her and her husband used to drill a well on their farm and they never run out of water. She has 200 feet of drill stem (I think that is what it is called). It hasen't been used since the 1960's but is complete except no bits. It is a 3 legs and a cable for lifting, the engine started on the second pull. She is quite reasonable on the price (has to be invited to supper at the new house). I have never done anything like this before. Any ideas or advice would be most appreciated.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 25, 2009

used to see those advertised,talked to someone about 20 yrs ago, said it didnt work. whats your cousin say?

ohiojim · Feb 25, 2009

find the best and most reliable driller in your area, he will probably also be the most expensive,..but he will end up being the best money you will ever spend,...been there,..done that,..more times then i care to say

NTW ROSEBUD · Feb 25, 2009

Company in Demopolus(spelling) Alabama makes a rig like that. they advertise in mags.like "Mother earth news", "Organic gardening". They have a vidio on how to drill a well. I know couple of people who have done it, but don't know any details.

NTW ROSEBUD · Feb 25, 2009

I forgot to give you the name of the mfg. co
It is DEEP ROCK DRILLING . they make drilling rigs of all sizes.

Mike M · Feb 25, 2009

Hasn't been used since the 60's and started on the 2nd pull ???? You have got to be kidding !

CWL · Feb 25, 2009

It will depend a lot on what kind of soil is in your area and what kind of well you want. I think you need at least a four inch casing for a submersible pump. Five inch would be better. With a rig like that I doubt that you will do much more than drill down to the bed rock and the water on top of the bed rock is more likely to be contaminated from surface water run off. If this well will be used for drinking water I would suggest going with a pro. outfit. As said earlier it is money well spent. If you want to go the DIY route use that energy for the plumbing and trenching part of the well. Installing water lines, electrical supply and controls for the pump, pressure tank and an outside hydrant or two will cost as much to have done as getting the well drilled. When I built my own place I had the well drilled by a professional crew, but I did all the other stuff myself. One expense that I have never regretted was using all 1 inch pipe instead of 1/2 or 3/4 inch. Great water pressure and lots of volume.

VaTom · Feb 25, 2009

Hi Scott,

I drilled my well on my mountain here. At that time in Virginia they required a license to drill, even for yourself. I protested and they changed the state rule for me! Sometimes bureaucrats listen.

My little rig was manufactured in Alabama, sold to a guy here who almost lost his house trying to pay for it. Sold it to me for the price of one drilled hole.

Certainly I'm no expert, but I don't know what you're looking at. Picture? The choices I saw were old pounders and rotary drills. The only rotary that came anywhere close to my budget was the one I bought. Came with enough stems to go 140' which was adequate here.

With a higher pump, the well reservoir's substantially smaller. Never been a problem for us even though my bore is only 4". What you're looking at bores 6"?

I'm intending to drill 2 more wells and then send my rig to a new home. It'll make somebody else as happy as it made me.

You want to learn what depth and flow are common for your area before you assume 200' of stem is enough. It sure is exciting when you hit water on your first well. Have fun.

John B. · Feb 25, 2009

Scott in SF.

I have a catalog on drilling your own well. I can scan the pages and email them to you if you like. You don't need a big drilling rig. A well point will work. They're available on ebay.
You may not have to go real deep either.

John

[email protected]

greygoat · Feb 25, 2009

It's against the law here, in Wisconsin. The
well has to be done bt a licensed driller, and
registered with the State DNR.

cb in wisc · Feb 25, 2009

good old DNR, have to regulate everyting and anything.

jason, NW Ontario · Feb 25, 2009

Around here it's got to be a licensed driller. Anyone with an excavator can dig a well crater, but generally, safer water is found deeper. We sunk for the drilling bill last September - 190 ft: 170 of it was solid granite. Over $11k. We were over the vein, but the vein was deep. Had it witched by 2 people, as well as myself. I'm an environmental technician, and watched him do everything right. It just stinks that it went that deep and expensive.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 25, 2009

Thanks for the responses everyone. The drill my cousin has is an early version on a Deep Rock Hyrda-Drill. They still sell parts. Her well has 4 inch casing and is 200 feet deep. She dosen't remember much about drilling the well and her husband died a few years ago. The geology out there is such that you will not hit bedrock at 200 feet. You will go through gravel and coal, go deep enough you may hit oil, as it is on the edge of the Bakken formation (I hope one day it will be found in the Bakken and my family gets a oil well, I think the squeaking af a rig pumping crude would help me sleep better). I think I will try, the most expensive part will be beer for my helpers. And honestly, I put in fresh gas and it started, perhaps running motors dry and storing them inside has merit.

VaTom · Feb 26, 2009

Hi Joe,

Slow getting back here. Pretty hard to miss when you hit water, instead of cuttings coming up you get a mud shower. As for how much flow, the drillers here make a channel and direct the flow into a bucket. You have to send enough air down the bore to empty it of standing water, then take a bucket measurement of how much you get in a minute. 2 or 3 or 5 gallons is easy.

When the flow is huge, I've not seen anybody do anything but guess. A buddy got 35 gal/min, his driller said. Pretty sure that was not carefully measured.

VaTom · Feb 26, 2009

Mine's a Deep Rock also. I found the company extremely helpful for someone who didn't know what he was doing.

Hydra sounds like you're using water instead of compressed air? If so, that's what I have, but the previous owner bought an air hammer as nobody drills here without going through rock. My rig's on a trailer. A pair of Kohler engines, one for the hydraulics, one for the water pump.

Worked very well. Have fun.

Has anyone drilled their own well ?

Anonymous-0

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ohiojim

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NTW ROSEBUD

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Mike M

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cb in wisc

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