Springbox idea...

[NM_Shooter]

I'm on the fence about either a springbox 300' away from my cabin, or a shallow well near by.  I am going to dig a test hole below my cabin by the creek to see how much shale I have down there.  My soil is a bit on the clay-ish side, so I don't know if a driven point will work or not.  

So I've been wondering again about a spring box, and 300' of poly tube.  I am downhill from the spring.... I would guess a 20' elevation change over 300'

The spring is actually a wallow area for elk, so I would have to fence it off a bit to keep them out of the spring itself.  I'm thinking about buying a heavy plastic stock tank, about 3' in diameter to function as the spring box.  

I'm considering digging out the spring site (which is pretty muddy) to accommodate the plastic tub.  I'll drill lots of 3/8" or so holes in the bucket, and place a fitting to attach the pipe to the bottom of one of the sides of the tub.  I'll wrap the whole thing with three layers of water permeable landscape cloth on the outside, put some sort of screened pickup in the bottom of the tank, submerge it and fill it with gravel.  

Granted, I may have to clean out the spring box once in awhile.

I'll bury it within 3 or 4" of the surface... this will give me a water depth of about 16" or so.  I'll trench the tubing from there.

Thoughts?

[Dallas2build]

Ok, I'm a little confused.   You said the spring is up hill, but you are going to dig a test hole down by the creek?  Maybe I am just not understanding.

[glenn kangiser]

It is 600 feet from my well to my water tank.  300 feet would be no problem.

I have a spring down the mountain about 1500 feet and am considering pumping that up to the water tank also. 

Once the spring is secured from the critters possibly you could set up a storage tank at the spring with the overflow there for the critters and you could then have your low pressure system supply water to the cabin.  If you need pressure at the cabin a 12v rv pump could be added there as a booster.

[NM_Shooter]

Sorry Dallas, I confuse people a lot!   

My spring is ~300 uphill from my cabin, and it drains in a tiny little thread of a creek down hill behind my cabin.  It runs all year 'round.  My cabin sits on a hill that has a shale pile under it, and the creek runs past the base of that hill in a marshy area.

I'm thinking of one of two options...

1)  building a springbox at the source of the spring, and running a tube down to my cabin to fill a cistern. 

2)  driving a well point close to my cabin (in the marshy area) to see if I can get a source of water closer. 

This isn't for drinking water... just washing. 

I thought I would bring a post hole digger to dig a test hole down where I would try to run the well point into the ground and see if the shale extends to that area too.  Well points are expensive, and I read that they work best in sandy soil....but not well in clay.  So I thought I would take a look before I bought the well point, piping and started to drive.

It might be cheapest for me to just buy an extra water tank for the back of my truck, and a small gas water pump and go get water from my neighbor's spring.  He doesn't mind sharing and has a potable water spring.  But the idea of having my own source close to the cabin is attractive.

[archimedes]

This is an interesting website for drilling your own well.

http://www.fdungan.com/well.htm

Also;
From the website below, I actually made my own version of this with ordinary plumbing supplies and it worked incredibly well.  I couldn't believe how far and fast I was able to go down with the pipe.   Important note:  I'm in FL,  all sand no rocks.  But it definately worked for me.

http://www.campbellmfg.com/brady/instructions.htm