Shallow well option--

[Erin]

How to Drill a Well in your own Backyard

OK, so we bought this kit around two years ago and FINALLY got around to trying it, and by golly, it works!!  Just as advertised.
http://howtodrillawell.com/


Obviously there are all the caveats of "test your well's quality," "make sure your state allows the drilling of your own well" (most do), "make sure you register your well if required", etc, etc, etc.

In our case, we were looking at around $7-9000 just to poke and case the hole.  No guarantees that you might actually hit water since our area is notorious for not being able to do so.  Most old homesteads around here had cisterns.  And even today, people are limited to where they can live by the accessibility of water.  It's not that it's deep necessarily, just not there. 
For obvious reasons, we've also been planning a rainwater catchment system.

So, needless to say, we were really hesitant about paying that kind of money to a well driller for water that might or might not be there, even with repeated tries.  "Our little drilling gizmo" (as the neighbors call it), on the other hand, ran us $400 and was a much cheaper risk to take.

We're down about 35 feet and nope, we haven't hit water yet (we got way-laid for a few weeks while DH is in North Dakota). But if we don't, it sure won't be because the gizmo doesn't work as advertised.


Anyway, just wanted to share. 

[DirtyLittleSecret]

This is VERY interesting!  I've already got a shallow well, but keep thinking about going deeper.  This looks like an excellent answer!

[NM_Shooter]

Great for sandy / loamy soils.

Hit rocks and you are done.

[Ernest T. Bass]

We started a well last year with a "borzit"--basically just a powerful electric drill attachment that lets you pump water down through the bit as you drill. We had a local-renowned diviner find us a spot that we were hoping to find water at about 45'. Our soil is heavy red clay.. We got down to 30' in a couple afternoons and then hit rock. That was last fall... We gave up for the winter, but the borehole is still open. I'm thinking of making some kind of hammer bit and trying to pound through it.. Not much fun, but I hate to give up at this point...

[Erin]

Great for sandy / loamy soils.

Hit rocks and you are done.

On the contrary, we went through at least one good sized rock so far.  Solid rock would be more of a challenge, obviously, but you can feel that the one we went through was at least a foot thick.  It took a few hours to punch through, though.

Where we're at we have a lot of rock.  Sedimentary rocks, though, like sandstone and limestone.  Not solid granite or anything.  But at the same time, we were using the "sand" bit rather than the clay/rock, so we'll see what happens when we try it again with a different bit.
So far as sand, I WISH we had more sand.  Down about five feet and it's a heavy clay...Ours is yellow, though.

[Joseph77]

Please keep us posted on the progress! 

I'm very intrigued by this kit...

[small cabin dreamer]

If there is anyone out there about this topic still, did you ever hit water? I have seen the kit, and looks cool but dont know if it will go through what is reported to be 70-100 feet of limestone in my area.
Our county says you have to pay 2x's the permit fee if you dig the well yourself. Same with a septic or privy(outhouse)  you want to install yourself, 2x's the permit fee.

[Erin]

We went down 50 feet before we hit the shale layer.  In our area, that means that's it.  No deeper. 
We did hit water, but it's REALLY low flow.  Like a gallon every two days type of slow.    But if you look at my first post, that's why we used the gizmo in the first place; because water is a crap-shoot here.

If we go east about 1000 or so feet, we should hit a better supply though, as there seems to be a vein to the east.  We just hoped to not have to run pipe quite that far, so drilled where we did for convenience.
We fully intend to use our little gizmo again to drill the next one.

But 70-100 feet of liimestone might be asking a bit much...

[NM_Shooter]

If there is anyone out there about this topic still, did you ever hit water? I have seen the kit, and looks cool but dont know if it will go through what is reported to be 70-100 feet of limestone in my area.
Our county says you have to pay 2x's the permit fee if you dig the well yourself. Same with a septic or privy(outhouse)  you want to install yourself, 2x's the permit fee.

2X the normal fee is robbery.  Nothing short of a bribe.  Don't tell them you are digging a well.  If anyone asks, tell them you are prospecting for water to locate the position of the well. 

I think that $600 plus cost to rent a substantial compressor is a lot to gamble on trying to get through limestone.  I remain skeptical that this actually goes through rock, and more likely bounced around it or went through a gravel layer. 

Drill rigs that do cut through rock use carbon and diamond bits, and very, very, strong mud pumps, and are on derricks that accommodate significant downward, axial and lateral forces.

If this product really could bore through rock (more than sandstone) it would benefit the company to show a video of that.  On the front page of their website, there is a FAQ video in which the vendor attempts to convince us that it will cut through rock.  Note that he holds the tool at an angle, and even then it just bounces around.  Watch the video... try not to chuckle.

Somebody show me a video of this thing actually cutting through igneous rock.

If you have $600 to play with and it won't hurt to throw it away, give it a try.  You might be better off trying a sand point first.  Your best home-made approach after a sand point is something like a portable hydradrill rig.  Even then you will have challenges with rock or depths past 125 feet or so. 

A well adds significant value to your property, and really is a good investment.  Don't skimp on something that you will use every single day, and that will add value to your build.  Have it done correctly.

Good luck!

[Erin]

Done correctly?  You're just digging a hole!  lol



But if you go to the website, he has a multitude of videos, other than just the promo one. 
Take your pick . 

[NM_Shooter]

Much like auto repair is simply opening the hood and just swapping out the parts that don't work. 

There are no videos showing that tool making a hole in the rock.  Simply because it won't. 

This tool reminds me of the sort of thing one might buy at Harbor Freight, except without the restrictive quality threshold that Harbor Freight places on their products.   

And yes, it is advisable to have a well done right.  Otherwise, you can spend the better part of $1000 and days of labor and end up with a shallow hole that only produces a gallon every two days.  Maybe.

I don't doubt that some folks, in specific soil types have made a shallow well that produces with this.  This is an expensive gizmo, and in the soil that this might work, you can drive a well point for much, much less. 

[Erin]

But you can't drive a well point through rocks.  And i know for a fact we drilled through rocks...

[NM_Shooter]

Show us a picture of the rock you drilled through.

[Erin]

what??   
the big one was a good 15 or 20 feet in the ground... and, of course, is still there.  How would I get a picture?



Why would I make this up?  You seem awfully confrontational about a gadget you have no experience with and have no desire to use...
If you don't want to go a DIY route, more power to you, but when I was hunting for reviews for this thing, I couldn't find any so wanted to share what I know. 

[NM_Shooter]

Sorry.

I worked in the drilling industry for quite awhile.  See my avatar?  That's one of the rigs that I worked on.  Do you know what a roller bit is?  They were developed for drilling in rock because paddle bits don't work.  There is another type of drilling that is slower that uses hammering / percussion / rotation to chip away too. 

I was interested in trying to see if you actually did know for a fact that you drilled through the rock or it was just an opinion.  Without you seeing the rock, you simply can't know.

I'd love to be wrong on this, as I could use a shallow well for cheap.  But I have some rocks to get around. 

Glenn is a driller..... I'd like to know what his opinion of this tool is for penetrating igneous rock. 

P.S.  Here is another thread on this.  I don't think we know how it turned out.  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=6856.0

[Erin]

Seeing what came up, how it felt while drilling, how it felt once punching through...No, there's no doubt it my mind, there was at least one very substantial rock. 
But I never said anything about igneous rocks.

In fact, both back in April, as well as my recent update, I was VERY specific that my experience was sandstone and limestone (sedimentary) rocks...Personally, I wouldn't bother if you have serious rocks like granite layers.  Like I already told small cabin, 70-100 feet of limestone might be asking a bit much.

Interestingly, we have two good friends who are water well drillers (one of whom let us borrow his air compressor) and both thought not only would it work, which is why we bought it, but one wants to borrow it.  lol  As stated though, we don't have granite or anything like that in our area.

It has done exactly what we wanted; drilled a shallow well. 

[UK4X4]

for drilling through rock...on a normal rig

PDC

rock bit - roller cone



V's
delux rock /clay bit



I can see that system working in sandy loamy soil- but not through rock

what you felt was probably the bit hiting a rock or large pebble- bouncing arround a while on top with the bit wandering about

and then finding its way past on one side or the other

I'm on a rig just about every month....but taking pics gets a bit old- Oman in the desert near the saudi border

[small cabin dreamer]

I have a dilema that neighbors have used a well point and gone 13-25 feet and used a hand pump, but then other neighbors who have been charged $9000 to have a well drilled to 170-180 feet. We have a very high water table, like 3-5 feet. It seems like the well drillers are going deeper because there is no one stopping them, as older well reports are only at about 60-80 feet and they work fine. I just dont see being ripped off by a well driller who claims "no water" til 180 feet. The state of Michigan makes all drilled wells be reported with the state so these reports are readily available so I have looked around my area. I know it is accurate as I know the owner of the properties that are listed. This is why I am considering using this tool as $9000 for 180 feet seems unreasonable. Other neighbors in the lower peninsula go 200-250 feet and it is only $5000 through rock.

[MountainDon]

It seems to be that drawing water from only 13 to 25 feet is almost the same as using surface water. The drillers may be going deeper to get water that has filtered through more distance.

[small cabin dreamer]

wouldnt 60-80 feet good enough then, since there are other wells at that depth listed? This is why I am considering using this tool.

[MountainDon]

Probably, as long as the upper end of pipe was sealed against ground water infiltration.  I'm not a driller so have only bits and pieces of info. Around us a 265 foot well is considered shallow; 600 is fairlt common. 

Any idea about how the water tests from some of the wells in the area.

[small cabin dreamer]

no, only input from the shallow point driven ones. They dont drink it.

[small cabin dreamer]

Does anyone know if I did a well point dug well if I could use an electric pump to suck up this water and pressurize this water to have running water for a sink or shower? Or at this low depth there is never enough water for that. Any well pumps I have looked at are very expensive to not even be able to be used.

[waggin]

I have springs on the property, so the original water supply was a gravity feed from one of those.  Later, someone set a 3' diameter concrete pipe on end in the spring depression and put a 1" PVC pipe flowing out from about 6" above the bottom.  That ran to an old water heater tank as an accumulator, then there was a filter, a pump, and a small pressure tank after that.  Now, I have an "official" dug well that is 15' static level below ground, and it is simply 3' concrete pipe stacked end to end vertically.  There's an in-well pump, and I have a pressure tank under the house.  In my area, some folks have drilled several hundred feet and come up dry, so to speak.  Can you do a dug well where you are?  Do you care if it's permitted and registered?

[MikeC]

Interesting videos on drilling & pumping available on vimeo.com from "EMAS" which seems to be a German NGO hq'd in Puerto Rico, operating in S America.  Got that?? 
Really low tech, er no tech approaches - watch & see:

http://vimeo.com/8356556

fascinating approaches