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Small Cabin Forum / Off-Grid Living / Drilling your own well
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sparky30_06
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# Posted: 18 Dec 2017 15:00
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Has anyone tried to drill there own well?? Not pound a sand point but drill there own well. I have a location that has a lot of rock and want to put in a well and windmill but getting a drill rig to the location will be nearly impossible. Trying to ask around also to find out how deep wells are in the area. There are a lot of old windmill wells in the are so water is there.

Just
Member
# Posted: 18 Dec 2017 18:58
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As far as i know there is only 4 ways to make a well 1. pound a sand point..2. hand dig a large diameter doug well ( can be fatal ) . 3. A high pressure water drilled well .Or 4 a regular drilled well ,done with a large machine. The Only Two that will drill through rock is a machine. eather a line or a rotery drill or a hand dug well .
I had a neighbour that tryed a water pressure drill not much luck.

NorthRick
Member
# Posted: 19 Dec 2017 01:15
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Quoting: sparky30_06
has a lot of rock and want to put in a well and windmill but getting a drill rig to the location will be nearly impossible.


I doubt it's impossible. Likely expensive, but not impossible.

With a lot of rock, most of the DIY solutions you read about just won't work. Probably the only viable DIY is some sort of cable-tool setup. And that would be slow going.

ICC
Member
# Posted: 19 Dec 2017 10:03 - Edited by: ICC
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How about rain collection instead of a well? Where we are wells are 600 feet deep and deeper and rain collection can be cheaper.

sparky30_06
Member
# Posted: 20 Dec 2017 09:38
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well I did some research and found this company.
http://www.deeprock.com/HD/Default.aspx
then I found out how deep the wells around the area are and well they are 500'+ so looks like a no go.

As for rain water collection that would be great if we would get rain. We have been in a drought for several years. Average rain fall is about 24 to 26" a year only. and in the hot months it's less than an inch. Trying to build watering stations for animals and cattle. So I would need 400 sq ft roof area to get 250 gallons from a 1" rain fall. May look into building a collection system but that will be a big structure.

Just
Member
# Posted: 20 Dec 2017 10:32
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A stear or a hourse need 10 gallons a day . Not sure how many you will have but maybe you need a well . livestalk need good water.

Steve_S
Member
# Posted: 20 Dec 2017 18:11
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@Sparky, I hear you on trying to save some costs but if you have rock you will need a driller in, unless your one of those massively huge burly lads who loves to dig, use a mattock and have an entire summer... not to mention that once deep enough, you'll need shoring +.

I don't know where your situated but after a couple of years of drought, your water levels won't be high and ground water is pretty much useless anyways these days (for drinking, livestock & crops). Try to find out if there is a Well Database that can be accessed publicly for your state / region, which will tell you the neighbours well data (depth, who & when drilled, type of drilling and of course flow rate) [we have such for our province]. *note* this is for basic guesswork, as you may be higher / lower than neighbours and ground topology beneath the soil changes things as well.

On Drilling: Experience here... go with a Cable Pounding Drill versus a Bore Drill. It is a tad slower BUT it will provide better water flow from the fracturing of the rock at a higher level. Bore Drills do not fracture the rock like a pounder and average 20% deeper to get the same result and slower recovery rate on average.

Drilling costs are all over the place so you'll have to check locally. When I drilled my well, it cost $35 per foot + $10 a foot for 6" Casing which must go 8 feet into bedrock and 2' above soil grade level and of course sealed in with Bentonite Clay . This also varies a bit by region.

Deep Well Pumps: Once you go deep many surface pumps will not cut it and those that do are not only expensive to buy, expensive to run as well. There are numerous Deep Well 120V pumps, personally, with experience of having had many wells in my lifetime, GrundFos WINS hands down ! IF your Solar Powered or planning such, "Soft Start" pumps are the only way to go, they will not have that huge start surge which is an enemy of solar system batteries. I have a GrundFos SQ-5 which suits me perfectly BUT with livestock etc a bigger version is more likely warranted, even if you have a cistern / holding tank (which is a logical & sound idea if in an area subject to droughts).

Hope it helps

BTW: GrundFos website:
https://product-selection.grundfos.com/front-page.html

ICC
Member
# Posted: 20 Dec 2017 18:23 - Edited by: ICC
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Quoting: Steve_S
Drilling costs are all over the place so you'll have to check locally. When I drilled my well, it cost $35 per foot + $10 a foot for 6" Casing which must go 8 feet into bedrock and 2' above soil grade level and of course sealed in with Bentonite Clay . This also varies a bit by region.


Yep, $33 a foot where I am. 600 foot holes do cost a bit. Which is one reason why I did precipitation collection instead. Another reason is that over the past decade most of the surrounding wells have gone dry. One of those was replaced with a 900 foot hole.

Over a third of the water comes from snowfall, snow melting. Annual amount is about 22-23 inches. Not a great amount but it is doable. I have the good fortune to have a pretty good sized roof area on the house/shop. I also have a catchment roof specially built for for collection. It is a metal roof about 2 - 3 feet off the ground, on a 5 - 6/12 slope above the 2 main cisterns. Over a third of the water comes from snowfall, snow melting.

ILFE
Member
# Posted: 16 Jan 2018 11:04 - Edited by: ILFE
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Quoting: sparky30_06
So I would need 400 sq ft roof area to get 250 gallons from a 1" rain fall. May look into building a collection system but that will be a big structure.


One outbuilding - a barn, could easily be that large, or larger. You could construct a pole barn, in fact, with a metal roof. An 8m x 6m barn is one of our collection surfaces here.

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