How to drill your own water well • Hacker News Board

Re: How to drill your own water well

#21

Post by XorNot » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 6:25 AM UTC

schobi wrote: post #18

It is nice to get that many details on a single drilling method. But keep in mind - there are many more techniques for making your own well. Some might be better suited depending on the conditions. There are hand operated drills, 150mm diameter with extension rods up to 10-15m long. If it works for your soil, then this is less messy. I went with digging and a different type of dug well "Schachtbrunnen". I laid a pre-…

Huh. This is ingenius in that "obvious once you hear it" way that I wouldn't have thought of. I practical want to try it just because of that.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#22

Post by thih9 » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 6:28 AM UTC

Is this for drinking water? And what depths can be reached with this method? I wish these were stated more clearly; I’m guessing “not drinking”, based on:

> It is great for saving money on watering your lawn and irrigating a garden.

Off topic: as a non native English speaker, the title made me pause. As in, why would I want to drill my water and do it well?… oh, water well, right.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#23

Post by myspy » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 6:37 AM UTC

killingtime74 wrote: post #14

This ignores the most difficult part...getting a permit

We had the idea to drill one to here in Germany, but having drilled it doesn‘t mean you can use it as long as you please. Ground water levels are falling and eventually it will be forbidden.

But we also have a 13k liter cistern and with drip irrigation it holds reasonably long.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#24

Post by mongol » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 6:45 AM UTC

schobi wrote: post #18

It is nice to get that many details on a single drilling method. But keep in mind - there are many more techniques for making your own well. Some might be better suited depending on the conditions. There are hand operated drills, 150mm diameter with extension rods up to 10-15m long. If it works for your soil, then this is less messy. I went with digging and a different type of dug well "Schachtbrunnen". I laid a pre-…

How did you dig? With a shovel? Or some other equipment? How many rings did it take?

Re: How to drill your own water well

#25

Post by tspike » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 6:50 AM UTC

photochemsyn wrote: post #6

Probably want to read this first, particularly if you live in a western USA state: https://waterfilterguru.com/is-it-legal-to-drill-your-own-we... Shrinking aquifers and neighbors drilling wells just a bit deeper than their neighbor's wells have contributed to a long-standing conflict over water access, see Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner for the historical origins of conflicts. "Whiskey is for drinking, water is for…

This is equivalent to people fretting over using plastic drinking straws when certain industrial uses are exempt from environmental laws. The vast, vast majority of aquifer depletion is for impractical crops that should never be grown where they are and wouldn’t be if our water rights laws made any sense.

You tapping in one of these wells means very little in the context of this important topic.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#26

Post by nightfly » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 6:53 AM UTC

mongol wrote: post #24

schobi wrote: post #18

It is nice to get that many details on a single drilling method. But keep in mind - there are many more techniques for making your own well. Some might be better suited depending on the conditions. There are hand operated drills, 150mm diameter with extension rods up to 10-15m long. If it works for your soil, then this is less messy. I went with digging and a different type of dug well "Schachtbrunnen". I laid a pre-…

How did you dig? With a shovel? Or some other equipment? How many rings did it take?

> No special tool needed, a shovel, a bucket, some rope, patience and certainly a permit.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#27

Post by friend_and_foe » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 6:54 AM UTC

thih9 wrote: post #22

Is this for drinking water? And what depths can be reached with this method? I wish these were stated more clearly; I’m guessing “not drinking”, based on: > It is great for saving money on watering your lawn and irrigating a garden. Off topic: as a non native English speaker, the title made me pause. As in, why would I want to drill my water and do it well?… oh, water well, right.

The quality of the water depends on the location.

This particular method of drilling a well works in sandy soil or clay where the water table isn't very deep. If you're in mountains or on any topology with bedrock you'll need better equipment, particularly a carbide or diamond tipped bit. And you'll be drilling potentially hundreds of feet. Something like this would most certainly not work in Colorado, it would probably work in Florida or Louisiana.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#28

Post by aaron695 » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 6:56 AM UTC

> Many folks think they have to dig or drill their well into an aquifer.

My concern here is ground water will have septic contamination, don't know if that's stupid or not.

Hand dug wells are fun to watch on TikTok, most on the tag are old ones, but a few are people digging them - https://www.tiktok.com/tag/handdug%20well

This one scared the shit out of me - https://www.tiktok.com/@smithalayamrajeev/video/723999758509...

I was looking at this Polish Company selling augers, but I checked local bore records and they were 80m for the aquifer and they were hitting rock pretty quickly in their samples even if I went for ground water - https://www.ebay.com/str/drillpartnerofficialstore

Re: How to drill your own water well

#29

Post by DoingIsLearning » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 6:59 AM UTC

tspike wrote: post #25

photochemsyn wrote: post #6

Probably want to read this first, particularly if you live in a western USA state: https://waterfilterguru.com/is-it-legal-to-drill-your-own-we... Shrinking aquifers and neighbors drilling wells just a bit deeper than their neighbor's wells have contributed to a long-standing conflict over water access, see Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner for the historical origins of conflicts. "Whiskey is for drinking, water is for…

This is equivalent to people fretting over using plastic drinking straws when certain industrial uses are exempt from environmental laws. The vast, vast majority of aquifer depletion is for impractical crops that should never be grown where they are and wouldn’t be if our water rights laws made any sense. You tapping in one of these wells means very little in the context of this important topic.

> The vast, vast majority of aquifer depletion is for impractical crops.

And collection at spring source from water bottling companies let's please not forget that environmental abuse.

Not all aquifers start underground.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#30

Post by tamimio » Fri, Aug 25, 2023, 7:05 AM UTC

The problem is if that leads to water contamination, all it takes some of these homemade drillers to contaminate it “by mistake” with gasoline, oil, or even chemicals, with all what it means to environment and people using the same water.