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How to drill your own water well

drillyourownwell.com

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Re: How to drill your own water well

#31

Post by bragr »

pbourke wrote: post #20
oceanplexian wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the idea behind doing it yourself is that you don’t need a permit. In the USA, while permits are technically required for a lot of things, the law is widely ignored, and enforcement is lax to nonexistent. Hell most of the licensed contractors I hire (electric, plumbing, etc) don’t bother to pull permits, even for new work.

You will likely have issues if you ever try to sell property with an unpermitted well. FHA loans have restrictions on the well as do many local jurisdictions that may refuse to convey the property if the well isn’t up to code. My local jurisdiction won’t block the sale but will write an alarming letter to the seller. In the case of a new build or major remodel, you will not be able to get a certificate of occupancy w…

Yeah, it doesn't take a genius inspector to take the as built plans, the list of work permits, and see if that explains current state of the house. And then there's the whole issue of mandatory disclosure forms and how forthcoming you are on those and if whatever you put down aligns with the inspectors find.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#32

Post by bragr »

dalke wrote: post #12

I don't think it would be worthwhile to make your own hydraulic drill if there are rental alternatives. More specifically, around 1981 my Dad rented a drilling rig to supply the irrigation pump for our yard in Miami. See, the city was phasing out septic systems, and had installed sewers to our neighborhood. They charged for sewer based on water consumed. By drilling a well he could avoid paying sewage fees for irriga…

>if there are rental alternatives.

That's good advice for almost all tools. The average weekend warrior may never have been to their local tool rental shop, but it's worth checking out! You can rent just about anything, for very reasonable prices, and it tends to be pretty high quality/industrial stuff. For all the tools you only use one a year, it probably makes more financial sense to rent than buy.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#33

Post by bobthepanda »

oceanplexian wrote: post #16
killingtime74 wrote: post #14

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

I think the idea behind doing it yourself is that you don’t need a permit. In the USA, while permits are technically required for a lot of things, the law is widely ignored, and enforcement is lax to nonexistent. Hell most of the licensed contractors I hire (electric, plumbing, etc) don’t bother to pull permits, even for new work.

The permits exist for a reason.

If too many people start doing it, it becomes an issue of overdrawing groundwater. This leads to an arms race of digging ever deeper wells to reach the remaining groundwater, and on top of that starts leading to ground subsidence as ground formerly full of water dries out and compacts.

Off the top of my head, there is massive groundwater subsidence in the Central Valley of California, Mexico City, and Jakarta due to this issue, at rates measured in feet per year. This makes the land prone to flooding, and also damages buildings and infrastructure since the subsidence is generally not evenly spread out.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#34

Post by Arrath »

YeBanKo wrote: post #15
seahorserocker wrote: post #11

I tried to use this to drill a well some years ago on the west coast of Florida near the ocean. Worked great through the sand about 20 feet. Then we hit a shale deposit. There was no getting through it. Some pro well drillers came and couldn't make it through either. The neighbor drilled his own well a couple years prior and told us the secret. Blasting caps. We gave up.

Blasting cap on the drill bit?

Usually you pull your spendy drill string out of the ground then lower a charge down the hole to fracture whatever layer is giving you trouble. Turning your drill bit into a fragmentation grenade tends not to be overly productive.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#37

Post by K0balt »

killingtime74 wrote: post #14

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

And today I am reminded that people in many places must get the state’s permission to build, repair, or improve their shelter, to grow food, to collect rainwater, to dig a well.

On property they “own”.

You’re literally asking the states permission to have the basic things needed for human survival- shelter, food, and water.

While this makes sense to me for a business or an organisation, it strikes me as unconscionable for a private individual to have to get permission from the state to survive.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#38

Post by Neil44 »

K0balt wrote: post #37
killingtime74 wrote: post #14

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

And today I am reminded that people in many places must get the state’s permission to build, repair, or improve their shelter, to grow food, to collect rainwater, to dig a well. On property they “own”. You’re literally asking the states permission to have the basic things needed for human survival- shelter, food, and water. While this makes sense to me for a business or an organisation, it strikes me as unconscionabl…

I understand the sentiment but when you have this many people living close together, somebody has to be the adult to make sure things continue to work for everybody.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#39

Post by KirillPanov »

oceanplexian wrote: post #16
killingtime74 wrote: post #14

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

I think the idea behind doing it yourself is that you don’t need a permit. In the USA, while permits are technically required for a lot of things, the law is widely ignored, and enforcement is lax to nonexistent. Hell most of the licensed contractors I hire (electric, plumbing, etc) don’t bother to pull permits, even for new work.

At least in my state (Washington), electricians and plumbers licenses include an annual permit which covers all the work they do during that year. It's only the trades that don't have a licensing program (or are only licensed as "general contractor") that need a separate permit for each job instead of one big one that covers all their work for the year.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#40

Post by 4gotunameagain »

tamimio wrote: post #30

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.

Did you read the article? The method uses no gasoline, oil or chemicals.
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