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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

#111

Post by kylebenzle »

ltbarcly3 wrote: post #10

I tried this years ago and it ended in failure. From what I learned it seems like your soil down to the level you want to drill to has to be basically 100% silt/sand/clay. In most areas there are various pebbles, some up to the the size of a dime or so, and what I found was smaller particles would wash up and out of the hole, but these pebbles would accumulate on the bottom. I switched from using low-volume water sou…

I'm doing a hammer driven well point right now, been pounding for 3 weeks nearly everyday. I get about 1 inch per day exhausting myself. I'm maybe 9 feet down, no water yet. I am getting a lot stonger and it gets eaier everyday. Probably have 20+ hours into this stupid thing already :(

Well point is NOT easy.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#112

Post by quickthrower2 »

bragr wrote: post #32
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.

But you can often buy cheaper than renting with the caveat of getting a cheaper brand. For most DIY I find the cheaper ones good enough, as long as you get some online wisdom first to avoid the occasional turds being sold. Example: chainsaw, drill, jet wash, pruning equipment etc.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#113

Post by [deleted] »

jcarrano wrote: post #62
OfSanguineFire wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the recent legislation that every Polish village has to be connected to water and sewage even if the homeowner wanted to remain off-grid, I would expect not expect well-digging to remain popular.

It still makes sense to have a well because it is a waste to water the lawn with drinking water.

[deleted]

Re: How to drill your own water well

#114

Post by moffkalast »

dbrgn wrote: post #54

I wondered how getting a permit in Switzerland would work. According to some sources I found: - You need to request a permit from your city and your canton's water and sewage department - To get a permit, you need a "proof of utility", so you can't just dig a well for fun, it needs to bring some benefit. - You need a written technical planning document as well, including an analysis on the energy- and cost-efficiency…

Oh well...

Re: How to drill your own water well

#115

Post by RajT88 »

SteveNuts wrote: post #91
RajT88 wrote: post #90

The house I live in has a well. 400 feet deep (why? long story). The thing to be aware of is that there's a few different kinds of additives you might need for well water. The most usual is water softener. Ours isn't too hard, but what we do have is hydrogen sulphate from bacteria in the soil - it requires hydrogen peroxide to make the water smell neutral and palatable.

Where do you add that? into the water softener?

There's a pump which feeds into the water softener tank. We don't use softener, so peroxide is the only thing which goes into it.

To the other guy - we drink the well water. It's fine after the peroxide treatment.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#116

Post by zigzaggy »

My grandfather was a "well witcher" (Appalachian roots here). Many believe that's woo woo or some kind of super power. The man was incredibly intelligent and resourceful and he had a reputation for finding water every single time he dropped the drill into the ground.

When I was a kid I used to go to sleep listening to stories of my dad and his dad driving around on a 2 ton truck with a 3 ton drill and how the brakes always went out. Somehow they always lived to tell the tale.

Haven't thought about this in a long time. Good memories.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#117

Post by quickthrower2 »

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 deep can that go? Can you fit yourself and shovel in the ring to go deeper? Is there any danger of collapse?

Re: How to drill your own water well

#118

Post by cogman10 »

boppo1 wrote: post #84
yarpen_z wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't really have suburbs like the one in the US. Having a perfect lawn that requires constant watering and meticulous care is not common.

What is the landscaping around single family homes like then? Or do you just have urban & rural without an in-between?

I'm the EU, most homes are terraced. There may be a back and front yard, but they will be tiny compared to a US home.

Single family homes are both expensive and uncommon as land is generally more of a premium.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#119

Post by technothrasher »

RajT88 wrote: post #90

The house I live in has a well. 400 feet deep (why? long story). The thing to be aware of is that there's a few different kinds of additives you might need for well water. The most usual is water softener. Ours isn't too hard, but what we do have is hydrogen sulphate from bacteria in the soil - it requires hydrogen peroxide to make the water smell neutral and palatable.

I had an issue with hydrogen sulfide bacteria in my well water system. If I didn't run any water for a couple days (like, say, I went away for the weekend), I'd get a terrible sulfur smell to my water. When my well pump failed, I took the opportunity while the well head was off to dump a bunch of bleach down the well. Haven't had a problem in years now.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#120

Post by seszett »

cogman10 wrote: post #118
boppo1 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the landscaping around single family homes like then? Or do you just have urban & rural without an in-between?

I'm the EU, most homes are terraced. There may be a back and front yard, but they will be tiny compared to a US home. Single family homes are both expensive and uncommon as land is generally more of a premium.

Even in Belgium, one of the highest density countries in the EU, most existing and newly built houses are semi-detached, with about twice as much semi-detached + detached houses as there are terraced houses.

In France, terraced homes are rather uncommon outside the North close to Belgium, and old city centers. In fact, I don't even know if we have a name for detached houses, as far as I know they're just called "a house" while a terraced house is a "city house".

So I don't have the numbers for all of the EU but I don't think most homes are actually terraced homes in the EU.

And people do have grass lawns, but only where grass actually grows without too much care needed. Where I come from on the coast grass doesn't grow well on the sandy ground and lawns are uncommon, but a few kilometres inland if you don't do anything you get a mostly-grass lawn, with a lot of clover, daisies and often orchids growing in it.

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