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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

#151

Post by stickfigure »

finnh wrote: post #144
digitalsushi wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, if I point at a random spot in the ground in an area that generally has water, and I said, "dig here and you will find water", and you put 1/5 a mile of pipe down into the earth and water comes up, am I some type of miracle? Would those people work in the desert? I think it's a lotto ticket that always wins.

I think there is a more functional and charitable read of this: not all of our senses are plumbed all the way through to our conscious mind at all times. small little hints (like minor changes in smell, relative humidity, maybe just pattern-matching on the lay of the land) are down in the noise, and pulling out your trusty sticks gives your subconscious a way to send a signal to your awareness. Kinda like acupuncture…

This is far too charitable. The first question we should ask is "does it actually work?" and the answer is NO.

The wikipedia page lists quite a few scientific studies that establish this. The net summary is:

The scientific evidence shows that dowsing is no more effective than random chance. It is therefore regarded as a pseudoscience.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing

Re: How to drill your own water well

#152

Post by schobi »

gibspaulding wrote: post #133
praptak wrote: post #41

In Poland it's quite common for people to just hand dig their wells, using concrete rings for the reinforcement of walls. It's legal up to 30 meters depth and up to 5 m^3/day water yield. Article (in Polish but there's pics): https://darmowyporadnik.pl/artykul/36/budownictwo/kopanie-st... Edit: Or maybe I should say "it was" - most new wells are just a vertical steel pipe with a submerged electric pump rather than bi…

This is really interesting, though I unfortunately don't read Polish. For each ring deeper, do you dig out under the bottom ring until it slides down and another can be added to the top of the stack? That sounds terrifying having a whole stack of concrete shifting around above you.

I built such a well... The concrete rings will just sloooowly slide down once there is room under them. If you dig evenly, they will just go down straight. Only a few centimeters at a time. This part does not feel dangerous. As a bonus,you can buy concrete rings with steps included, so you don't need to buy a 5m long ladder.

In historic well digging the walls needed to be secured with wooden planks or bricks and such after digging straight down. Huge risk of the walls falling in. This was a problem just generations ago... And all of the family had stories of grandfather's digging wells that collapsed and that the historic approach was dangerous.

With concrete rings, there is no danger of collapsing. And certainly, when placing a ring, noone should be standing inside!

But yes... - It becomes a little claustrophobic when this becomes deep. I stopped at 4.5m and got used to it by the time we came that deep. - I put a pipe in to blow fresh air to the bottom. This helps with the uneasy feeling of a possible bad smell - there is a risk of dropping a bucket on the head. Use a proper rope, a proper knot, a proper bucket made for lifting and stop when the guy above needs a break

Re: How to drill your own water well

#153

Post by schobi »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #117
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?

I went to 4.5m - the rings did not slide easily any more as we paused for a year. If you work on it right away, you can go much further

I went with an inner diameter of 1m, this is fine for a small shovel, a pump, a small jackhammer.

Concrete rings are used all the time in road construction work. I don't see a risk of collapse with those when stacking carefully. Even if one ring were to get a crack, where should it go? I felt safe in this regard

Re: How to drill your own water well

#154

Post by duxup »

ghaff wrote: post #131
duxup wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was the attitude of the dude down the road from me who started his own impromptu pig farm. The folks who are outraged by what they can't do on their own land often also are the folks who don't think beyond step 1 and don't care if their pig shit stinks and runs off everywhere.

It does depend on location. My town, for example, is a "right to farm" community which--while it doesn't give you carte blanche to do anything you want that's agriculture-related on your property--does give fairly broad latitude.

It really depends on the setting.

Local city allows chickens (just a few) and out by me some towns allow a lot more, but there's also proper space to do those things.

Pig farm guy was right on the border and he did NOT have enough space for a bunch of pigs. Thankfully the town already had rules about pigs. Pig farms STINK.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#155

Post by stickfigure »

presidentender wrote: post #136
zigzaggy wrote: post #116

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…

My dad drilled water wells in the US after spending many years working on oil wells overseas. His clients would often hire witchers (water witches, water witchers, well witches - I think the distance from Appalachia to Montana clouded the specific vocabulary). You'd have this very old man dodder around the property with a pair of sticks, and when the sticks magically chose to pull together and cross, that's where you…

It's shocking how many people still give weight to astrology.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#156

Post by schobi »

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?

Yes - shovel and bucket. I took 50cm rings each, for a total of 9 for 4.5m. They weigh about 300kg each and could be rolled into the garden. I got some scaffolding pipes and built a "gantry" over my hole. We could lower them by attaching a small chain operated pulley.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#157

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

technothrasher wrote: post #122
EliRivers wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On property they own Ownership that is regulate and enforced by the state; if you own it according to the rules, you use it according to the rules. If you want to do something else, you can step outside the rules and best of luck to you.

> you can step outside the rules and best of luck to you. This is why I cannot understand how the 'sovereign citizen' nonsense is at all appealing to anybody. If I'm my own boss and not morally subject to society's rules, how is it not fair game then for society to completely ignore my desires and needs? Like, ok, lets say our courts have no jurisdiction over you, but then it also follows that we can just shoot you d…

> how is it not fair game then for society to completely ignore my desires and needs?

Best I can tell, it already does this. Not saying I believe the lunatic sovereign citizen horseshit, about how if they spell my name in all uppercase letters on the paperwork, I'm not subject to courts of law...

But yeh, they're definitely completely ignoring my desires and needs. Yours too. Some people are just slow to catch on.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#158

Post by K0balt »

mattclarkdotnet wrote: post #44
K0balt wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Isn’t ownership of land regulated by the state pretty much everywhere?

Depends on what you mean by pretty much anywhere. Outside of the actual cities in Alaska for example you won’t find many restrictions. Many countries in the developing world also are essentially unregulated.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#159

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

amluto wrote: post #48
4gotunameagain wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone could just as easily have an oil tank near a legally drilled well, and contaminate everything.

In California, that legally drilled well has a sealed cap and a concrete pad at the top. It’s quite unlikely for anything to spill down it unless there is a flood higher than the cap. (Neither of these things is expensive.)

I think he's talking about mid-construction, before it's capped. That's when there is risk of contamination.

I'm not sure I agree that there is a risk then, but let's at least be fair to the argument.

Re: How to drill your own water well

#160

Post by gregmac »

monkmartinez wrote: post #150
digitalsushi wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, if I point at a random spot in the ground in an area that generally has water, and I said, "dig here and you will find water", and you put 1/5 a mile of pipe down into the earth and water comes up, am I some type of miracle? Would those people work in the desert? I think it's a lotto ticket that always wins.

These people do work in the desert. I have a buddy that drills wells here in Arizona and he WILL NOT put a drill into the ground without a Witcher. I have a really hard time with "witching" from a logical POV, but my buddy and his $130k truck/equipment swear by it. I call that putting your money where your mouth is.

The test would be finding a spot where a witcher says there isn't water, and then drilling there.

There's water almost everywhere in the ground -- the questions are is there enough of it to meet the need? is it usable (ie: not contaminated with salt or toxic chemicals)?

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