DIY Water Well

[walhondingnashua]

Has anyone here ever drilled their own "Off grid" water well? I have a cabin in the UP of Michigan and we have to haul water. It would be nice to have water on site. Its not worth it to have a well drilled professionally and we only want to put a hand pump on it.

I cannot imagine the water table being very far down, and I watched one of the people on "The Last Alaskans" pound a well through is cabin floor out of 2" pipe with a special tip on the end.

Thought this would be a good place to see if anyone has experience.

Thanks in advance...

 

[begreen]

Check around to get local hydrology reports. Finding water can be elusive so understanding the geology of your local area is helpful. Check for reports on existing local wells and ask neighbors too.

Friends up north went to sink a well and found that the property was on a huge, compact, sand dome. They finally hit water after going through 250' of sand!

 

[blades]

if they had that done by a contractor -Ouch$$$

 

[begreen]

if they had that done by a contractor -Ouch$$$

This was about a decade ago. It wasn't cheap, but the drilling went quickly with little obstruction and the rates in their rural area were a whole lot better than locally.

 

[semipro]

I have some experience with well drilling but its all been behind a drilling rig.
I've seen some great videos about this on Youtube.
I'd be very wary of the quality of shallow water anywhere though especially if there's a chance of old cesspools nearby.

Edit: just found this: https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/hand-driving-a-shallow-well.22546/

 

[walhondingnashua]

It will be for washing purposes only and it’s in the middle of no where so there won’t be any human contamination. I’ve watched a few YouTube videos but what you have there looks promising.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Ever tried dowsing?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I wouldn't want to drive a well by hand unless I knew the local hydrology.


You might look into rainwater collection.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

You will have to know if the water is already there first. I have a spring on my property that comes right out at the bottom of the mountain. Not a huge water flow, but it runs all year. I think id be safe drilling near that spring feed and let it fill the well. Cover the whole thing up so its not exposed to surface impurities. No septic systems any where near. Was thinking of some kind of covered reservoir but that would be more work and more chance of contamination. Right now i have a shallow 3 ft diameter stone lined well that comes right to the surface about 400 ft from the spring. Not the best form of water source contamination wise. Well is about 30 ft deep but water level rarely falls below 5 to 6 feet from the surface. During extended rain periods the water comes right to the surface and overflows artisian style onto the lawn. Im currently in the process of digging a trench to divert some of the excess water from the well to the pond a few hundred feet away from the well. After which i can hopefully keep the water in the shallow well a few feet below the surface.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Thought this would be a good place to see if anyone has experience.
...

Those shallow well small engine operated drilling machines can be effective if you dont have to go too deep. I bought one many yrs ago and drilled about 20 ft down just to try it out and it worked as advertised, but i wouldnt want to try that by hand. especially if your going to any depth or have hard rock like granite on your property.

 

[redmanlcs]

I live in a very rural location, in West Virginia. The gas well companies have basically dropped explosives into the gas wells in an attempt to loosen everything up and boost production. It has ruined most all the deep drilled water wells in the area. Except for the hand dug wells..

My grandfather, back in 1955, found a spring and started to dig. He and his friends dug down about 15 ft, lined the sides with rocks, and waited for it to fill up. He then built a crude top using lumber and whatever else he could find. It was and still is the best water around.

Find a spring or a damp area and dig! Hand dug wells are great. I know of two other hand dug wells that are still producing great water.

I love drinking from these as the taste is wonderful and its always a tasty 60 degrees F.. It kinda tastes like the way rich black dirt smells. I guess its from the abundance of minerals.

 

[SpaceBus]

Also consider that led has a sweet taste and many wells are contaminated with led. If your spring and well water taste unnaturally good, then it's a good chance things are contaminated. It's not too expensive to have the water analyzed.

 

[begreen]

It is always a good idea to have spring and shallow well water tested at least annually for bacteria and for contaminants. It may be fine, but sometimes runoff can be contaminated by a nearby animal latrine (raccoons) or even high amounts of forest litter from leaves high in nitrogen. A sweeter taste can mean different things to different people, not all are bad. Often water that passes through limestone can taste sweeter to some people and some will detect low levels of iron as "sweet".

Note that testing at the source and at the house may give different results, especially if the water lines are old and water sits in them for a long time because of infrequent use.

 

[SpaceBus]

It is always a good idea to have spring and shallow well water tested at least annually, both for bacteria and for contaminants. It may be fine, but sometimes runoff can be contaminated by a nearby animal latrine (raccoons) or even high amounts of forest litter from leaves high in nitrogen. A sweeter taste can mean different things to different people, not all are bad. Often water that passes through limestone can taste sweeter to some people and some will detect low levels of iron as "sweet".

Note that testing at the source and at the house may give different results, especially if the water lines are old and water sits in them for a long time because of infrequent use.

Your last part was relevant to us last summer. When the well water for the house was tested before we moved in it looked awful. The plumber said it's because the well hadn't been used in many years. After emptying the well and cleaning the pipes it was fine. We will keep a close eye on it regardless.

 

[begreen]

Good plan. Biofilm and sediments build up in areas of stagnant water. Most of the bacteria is benign and we can deal with it, but flushing is a good idea.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I found a hand dug stone lined well ijust behind a house im rehabbing while following a downspout pipe. The previous homeowners were using the well as a downspout water drainage receptacle. i immediately rerouted the downspout. Since it was just uphill of the house i think it was causing moisture to seep into the basement of the house with every rainfall. Also the water in it was pretty thick as it was working in reverse. Ill need to pump it out a few times to clear up the water. Would make a great water source for a garden.

 

[MTY]

I have a spring that has been converted into a 5' deep dug well. It produces constantly. About 100' over from the spring I drilled a well. It is 520'. About 50' the other direction I dug a hole for the cistern. I hit water at 6'. There is no telling when or where you are going to get lucky. Finding a tap root tree is probably a better indicator of water close to the surface than anything else.

I have no near neighbors, so pulling data for that would have done me no good. At the last place I owned, I had plenty of neighbors. Their wells were from 100 to several hundred feet deep and quantity varied from a trickle to 50gpm. The deepest were not necesarily the best producers.

 

[walhondingnashua]

We my dad was a kid, they hand drilled well and hit water. Said it didn't taste very good so someone pulled the pipe. That was 5 years ago. It is in the middle of Upper Pen. Michigan and everything is basically sand and bogs. There are several seeps close by like the Delirium pond.
I have witched wells and I guess I have "the gift." I hit water and the same location that other people witched at my home. Hit one of the best wells in our county.
I have watched several of the youtube videos now and I like the filter tip from home depot aquapro well point. Just keep adding pipe until you hit water i guess.