Drilled a 60' well

[madlabs]

Hey All,

Well, me and my bro in-law just drilled and cased our first well. We got to 60' then hit some really hard stuff. We could see that there was water, so we decided to case it and call it good.

So far we are getting around 2 gpm. Hopefully that will increase as we develop the well. Still, it's enough for now.

We used an air drill attached to a PVC pipe. The exhaust of the air drill goes up the pipe and pulls up the tailings and water, which goes through a settling pond and back to the well. We made 51 feet in the first two days, and then 9 feet over two more days. Need to get a better rock bit. The drill was a kit from howtodrillawell.com.

Total cost was around $1200 US. This includes buying and fixing a compressor to run the drill. It needs a lot of CFM. We used a 27 CFM, 12.5hp, gas engine driven compressor that we bought for $300 because it needed new compression rings. Spent $150 in parts fixing it. It cost 2k plus new. Was well worth it, to rent a compressor would have been $130 a day. We ran the poor thing pretty hard, I suspect the compressor is a little tired.

Now that I have the drill, compressor and so on, I can do another well for a few hundred bucks, depending on what well screen I use. This time we made our own well screen but next time I will buy some. I learned a LOT. If anyone is considering using this system, get hold of me, much to share.

Anyway, exciting stuff. I have water! No more trucking water in every two weeks! I can plant fruit trees this year! Move my solar hot tub over from my old place. Take a longer than 3 min shower. Woohoo!

On to a question: Any reccomendations for a pump? All the ones I see so far are more than I need, I'd like to use as little power as possible. I'm only  60' deep and only need 2-4 gpm. Needs to be 120V and have soft start.

Jonathan

[Volvo farmer]

Neat! Having paid through the nose to get my well drilled, that must be a great feeling to be able to DIY!

I have an extremely low producing well, estimated at <1GPM. I put a Lorentz solar pump in it and pump into a cistern. The result is all the water we need for daily activities and then some. The one thing I really like about this pump is that it has a variable speed knob on the controller, so even though I have a low producing well, I can keep from drawing the water table in the casing way down. This keeps the hydraulic pressure in the casing up and turbidity to a minimum.

The Lorentz is mighty expensive, like $1500 not including solar panel. I've read somewhere of timers being available for standard AC pumps that have the same result for low producing wells, but I'm pretty sure some sort of cistern is required.

Congratulations on getting water!

 

[dnix71]

Here is a Shurflo that uses <60 watts at 24v.

http://www.innovativesolar.com/solar-water-pumps-27/submersible-pumps-59/shurflo-167/9300-series-sub
mersible-dc-pump-698.html

You could run that off a very small sine inverter or even a solar panel. Pump into a cistern when there is sun.

[Shadow]

I have one of these from about 1960 or so.

http://www.deeprock.com/HD/index.html      

I borrowed it from a neighbour 12 years ago,(Dont ever lend me your lawn mower)lol. Actually he said it stores in my shed the same as his so has left it here. I have drilled about 15 holes with it over the years. anywhere from 40 feet to 155 feet. I've hit water in about half of the holes. It takes some getting used to but works slick when you get the hang of it. THe original bits were gone long ago so I just weld up my own. I also weled up my own reamer and usually ream the hole out to about 5 inch then drop a jet pump down with 2 lines and pump for awhile to see how much and how good the water is.

 If you could ever find one to borrow or purchase they are Well (pun intended) worth it!

[hydrosun]

I really like the Grundfos SQ pumps. They have slow start and low water shutoff built in. They are efficient ac pumps with internal electronics to run a more efficient motor. The price ranges from $500 and up depending on size. You can get a 1/2 horsepower, 120 volt pump from Backwoods solar that should work on your system.  I've replaced a few pumps that the driller installed that were too big or 240 volt with these pumps. Allowed the use of the inverter instead of needing to start the generator every time water is needed.  My own system is a 1/3 hp pump from 145 feet into a pressure tank. I'm not sure if the 1/3 hp is still available. I replaced a  Nemo dc pump that wore out in two years. I don't have any good reports on the Shurflo submersible pump. The few that I'm aware of had the diaphram fail after a few years which flooded the motor and killed it. If the diaphram is replaced before failure it should last longer.

I know of one grunfos pump that has pumped at least 1/2 million gallons and is still going strong. But another pump that had to be replaced after 6 years. It was running off a variety of generators that may have had low voltage.

The smaller hp grundfos pump should put out about 5 gallons per minute. Depending on how much storage is in your well and how fast you use water it could work without a cistern. I originally had a two pump system but now have a simpler system with the grundfos directly into the pressure tank. Less chance of contamination of the water and the  need to keep two pumps happy. I think it uses a bit less power this way too.

Chris

[wpowokal]

And beyond the built in electronics are PM motors.

allan

[electrak]

How big is the casing? would 12 volt dc work? look at Rule iL500 inline pumps each one will pump about 20 feet and cost about $50. one every 20 feet up the well.

[madlabs]

I like the shurflo. Hydro, is the one you have had a bad time with the same as the one linked above? I could run the sucker right off a solar panel, the well has good exposure.

The Grundfos SQ is what my neighbors have, and it really pumps but at my depth it's flow rate way surpasses my recovery rate. The Shurflo would be just under my recovery rate.

Still so stoked to have water! End of the dry season here too, haven't had much rain yet this winter, so this should be the low point in my flow rate.

Jonathan