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rmak
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# Posted: 30 Jul 2012 11:25am
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We have a great old time hardware store near us (Lehman's). I was looking at a well kit there. The kit has a hand pump with sections you hammer into the ground. I guess you pound in sections until you hit water then hook it to the hand pump and you have a fresh water source.. I know the ground water is high in the area of my cabin, but I'm not sure if there is a maximum depth that these kits would work in.
I'm wondering if anyone has tried to drill their own well and if there is a better method of doing yourself than the sledge hammer.
Thanks.
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MtnDon
Member
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# Posted: 30 Jul 2012 02:07pm
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The depth a shallow well pump, which is what that pump probably is, can draw from is limited by atmospheric pressure. At sea level the depth would be about 22 - 23 feet.. This depth is reduced as the elevation opf the pump location increases. To go deeper you need a pump that places the valve portion further down in the ground.
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GomerPile
Member
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# Posted: 30 Jul 2012 02:37pm
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I think you are talking about a well point. I attempted to install one and in my soil its a real bear. I don't think I got 12 inched before the pipe was all twisted up. Its all going to be determined by what your soil conditions are like.
I think a better approach is what these guys do (water drilling):
http://www.drillyourownwell.com/
Another idea for you...if the water table is high in your area. Just dig a 5 ft deep hole with a post hole digger. After my episode with the well point I had to dig the mud pit for my "real" well and hit water at 5 feet! had I used my little backhoe instead of a well point I could have probably burried the well point and had a bit of water.
If you need to go deeper than 4-5 feet there is a hand auger tool available:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMMJa6fYiGk
I have not tried one but it looks like it will work.
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COTTON PICKER
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# Posted: 2 Aug 2012 11:44am
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RMAK,
As a teenager I helped my Father "pound pipe" for a supply of clean potable drinking water.
He "STARTED" the well point into the ground using a sledge hammer, making sure the pipe remained at right angles to the ground.
He then constructed a simple, temporary "DERRICK" of 2 X 4s & positioned it directly over the pipe.
He fastened a pully, capable of accepting a 1/2 in rope to the underside of the top of the derrick.
He threaded one end of the rope through the pully & attached it to a large weight he had fashioned from a section of tree trunk.
This weight was about 2 Ft long & about 16 In in diameter & weighed about 40 Lbs.
The other end of the rope was used to pull the weight up to the underside of the derrick.
Let go of the rope & the weight descends to the top of the "CAPPED" pipe with enough force to drive the pipe 1 to 2 inches into the ground. (Depending the type of soil, size of the weight, etc.)
Be sure to make the derrick high enough to give the weight some "travel distance".
Dis-assemble the derrick & re-use the wood.
Burn the weight as firewood.
This worked fine in 1946 & should work in our "MODERN" era.
I hope this helps,
COTTONPICKER
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