I decided to replant the yard cus the wife wants it dark green front and back. The well I use to have had so much iron in it, it turned the grass orange, wrong color..lol. Anyway the first one Pat and I washed down we went down around 70 foot but there was so much clay in that area I decided to move it towards the house. Pat and I had a hard time around 20 foot. I decided to buy a gas powered mud pump and pump out the sand,clay. This bad boy pulled about a ton of sand and clay. We had a mess. We still weren't getting where I need to get. I decided to use the mud pump to wash it down instead of pumping it out. That was the ticket.We got down to 50 foot in no time.I want to get down to 100 foot. 180 would even be better. My neighbor say his is only down 13 foot and he has just a hair bit of iron in it. In this area you can hit water between 12 and 22 foot. In my case I haven't be able to hit it.Anyway washing this down was kinda of cool. I brought two fifty gallon containers, filled them with water and used the same water to wash it down instead of using household water which by the way has no where near the pressure that the mud pump has. This guy at this site has been very helpful >> http://www.drillyourownwell.com/index.htm One of the biggest problem we have run into is cave in at around 45 foot. He suggested to use clumping cat litter to prevent this. I ran out of time last weekend so this Sunday we will try that. You can get some drilling clay also to prevent cave in. I told Pat, look I don't wanna end up spending 10,000 for this well project...lol I would have hired it out but there was noway to get a drilling truck in the back yard unless I take down my fence and my neighbors fence and that would be a close fit. Most drilling companies around here want anywhere from 2 to 4 grand and don't promise anything.
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The Staff of SOH
Washing a well down, what a nightmare, but fun
- Thread starter hey_moe
- Start date
Ah, well problems. You have to love it. I bought this house in 2007 (St. Louis area), then moved to WA, rented the house, and now have returned to move back in. First thing I notice is the unusual water puddle in the back yard. The next thing I notice is the water tank in the basement isn't holding pressure. I'm no rocket surgeon, but I can add 2 and 2 and come up with a leaky supply line someplace... It isn't likely to be at the well, or I wouldn't have a puddle in the back yard. After talking with some people smarter than I, the consensus seems to be that the leak is most likely at the point the line comes into the house. Started digging at that point and have started reaching wet dirt... Hoping to make progress on a diagnosis and fix today.
When I was freshly retired from the Navy, I moved back onto the old home place where I was raised and got the old spring fed well there back in action. All was good for a couple of years until a darn snake got into the well somehow and died. The water started stinking coming out of the faucet and I knew something had to have gotten into there. I borrowed a portable gas driven pump from a relative with a flexible suction hose and commenced to pumping. All kinds of stuff came out of there including bits of rotten snake. I cleaned it out real good, let it refill and pumped it back down a few times. Put the well pump back in, set the lid back on the well and carefully sealed up the cracks where critters couldn't get back in. All was good again.
Moe, we had a 400' deep well when I was living on top of a mountain just before moving up here. The water there was like yours. So full of iron and minerals you couldn't drink it straight out of the well and turned everything orange. The landlord put a filtration system on the well that got 98% of that stuff out. The water still wasn't as good as that spring fed well on the home place, but it was still better than city water once it had been filtered.
Moe, we had a 400' deep well when I was living on top of a mountain just before moving up here. The water there was like yours. So full of iron and minerals you couldn't drink it straight out of the well and turned everything orange. The landlord put a filtration system on the well that got 98% of that stuff out. The water still wasn't as good as that spring fed well on the home place, but it was still better than city water once it had been filtered.
nigel richards
Charter Member
Dead snakes etc and well WARNING!
Willy, I had the same problem with a dead snake in my well a couple of years back, never new they could kick up such a stench!
I have a submersable electric pump that can really shift the water, it empties the well (normally about 6 cubic metres of water) in about 10 -12 minutes. Good fire standby too, if you can manage to keep the darn thing under control.
WARNING: I thought I should mention that wells are potentially lethal places to be; always have someone standing by ready to haul you out. There is also an inheritantly dangerous air situation were it's not unheard of for people working down at the bottom to pass out from lack of oxygen.
So Gentlemen; have fun, but please do take care!
Willy, I had the same problem with a dead snake in my well a couple of years back, never new they could kick up such a stench!
I have a submersable electric pump that can really shift the water, it empties the well (normally about 6 cubic metres of water) in about 10 -12 minutes. Good fire standby too, if you can manage to keep the darn thing under control.
WARNING: I thought I should mention that wells are potentially lethal places to be; always have someone standing by ready to haul you out. There is also an inheritantly dangerous air situation were it's not unheard of for people working down at the bottom to pass out from lack of oxygen.
So Gentlemen; have fun, but please do take care!
Update: Mission success (tentative). Leak was definately located right where the well expert said we would find it. Hole in the pipe about a 1/4 inch in diameter. No wonder it was turning parts of my back yard into a tiny swamp. Failed section cut out, new sectionn installed. She's holding pressure at the tank, and no evidence of leakage at the repair site. Yay! Tomorrow I'll fill the hole back in, after replacing the insulation around it so she don't freeze up this winter.