Thursday 23 January 2014

A Simple Method For Drilling Water Wells With Common PVC Pipe

By Judy Sullivan


Few items are as critical to maintaining life as potable water. While there is a good deal of this naturally occurring resource on the earth, many fresh aquifers can only be found deep underground. This is the reason why drilling water wells has become so critical all over the world to help furnish this resource to everyone so they can live and flourish.

What people generally do not understand is that often there is a clean aquifer deep under their feet. Many wells go down around 60 or 70 feet, and shallow wells are often about half this. When going this deep it is reasonably simple to use plumbing PVC pipe along with some hard work and an old garden hose to drill a well.

There is typically a chance that any well you dig at this depth will not have safe water for food preparation or drinking. You should generally plan on getting any well you have tested for various bacteria and other contaminates. This is critical even when they are done by professional drillers.

The most common size of pipe used is 2 inches, but if you plan to go deeper it is generally best to begin with 3 inch pipe. Begin by starting a bore hole with your 2 or 3 inch pipe. This is done by running a slurry down the 2 inch drill pipe as it is forcefully rotated in clockwise and counter clockwise directions.

The displaced sand and other material is washed out of the hole by the flowing slurry moving down the pipe and out the sides of the bore hole. This is even easier when you notch the bottom of the pipe to help break up the soil as you twist and turn the pipe. As you go deeper work the pipe up and down and side to side while twisting it so the shaft does not collapse.

After your pilot hole is dug out and cleaned up you need to have some sort of well screen for it to be serviceable. This stops the hole from filling in while stopping dirt and rocks from being drawn up the pipeline. These can be bought in many home improvement stores or one can easily be made by cutting slats in a piece of 1 1/2 inch pipe and wrapping it in burlap cloth.

The hole should also be capped off to prevent the aquifer from any possible contamination from outside contaminant sources. Generally, this is completed by filling in around your pipe with pea gravel or sand to around 5 feet from the surface. This remaining 5 feet is filled with concrete or a mortar based slurry which seals it and forms a small service pad for any pump to rest on.

Even if the well does not furnish fresh water, it could still be used for different things like watering a lawn and garden, washing dirty clothes or to fill pools and water features. Often drilling water wells in the back yard may dramatically reduce the amount of resources you use. This saves families capital while helping the earth save a very precious natural resource.




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