Hand drive a well?

[duckman#1]

I am thinkng of trying to put in a old stlye hand drivin well. The type where you pound the pipe down by hand.
Has anyone here done this lately? Looking for so tips/info?
How easy/hard is it? I wanted to put a basic hand pump well on some vacant land where we put a camper. How do you know when you hit the water table? I would guess the pipes drive down alot easier when you hit it????
I see Menards,ect still sell the point and pipes to do it and Harbor frieght sells the hand pump.

[bigcountrysg]

Rent a jack hammer to make the job easier, or get a few big guys to swing that sledge hammer for you.

[glnmiller]

Only done it once about 15 years ago. We drove 2 inch galvanized pipe, and drove it by hand. Be sure and tighten the pipe after every few hits, the impact will loosen the joints, otherwise you run the risk of stripping the threads (I learned this the hard way, after we had driven in 40 feet, had to start over).

I don't remember it getting easier once we hit water. After about 50 foot or so we tested for water by attaching the hand pump, priming and checking for good flow. We ended up going about 70 foot down. That pump still works, but we rarely use it, we now have a cottage and drilled well on the property. It's nice to have the old well when the power goes out.

Good luck.

[Backwoods-Savage]

I've done a couple. On one we had a small motor that we mounted and old rim to. Build a tripod and hang a pulley. Naturally, you have to make a driver too and make it fairly heavy. Wrap a rope around the rim and you can do the driving one-handed. Just don't wrap too many times (twice) or it won't release when you let up on the rope. On another well, we used a John Deere and wrapped the rope around the pulley, just letting the tractor idle.

You can get a driving cap along with the point at a hardware or at www.lehmans.com

I agree that you need to keep tightening the pipe but maybe every 10-15 minutes should be enough.

Sometimes you can hit water without a big drop in the pipe. Just check it every couple feet or so if you want. On the last well we did I do remember that suddenly the pipe dropped about an inch with one blow whereas it was only dropping maybe an eighth inch before. We drove it another 1-2 feet and had beautiful water.

All in all, it is work but you just try to make the work as easy as possible. I'd hate to drive one with a sledge. The last one we drove went 20 feet and took us a couple days; maybe 2 1/2 days. Don't remember for sure.

[eddiejohn4]

I have driven a few and it is hard work.

[snowman11]

hard work

hope your water isn't too deep

mine is at 8 feet! and it was still hard wrok

[POLARBEAR]

Before you just start sinking pipe you may want to find out where your water table is. Also look into permits that may be appropriate.

A buddy of mine had his well go dry because the nieghbor got a new deeper well. It cost them some big bucks to fix it. The well drillers said the new well changed the water table enough. These were pretty shallow wells to begin with. not anymore though. I think the new wells are down a couple of hundred feet now. But dont qoute me on that.

[Liver and Onions]

I've helped with 3. Having a good/heavy cylinder driver with two handles is a must. 4 guys who can work and take turns on the driver after 10-12 whacks can put it down in an afternoon if at least person knows what they are doing.....assuming you are not going past 22-25'. Would suggest a stainless steel wellpoint.
Any Amish in the area? They should know how to do it and could witch the area first if you haven't already do so. You might be able to rent a gas driven auger style.

L & O

[Ed Michrina]

Is there any truth to people digging a hole 3 to 4 foot deep and a few feet round, to fill with water and keep it filled for 2 days prior to pounding a well?

[bigcountrysg]

bottle water is starting alot easier and alot less work to me.

[eddiejohn4]

I would see about renting a gas augar and drill the well. This is an easier project on your hands and shoulders.( as long as it is a shallow well)

[Mitch]

Good thread! I've thought about putting one in myself use soley for irrigation.

Anyone have any experience using a sand sucker? I've been told this is the way to go.

Mitch

[duckman#1]

Thanks for the info. Looks like we better not pick a couple of hot days to do it:D I will look into the rental, and yes we do have amish in the area. maybe a coulple of their boys need a side job?

[Trophy Specialist]

I've helped with 3. Having a good/heavy cylinder driver with two handles is a must.
I'll second that. Don't skimp and try it with hammer. Get a pounder made for the task. Also, you should find out what the rock situation is in your area. I tried to pound down six wells by my camp and hit rock about 10' down on every attempt and gave up. My neighbor got a good well down on his first try. You should also know how to pull the pipe should you hit a rock. I built a cedar post frame over the pipe and used a come-along to pull it. Before you start the project, find out how deep neighbors had to go down to hit water, that way you'll know how much pipe to buy. Get a stainless steel head too. Don't skimp on that eithor.

[Backwoods-Savage]

Is there any truth to people digging a hole 3 to 4 foot deep and a few feet round, to fill with water and keep it filled for 2 days prior to pounding a well?

Ed, I've not heard of that one before but it does sound interesting. No doubt it would depend on what type of ground you have. Naturally, the best place to drive a point is in sandy ground though and water goes through sand like *^%& through a tin horn.

[Steve]

I put one in myself for all my water needs on my property on the NW side of the state. Up there the water table is about 30' and it is all sand. Easy driving, but the well head had to be put in a 6' pit in order to make it work with a suction draw pump and the 1 1/4" pipe that I used. Make sure you buy drive couplings for the pipe and a drive head for the pipe you are hammering on. It does help to ask the locals how far down the water table is because the less joints you have going down in your pipe the better.

[john warren]

i have put in a few driven wells. depending on your soil its a piece of cake ....or hell on earth.
rocks are practicly insurmountable. but good sandy loam is a joy to find.
your first task is to determine the type of soil you will be driving. not the surface but deep down. you can ask locals what they have found . or drive a few test rods. use some rebar and pound it down to see what you find.
if you decide to drive a point then my best advice is to use a tripod or gin pole with a pulley to ease your work load.make or have made a weighted device that will look much like a bottom bouncer for fishing. it will have a good amount of weight, say 20-25 pounds, an eyefor attachment and a rod sticking out of the bottom that will be 3 to 4 feet long and will be placed inside the driven pipe. you will lift this device by the eye and drop it onto the pipe to drive it. make sure to use a sacrificial length of pipe to drive against a foot or two to protect the threads of your well pipe.
you can simply pull the rope and release it to pound. or you can use a winching device. this can be accomplished using a tractor such as a lawn and garden tractor with a bare rim on the drive axel. tie it to an anchor so the tractor doesn't move. jack the drive axel off the ground. install the bare rim. by wrapping the pull rope around the bare rim you can lift the drive weight, slackening the rope will drop the weight. tightening the rope will raise the weight.

i have used this method and it worked well for me. but i take no responsibility for any fingers lost during the proccess. best of luck.

[imakeknives]

I once drove a sand point in my basement by putting a plank up under the floor joists and turning my handyman jack upside down and just jacking the pipe into the ground. No strain, no pain..Oh, I did make an adaptor to keep the jack from slipping off the pipe cap...

[FREEPOP]

When I did one we were lucky to have an old guy tell us that any well that takes water, will give water. Meaning, keep driving until you can't fill the pipe, then it will give water. It's a fair amount of work, we had sand but also some hard pan clay, about 25-30 foot (if memory serves me correct).