Drilling a Existing Well Deeper in Search for More Water! Great Final Results
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2023
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In this video I take you along with us as we head out to drill a existing well deeper. Originally the well was 205ft & made less than 1GPM, not enough for the customers watering needs. So we were hired to drill deeper, creating more storage & in hopes to find more water down deeper in the ground, and that's exactly what happened! Setting up on an existing well is no easy feat!
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I have watched all of the H2O Mechanic’s videos - including the car/motorcycle & other videos and love them all. Bought a home in Texas with 3 existing wells each with it’s own problems. Tomorrow morning I am replacing a well pump that’s on PVC pipe at about 160 feet using a rig I built patterned after what I have seen in these videos. Installing the new pump on 1” black roll pipe using the techniques I have learned here as well. Thank you so much for your hard work not just on the wells but on your channel - you have saved me THOUSANDS !!!
PS - Everything I do on these wells takes about 4 times longer, but there is great joy in doing something that very few people even dare to try!
You're right about that! ;)
18:43 Wow I feel blessed I can pump 60 gallons a minute out of my 2" irrigation pump
I'm from a family of well drillers and am still amazed at the few number of people who understand this process. I'd like to add some information on the difference between a Cable Tool Drill (also called a Hammer Drill) and a Rotary Water Well Drill. It's important to understand the differences from a functional and financial standpoint.
A Hammer Drill drops a thousand pound 20' long solid steel drill bar from the height of two feet via a cable under a walking beam, then lifts it up again and repeats this process. The detachable drill bit on the bottom of the drill bar has tungsten carbide "buttons" on the bottom and sides that maintain the size of the typical six inch diameter drill bit so the hole size doesn't change to a cone shape. The half ton drill bar impacts the ground with enough force to grind up the rock in the presence of water to create a sludge called "cuttings". A hammer driller will typically drill 3-6 feet per hour and the operator regularly needs to stop drilling and pump the sludge out of the well (with a twenty foot hollow tube with a dart valve at its bottom) before adding more water (5-10 gallons) typically by using a pail. When water is struck the pump will come out of the hole with more water than the 10 gallons added manually.
Conversely, a Rotary Driller turns a pressurized drill tube and the rotating bit at the bottom of the drill tube grinds up rock much more efficiently than a hammer drill. The cuttings are constantly being blown up the outside of the drill tube by pressurized air that is forced down the center of the drill tube (typically 2000 PSI). A Rotary Driller only needs to stop drilling to add another 20' drill tube to extend the well depth. Therefore, a Rotary Drill can drill several wells in one day in decent drilling because of the efficiencies mentioned.
So what does this mean to the customer. There are significant differences in the two drilling methods:
1- Impact:
The biggest difference is the amount of impact the ground receives. A Hammer Drill pounds violently and this force can easily be felt a mile away if the rock being drilled outcrops near the surface. This impact will agitate any small seam in the rock to allow water to enter the well. But a Rotary Drill grinds away at the rock with only a slight vibration on the rotating drill bit.
2- Time:
Drilling in softer rock such as red shale, a Hammer Drill can drill a 100 foot well in two to three days; a week or more in hard rock. A Rotary Drill can drill 2 or 3 wells in one day in soft or even medium hard rock. Many times my Hammer Drill ended the day with a dry 60' hole and returned the next morning to find 5 gallons per minute of water flow. The "Impact" mentioned in #1 above had loosened a slow trickle water seam and the overnight hours allowed it to open up and supply ample water.
3- Pressure:
Hammer Drilling requires one to bail out the cuttings so an empty hole 60' deep can have a 60' water head forcing water in any surrounding seam into the well hole. This pressure can cause a slow leak to allow this small seam to be flushed open. Conversely, a Rotary Drill forces 2000 PSI down the drill tube to force cuttings to the surface. Imagine a small water seam in these two cutting removal processes. A Hammer Drill operates with an empty hole with water table pressure trying to access the hole. A Rotary Drill forces cuttings into a water seam with 2000 PSI of pressure to block water access into the hole.
4- Operation Costs:
A Hammer Drill business can be started with a $20K drilling machine and a functional half-ton. A Rotary Drill would need a ballpark million dollars for the drill, drill tube service truck and accessories. Instinctively one would prefer a more efficient Rotary Water Drill, but the efficiencies of a newer higher tech Rotary Drill do not translate into a better water well or a cost savings to the customer, only a faster hole.
Note, my family has all retired from well drilling, like most Hammer Drillers. I only post this information to educate. I built a house in a subdivision where every house had Rotary wells and they mostly had such a low supply (less than one gallon per minute) from a 200' well that one shower a day was their limit. I paid a Hammer Driller a footage premium to drill my 120' well and got 10 gallons per minute, enough water to run two water sprinklers all day in a dry spell.
In summary, find a Hammer Driller, pay him a footage premium to save money and get a great water supply.
Thank you for the excellent content & the quality of your video’s!
Since my husband passed 4 yrs ago I’ve had to replace everything from the pump all the way to the house with very little help, on a strict budget and learning as I went. Lived for 1 1/2yrs having to turn power off & on to the well or no water. (used a hose for 6mons from my sisters next door to water the ranch animals)
Just found your channel and I love it! Learning a lot and refreshing this 62 yr old Gramma’s memory!! Thanks so much!! ❤
Man I had no idea how complicated drilling a hole in the ground to get water out of could be! Those of us with city water never really realize how much goes into getting water out of the ground!!
10 years ago your looking at $4k-$5k for water in the country, and depending on usage/well conditions, and pump you'll spend $600-$700 every 1-10 years
I remember as a kid in the 60s, folks with summer homes near ours having wells dug with those old 'pounder' rigs. They'd say drilling rigs, but they sounded (and looked) like 'pounders' to me. These new rigs of today seem so much more efficient. 😁😆
I would make that rig thing and replace the plumb Bob with a laser. No swinging with the laser. Great video.
$50 or less. set it over the hole where the string comes through and you can centre it to 1/8" Also, same tool can shoot straight up inside a drill pipe and you can check centreing to make sure it is dead naughts plumb.
I’ve been watching quite a few of your videos and now realize that I have done many things incorrectly on my well.
Over the past 35 years years we’ve used a 250 foot deep well producing about 20 gallons per minute serving our domestic needs. Pump set at 200 feet.
About 25 years ago, I decided to add a “pump and dump” groundwater heat pump using the existing well. The well supplied plenty of water. The P&D heat pump discharged into a 200 foot “return“ that was drilled for that purpose. The heat pump used almost 3000 gallons per day in addition to our domestic water needs. (BTW The return well never received all the return water and produced a swamp in its vicinity).
Starting with a small three-quarter horsepower Goulds pump which soon failed, we had to pull the pump and replaced it. Upon tearing the old pump apart, I found the impellers were completely clogged with a very fine silt. It almost resembled Portland cement which couldn’t be cleaned out at all, so the pump had to be replaced. We went with a larger one horsepower pump. About three years later, we replaced the one horsepower pump with a one and a half horsepower, AeroMotor brand pump (same failure, plugged impellers). After another three years it failed and once again it got replaced.
After three or four pumps (about every three years) we gave up on the “pump and dump” heat pump.
We drilled two more 200 foot wells in the vicinity of the original “return” well that had been installed for original heat pump, and installed a new “closed loop” heat pump. With 600 feet of vertical loop plus another 100 feet back to the heat pump which gave a total of almost 800 feet of loop.
The new heat pump has been working well for the last 11 years “knock on wood“ but I know that the one and a half hp pump that’s in the bottom of the residential well could give up most anytime, especially knowing all the mistakes that I made with all those past pumps that went down the well.
I installed all of them with a torque arrestor and centering discs but I know I never taped the wire anywhere so who knows, at age 78 I just hope it lasts until I’m gone.
Still watching your TH-cam videos. Wish there was something like your channel many years ago (before cell phones😳🫤🙄☺️😀). I live in Central Pennsylvania
Your pump and dump system might have been drawing a lot more silt into the well simply because of the increased volume from the demands of the heat pump.
You should expect for the existing pump to last longer because of the lower demand.
This is an amazing video. Ling up the drill rig on an existing well is quite the task. You do amazing things to drill a well for your clients. Keep up the great work!!!
That's only when you have to re-drill existing well hole
What a son, your a true professional
You might say it was well-done! Awesome job! 😀
I have a waterwell on my five acres here in Southern Colorado, and it needs to be drilled down to 470 feet, it's at 365 now. I have a pump, but that's it, living on a fixed income and fighting cancer doesn't give much money to do much of anything. I had a nice dream of what this property would be, but once cancer came into the picture, everything changed five years ago when I was diagnosed.
I'm glad you were able to fix their situation, may it pump Clean water forever.
God bless you all.
I love your videos. I’ve watched all of them to date. One thing I wish you would include is the total well specs on each well such as total depth, depth where water was struck, well yield, static water level, and pump set depth. You could include it at the end with a graphic or just a reading of the data. I’m fascinated at how the drilling process is constant yet the results can be so different from location to location.
Again, great work and nice videos. Keep it up!
I have watched many of your videos, and its amazing how deep you have to go, and sometimes how little water you find. I live in southern Michigan, and literally all the water i want on a 30 foot well with a 1/2hp top pump does everything i need in the shop. The house is a submersible but not much deeper. Code or something. I dont drink the shop water, its there for washing stuff or fire watch when welding. Keep up with the awesome, informative content!
you sir have my respect
Always excited for your videos
It is amazing what the rigs can stand and do. Great job with the whole job.
Appreciate your dedication to your profession. 💪🏻
Thanks for the content. Love your channel.
im a plumber,and i love ur videos thanks for ur good work
What great work!
Brilliant video! Came across your channel last week I've watched quite a lot of videos now. I never even knew this was a thing drilling wells in peoples gardens uk term 😁 keeps up the good work it's a fascinating process. 👍🏻
Fascinating. Thanks for sharing. All that work and just a few more lengths of drill pipe. Crazy.
Great topic & vid!
We need some of you well drillers up in the NW. It took me 3 years to get my hole drilled with me being on the list of two different well drillers., and now am waiting on the pump installation, which is a separate company all together. Well drillers up here for some reason do not instal pumps. Just found your channel and it is great.
Me too in SW WI 45 years ago..3 years.
All about being professional experience and knowing your craft along with your equipment
Amazing skill thanks for sharing you work with us, looks like exhausting at times.
Nice job
To make your teams and life work easier, I highly recommend you carry 1" thick 4' x 8' sheets of uhmw poly board at least 2 on the drill truck. They can survive almost anything and they make crossing dangerous terrain easy.
I've used 3/4 plywood with crane trucks.
Good job
so weird i dont have well city water but for some reason i love watching your work, the best thing is you work smart and know what are you doing , wish you was up north i would hire you just to the sake of it :)
I am obviously ignorant on water wells but I had no clue fracking was used in that industry also. Makes complete sense!
always enjoy seeing people work hard to fix existing problems drilled wells and shot fire just a suggestion cribed drills and other heavy equipment your cribbing should start level it will slide on it self and bend the heck out of your steels never thought of removeing front tires can always learn somthing
plumb good 👍
We don't usually have the elevation changes like that here in central Florida, but that alignment tool was genius. Wish I would thought of that. Good job.
I have to give credits to my father on that one! It's a 30 year old tool that's seen a few different rigs. The wood is old, but it works!
When you says you get 'er done , your right.
Well. That's a DEEEEP subject
Interesting
In Kansas in most of central Kansas , you drill 60 foot and you will hit secondary water ( into the aquifer) mostly sand and clay.
My well gets 19 gallons an HOUR, 1/2 gallon a minute is over 50% more water and with a family of four we don't have any issues. Can't water the lawn but with 450 gallons reserve we don't have any issues except when the toilet gets stuck. Given how high the water came up they must've had over 200 gallons reserve just in the well alone before re-drilling.
When we had the drought in California I was down to a half gallon a minute I had to put a special controller on the pump and I designed a pressure type of valve adjustable to hold pressure on the pump to slow down the flow.
Right on .
Im in NC, and this looks somewhat familiar!
We never had that much trouble ever landing the rig over a hole must have a great spotter
This video was great, I would hate to have a well that deep but he has plenty of water
Amazing, I had no idea this was possible. And it turned ou fantastic, what's not to like? ;)
Our well was dug first in 1994 375 ft 40 gallons a min. Ran dry after well wasn't used for years then in 2019 dug it anther 150 ft hit more water than the Guage could read. My tag says 100gpm
I set up trailers for years, 1' drop over 20' looks bad aftet you go out 80' that is 4' plus the 18"-24" minimum height required for plumbing and such, typically 24"-32" is the most without getting crafty and expensive!! We did all the difficult setups, in places ppl said were impossible, we nearly pulled frames out from under homes going up hills that steep, and broke trailer tongues off backing trailers uo 60° + hills required two D8 dozers one pulling one pushing backwards! Elevation is everything!
You would think that today there would be plum bobs with a laser in the bottom to make reading faster and easier. But all I have ever seen is ones that point upward for overheat fixture alignments.
Dam son, I think we found something you do well!
So how did you pump the water up and what did you use for a pump and hose or pipe?
Did you run a casing or liner in the 200-460’ section of hole?
Good informative video! We have a 600+/- water well here in north Texas that we will need to have fixed. Years ago, my father in law got tired of 'fixing' it, and hooked up to city water. We would like to see if we can remove the old pump jack and put a submersible pump in it's place, and get enough water for livestock and irrigating big garden. We will have to find someone that can give us a bid. :)
Question, wondering why not drill along side of previous well suite ? Instead of going thru that wo4k.
How are you determining how much water . Gpm is coming out white the op for a set up?
hi there, instead of a regular plumb bob that truck movement and wind affect, perhaps a self leveling laser plumb that projects a beam downward would be a better bet, unless you need a plumb bob very infrequently...
Can you drill a well with a full length casing, and screens at the bottom deeper?
I'm sure you've thought about using a winch to make small repositions of your rig?
Hey can you do a video on Shallow wells I have what's believed to be but would like to talk over phone or some way
would it be possible to position the bit before attaching to rig?
Just had mine redrilled deeper. 140 foot extra
We’re here in northern Arizona with our house at 6000’ elevation. Back in 2006 we has a well drilled. They went down 490’ into the Coconino sandstone. They hit water at 390’, and the bottom 100’ is so the well will be efficiently replenished. We pump 12 gallons per minute with a 3 HP pump and can do that all day. We have a 3000 gallon tank up the hill that we use for gravity feed pressure. We generally go through one tank about every 2-3 weeks.
Wow, 3hp is a big pump.
Our solar power system can run that size pump. Most folks around here have 3 HP pumps. One neighbor has a 12 HP pump and his well does 30+ gallons per minute. He uses a 20 kW generator to power his well.
@@gazelam I figure I'd need a 10kw generator to run my 1hp pump. Maybe I overestimated.
When running, our 3 HP uses about 4 to 4.5 kW. Startup power is closer to 6 kW. Our power is split phase 240 VAC either from the solar inverter or our 14 kW propane generator. Most installations that use 1 HP pump motors are 117 VAC around here. If so, you should be able to use a small 2 kW unit with no problem. Of course, you may have other power consumption items as well. Good luck.
@@gazelam Thanks, I think my 10kw figure is about double what"s actually needed to start the pump.
This 1hp pump is running on 240. A ~5kw generator should suffice, with careful management. Not sure where my 10kw figure was derived.
Maybe you can use that nice inspection camera but stick it in a hole right next to the plumb bob string hole so you can see exactly where you need to go. just a thought.
Have a great day
Yes it can be drilled deeper
I live in Ormond beach Florida an we have had a lot of rain my yard has gotten flooded and now I am getting brown water out of my well does that mean it is contaminated ? Not sure what to do about it any info would be greatly appreciated
Sure
And what do you do if you hit shallow gas or oil by chance? Has this ever happened to you or anybody else?
I don’t understand, how do you extend the casing and perf ?
At least there wasn't a pump house there too. I really don't like pump houses. Stay safe!
Videos are great. I own a water filtration/purification business, also a licensed plumber and licensed well tech. A well driller in my area hit a methane gas source while drilling, burned a one year old rig to the ground and the brand new, not even moved into yet, custom built log home that was only 40ft away
I wanted to see the part when you resleeved the casing. Or did you.??
a weighted laser on a self leveling gimble would be nice.
out of curiosity. when you leave it overnight. do you pull out all the rods or you leave them in?
Being from Florida I never heard of a well running dry, but now living in PA my well has gone dry multiple times in the last several years. I have seen you frack a well and drill them deeper. Is there any value to drilling one deeper and fracking it? I’m getting tired of running out of water and willing to try just about anything to keep it from happening again.
Hey I wander if that could be done to my well.😊
I think a gravel pad around that hole would have been a great investment for them and y'all's rig
How deep could you install the pump
would this work a any water well?
Is there a way to tell how deep your existing well is without pulling the pump. I don't have any documentation showing anything about the well
👍👍
What's the cost comparison between drilling a new well vs redrilling an existing hole? Also, does the homeowner need to do any paperwork with the county on redrilling the existing hole? Thanks
If the well is atleast 200ft it's cheaper to drill it deeper. A new well gets new casing that can deeper & prevent surface water intrusion. There's a few variables we look at before we drill a well deeper
Great video and Thanks for all you advice. I had a well drilled in N Georgia at 700ft and my water level is around 300ft. Well driller is telling me I have to put pump in bottom of well. What do you think Philip ?😊
What is the production volume?
That goes into calculations as well, if it produces little, you need to go down further, but your well is also a storage tank of sorts so if you have water at 300ft, and it produced well you don’t need to go down to 700.
Did you lower the pump?
How do get by the pitless?
Respected, subcontractors that are drilling wells on open pit coal mine (water wall), have extendable stabilizer legs. Something that looks similar to stabilizers on mobile cranes (or how are they called i'm not sure) would be such an improvement for stability of the rig (in my humble opinion). I don't have any pictures or videos of them working since this is strictly forbidden, but rigs are kind of similar, except the working platform with commands is on the left side and not on left back like on yours, much more instruments and buttons and levers. Think the rig is quite bigger also, and they do bore up to 250 mm on our site, sometimes some extra large holes (who knows for what) too. Thanks You very much for very informative and educational videos. Best Regards.
I totally agree! I wish we had 2 more riggers that were angle supports, but there's limited space for such a thing.
how do you calculate the gpm with the drill rods still in the well? I do a lot of well work and curious how you know
Not sure if he uses the same technique, but have seen drill rigs just blowing down compressed air through the pipes and check how much water comes out.
I’m pretty sure is the water runoff is how they calculate it
@danielrose1392 both of yall are correct. We stop injecting our water & only estimate the water getting blown out. The driller sees its every day & knows what is what. A true test typically shows more than what we estimate
I’m in the Mojave Desert
My well is 150 feet and I make 40 gallons a minute.
I think part of the casing on my 100 foot water well has collapsed but I can't get anyone around here to drill an existing well out so I have had to haul water to have it.
Anyone know a water well fracker in central Texas?
should put a laser pointer on that bob.
You do deeper, you need a bigger rig to drill a bigger downhole. Stepping the bore will make it easier to get equipment down bore and easier to drill.
That is how the oil field roughnecks out on the ocean rigs do it.
Hey my well is pumping muddy water I ran it wide with no plumbing hooked to it and it cleared up and the water was clear. Went out of town for the week came back hooked up plumbing and it’s dirty again. Any suggestions on what to look for
Have you had alot of rain fall in your area recently? Normally that's a direct connection. Especially if the well is very old
What is the static water level and where did you set the pump?
In this well, static was at 10ft & the pump was at 190ft.
Took the front wheels off!
We just moved the pipe down then dropped a quarter stick of dynamite down the pipe ...plenty of water after that ...
Thanks man for sharing this. What is the best way to contact you? I would like to bring you to Kenya to help with working on two wells from the scratch. We can get equipment and materials locally. Please get back to me so that we can talk more. Thank you for sharing knowledge and educating!
A green laser plumb bob might help. Now neighbor will complain you are taking “their water 💦 “ 😊
is that a lake further down the hill? any connection between the well water and water in the lake?
The closer you get to a lake, the deeper the wells typically become.
The earth around the lake is solid, unfractured, that's why they created a lake here (the biggest in va). It's a common theme we've noticed when drilling for lake lot/properties
thank you for that! I enjoy your work. Bill from ON Canada@@h2omechanic
Is there a county permit office that typically keeps these jobs on file where I could go back and see who drilled my well? I need to have this same thing done but would love to know how deep the well actually is.
Yes, it should be on file if it's not too old
@@h2omechanichow old is too old?
@@adelinawarriner6259 In many towns the records go way back to when the art of water well drilling was getting popular. Usually in the 50s, although smaller towns might not have good records till around 1970. (over 50 years now) It's mostly a matter of when various codes came into play and record keeping (with permit fees) became a thing. You might ask what codes are out there. Distance to a septic were probably first on the list, and these days you have buried tanks (gas / oil) plus minimum yield, based on building occupancy. Some areas will NOT allow a buried well head these days either. There are also frost / freezing issues. Yeah, code to protect us from ourselves!
👍🏽
So you could still use the same pump?
Yup! Luckily!