@@jimsjacob he replied and said his options were limited . I was wondering in they used ground based radar or some modern technology to find the best spot to drill ? I guess not .
Being an 85 year old lifetime driller i appreciate video's like this,. OH the fork is actually called a breakout wrench, I lost a little finger to one like that :)
Thanks for the video. Memories!! I grew up on a cattle and sheep ranch near Piñon New Mexico. My grandfather and mother homesteaded 1-section of land around 1910-/+ 5 years (we haven’t found the records). Anyway we had 3 water wells on the ranch they grew to about 10,000 acres in th 1960’s. Both of my grandparents were born in the 1880’s/90’s and my dad was born in 1939, he was their only child. Anyway I came along in the 60’s. The area got a lot more rain than your land but with changing weather patterns, rain water was insufficient by 1950. So we drilled 3 wells at 1000+ feet. The water was amazing except for our property below the edge of the Sacramento. It was a yellow cake (sulfur) well. The water smelt like rotten eggs. Our cattle loved it, but I hated it.
my grand pa did 500 acres in Wyoming in 1921 his friend left gave him 500 more acres but the acres is desolate still open land there now, they found oil hundred miles away
Wow, memories indeed! No sulfur smell here but lots of other stuff that shows up in my water rest video coming soon. Really enjoyed your story though. Thanks for sharing it.
Great job on video and narration! I am a retired drilling contractor of 42 years, My wife and I owned a very similar rig to this one and these are really amazing machines. Great job on putting this together and posting.
Top casing is called surface casing. In the oil field they drill down past the freshwater, then push cement down the casing and up the sides to seal the surface water from the oil and gas formation. Then they start with a smaller diameter casing.
My father and the neighbor bought a well rig and drill pump and the three of us drilled our well set the casing and blew it clean 24” X 300’ we drilled five wells for four properties in the San Joaquin Valley.
Reason for 7:47 When they finish drilling a rod out and pulled it back a couple of feet is to keep the head clear of the debris. Water is pump to make sure the drill head is clear and not clogged. If not doing that you can actually suck up fine rock or sand Into the head and clogging the water port/nozzles. When you add another rod on. If you clogged your drill head it will overhead. The drill head is actually called a hammer head or hammer bit
Referred to them as "downhole hammer with flat bottom bit" when working in the Arkoma Basin of Arkansas and Oklahoma and the process as "air-drilling" and when no water you are "dusting" and when you encounter some water, you may need to "mist" or "foam" the air to create a wall cake. I was a wellsite geologist in the 70s & 80s.
Good job. Pretty much the same process is used to drill 20000 foot wells and deeper. Different equipment, fluids, pumps, etc. But the basic process is the same. They were using an “Air Hammer”, with compressed air, some water, an a commercial soap to make the foam. I’ve dried many wells to 10000’ or more in Pennsylvania using this process. You did a great job explaining for the novice. 😊
Jim 20,000ft is more than 6,000m. 6km. What reason for so deep? 2. Can air blow out the chips from that depth? Or did you have foam assistance? Thanks. RSA.
@@antonhuman8446 air is only good to about 12000 ft. 20000 ft vertically is not uncommon with fluid mud. A lot of wells go horizontal at some depth and can go 30000 ft overall length.
Air rotary. I used to drill water wells, with that method. But also used CABLE TOOL rigs. Here in the Canterbury plains, with gravel/ sands, we have to use a casing ALL the way. Some wells 150 - 200 mts deep. Than screen dropped in, and casing jacked back to expose the screen allows the water in. Will add, cable tool also used for TEST DRILLING bridge piles and under buildings, to see what piles are needed. Welded casing, so each weld had to be done properly. 3 runs on each. Root run, bottom run, 3rd run to finish. Cheers to all.
@@LetsOverthinkThis it doesn't work on anything less than very shallow surface water, I do electro-seismic groundwater surveying for a living its technology they use in the oil and gas industry to measure the depth of resistive liquids, I can tell you if there is a presence of water or not also at what depth it begins and ends also the yield youll have in gpm, accurate to a few feet.
It does work as i and another persons seem to find the same spots.it looks like it does as i had a well sank by my people back in 64 but useless then i divined this spot 15 ft away amd loads of water
I believed I saw this water drilling operations a few years ago while driving along I-10 to Los Angeles. I'm impressed as well how the crew work as if they knew every steps of the drilling process. Thank you for uploading, very informative!
Looks like a GEFCO 30 K. Mine had a thousand cfm screw compressor and 3x4 mud pimp. Sold out in 2017 to a friendly competitor. They just purchased a new 30k to comply with CA smog..my crew is still working with the new owner..Loved the work..never a dull moment😂
Loved working on drill rigs and great satisfaction supplying people with water. Company is now in hands of third owner..I was second. First owner started in 1922 and I bought in in 1972 with a 71 Star cable tool. Ran Portadrill 10 TG and TKT before moving up to Gefco 30 K..new owners just purchased a new one to be smog compliant in Nothern CA. We're 102 years young..LOL
before exoect ti drill in the evening you need pray if where is the good water will come out. here in phillipines 4 days before the water will come out but it is non stop flowing and very vlear water. im pilipino watching here in phillipines.
In Ireland there are many drilled wells we have one too . Made in the same way . But we have a special insert on the bottom bit of the sleeve to make a water proof connection in to the rock. Because in Ireland a lot off what I call dirty ground water could leak in the well and can contaminate your well .
Interesting! Here, they pour concrete between the 20' steel sleeve and the surrounding rock to make sure no contamination can seep in (plus the concrete pad that's required surrounding the steel sleeve at ground level).
Ideally speaking, and just a suggestion, that retention wall & collection pit, would be lined with thick plastic sheeting. In such sandy soil, water, liquids, does go deeper down than clay, loamie soil. But cool vid, well done and informative.
Interesting! To be honest I wasn't trying to prevent reabsorption since it's all just water and ground up rock with a little bit of biodegradable foaming agent adding in but yours is definitely a cleaner approach! 👍
I hope you used a good dowser with knowledge of water levels on the City wells in Yucca and Stumps to SITE the well. . What are they charging per foot drilled?
I didn't and I don't believe in it but I know people do and that's all good. 👍 I did use a well driller thats been doing this in this area for several generations. I think it was somewhere around 68/foot at the time.
This man has successfully kept me engaged for a whole 11 minutes on a topic i didn't even need to know! Excellent narration. Simplified video footage And the crew of North America drilling is amazing! There is an end missing. Have you found water?
I know of places in Australia where bores go down nearly 1km . And water free flows at over 1m ltrs per day. Bores here now are capped, sealed & water is piped to tanks, troughs, homes, garden taps etc
@@LetsOverthinkThis we have a great artesian basin here in Australia.. some bores only need to go down a couple of hundred mtrs others about 1 km . The pressure is natural not requiring water to be pumped to the surface , but to minimise evaporation , they must be capped, sealed , piped, water stored in tanks etc . On very isolated outback properties , Open drains were used yrs ago getting water to dams & isolated homes but evaporation rates were huge
That’s so cool . Joshua Tree and San Bernardino County don’t allow us to do anything on our land , let alone dig for a well. Just putting up a 5ft fence was mission impossible and a few ticket violations .
Oh wow that's weird since at least where I am (also in San Bernardino)you actually HAVE to have water before you can even get a permit to build anything. Which makes sense but I wonder what they expect you to do for water? Anyway sorry to hear that. Thanks for watching and good luck to you!
I'm in the mountains and we have good water. The drillers hit water at about 80 feet but it's just surface water. The wells can be deep or shallow. My first well was at 240 feet. I had it re-drilled and they went close to 500 feet. My neighbor just drilled his well, 500 feet for 100 gallons a minute. I have watched them drill a few wells, not exciting but it is something to see.
Interesting video but raises as many questions as it answers. When you drill to 1000 ft or even 2000 ft, it's important to determine the static water level because that's the depth to raise water. Ultimately the total capital cost is drilling, installing the pipe work (casing) and the pump and motor. The operational cost are then the power / fuel cost plus maintenance of pump and motor. Total costs can then determine an hourly cost against the volume pumped ( gal or L/hr), obviously the less lift height- the cheaper the water.
Agreed but I think you may be thinking agriculture-scale water pumping. This is a well for a single family home and the pump easily pumps with about 600 watts to provide around 6gpm from the hole. The static water level is around 190 which honestly isn't bad at all considering...
Probably 60ish but if you're going to use that as any estimate for your own purposes, don't. This process has an enormous range of costs depending on lots of factors.
Things like how you found water in this spot in the desert ? Then the cost ..that would be interesting too. The slush is Drillers Mud. I’ve drilled six wells in Baja California and enjoyed the discovery of water each time. None of the wells were dug using equipment anywhere near as nice and modern as this.
Thanks for watching and yeah, sorry I missed those aspects! I did answer many times in the comments since, but to summarize: Cost was around $60k for what you see here and as for the spot, I bought the land knowing it was likely (but not certain) that water could be found there based on neighbor's wells, etc. I don't believe in dowsing rods (though anyone is free to!) especially at this depth, so we picked the spot that made the most sense for my site plan: most spots on the property would have been more of a pain in the future in terms of trenching and such. The drilling company just bought the rig here after practically running their old rig into the ground over the previous few decades so I, too, was impressed by how clean and new it was :) Anyways, thanks for the comment!
Lo siento, no sé el tipo de taladro. No detectamos agua antes de empezar. ¡No conozco ninguna tecnología que pueda sentir el agua a cientos de pies de profundidad a través del granito! Gracias por ver.
Lol, yeah there's a lot of biased info out there because it gets people agitated enough to keep tuning in. Cali also lets you do almost any work on your own property (electrical, plumbing, framing, etc) with no license so long as you still do it to code, but I bet that's not what people think.....
Short answer is you can't. There are technologies that can sense water that is shallower than this and/or through other ground conditions. Some people believe in using dowsing rods and they're free to believe that. I don't personally believe in it, and if I did, I'd believe you could maybe sense free flowing water that is pretty shallow. Not hundreds of feet through solid rock :) In my case, I know my neighbors have water and how deep it was so I knew it was pretty likely I'd hit it too and luckily I did. Thx for the question!
Unfortunately it was about 50% more expensive than that (!) which you can probably chalk up to higher labor and fuel costs here or the fact that it's hard drilling through granite the whole way. I mentioned this elsewhere, but North American was not the cheapest driller around but they were the most highly regarded and came most highly recommended, so it would have been less expensive otherwise. Thanks for the question!
I didn't try witching because I don't believe in it (though many people do!). And I could be more easily convinced that it works for water like 20 or 50 feet underground. I'm not convinced anyone can sense water hundreds of feet down through solid granite. I don't know how many water tables their are since around here you're just hitting water between layers of rock and I knew it was most likely I'd hit it around the same depth my neighbors' wells had. Thanks for watching!
@@angelofamillionyears4599 Curious is it common to drill and not hit water where you are? My point is, if you're in a place where people often hit water, how do you know witching works? (not trying to be an ass, but genuinely curious)
My dad had a hammer drill rig do are well in Blue Diamond NV outside of las vegas in the 70s and they lost the hammer bit at 680 feet and had to start over. And he witched it with coat hangers that well had good water tell we left it in 2013.
yeah I've heard that, and to be fair, I think some parts of the high desert I'm in also require that sort of depth. These things seem to be VERY location-specific. Thanks for commenting!
Seemed like a simple drilling. Ya, lots of rock but at least it's consistent ground. Drilled to 2,000 feet in Afghanistan and we were constantly pulling the drill rod out to change bits since the ground changed dramatically in such short distances.
@@LetsOverthinkThis Sorry if I sounded a smart ass there, many years in the drilling game and some descriptions make me cringe a bit, glad you got your water though. HNY for 2023.
@@LetsOverthinkThis a lot of the tools are custom made and there names are made up most of the time IV been to pump convention but most of the stuff made by a machine shop 🛠️💯👍✌️🍻💦
I think day 1 was getting all set up and putting the 20' steel casing in with concrete, etc. The next day they actually drilled to 480' and the day after to 600'. That 3rd day they tried putting the PVC in but as you can see in part 2, they hit a problem and had to come back with a mud pump which added yet another day. To be honest, it still all felt pretty quick to me, considering.
What information or facts satisfied you that the risk of a dry hole was worth it? Also, can you tell us the cost of the well including pump purchase and installation?
Where it made sense for my project and build, etc. Very few options, actually that make sense in terms of not having to pump water up hill a lot or trench needlessly.
They don't know! Some people in the comments think the dowsing rod thing works and they're entitled to think that but I don't so I just had them put the well where it makes sense for the site plan. Most places on the property would be less than ideal from that perspective! And no, they don't always hit water. Depends on the area though in my area people usually do hit water so the chances were decent. Phew!
You don't! It was the spot that made sense given my site plans.... Most other places on the land would require lots of hard trenching or uphill pumping so we went with the spot that worked best since nobody knows anyway 😉 Some people believe in dowsing rods. I personally do not but hey, whatever works for folks.
That’s awesome, a big gamble unless you know for certain that theirs water down there, well done, loved your vid, very informative, I watched the water testing one as well, very interesting, I’d love to have our tap water tested to see what falls out the woodwork
@@BondWarrior Indeed, but I should have mentioned.... while that's how I picked that spot on the land, before I bought the land I talked to neighbors and looked at well drilling reports so I had some decent confidence that the area in general regularly produces good wells. Not so in other areas in the desert of course. At any rate, thanks for watching!
You should have doused first with a mesquite limb. I tested it with my eyes closed. It really works. Some other water drilling companies said I couldn’t find water there. I did.
Lots of reason... Once the site plan was done for the buildings and infrastructure, etc, there was really only one or two places to have the well that wouldn't cause a real pain later with long trenched water runs or having to pump water uphill a lot, etc. But no rhyme or reason in terms of where the water is underground. That far down, through rock, everyone with any experience here said it was basically luck of the draw.
The wells out in the desert are very low producing... In the 2 to 4 gpm range so everyone has a big water storage tank. The well can produce at a low rate but for longer, and a pressure pump pulls from the storage tank for instantaneous usage. Totally fine for a household but not suitable for agriculture, etc. thx for watching!
I'm not sure if this is true but I heard that when you drill for water the ground shrinks. In California this has been proven to be true with farmers drilling for water
Well the ground doesn't really shrink but since part of what supports the surface is the layers below (including water) if you remove a lot of water, the surface can lower. And yeah, it's the case everywhere a lot of water is being pumped from the ground and is a real problem. My tiny personal well that is just for a house of 2 and no agriculture isn't contributing to that but it's a phenomenon for sure.
Hey man do you know if anyone ever sent a GoPro or something into these oil pockets? Because it seems like an underground ocean is down there and I would love to see how it looks like and if anything lived down there
Thanks for the comment. You mentioned oil but to be clear, this was water drilling, not oil. Also there is not an underground ocean: we're just hitting little streams of water between layers of rock. Now that said, I have heard that sometimes while drilling, they do hit a big open pocket and that YES, they had even lowered a camera but in this case it was just a big open rock cavern. The only life you're going to find down here (if any) is microscopic....
Thanks for the comment! I know bentonite is commonly used but I'm about 90% sure it was concrete in this case since they dropped a whole bunch of bags of concrete on site, used some to seal around the steel, and then used the rest to pour the 6" slab when it was all done. Unfortunately I wasn't there when they did it so that's the missing 10% confidence in my answer ;)
It's a cost per foot (there isnt a minimum since they know it's hundreds of feet around here no matter what), and then a few fixed fees like the pump cost. This was around $55k but the costs vary enormously even just across small distances since the geology can change a lot, plus local labor costs, accessibility, etc. Thx for watching!
I live about 15 miles north of JT near the Marine Base on 2.5 acres... fortunately we have water from the JTWD but I always wondered about the cost of putting in a well. Thanks for the very informative video 🤗
Thanks! I'm not a driller, so hopefully others can chime in. What I have seen is a lot of it being a family business with the nuances and variations taught over hundreds of wells drilled over the years. But that doesn't help anyone looking to get into it.....
You actually don't know and you pay either way! 😬 That said, there are nearby wells so it was likely. Some people believe in those rods and such to sense it but I don't and even if I felt like you could sense water at like 50 feet, I don't believe you can hundreds and hundreds of feet through granite. It's very very expensive to do this and even more-so now with the price of pvc, fuel, and everything being so high. Let's just say it was over $40k.... But it's a little pointless to even give that number since it varies a lot depending on your location, the depth, etc.
@@coin2456 Glad you enjoyed it! Was super fun to watch the process, and yeah, any time I encounter people who care about the work they do, I'm happy to share that with others. It's increasingly rare it seems....
This was just a few days (about 3 to drill and another to install the pump) but this will change a lot depending on depth and geology and equipment used I think!
ok... so.. I am a geologist over in Arizona.. I have spent years walking around the desert.. I also look at satellite images and I have been for more than 30 years... you will find water along the cracks in the underlying rock... rivers and creeks and dry washes follow fault lines... all of them... that's what creates the topology of the land... they meander.. because the Planet is going round and round so water wants to flow downhill in a straight line, but the motion of the Planet creates curves and it bounces back and forth between the rocks... the water is actually flowing underground.. the sand and dust are porous... and those cracks where dry washes are is where you find water... if you look.. and find a place where the meander runs into a higher point of rock.. a cliff.. even a small one.. the area across the wash on the inside of the curve.. a fairly shallow well will give you water
vegetation is a good indicator for water... I look for saguaro here in the Sonoran desert... you are in the lowest region on Earth... below sea level... in some areas .. if I was looking... those ankle high bushes are a pretty good indication that you should look somewhere else 😉.. in the Joshua tree areas... that's what I would look for
Except the Joshua trees aren't in any clusters.. they're pretty evenly distributed on my land. Plus you can't drill near them even if they did indicate water ... Also sorry to say while I agree that the topography might indicate deep water flows, the vegetation around here won't. The water is hundreds of feet deep and the plants all have super super BROAD root networks, not deep ones, because they have to get as much water from the surface as they can. What did you mean when you said "you are in the lowest region on earth, below sea level"?
I left the cost out because of the potential it has to be misleading; just ten miles away for example, the ground is sufficiently different enough to warrant them using mud to drill all the way down, resulting in a different cost. Let alone the fact that a well in the US can go from like $10k to over $100k based on depth, geological conditions, labor rates, ease of access, etc. This one, for what you see here was around $60k USD (in early-ish 2022). Not including water storage tank or pressure pump system, etc. You can't get a permit to build anything new out here if your plan is to haul water. They don't want endless heavy trucks navigating the unpaved road and I can't blame 'em. So you need a well to even get a permit. If the well runs dry later, you're grandfathered in and can get water hauled. And yeah, not even worth it with trying to catch rain given we get about 4 inches a YEAR on average. Anyway, thanks for watching!
I have help drill in California valley wasn't the funniest but the pay was good not to much water out there Los padra is a little bit better. I rather stay to the coast. I'm glad I stayed doing pump work and systems 💦🛠️👍✌️🍻💯
We drilled in the only place that made sense on my land: every other spot would entail compromises and additional expenses in trenching water lines and such. I'm not aware of any tech that seems real that can actually detect water this deep, through rock. There is ground radar but it doesn't detect this deep (that I have seen at least) and while some believe in dousing rods and are free to use that, I don't personally believe in them. Hope that answers it!
Yes the whole property will be solar... We're off grid here. That said, the handful of 100w panels on my container nearby already handle the well pump easily.
good deep underground drilling for water # another alternate to get & store water is dam construction or large pool construction to accumulate rain water sufficient for 2-3 years #
Not the usual review you see on my channel, but some cool stuff to learn none-the-less. What do y'all think?
How much did end up costing?
How did you pick the spot to drill ?
@@jimsjacob he replied and said his options were limited . I was wondering in they used ground based radar or some modern technology to find the best spot to drill ? I guess not .
@@ryanlangford2333 Probably $25K - $30K.
@@ryanlangford2333 a big splash
Being an 85 year old lifetime driller i appreciate video's like this,. OH the fork is actually called a breakout wrench, I lost a little finger to one like that :)
Oh man sorry to hear that! Thanks for the vernacular though!
Thanks for the video. Memories!!
I grew up on a cattle and sheep ranch near Piñon New Mexico. My grandfather and mother homesteaded 1-section of land around 1910-/+ 5 years (we haven’t found the records). Anyway we had 3 water wells on the ranch they grew to about 10,000 acres in th 1960’s. Both of my grandparents were born in the 1880’s/90’s and my dad was born in 1939, he was their only child.
Anyway I came along in the 60’s. The area got a lot more rain than your land but with changing weather patterns, rain water was insufficient by 1950. So we drilled 3 wells at 1000+ feet. The water was amazing except for our property below the edge of the Sacramento. It was a yellow cake (sulfur) well. The water smelt like rotten eggs.
Our cattle loved it, but I hated it.
my grand pa did 500 acres in Wyoming in 1921 his friend left gave him 500 more acres but the acres is desolate still open land there now, they found oil hundred miles away
Wow, memories indeed! No sulfur smell here but lots of other stuff that shows up in my water rest video coming soon.
Really enjoyed your story though. Thanks for sharing it.
Bret
Thanks for the share!
Great history
Wish I had a well on my ten acres 😢
Great job on video and narration! I am a retired drilling contractor of 42 years, My wife and I owned a very similar rig to this one and these are really amazing machines. Great job on putting this together and posting.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Top casing is called surface casing. In the oil field they drill down past the freshwater, then push cement down the casing and up the sides to seal the surface water from the oil and gas formation. Then they start with a smaller diameter casing.
Interesting! Definitely different here with water, at least in this geology. Thx for sharing....
Different
Spent many hours welding surface casing. It was muddy and nasty in those cellars, but it paid good
This is the best video on the drilling process I've ever seen.
Thank you
Wow, thanks! Much appreciate hearing that.
My father and the neighbor bought a well rig and drill pump and the three of us drilled our well set the casing and blew it clean 24” X 300’ we drilled five wells for four properties in the San Joaquin Valley.
Iam driller in iraq . I work in south iraq.
A Sah la malikom my brother...
How are things there, These days?
@@lifeisa.smalllesson333 keep up the good work!
I like eggs
@@Trey4x4 indeed
Oil or water?
Reason for 7:47 When they finish drilling a rod out and pulled it back a couple of feet is to keep the head clear of the debris. Water is pump to make sure the drill head is clear and not clogged. If not doing that you can actually suck up fine rock or sand Into the head and clogging the water port/nozzles. When you add another rod on. If you clogged your drill head it will overhead. The drill head is actually called a hammer head or hammer bit
Thank you for adding clarity and color! Much appreciated 🙌
Referred to them as "downhole hammer with flat bottom bit" when working in the Arkoma Basin of Arkansas and Oklahoma and the process as "air-drilling" and when no water you are "dusting" and when you encounter some water, you may need to "mist" or "foam" the air to create a wall cake. I was a wellsite geologist in the 70s & 80s.
Thank you for explaining those steps for us. It is more complicated than I thought.
Good job. Pretty much the same process is used to drill 20000 foot wells and deeper. Different equipment, fluids, pumps, etc. But the basic process is the same. They were using an “Air Hammer”, with compressed air, some water, an a commercial soap to make the foam. I’ve dried many wells to 10000’ or more in Pennsylvania using this process. You did a great job explaining for the novice. 😊
Thanks! Really appreciate the comment. And thx for watching.
Jim 20,000ft is more than 6,000m. 6km. What reason for so deep?
2. Can air blow out the chips from that depth? Or did you have foam assistance?
Thanks.
RSA.
@@antonhuman8446 air is only good to about 12000 ft. 20000 ft vertically is not uncommon with fluid mud. A lot of wells go horizontal at some depth and can go 30000 ft overall length.
Thanks!
@@jimjackson1087
IR THE BEST DRILLING RIG AND COMPRESSOR
Hard to beat but so is Gardner Denver.
Air rotary.
I used to drill water wells, with that method.
But also used CABLE TOOL rigs.
Here in the Canterbury plains, with gravel/ sands, we have to use a casing ALL the way.
Some wells 150 - 200 mts deep.
Than screen dropped in, and casing jacked back to expose the screen allows the water in.
Will add, cable tool also used for TEST DRILLING bridge piles and under buildings, to see what piles are needed.
Welded casing, so each weld had to be done properly. 3 runs on each.
Root run, bottom run, 3rd run to finish.
Cheers to all.
Oh wow, very different technique for what I assume are very different ground conditions. Thanks for sharing that!
hi.. do you need drilling rigs
Firstly appreciate your efforts to bring these experimental videos.
Glad you like them!
I drilled a well in Ireland I found loads of water at 100 feet but I went another hundred feet for column.i can Devine for water with copper rods
Curious, how do you know that works? I'm not saying it doesn't but have you ever done like an A/B test?
@@LetsOverthinkThis it doesn't work on anything less than very shallow surface water, I do electro-seismic groundwater surveying for a living its technology they use in the oil and gas industry to measure the depth of resistive liquids, I can tell you if there is a presence of water or not also at what depth it begins and ends also the yield youll have in gpm, accurate to a few feet.
I still think that divining thing is a bunch of BS.
It does work as i and another persons seem to find the same spots.it looks like it does as i had a well sank by my people back in 64 but useless then i divined this spot 15 ft away amd loads of water
@@josephcahalane1971 i've heard that before! I want to discount it but it sounds like I shouldn't!. 😂❤️
I believed I saw this water drilling operations a few years ago while driving along I-10 to Los Angeles. I'm impressed as well how the crew work as if they knew every steps of the drilling process. Thank you for uploading, very informative!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Looks like a GEFCO 30 K.
Mine had a thousand cfm screw compressor and 3x4 mud pimp. Sold out in 2017 to a friendly competitor.
They just purchased a new 30k to comply with CA smog..my crew is still working with the new owner..Loved the work..never a dull moment😂
Awesome, thx for commenting!
Loved working on drill rigs and great satisfaction supplying people with water. Company is now in hands of third owner..I was second.
First owner started in 1922 and I bought in in 1972 with a 71 Star cable tool.
Ran Portadrill 10 TG and TKT before moving up to Gefco 30 K..new owners just purchased a new one to be smog compliant in Nothern CA.
We're 102 years young..LOL
before exoect ti drill in the evening you need pray if where is the good water will come out. here in phillipines 4 days before the water will come out but it is non stop flowing and very vlear water. im pilipino watching here in phillipines.
Thank you for watching!
I'm from Morocco. I work on well drilling machines
In Ireland there are many drilled wells we have one too . Made in the same way .
But we have a special insert on the bottom bit of the sleeve to make a water proof connection in to the rock. Because in Ireland a lot off what I call dirty ground water could leak in the well and can contaminate your well .
Interesting! Here, they pour concrete between the 20' steel sleeve and the surrounding rock to make sure no contamination can seep in (plus the concrete pad that's required surrounding the steel sleeve at ground level).
Use to go 4x4ing out there many years ago in the 80s I pretty much gone thru that whole area & can tell many stories bout the whole desert area.
Thank you.
I analyzed water samples from monitoring wells. On ocassion, I went out with our drilling crew. Thanks again for sharing the video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
always wondered what goes into drilling boreholes
In India there are two trucks one is used to drill the whole to the ground and another one is used to pump the pressure to drilling pipe
Thats smart, particularly if one gigantic truck can't always get to where the well needs to be. Thanks for sharing 👍
Great video thank you very much, always interesting to see professionals doing what they do, including the way you made this video. Play through.
Thanks! And I agree... Was a real treat to watch those guys do what they do.
How exciting is this deep drilling technology!
I find it very exciting! ;)
TX for sharing, Hope u had your purpose fulfilled after drilling! I was expecting the oild drilling and came here,lol.
Ideally speaking, and just a suggestion, that retention wall & collection pit, would be lined with thick plastic sheeting. In such sandy soil, water, liquids, does go deeper down than clay, loamie soil. But cool vid, well done and informative.
Interesting! To be honest I wasn't trying to prevent reabsorption since it's all just water and ground up rock with a little bit of biodegradable foaming agent adding in but yours is definitely a cleaner approach! 👍
So, was it worth it? Did they it a good flow of water?
See part 2! Worth it for me for sure. Not great production compared to most wells but for the desert and my purposes, just fine! 👍
What are the costs to do something like this?
Just scroll down a bit, you'll see the answer :)
Impressive work, and a really nice video presentation. I'm fascinated by the process.
Thanks and I was too!
I am driller from Afghanistan 🇦🇫
I hope you used a good dowser with knowledge of water levels on the City wells in Yucca and Stumps to SITE the well.
. What are they charging per foot drilled?
I didn't and I don't believe in it but I know people do and that's all good. 👍 I did use a well driller thats been doing this in this area for several generations.
I think it was somewhere around 68/foot at the time.
@@LetsOverthinkThis The 3 city wells up in Yucca valley are @ 300 feet, as I recall.
That is a great price for all the work needed!).
Dowser? 😂😂😂😂
Great video. About what do they charge per foot? Thanks
Excellent narration. Very educational. Loved the video. Thank you!
Really glad you enjoyed it!
This man has successfully kept me engaged for a whole 11 minutes on a topic i didn't even need to know!
Excellent narration.
Simplified video footage
And the crew of North America drilling is amazing!
There is an end missing. Have you found water?
Thanks so so much for the compliments! And thanks for watching! As for the missing part, there's a part 2 😉
I know of places in Australia where bores go down nearly 1km . And water free flows at over 1m ltrs per day. Bores here now are capped, sealed & water is piped to tanks, troughs, homes, garden taps etc
Yeah, definitely not the deepest well out there. Jealous of that 1M ltr/day flow, but this is a desert and we were lucky to get water *at all*. :)
@@LetsOverthinkThis we have a great artesian basin here in Australia.. some bores only need to go down a couple of hundred mtrs others about 1 km . The pressure is natural not requiring water to be pumped to the surface , but to minimise evaporation , they must be capped, sealed , piped, water stored in tanks etc . On very isolated outback properties , Open drains were used yrs ago getting water to dams & isolated homes but evaporation rates were huge
That’s so cool . Joshua Tree and San Bernardino County don’t allow us to do anything on our land , let alone dig for a well. Just putting up a 5ft fence was mission impossible and a few ticket violations .
Oh wow that's weird since at least where I am (also in San Bernardino)you actually HAVE to have water before you can even get a permit to build anything. Which makes sense but I wonder what they expect you to do for water?
Anyway sorry to hear that. Thanks for watching and good luck to you!
isn't that the same county where Nestle pumped millions of gallons of spring water over the state allotment?
Oh yea, These guys are really good at what they do. I’ve seen them in action.
Real pros. 👍
I'm in the mountains and we have good water. The drillers hit water at about 80 feet but it's just surface water. The wells can be deep or shallow. My first well was at 240 feet. I had it re-drilled and they went close to 500 feet. My neighbor just drilled his well, 500 feet for 100 gallons a minute. I have watched them drill a few wells, not exciting but it is something to see.
Thanks for the comment. Which mountains are you referring to? And are you sure that's 100gpm?! That's an INSANELY high flow if true. 🤯
Interesting video but raises as many questions as it answers. When you drill to 1000 ft or even 2000 ft, it's important to determine the static water level because that's the depth to raise water. Ultimately the total capital cost is drilling, installing the pipe work (casing) and the pump and motor. The operational cost are then the power / fuel cost plus maintenance of pump and motor. Total costs can then determine an hourly cost against the volume pumped ( gal or L/hr), obviously the less lift height- the cheaper the water.
Agreed but I think you may be thinking agriculture-scale water pumping. This is a well for a single family home and the pump easily pumps with about 600 watts to provide around 6gpm from the hole. The static water level is around 190 which honestly isn't bad at all considering...
Most drillers will always determine static water level for you. Residential wells are virtually never any deeper than six or 700 feet.
What's overall cost for yours well?
Probably 60ish but if you're going to use that as any estimate for your own purposes, don't. This process has an enormous range of costs depending on lots of factors.
Start at $100/ft and go from there. Ballpark figure.
Things like how you found water in this spot in the desert ? Then the cost ..that would be interesting too. The slush is Drillers Mud. I’ve drilled six wells in Baja California and enjoyed the discovery of water each time. None of the wells were dug using equipment anywhere near as nice and modern as this.
Thanks for watching and yeah, sorry I missed those aspects! I did answer many times in the comments since, but to summarize: Cost was around $60k for what you see here and as for the spot, I bought the land knowing it was likely (but not certain) that water could be found there based on neighbor's wells, etc. I don't believe in dowsing rods (though anyone is free to!) especially at this depth, so we picked the spot that made the most sense for my site plan: most spots on the property would have been more of a pain in the future in terms of trenching and such. The drilling company just bought the rig here after practically running their old rig into the ground over the previous few decades so I, too, was impressed by how clean and new it was :)
Anyways, thanks for the comment!
@Let's Overthink This the rods definitely work but not for locating a well, they do work for finding shallow water, water lines and wires
@@markwilliams4525 no
@@ronandingridjohnson1409 no what?
@@ronandingridjohnson1409 Yes
Que tipo de perforadora es y que otras herramientas se usan para detectar el agua ?
Lo siento, no sé el tipo de taladro.
No detectamos agua antes de empezar. ¡No conozco ninguna tecnología que pueda sentir el agua a cientos de pies de profundidad a través del granito!
Gracias por ver.
Very cool. I’ve never seen this before. Always wondered how it was done. Great vid. Good job. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Fascinating video, thanks for sharing.
Thx for watching!
I’m surprised California allows water drilling.
Lol, yeah there's a lot of biased info out there because it gets people agitated enough to keep tuning in. Cali also lets you do almost any work on your own property (electrical, plumbing, framing, etc) with no license so long as you still do it to code, but I bet that's not what people think.....
Why? We have hundreds of thousands of wells, all of them are permitted.
I’m on my third well. I wish people would be more careful with the water.
Yeah. It's more precious than lots of people have been treating it...
question: how to detect the drilling point? i mean, how to know if there's water underneath the surface?
Short answer is you can't. There are technologies that can sense water that is shallower than this and/or through other ground conditions. Some people believe in using dowsing rods and they're free to believe that. I don't personally believe in it, and if I did, I'd believe you could maybe sense free flowing water that is pretty shallow. Not hundreds of feet through solid rock :)
In my case, I know my neighbors have water and how deep it was so I knew it was pretty likely I'd hit it too and luckily I did.
Thx for the question!
@LetsOverthinkThis thanks, my overthinking mind always worry that we get the oil instead of the water :)
Fascinating recovery of water------!
I thought so!
What was the cost per foot to drill?
Here in rural AZ the going rate is $45/foot
Unfortunately it was about 50% more expensive than that (!) which you can probably chalk up to higher labor and fuel costs here or the fact that it's hard drilling through granite the whole way. I mentioned this elsewhere, but North American was not the cheapest driller around but they were the most highly regarded and came most highly recommended, so it would have been less expensive otherwise.
Thanks for the question!
Did you try witching first? Also , how many water tables are in the ground where you are? Can that be determined?
I didn't try witching because I don't believe in it (though many people do!). And I could be more easily convinced that it works for water like 20 or 50 feet underground. I'm not convinced anyone can sense water hundreds of feet down through solid granite. I don't know how many water tables their are since around here you're just hitting water between layers of rock and I knew it was most likely I'd hit it around the same depth my neighbors' wells had.
Thanks for watching!
@@LetsOverthinkThis Good points. I am a land investor and witching works 100% on all my properties' am not sure about the depths. thanks
@@angelofamillionyears4599 Curious is it common to drill and not hit water where you are? My point is, if you're in a place where people often hit water, how do you know witching works? (not trying to be an ass, but genuinely curious)
My dad had a hammer drill rig do are well in Blue Diamond NV outside of las vegas in the 70s and they lost the hammer bit at 680 feet and had to start over. And he witched it with coat hangers that well had good water tell we left it in 2013.
thanks for this super informative video, glad you like their service. we have parcels not too far away and might eventually need them/
Ohh glad I could help and definitely would recommend. Good luck to you!
Cool video. You have to drill about 900 to 1000 feet here in the high desert of Arizona to hit water.
yeah I've heard that, and to be fair, I think some parts of the high desert I'm in also require that sort of depth. These things seem to be VERY location-specific. Thanks for commenting!
Seemed like a simple drilling. Ya, lots of rock but at least it's consistent ground. Drilled to 2,000 feet in Afghanistan and we were constantly pulling the drill rod out to change bits since the ground changed dramatically in such short distances.
Oh wow, yeah, I think the drilling was consistent. Must really add to the drilling time to keep having to pull all the rod out to change bits. Yikes.
I love the all new names you gave all of that equipment.....yep, you over-thought this one.
Yeah, clearly out of my depth here but I still hope and think it's interesting and useful to people not familiar with any of it!
@@LetsOverthinkThis Sorry if I sounded a smart ass there, many years in the drilling game and some descriptions make me cringe a bit, glad you got your water though. HNY for 2023.
Well we're all here to learn (I assume) so if you feel like it, mind correcting some of the descriptors for us all? Much appreciated!
@@LetsOverthinkThis a lot of the tools are custom made and there names are made up most of the time IV been to pump convention but most of the stuff made by a machine shop 🛠️💯👍✌️🍻💦
how many days did it take to reach 600 feets?
I think day 1 was getting all set up and putting the 20' steel casing in with concrete, etc. The next day they actually drilled to 480' and the day after to 600'. That 3rd day they tried putting the PVC in but as you can see in part 2, they hit a problem and had to come back with a mud pump which added yet another day. To be honest, it still all felt pretty quick to me, considering.
How much does that machine cost
I dont know for sure but I was told over a million for that rig, as it's set up. 🤯
What information or facts satisfied you that the risk of a dry hole was worth it? Also, can you tell us the cost of the well including pump purchase and installation?
How did you pick the spot to drill ?
Where it made sense for my project and build, etc. Very few options, actually that make sense in terms of not having to pump water up hill a lot or trench needlessly.
question: how much do they charge per 100 feet?
It's about 68 a foot but that varies a lot on a bunch of factors.
i think they need a few of those in ridgecrest where i have property.
Great video. Beautiful desert too. Thanks
How do they know where to Drill? Do they always find water?
They don't know! Some people in the comments think the dowsing rod thing works and they're entitled to think that but I don't so I just had them put the well where it makes sense for the site plan. Most places on the property would be less than ideal from that perspective!
And no, they don't always hit water. Depends on the area though in my area people usually do hit water so the chances were decent. Phew!
Thanks for the explanation 👍 🙂
No that's the part that suck specially when you on the working end. It's a lot of work and unfortunately water or no water it's the same price.💦🛠️👍💯✌️
How did you know to drill in that spot ?
You don't! It was the spot that made sense given my site plans.... Most other places on the land would require lots of hard trenching or uphill pumping so we went with the spot that worked best since nobody knows anyway 😉
Some people believe in dowsing rods. I personally do not but hey, whatever works for folks.
That’s awesome, a big gamble unless you know for certain that theirs water down there, well done, loved your vid, very informative, I watched the water testing one as well, very interesting, I’d love to have our tap water tested to see what falls out the woodwork
@@BondWarrior Indeed, but I should have mentioned.... while that's how I picked that spot on the land, before I bought the land I talked to neighbors and looked at well drilling reports so I had some decent confidence that the area in general regularly produces good wells. Not so in other areas in the desert of course.
At any rate, thanks for watching!
You should have doused first with a mesquite limb. I tested it with my eyes closed. It really works. Some other water drilling companies said I couldn’t find water there. I did.
Glad you found water 👍
Dousing is very much like religion. 😂😂😂😂
How did you select that spot for drilling the well? Any rhyme or reason?
Lots of reason... Once the site plan was done for the buildings and infrastructure, etc, there was really only one or two places to have the well that wouldn't cause a real pain later with long trenched water runs or having to pump water uphill a lot, etc. But no rhyme or reason in terms of where the water is underground. That far down, through rock, everyone with any experience here said it was basically luck of the draw.
You can have a survey and geologist point out a spot but there also guessing LoL 💦🛠️👍✌️💯
Well, that's a pretty interesting video but I was left wondering: How many Gallons Per Minute did this Joshua Tree Well produce?
The wells out in the desert are very low producing... In the 2 to 4 gpm range so everyone has a big water storage tank. The well can produce at a low rate but for longer, and a pressure pump pulls from the storage tank for instantaneous usage. Totally fine for a household but not suitable for agriculture, etc. thx for watching!
@@LetsOverthinkThis I posted before looking at the comments where it revealed a Part 2. Watched it also. Answered a lot of questions....
VERY cool!! Great narrative!! I learned something.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I'm not sure if this is true but I heard that when you drill for water the ground shrinks.
In California this has been proven to be true with farmers drilling for water
Well the ground doesn't really shrink but since part of what supports the surface is the layers below (including water) if you remove a lot of water, the surface can lower. And yeah, it's the case everywhere a lot of water is being pumped from the ground and is a real problem. My tiny personal well that is just for a house of 2 and no agriculture isn't contributing to that but it's a phenomenon for sure.
Is this the same equipment used for drilling oil rigs.?? Whats the difference.??
Great question and as a non driller I don't know! Hoping somebody will chime in and educate us all!
There not much of a difference besides the smell and being covered in oil it's actually closer to pump work similar to windmills. 💦🛠️👍💯✌️
they could reach oil in that dept!
In some places, probably!
The carousel is nice. We use a rod truck and trip in and out 800-1200 ft of pipe for good water. Lol
Hey man do you know if anyone ever sent a GoPro or something into these oil pockets? Because it seems like an underground ocean is down there and I would love to see how it looks like and if anything lived down there
Thanks for the comment. You mentioned oil but to be clear, this was water drilling, not oil. Also there is not an underground ocean: we're just hitting little streams of water between layers of rock.
Now that said, I have heard that sometimes while drilling, they do hit a big open pocket and that YES, they had even lowered a camera but in this case it was just a big open rock cavern. The only life you're going to find down here (if any) is microscopic....
Concrete around the upper casing? Or Bentonite? Granted,, dry desert,, Bentonite may not get enough moisture to retain sanitary seal.
Thanks for the comment! I know bentonite is commonly used but I'm about 90% sure it was concrete in this case since they dropped a whole bunch of bags of concrete on site, used some to seal around the steel, and then used the rest to pour the 6" slab when it was all done. Unfortunately I wasn't there when they did it so that's the missing 10% confidence in my answer ;)
Most drillers do 50 feet of "sanitary seal" and that would be concrete from ground surface and then down 50 feet.
This would be a wise business to get started in, for any high-school aged kids out there.
Right? Gotta have water and it ain't getting easier to find.
Thx for watching!
@@LetsOverthinkThis also a good reason to stay in school so you don't have to do this line of work. It not easy or fun it's hard on the body.
About how much does it cost to do this? Is it like a minimum fee and then by depth?
Thanks,
Mike
It's a cost per foot (there isnt a minimum since they know it's hundreds of feet around here no matter what), and then a few fixed fees like the pump cost.
This was around $55k but the costs vary enormously even just across small distances since the geology can change a lot, plus local labor costs, accessibility, etc.
Thx for watching!
The deeper the water, the more pure and filtered.
That's true in some ways but not so much for the naturally radioactive water you get super deep 😉
Wrong. Sometimes you can go too deep and get into water that is warm and has arsenic and other heavy metals in it.
Very interesting Video & thanks for sharing 👍
how deep usually can find water in the dessert
I don't think there is a "usually"! And I'm guessing in some deserts you won't find any at all.
@@LetsOverthinkThis understood
I live about 15 miles north of JT near the Marine Base on 2.5 acres... fortunately we have water from the JTWD but I always wondered about the cost of putting in a well.
Thanks for the very informative video 🤗
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video indeed, were can I aquire drilling course or training?
Thanks! I'm not a driller, so hopefully others can chime in. What I have seen is a lot of it being a family business with the nuances and variations taught over hundreds of wells drilled over the years. But that doesn't help anyone looking to get into it.....
Great video thank you very much, always interesting to see professionals doing what they do
Agreed, and thanks for watching!
Artesian Well south of Baghdad. 2400 GPM 24/7
Yeah that's a whole different story 😅
In northern Uganda, we find water after just 15 meters. However, we go for about 50m down (150 feet).
Nice! Yeah even in North America it varies a LOT from just 5 or so meters all the way to 300 meters or more! I'd love to get water 15 meters down! 😊
That's pretty cool. How do you know there is water at that exact spot? And can you share what the total budget end up costing?
You actually don't know and you pay either way! 😬 That said, there are nearby wells so it was likely. Some people believe in those rods and such to sense it but I don't and even if I felt like you could sense water at like 50 feet, I don't believe you can hundreds and hundreds of feet through granite.
It's very very expensive to do this and even more-so now with the price of pvc, fuel, and everything being so high. Let's just say it was over $40k.... But it's a little pointless to even give that number since it varies a lot depending on your location, the depth, etc.
Thank you.. very cool video and informative and if nothing else at least we know who can do it in Southern California with good reputation. Awesome
@@coin2456 Glad you enjoyed it! Was super fun to watch the process, and yeah, any time I encounter people who care about the work they do, I'm happy to share that with others. It's increasingly rare it seems....
@@jessesilver once again thank you.. it's something I'm looking
To do soon.. so your video is gold to me.. keep up the good work.. 👍
@@LetsOverthinkThis i cant find part II, 3 whatever but i have to ask you. You did find water at the end ? or not
How much time it takes to drill a well?
This was just a few days (about 3 to drill and another to install the pump) but this will change a lot depending on depth and geology and equipment used I think!
@@LetsOverthinkThis Ok, Thanks 👍
ok... so.. I am a geologist over in Arizona.. I have spent years walking around the desert.. I also look at satellite images and I have been for more than 30 years... you will find water along the cracks in the underlying rock... rivers and creeks and dry washes follow fault lines... all of them... that's what creates the topology of the land... they meander.. because the Planet is going round and round so water wants to flow downhill in a straight line, but the motion of the Planet creates curves and it bounces back and forth between the rocks... the water is actually flowing underground.. the sand and dust are porous... and those cracks where dry washes are is where you find water... if you look.. and find a place where the meander runs into a higher point of rock.. a cliff.. even a small one.. the area across the wash on the inside of the curve.. a fairly shallow well will give you water
vegetation is a good indicator for water... I look for saguaro here in the Sonoran desert... you are in the lowest region on Earth... below sea level... in some areas
.. if I was looking... those ankle high bushes are a pretty good indication that you should look somewhere else 😉.. in the Joshua tree areas... that's what I would look for
Except the Joshua trees aren't in any clusters.. they're pretty evenly distributed on my land. Plus you can't drill near them even if they did indicate water ...
Also sorry to say while I agree that the topography might indicate deep water flows, the vegetation around here won't. The water is hundreds of feet deep and the plants all have super super BROAD root networks, not deep ones, because they have to get as much water from the surface as they can.
What did you mean when you said "you are in the lowest region on earth, below sea level"?
Did you find water.??
There's a part 2!
Cost to drill the well $$. ,???? Water hauling is common there too probably not enough rain to try a water catch In a cistern.
I left the cost out because of the potential it has to be misleading; just ten miles away for example, the ground is sufficiently different enough to warrant them using mud to drill all the way down, resulting in a different cost. Let alone the fact that a well in the US can go from like $10k to over $100k based on depth, geological conditions, labor rates, ease of access, etc.
This one, for what you see here was around $60k USD (in early-ish 2022). Not including water storage tank or pressure pump system, etc.
You can't get a permit to build anything new out here if your plan is to haul water. They don't want endless heavy trucks navigating the unpaved road and I can't blame 'em. So you need a well to even get a permit. If the well runs dry later, you're grandfathered in and can get water hauled.
And yeah, not even worth it with trying to catch rain given we get about 4 inches a YEAR on average.
Anyway, thanks for watching!
I have help drill in California valley wasn't the funniest but the pay was good not to much water out there Los padra is a little bit better. I rather stay to the coast. I'm glad I stayed doing pump work and systems 💦🛠️👍✌️🍻💯
Saw a drill bit made with 5/8” carbide rounded end pieces in the 60’s.
how do you decide where to drill
We drilled in the only place that made sense on my land: every other spot would entail compromises and additional expenses in trenching water lines and such.
I'm not aware of any tech that seems real that can actually detect water this deep, through rock. There is ground radar but it doesn't detect this deep (that I have seen at least) and while some believe in dousing rods and are free to use that, I don't personally believe in them.
Hope that answers it!
Great job. Well done. Are you thinking of some sort of solar for the pump ?
Yes the whole property will be solar... We're off grid here.
That said, the handful of 100w panels on my container nearby already handle the well pump easily.
I live in WV and our well is 575 feet. Friend that has farm few miles away has one that's 750.
Deep! Whatever it takes, right?
@@LetsOverthinkThis Rocky
Great job brother
The “large bit” you refer to is a down-the-hole hammer.
Why was this well drilled. For who ?
Lol, for me.
good deep underground drilling for water # another alternate to get & store water is dam construction or large pool construction to accumulate rain water sufficient for 2-3 years #
Yes although not nearly enough rain here to be useful. But true in lots of other places!
It also not legal in California unfortunately 💦🛠️👍💯