Well drilling near Joshua Tree. Did we find water? (part 2)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ก.ย. 2022
- More than 99% of my viewers aren't subscribers and it would really help me to convert some of y'all so please, please click the subscribe button so you can keep on top of my new content! Thanks for watching!
View the part 1 video here: • Deep well drilling in ...
Did we find water? How much PVC goes into that hole?! What pump did I use? Watch this part 2 to find out!
Not a sponsored video, but the actual work (and high quality work, at that) was done by North American Drilling.
Well pump controller: Grundfos CU200 product-selection.grundfos.co...
Well pump: Grundfos 6-SQF-3 product-selection.grundfos.co...
Battery pack shown running the well at the end: amzn.to/3eYPcSW
Video equipment used:
Most high quality video and stills: Fuji X-S10 mirrorless camera amzn.to/3y6vBrf
Drone shots: DJI Air2 amzn.to/3xwXJC4
Time-lapse shots: GoPro Hero 9 amzn.to/3zQkZy0
(If you use my Amazon links, you pay the same, but as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.) - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
I'M 77 years old..bought a company started in 1922..I purchased it in 1972 at 26 years old. Operated cable tool drills.
During the Californis drought was asked to Manage American Testing and Engineerings Corp in Sant Rosa.
Learned rotary and bucket drilling from my employees.
Purchased a Portadrill 10 TG and hired ATECs drillers..learned rotary from them.
My last drill was a JEFCO top head rig. Retired in 2017 and sold my company to a competitor whose founder was like my second dad..his grandson is still operating a new JEFCO with my guys operating it. My company is now 101 years old.
I had offers to run operations in Saudi Arabia or Rio De Janeiro..turned them down.
Had another offer to head a drilling operation at a gold field in Nevada. My former driller became head of their drilling department and asked me to take his place.
I'm taking it easy these days..LOL
Sounds like you have a heck of a lot of experience and I can't blame you for takin it easy these days! Sounds like it's well-deserved ;)
Thanks for watching and hope you enjoyed getting to sit back and watch it all for once ;)
I am a water well driller from Karragullen, a small fruit growing district in the hills east of Perth, Western Australia. I found these two videos highly enjoyable and informative. I found your explanations along the way very accurate and clear. I was surprised when the casing got stuck as a lot of people would not show this as it's extremely frustrating as a driller but it's a real part of what happens. I am very impressed with the drilling company themselves as I understand everything they are doing and liked what I saw, the equipment is excellent too. I have never seen those connections on PVC, we use similar connections on fibreglass, but we don't see them here on PVC. Overall, excellent videos and excellent drillers.
Thanks so much! Glad to hear it and thanks for watching since you already know the process. 🙌
How deep would a normal water well be in your area east of Perth?
I agree. As a geologist that's drilled a bunch of water wells just like this, he did a great job of explaining the whole process, every step of the way. I'd use this video to explain the process to my clients, I usually botch that job and either over or under explain and leave them confused.
@@scottsnyder8691 thank you!! As you can see from my channel I'm super new at this so I really appreciate it. Feel free to send any clients the video links of course!
Those steel sticks! lol
I worked with an oil drill rig for a number of years. Basically the same operation you have shown here. Great video you did an outstanding job narrating it. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for sharing! Would be curious to hear the differences if you have the time.
@@LetsOverthinkThis
The biggest difference would be everything in oil drilling is much bigger. We had a 4,000 gallon fuel trailer, a V12 on the rig, a heated tool shed, two trailers with Detroit’s powering rotary compressors to bring the cutting up when we got deep. We also had a large drill table about three or 4 feet out of the mud that you could keep somewhat cleaner. We were drilling in Ohio about 4500 feet would be deepest. We did a lot of angle drilling under lakes and things like that. We had a mud bootpulled by a cat that we could bring supplies in and out with. Generally the roads coming in were decent but still the mud boat worked well.
in the 50's I was a drill foreman working for the company that pays the drillers. We drilled for uranium in NM, Az, Wy and copper in Az. At Ambrosia Lake NM we hit water at 700 feet and 800 feet and uranium at 950 feet. They dug a shaft and mined it. My son worked on a drill ship in the gulf and the string was 27 thousand feet. Unbelievable.
Iguana
Thank you for sharing this water well drilling video in the desert. Your explanations were precise and you kept us informed about the whole process. Best of luck with the new water well! The drillers were professional and worked steady to complete your well.
A fascinating introduction to well drilling. Thank you.
You're welcome! I found it fascinating too.
awesome video, very educational, great editing and explaining ! make more!
your clear explanation of the process. Some hydraulic cylinders have a similar locking process to the cable tie thing, just using lead stipe instead, very clever
Nice video. Appreciate the step by step on the well drilling.
Another outstanding job, thanks for the education. Play through
Best video I've seen on water drilling. Very informative! Kudos!
Thanks! New at the TH-cam thing so I really appreciate the comment.
This is some of the best explanation of well drilling I've seen. NICE!
Thanks! 🙌
Thank you for sharing this and your clear explanation of the process. Some hydraulic cylinders have a similar locking process to the cable tie thing, just using lead stipe instead, very clever.
Oh neat! Didn't know that. Yeah I found it super clever as well.
Thanks for the education. God bless you in your endeavors.
Very nice series on drilling a desert water well. Thank you for posting.
Cheers!
Whipple
Glad you enjoyed it!
I enjoyed watching your video. Thanks and all the best.
Excellent narration, knowledgeable.
Never seen this process before! Truly amazong, thanks for sharing!
You're welcome! Thx for watching.
Well done! Explained clearly for anyone that has never seen this done and always wondered.
Glad you enjoyed it! I found it super interesting myself.
Excellent presentation. I learned a lot.
thanks again for another very informative video about what the well installation process is like!
You're welcome!
Well done!
Great videos, learned a lot, already knew some but cool to fill in the gaps...you can tell your contractor are pros.
What a lovely property you have there... and the surrounding desert! It's so nice out there!
I think so too! Thanks for watching. 🙌
Excellent narrative. Well done!
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it!
had a well drilled in Northern Nevada this last Feb...very similar but was fortunate that only had to go 140ft
Excellent series. I am going to be doing this in Northwestern AZ soon (yeah, expensive) to the same depth. This gave me a few things to think about like the run off 'pool'.
Glad it was useful! And yeah the pool is a good tactic.... I've seen the mess it can make depending on your terrain if you don't.
Good luck!
@@Jennifer-007 excellent info
I’m debating drilling in Yucca .
Thank you very much that was a very informative video I watched wells being drilled before, but never knew all the details of how it's done 👍
Glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent video and I hope the well provides all your needs!
Thanks and me too!
Very well constructed and video narrative well organized.
Thank you kindly!
Great video, fun stuff and soothing voice, not obnoxious!
Glad you enjoyed!
Well Spoken...informative...thank You.
Amazing. These drillers really are awesome guys.
Yes they are!
Best well video I have ever seen on TH-cam
Aww shucks!
Thank you for instilling hope. I plan on purchasing land in the desert.
Good luck to you!
Where at?
I made a comment on your first video. Again thanks for memory land trip.
Our New Mexico ranch had 3 wells. My father and grandfather were water witches. They used bent clothes hangs or green tree branches and would walk in areas they hoped to drill. Dad used hangars 90% of the time the wires would literally form an X over water. The tree branch would warp down.
I tried and tried …… never could get the feel.
Our wells used old single piston morris Fairbanks motors and pump jacks that looked like oil well jacks.
At the bottom of the wells were leather pump rings that would go bad about where 2-3 years. We had to pull the 1000+ ft of rods.. replace the leather rings and put it all back in.
Almost wells were drilled as high up on the mountains as possible. That allowed us to run 2” black pipe to water tanks down hill.
We sold the ranch in the 90’s, sadly :(. I was in the Navy and parented were lonely as the closest neighbors were 5 miles away and the town of pinion and others nearby had mostly died off.
Today the area has seen a resurgence of ranching. Lots of new families but still sparse population.
I live in Ohio now, rest of family in Palm Springs and Victorville area of CA.
Glad it stirred up some memories and thanks for sharing!
Pointless. The west is over.
@@hasteandfury2424 thanks for watching! 🤣
Hey Bret! To get instant "feel", take a couple of metal rods-welding rods (or coat hangers etc are perfect)-and make a 90 degree bend of the first 3", then hold the short end LOOSELY in each hand about waist high and walk back and forth under HIGH TENSION power lines. Anywhere in the desert or suburbs.
The rods will SPIN directly towards each other as you walk directly under the power lines. I've never seen anybody fail this demonstration lol.
The non believers always say: "This is because-blah blah blah..." and they don't believe what just happened-but it ALWAYS happens!
After seeing the explosive power lines example then walk your rods over buried underground pipes etc. Lots of fun.
Granted- I've been plagued with some false readings many a time regarding pipelines-but it's always consistent, but still a mystery?
Long story short, try the power lines test for some real fun!
I've NEVER seen it FAIL-even with sceptics!
Cheers!
In Northern CA we drill 7 7/8" hole and set five inch casing.
In alluvials we drill 9 7/8" and 5" PVC..
We also drlled blast holes for the Geyers steam area for seismic blast holes and 1,000 feet firtemperTure gradient holes.
Amazing video and thank you for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
I dont think you mentioned the geologist in the vid.
Yes there are geological maps, and granite batholiths tend to be enormous.
But in other parts of the country the rock type can influence cost of production. When you drill sedimentary rock you are essentially cutting through different materials and crosscutting the different sequence. Drilling through an aquiclude can cause a lot of problems.
Shale is friable and usually collapse the bore hole.
Your borehole through granite has its own problems with radon gas, but the drilling company will usually deal with that scenario.
Quite right to be reluctant to tell your viewers the price of your project. The cost will vary enormously depending on statutes, geology, the drilling company and location.
There is NO one size fits all.
I used to do that job a long time ago, but we were not drilling for water or oil, but coal.
Well pad and access preparations can be costly.
Investing in a hydrogeologic analysis utilizing VLF radio reception tied to specific gps survey locations can also add to the overall cost
Great photography, interesting, informative, excellent narration and editing.
Really glad you enjoyed it and thanks for watching!
Very informative.
Be sure to put lighting protection on the wire. You have just created the best ground a lighting bolt could ask for. The best bet would be to disconnect the wires at the well head if a storm blows up. Like a plug and socket? I grew up in 29 palms and moved away in 1975.
Excellent video!
Thanks for watching!
Very satisfying to watch.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great job documenting and explaining the process.
I went through a similar experience in Nye County Nevada
several years ago; started with a 2 1/2 acre patch of desert
as a hobby and eventually had a home built. One of my first
uses for my well, equipped with a 12 Volt downhole pump on
75 watts of solar panel, was to plant a line of Mondell pine to
provide a wind break and some shade.
To facilitate a gravity fed drip system I built a 12 foot platform and
set a 1650 gallon tank up on the "tower ". My solar pump would
top off the tank each day and with an irrigation timer I could have
water flowing for discrete time slots. That was almost 30 years ago
and the trees are way up there now, most of them, providing a much
needed wind barrier.
Wow, thanks for sharing that and quite a journey! Part of what I love about all of this is the mac-guyver-ing of systems to make off grid life possible. Glad it's worked out for you!
this is the best educational video i have seen on you tube ... you guys are gooood
Wow, glad you Iiked it!
@@LetsOverthinkThis i love it you answered,
so many questions for me
Fantastic video and information, thanks for sharing.
Really glad you enjoyed it!
This brings back memories. Years ago, I had a ranch just North of Los Angeles Angeles. I remember the day the rig rolled up, and started drilling. At first, we hit about 6 gallons per minute at 160 ft. I opted to keep going to get more water, as I hoped to grow a vineyard one day. At 300 ft, I had 70 gpm. It was a happy day. I loved having my own water!
Wow, that production rate is enviable, for sure! Nobody gets even a fraction of that sort of flow up here in the desert, but then again the only aspiration is enough water for a couple of people to live (no agriculture, etc). At any rate, thanks for sharing your story!
Cable Tool driller from Chch, New Zealand here, and Top drive Air Rotary, I left a couple of comments on the first video.
Cheers.
I had a drilling business here on Whidbey Island Washington years ago. It was a cable tool rig. It's all glacial materials here with no bedrock so we pound down a 6" steel casing as we proceed. A lot of water under Puget Sound. The state did some exploratory drilling when in the 80's the alarmists said we were running out of water. One site they hit a gravel aquifer at 600' and it went all the way down to 1,200'. Another one drilled on a spit on the beach hit water at 410' that came up the pipe and ran 180 gpm artisan. That one was drilled in the 1930's for a fish factory. When it was abandoned they just let it run. Years later they capped it and used it for several hundred houses. Most water here is less than 250'. My personal well is just 50' with at least 30 gpm.
Here in Chch ,New Zealand, in some places we have Artesian flows, 3mtr head, gives about 350- 400 gallon per minute from 6 inch caseing.
Cheers. Will add I did 27 years drilling, loved the cable Tool ,but also Top drive rigs, plus auger drilling rigs.
@@tonyhudson8698 Me Too! but I gotta' admit, Rotary Rigs rule! Question: Do you walk all stooped over like I do from all those years of hard labor on the rig? Cheers!
@@theanalogkid6749 well New rigs like top drive put the hole in faster.
But that speed can cost( ie) they drill past the water, then screen, where they think the water is, but in fact the better water flow is higher up.
Less yield from the well, at clients expense..
Good cable tool when in water bearing gravel should drive caseing. 500mm Clean out, then test water flow, then drive .500mm, repeat, repeat till a change happens.
That's all noted in bore log, so that at anytime you know what's going on.
Test drilling I loved , apart from the SPT setup, mind you, that's a major part, so has to be done Correctly.
I started in 1977 and did 27years, so out of it now. The knees feel it, but other than that all good.
I might add I did pile driving as well.
Large Bucket rig, 1.200mm Diameter caseing (4 foot Diameter) lots of welding, was a good life, and enjoyable.
Cheers to you Sir.
Bar and hammer?, or Stem & clamps??.
Big Knockers or Jars???.
Terms to jog the memory.
@The Analog Kid they don't always "rule"! A cable tool rig can install a well where a rotary may not.
@Tony Hudson I have a rotary top drive rig but I'm also looking at getting a large cable tool rig too.
Great job Jesse! Thanks for all the great publicity
Well I found it fascinating and I'm happy to credit people who work hard and care about what they do! It's certainly hard enough to find that these days at any price ;)
Great video! very helpful and easy to follow.
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@LetsOverthinkThis Houston TX. 12:45am.
Very impressive narrative. Clear and concise, and a very well-made, informative video.
Kudos!
Thank you! I don't have many videos so I appreciate the encouragement 👍
Excellent video. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very good series. I moved to New Mexico near Holloman AFB a few years ago. We started out water seeking project by going to the experts in the county offices finding their geologist. After telling her where we intended to build, she advised that the area where we are has onw of the largest & best aquifers in the state, that we should get excellent water & equally good quantities anywhere we drill. We then met with two well drilling companies getting all of the technical info. We selected the one that overall appeared to be the most successful, professional & best equipped to do the job. I was lucky enough to be on scene during the drilling process. The project took only two days, We also went with a 1200 gallon reservoir tank to maximize the operational life of the deep pressure pump by lessening its start/stop cycles. A much less expensive 'Jet pump' supplies the pressure to the home. The water is slightly hard bur is delicious and we run it through a 5 micron sediment filter; nothing more. Depth is 360 feet. Cost was right around $16K.
That's awesome, I worked for Arkansas largest water utility Company for 14 years. It's amazing how many people complain about paying a "$20-$25 water bill"a month.
You had to pay 16k just to have water and it always requires electricity and no guarantee that something won't go wrong. These folks paying $25 a month, it would take them 50+ years to even come close to your initial cost just to get the well dug. Everyone complaining "water should be free"
Well yeah basically it is free but you have to pay for the maintenance and upkeep and electricity just to get the water to you.
I'm happy you got great water, Is your water temperature around 55-60°?
@@MARKE911 yes, usually 60+ in the warm months & colder during winter months by virtue of the reservoir tank.
Agreed and I'd happily tap into a city supply if it existed! I ain't going this route to save money 😂
Haven't stuck a thermometer on it but yeah that's the temperature it feels like!
Doug, same here except will have a 5000 gallon tank that gets filled more continuously from the well since it's not a high producer and then likely a DAB Esybox pressure pump to feed the pressurized house system.
Glad you have such great water for you and your family!
Wow that’s actually a decent price
Reminded me of my youth - about 40 years ago I worked one summer drilling water wells. I was the helper, not the driller.
that was cool, thanks for sharing
Glad you liked it!
Something you might cover in the future is hydrofracking water wells that have low output. Hydrofracking can make a well more use full without drilling. Thanks for the video great coverage of the process.
Must be a fascinating process and would love to witness but frankly if I personally need to it means my well isn't producing so I really hope I never cover it ☺️
Very informative video and well explained. 🤙
Thanks! 🙌
I live in northern Arizona on a huge aquifer. We drilled 650’ and hit water at 450. That extra 200’ is some great insurance.
I am a retired Petroleum Geologist and worked as a Wellsite Consultant Geologist for 12 years in Canada/ USA. Beautiful, efficient small rig, skilled operators and an extremely well narrated commentary. You did not tell how much this well cost you. Thanks for the video.
Thanks so much for the compliment on the video and I agree they were a skilled crew that was great to watch!
Cost wise, I left it 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 probably 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 as around $60k (in early-ish 2022).
@@LetsOverthinkThis I know it's uncomfortable but thanks for answering the question, that's why I came to the comments. It all looks expensive
@@LetsOverthinkThis Someone considering purchasing property should consider how far their property is to a local water utility line and do a cost comparison between the cost of connecting the line to your home plus the estimated monthly water costs (including water utility increases over the years) vs. having your own well dug. Example: $ 60,000 (well cost) / ~ $ 200 per month water bill = 300 months (25 years). So in other words, it would take 25 years to break even. 😮
@@tomh.9667 Yes, for sure. I'm probably 8+ miles from a local water line so this is a moot point as it's not possible. IE we're way past the point of the decision being "which one is more cost effective." But yes, to some others who have commented about wanting to know if they should do this or tap into a utility, what you recommended is basically step 1 👍
@@LetsOverthinkThis Thank you. And yes, agreed. A few more questions for you if you don't mind. 1) I'm considering purchasing some property north of Palm Springs and it sounds like you're not too far from there. Do you think the cost to drill a well in North Palm Springs would be similar to your costs? and 2) Did you shop around for drillers? (I would imagine that your choices are very limited in that region) And if so, was the company you went with the least expensive?
Interesting here in NorCal, my well has 6" steel casing all the way down.
I used a Grundfos 16 SQF-10 which delivers 15 GPM at using 1 kW at 240 VAC.
Excellent pumps! Super efficient and as you said, no starting surge.
Oh wow, yeah I suspect that means your ground conditions weren't basically solid granite so they couldn't rely on the bore staying open without the steel, but I'm no expert. How deep is your well? I'm envious of your water production! Out here in the desert, we don't get anything near that much water.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Is the pump reliable? How long will it last? Thank you
Great video, thank you for sharing, very interesting
Glad you enjoyed!
Great Video, Thanks for this fantastic info!
Glad you liked it, and thx for commenting!
Thank's posting all the valuable content and making things so clear. I'm starting a little rehab cabin project close to you in Wonder Valley and wondered if you had any recommendations for a perc test and driller. Thanks again. Excited to see the progress on your place
Glad you enjoyed it! I definitely recommend North American drilling but don't have anyone for perf test that I'd really recommend, sorry to say. Best of luck to you!
Interesting video! I live in Wisconsin now but used to have a house in Yucca Valley out Old Woman Springs Road. There was a million gallon water tank on the hill above us that we were connected to so no need for a well. I miss the desert!
I think I've seen that tank! Nice to have "city" water for sure. Thx for commenting!
Great informative video, great work
Glad you liked it!
Really cool video, enjoyed watching
I'm glad and thanks for watching!
Even. Or especially. A novice. Will be pumped with information and procedures.
Very well done. Thanks!
RSA.
Glad you enjoyed it!
You may consider only having a tank in your basement of only 60-100 gallons for a couple reasons, the tank is large enough and your pump is on the slower side that the pump will not be coming on as often and when it does it runs for a little bit longer causing less wear from starting up frequently, also it is so nice to turn on the cold tap and get ice cold well water to drink because your pump comes one more often than having a 500 gallon cistern in which the water will get warm and probably not taste as good. We had a well drilled in New Hampshire and it was just under 500 ft deep, the water was so cold and delicious a water filter was unnecessary. In CA they do things very different, our well had the casing into bedrock but there was no duel PVC pipes inside of it there was one continuous PE pipe with brass fittings on the end to thread on the check valve and pump and the electrical wire was taped to the PE pipe, no leaks with a continuous pipe. Also there was a fitting about 4 feet in the ground through the well casing for the waterline to exit the casing under ground and then a trench was dug to the house, this prevents freezing, prevents any well tampering, and is less unsightly. There also was no unsightly concrete pad at the surface, we just graded the land back and planted grass so it looked as natural as possible.
Thanks for the interesting points! Yes, things are done very differently in various places, and you mentioning "basement" is already a good example of that (nobody has basements here as it's basically solid rock like 4 feet down).
Same for the necessity of putting the water line tap to the well head under the frost line; there is no frost line here. Personally I'd rather have a concrete pad a my well head well protected instead of buried under dirt but I know that's a personal choice.
All of my drinking water will go through an R/O filter and then the fridge anyway so the temp of my water supply isn't a top concern, and as for pump cycling, that's not a problem either as the proper way to do it around here is that a different sensor/float triggers the pump on and off, so that the pump won't turn on unless the water goes below a level (say the 80% mark on the tank) but won't stop until it's at about 95%, so you don't get the fatiguing cycling of using one sensor for both on and off. It might only turn on once every day or two and stay on for an hour.
I have not seen out here the use of a single polyethylene tube instead of PVC and I do love the idea! Frankly I'm a little surprised that sort of tube is okay with the weight of 500 feet of tube + 500 feet of 10 gauge cable + the weight of the pump itself. That actually shocks me from a tensile strength perspective, but again, since you're saying that's what they do, not having any joints does sound good.
Thanks again for the comment and exposing viewers to other ways of doing things!
@@LetsOverthinkThis I thought California Department of Water Resources required concrete seal to prevent surface contamination from effecting the Well. But I'm on you guys side.
@@USSBB62 they do! There's concrete poured around the 20 foot steel casing and a six foot by six foot by 6 inch pad around the well also to protect it. For my county that was what was required for the well permit and it's since been tagged as a proper well. So I think to your point it does need to be sealed around the borehole but the water exit doesn't need to be under ground since there no frost line. 👍
Of course you add a quarter inch cable from the pump to the well top for proper strength
@@thomasbrewer4138 New Hampshire well drillers in the 90's did not add a secondary lifting cable, there is the continuous PE water pipe going to the check valve above the pump and then the three conductor heavy gage electrical cable that is clamped in the pump housing and taped at regular intervals to the PE pipe
I drill wells using a late 90s drill rig. Crazy how much more labor we have to do with such a older rig.
Oh man sorry to hear that. But thanks for doing important work for people.
very insightful .Have leant a lot. Thank you
Thanks for watching and for the comment!
Thanks too. Might you know of some charities that help drill water where people walk for 3 hours or more in search of clean and safe water. @@LetsOverthinkThis
Sorry, not something I'm involved in :(
A Murphy Switch Gauge on your storage tank... will turn the pump off when the tank is full and then turn the pump back on when the water level drops (in the storage tank). Both the high and low levels are adjustable.
Then there has to be a pressure switch to cut the pump off when the water level drops to the intake on the pump then restart the pump (which is in your grundfoss pump motor and cotroller)... after the water level recovers.
My pressure cut off switch control is built into the franklin 3 phase converter and the pressure switch is on the water line.
I have a 5gpm grundfos pump head and a 3 phase 1.5hp franklin motor and single phase to 3 phase (franklin) converter to pump from 500 feet.
I also have a honda 8,000 watt tri-fuel 220 V generator to run the pump when a new well is first drilled for testing or when we drill off grid.
I use a sand screen to protect the pump and motor.
A well we drilled simular to yours was drilled to 615 feet in 1992 at a cost of 9,000 dollars for the rig time of 150 dollars per hour across 3 days of some very hard slow drilling. Today we can drill the same well in 2 days using DTH tools and air and or PDC bits and heavy weight drill pipe and a single drill collar at an expected cost of 30 thousand dollars for a 600 foot hole and another 25-30 for used steel casing, pump,wire and tubing, rig time, ect. and final costs could be even higher due to several factors.
Thanks for the detailed comment and for watching!
The switch setup you mentioned definitely will work and is the basic one I'll start with. But the part I think I can improve is that with that setup, if I'm drawing more water than my well can produce, the well pump will constantly short-cycle, turning on every time there is just barely enough water over the pump itself and then turning back off again (hopefully!) when it's running dry. I don't think that's great for the well or the pump.
Since Grundfos publishes a current vs depth chart which I can verify and calibrate myself (for example, the pump draws anywhere from 340watts to 800 watts depending on how deep the water is), I can read that and use a separate circuit to "time out" the pump once it gets to like 750 watts. Meaning the well is *nearly* dry. My circuit can have a wait period, say 6 hours, and then try again. Plus I want that logging anyway so I know over the years whether my well is producing less and less and that setup will give me that.
ANYWAY, thanks again and good luck to you out there.
@@LetsOverthinkThis you could start with a large conventional blader style tank and then add an aux water storage tank later... one that you fill manually using until you get the aux tank fully automated using a water level switch gauge and relay.
A 4x40 ss ro canister and Hydronix BW membrane can be purchased on AMZ for less than 300 dollars. Pre filters are shopped across the internet Pentek Big Blue 4x20 canisters and filters.
@@WardCampbell Yeah, to be honest I don't think that strategy is a good one for me. Wells out here are very low-producing AND my well pump isn't a pressure pump. So it's not the right setup for using just a bladder style tank without a larger storage tank. Will definitely start with the large water storage tank, and pressure pump and obviously can add my current/depth-sensing add-ons over time to keep track of how my well is producing.
I do love R/O but in the desert I wouldn't feel good about saying godobye to that much waste-water, so my plan is still to use a water softener for the shower/sinks water and R/O for drinking and ice. I *could* use R/O for the whole house feed and use the waste water for just irrigation and toilets, etc, but not sure I want to have to segregate my plumbing like that.
Anyway, lots of ways to skin a cat!
Well done !! no pun intended :-) seriously however I have had wells for 40 years never once has anyone explained the entire process. My properties already had wells on them when I purchased the land. Thank you
You're welcome! Glad it was interesting for you.
I’m around the Pearblossom area/ Palmdale 😃 our driller said we hit a underground stream 😃 very blessed, I chose the well site on our 5 acres.
Wow that is truly incredible! Congrats! I'm about 2500 feet higher in elevation than you which makes it even less likely I'd hit that but regardless that's quite a score. Thanks for sharing!
Very informative video. In 2015, We drilled a 120m well here in Iringa Tanzania but we didn't get enough water for irrigation. It was just a waste of money, but at least we tried.
Oh man that must be tough. I don't have enough for irrigation here either. This is just enough for the house that will be here.
I could only imagine how much this well cost. I drilled a 400 ft well twentyyears ago, and it was $30,000. It's a great feeling to get your own, self provided water. It will be especially sweet to pump it with your own, self-provided power! Off the GRID!!!
Wow that actually surprises me.... 30k 20 years ago was an enormous amount of money. This one was about 50k for the hole and 10k more for the pump and pvc/wire to the bottom which is obviously also a ton of money. But yeah, we both have water on our own now. As they say, "cry once...". 🤣
@@LetsOverthinkThis
Thats not even a new pickup truck lol
@@LetsOverthinkThis ….wow! Not bad I was expecting $80-$100k
@@LetsOverthinkThis Last year my father-in-law cost him $17000 for 580' .
@@falcon02012 Awesome! Where?
Excellent video
Thx for watching!
I’m in the high desert. My well is 175 feet and does 40 gallons a minute. Very blessed 😊
Oh wow! High desert where?
40 gallons a minute? That sounds high. What kind of pump do you have to pump such a large amount of water? I live in North TX and my well is 500 ft deep to the Woodbine Reservoir, which is huge. However, my 15 gallon per minute Grundfos submersible only pumps about 8 gpm before the it starts pumping out. So, you are definitely blessed with an artesian vein down there.
@@gilbertjaramillo8735 Wow indeed. I can't imagine 40 or even 15gpm! Like Gilbert said, what pump do you have that can do 40GPM from 175 feet and do the lights dim every time it powers on? 🤣 (just the jealously talking here :) )
Not sure of the pump, think it’s German made. When our well was drilled they said we hit a underground stream. Most wells in my area are about 450 feet. I live about a mile from the San Andreas fault.
@@LetsOverthinkThis Same here.
Excellent video. Excellent.
We have a 200 ft (60m) well in the park near the ocean.
It is for watering the grass.
We have droughts here.
We are in a sandstone valley that was part of a river system myago.
The ocean rose and the valley filled in with sediment.
When it rains the water follows the rocky valley floor to the ocean.
But accumulates as it pushes the ocean water out.
We have a water supply below the park. 😊😊😊
You made me think.
Facts are useful 👌 😊
I live in the Pacific Northwest of the US, well drilling here is mostly welded steel casing to the bottom of the well minus a few feet for sluf off from the edge of the hole.
Yeah different geology, different process for sure! The fact that the ground here is solid enough to not need any reinforcement to 600 feet down is pretty mind blowing.
Incredible video.!!!
Thanks for watching and letting me know!
i’m planning to get a well drilled north of you soon, in fish lake valley; right next door to owens valley. A couple of my neighbors get hot water from their wells too; i think they’re around 700 feet deep.
Great video.
Thanks!
Great Video
Thanks for posting
Thanks for watching 😁
Personally quite valuable info as we will be going through this process before long on our piece of Idaho granodiorite batholith.
Glad it helped! And best of luck to you!
Thank you for this!
You're welcome!
We had a well drilled in 2018. Well driller wouldn't drill if he witched and could not locate water, but he did locate with his witch a good supply. 300 ft well, hit water at 40 ft, but you do not want ground water. 6 inch pvc caseing. First 60 ft solid caseing rest tiny slots. Well can do 30 gal a minute. Well cost $18,000. I installed grundfos ac/dc well pump 3 gal a minute supplying my 5000 gal storage tank. Pump was about $2500.00, poly pipe about $400.00. We live off grid in the Southern Sierra Nevada mountains at 6500 ft elevation. We keep the tank full and water alot of trees and bushes and pumps about 1800 gal a day using 3 - 150 watt solar panels. Built a shed over the well and we don't use well much in the winter. California does make business with wells have meters on them and are starting to make residential wells metered. We are in the wilderness and they don't bother with us.
30g a minute is amazing! Nothing like that out here in the desert 😉
Sounds great and thanks for commenting!
Water level resembles an underground upside down umbrella around the well.
Be sure to put lightening protection on the powerlines going to the pump electronics.
6 SQF-3. I have many of these installed in California and I have some that are running close to 13 years old without fail. Hopefully you don't have too much fine abrasive silt in your well or that will shorten its life span as it is a helical rotor and those two surfaces will wear against each other over time. You will know when you always apply the same amount of power yet the GPM flow rate begins to decline. Even that may not be a problem for years and years to come. You did a really good job putting these videos together.
Thanks so much for watching and glad to hear you've had success with the 6SQF3! Not any silt in my water that I can detect but as you said, will keep an eye on the production vs power draw! Great tip there.
Thx again!
Hi. Thank you for putting out amazing video. We just bought a plot in desert hot springs. And looking for quotes to drill 600 foot well as well .
You're welcome and hope it helped! Best of luck to you 🤞
I had probes put on for high and low so I could leave the pump running gated back for continuous flow with a gauge on my tank I could see from the house. I didn't have huge head. I used ow pressure wobble sprinklers. Worked well for me. Excuse the pun
That was fun to see
I thought so!
Rural AZ here. My well is 590' deep with water at 470'. I recent;y replaced a failed 20 year old 220V pump with the same Grundfos 6SQF3. On solar with a clear sky I get roughly 5gpm into my 2500 gal storage tank.
Drilling on my new neighbor's well starts tomorrow and is expected to go 550ish feet and will require 300 feet of steel casing in addition to the PVC. This is based on the ground conditions the driller encountered on the well they just did directly across the road from his place.
According to the drilling log filed with the State Well Registry, my 20 year old well has 310 feet of steel casing as well.
Cool to see how different things can be! Similar well depth (though my water level is a lot higher) but obviously very different ground conditions. I'd bet your water would test quite differently from mine as well for those reasons.
Hope the grundfos treats us both well :)
I suspect with all of the electronics in it neither of us is getting 20 years out of it like you did your old pump but it sure is a miserly one, power-wise.
Anyway, thanks for watching. And stay tuned... the rest of the homestead build is starting soon!
@@LetsOverthinkThis Your video had caught my eye as we had lived in 29 Palms for 34 years. We bought our 36 (now 72) acre place in AZ in 2017 and moved there full time in 2019.
A key to long life on the pump is to run it into a large storage tank and then use a separate pump to pressurize the house. This minimizes the cycles on the pump. I only run my well pump for about 3 hours every 10 days or so. The guy that did the well work said it would be best to simply run the pump constantly like the cattle ranchers do (letting excess water just overflow from tank) but we would be just wasting huge amounts of water that way.
Previous pump had served to pull from well and also pressurize the house. So it was stopping/starting multiple times a day.
Yeah, totally agree on limiting the cycles for the pump. The way you describe it with a big storage tank from which the pressure pump pulls is the only way you can do it out here anyway, since the wells aren't high enough flow-producing to support real-time use. And then you just put enough distance between the 2 float switches so that the pump cycles on and stays on for a while instead of just short cycling every few minutes or hours.
But to be frank, even with that, we're not going to get as much life out of these pumps. Circuits (especially when submerged) just aren't going to last as long as some basic metal coils. But it's all about tradeoffs of course!
Best of luck to you!
I lived in 29 palms and had friends out around wonder valley and pinto mountain not to far from Joshua Tree. Out in that area you had to go at least 600 ft and 80 ft was n't uncommon. A lot of people would drive into 29 palms to get water from the town well because it was so cost prohibitive for them to be able to afford drilling a well that deep.
That was pretty cool, and thanks again for letting us tag along. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, congratulations on the well.
Thx! Would have said "any time" but one hopes to do this only once ;)
Well presented explanation of the process. I had 3 wells sunk on a previous property with very old equipment but the process is exactly the same. To protect your well head I would imagine you plan to cover this with a building ? You can set up a water filtration system to remove some of the minerals and lessen the water odor.
Thanks! Yeah, there will be a building right next to it and I'll build something to protect the well head, specifically. When the water storage tank and pressure pump go in, I'll add some filters and such as well.
My very first job as a paramedic was in JT for MBA (than Joshua Tree Ambulance) in 1991. Loved working there, and loved the county! I was even up there for the Great Landers earthquake! However I can't place where this is at. My best guess is between Pietown and Landers?
Oh wow! You've been around here since early days! Thanks for being a paramedic, btw. Not a bad guess but not getting specific with the location for various reasons :)
Thanks for watching!
I lived in the Coachella Valley years ago and have wandered the desert in the high desert. I had no idea that the water was that shallow in the higher altitude desert. I think I remember that the aquifer in Palm Springs was 200 to 400 feet.
Yeah, it's odd and this isn't my field of knowledge, but apparently it's because the water where I am comes down from other places, through strata in the rock; IE I'm not reaching into the same aquifer as areas lower than I am.
@@LetsOverthinkThis I realized that you weren't into the low aquifer. I just never realised that the high desert aquifer was that shallow outside fault areas.
You have a beautiful area of the high desert. Although freeze and snow in the winter, I've enjoyed rockhounding with my mother, two sisters, brother in law and nieces and nephews. I've also photographed many beautiful scenics and wild flowers up there. It's magical!✨
@@davidedgar2818 It is magical! I don't bother explaining it to people who don't get it because you have to see it with your own eyes, and not everything is for everybody! But thx for watching and commenting!