Sand point well

[04FXSTS]

Had a bad week last week with the big freeze coming at the same time we lost our water in our well. When we moved here and had the well put in is a bored well 24 inch diameter and 22 feet deep. We hit good water at 14 feet and two pumps going couldn't faze it. Now the water level is about 18 feet and the well appears to have filled in to about 19 feet. Our area has been in a drought area all this year, far west central Indiana. Have talked with neighbors and they are all fine with sand point wells but their wells are around 28-30 feet.
I plan to put in a sand point well down to about 30 feet by hand, I need some exercise. It does not look like anything technical just a lot of work and cheap. I don't mind hard work as long as I can save a decent amount of money. The way everything looks if I had not lost the depth of the well I would be fine. Any advice for me in this endeavor will be appreciated, have watched utube videos but trust the opinions of the members here. The soil is sandy and pea gravel for the most part so should not be too bad unless I hit a big rock, got some of them out of the ground when they put in the septic system.
We are getting ready to head for Florida for a couple weeks so hopefully the weather will cooperate with me. Went and bought a 275 gallon tank and poured two of these in the well and found out it runs out as fast as it is poured in. dropped the water pump in the tank and a few fittings later plumed it into the well outlet and into the house, OK as long as the temperature stays decent. Jim.

 

[Bugzilla]

Get someone to jet the well in. I drove several by hand. Last one I had a local plumber jet it in. Literally took about 30 seconds. Best $400 I ever spent.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Had a bad week last week with the big freeze coming at the same time we lost our water in our well. When we moved here and had the well put in is a bored well 24 inch diameter and 22 feet deep. We hit good water at 14 feet and two pumps going couldn't faze it. Now the water level is about 18 feet and the well appears to have filled in to about 19 feet. Our area has been in a drought area all this year, far west central Indiana. Have talked with neighbors and they are all fine with sand point wells but their wells are around 28-30 feet.
I plan to put in a sand point well down to about 30 feet by hand, I need some exercise. It does not look like anything technical just a lot of work and cheap. I don't mind hard work as long as I can save a decent amount of money. The way everything looks if I had not lost the depth of the well I would be fine. Any advice for me in this endeavor will be appreciated, have watched utube videos but trust the opinions of the members here. The soil is sandy and pea gravel for the most part so should not be too bad unless I hit a big rock, got some of them out of the ground when they put in the septic system.
We are getting ready to head for Florida for a couple weeks so hopefully the weather will cooperate with me. Went and bought a 275 gallon tank and poured two of these in the well and found out it runs out as fast as it is poured in. dropped the water pump in the tank and a few fittings later plumed it into the well outlet and into the house, OK as long as the temperature stays decent. Jim.

Make sure you find a pump with a suitable Suction Lift or Total Lift Head rating. You may find you have trouble pulling water from 30', generally most are rated to 25' or less. That rating is to the height of the inlet of the pump.

Did they use a concrete collar style on your bored well? Have you contacted the people who bored the well and see what they say?

 

[04FXSTS]

Make sure you find a pump with a suitable Suction Lift or Total Lift Head rating. You may find you have trouble pulling water from 30', generally most are rated to 25' or less. That rating is to the height of the inlet of the pump.

Did they use a concrete collar style on your bored well? Have you contacted the people who bored the well and see what they say?

Man that bored the well has been here and has no idea what happened to cause it to lose depth of well. He is retired now but drilled wells for thirty years and several in the area. As far as the water level it has been little rain all year so that makes sense it is low. I had a dug well and shallow well pump set up where I lived back in the 1970s so am familiar with them. If I remember there is a concrete cap on the well about six feet down. Too bad I don’t have a giant shop vac, looks like I could suck out the sand and have my well back. Jim.

 

[Lpherr]

Back in my younger days, I drove a few wells by hand.
Definitely feel it the next couple of days.
Haven't messed with a well since back then.
I hope you get back operational soon.

 

[Shadow01]

All that farm irrigation isn’t helping your shallow well in Vermillion county.

 

[04FXSTS]

All that farm irrigation isn’t helping your shallow well in Vermillion county.

Yes the Walker farms are close by maybe a mile give or take a little and I have heard they use a lot of water. Never made sense to me, farmers put in drainage tile to get rid of the spring rains then irrigate the fields when the weather gets dry.
Not only that but Cayuga not only has a well to supply the town but there is also a well that supplies water to Georgetown Illinois. It gets pumped about 10 or 12 miles into Illinois and from what I hear Georgetown pays nothing for the water. Georgetown is a community of around 3,000 people and used to have a lot of water problems, not any more. Jim.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Man that bored the well has been here and has no idea what happened to cause it to lose depth of well. He is retired now but drilled wells for thirty years and several in the area. As far as the water level it has been little rain all year so that makes sense it is low. I had a dug well and shallow well pump set up where I lived back in the 1970s so am familiar with them. If I remember there is a concrete cap on the well about six feet down. Too bad I don’t have a giant shop vac, looks like I could suck out the sand and have my well back. Jim.

Is your well in a low spot, Maybe runoff flowing into it washing it in?

There are companies that do Hydro Vac. They could probably suck it out if you have access.

This is one we have around here.

Home

www.badgerinc.com

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Not to derail this thread, but what is a sand point well? I have what I've been told is a "deep" well (4" pipe), so I'm not familiar with it.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Not to derail this thread, but what is a sand point well? I have what I've been told is a "deep" well (4" pipe), so I'm not familiar with it.

It is a shallow well.
This is a point.


This is the basic layout of the well

 

[DoggyDaddy]

It is a shallow well.
This is a point.
View attachment 245181

This is the basic layout of the well
View attachment 245182

Thanks Jay. Are they necessitated by local water tables? I think I was told that ours is like 75' deep.

 

[ghitch75]

Thanks Jay. Are they necessitated by local water tables? I think I was told that ours is like 75' deep.

no sandpoint for me either our well is 180ft

 

[DoggyDaddy]

no sandpoint for me either our well is 180ft

So it does sound like it's water table dependant. But can someone with a sand point well drill deeper if they wanted to?

 

[ghitch75]

So it does sound like it's water table dependant. But can someone with a sand point well drill deeper if they wanted to?

you could try but the rock would stop you

 

[DoggyDaddy]

you could try but the rock would stop you

I thought that was the whole point of drilling... to get past the bedrock?

 

[ghitch75]

I thought that was the whole point of drilling... to get past the bedrock?

ok i thought you meant drilling with a sandpoint.....yes they could bring out a rig and go deeper.....

 

[Jaybird1980]

So it does sound like it's water table dependant. But can someone with a sand point well drill deeper if they wanted to?

Yes you can unless you're somewhere where rock causes issues (think mountains), but one is much cheaper than the other.

 

[Bugzilla]

Driven wells are limited to about 25-30 feet as that is about all a self priming pump can draw. With a bored well the pump is in the pipe in the water so they can be as deep as they need to be as long as the pump can generate enough head to get the water out of the pipe.

 

[Frosty]

can generate enough head to get the water out of the pipe.

I’m sorry

 

[Mij]

JMO, but if you are talking about drinking water, 14 feet is ground water and I can’t imagine it passing any local codes for drinking water.

For drinking water you would have to go thru one if not two gravel layers and any good well drilling company In you’re area is going to have historical data from their AO. If you want to end your blood line, drink water from 14 ft. deep for about a generation. If you are in west central Indiana I would suggest looking at IU, Indiana drinking water data.

Think of CAFO’s field farm chems, other such things. A well point is ok for irrigation but not potable water. Again JMO.

ps. West Central has a good company, Dilldin bros. Lots of historical data. Good luck.