I have a waterwell on my five acres here in Southern Colorado, and it needs to be drilled down to 470 feet, it's at 365 now. I have a pump, but that's it, living on a fixed income and fighting cancer doesn't give much money to do much of anything. I had a nice dream of what this property would be, but once cancer came into the picture, everything changed five years ago when I was diagnosed. I'm glad you were able to fix their situation, may it pump Clean water forever. God bless you all.
I have watched all of the H2O Mechanic’s videos - including the car/motorcycle & other videos and love them all. Bought a home in Texas with 3 existing wells each with it’s own problems. Tomorrow morning I am replacing a well pump that’s on PVC pipe at about 160 feet using a rig I built patterned after what I have seen in these videos. Installing the new pump on 1” black roll pipe using the techniques I have learned here as well. Thank you so much for your hard work not just on the wells but on your channel - you have saved me THOUSANDS !!! PS - Everything I do on these wells takes about 4 times longer, but there is great joy in doing something that very few people even dare to try!
I'm from a family of well drillers and am still amazed at the few number of people who understand this process. I'd like to add some information on the difference between a Cable Tool Drill (also called a Hammer Drill) and a Rotary Water Well Drill. It's important to understand the differences from a functional and financial standpoint. A Hammer Drill drops a thousand pound 20' long solid steel drill bar from the height of two feet via a cable under a walking beam, then lifts it up again and repeats this process. The detachable drill bit on the bottom of the drill bar has tungsten carbide "buttons" on the bottom and sides that maintain the size of the typical six inch diameter drill bit so the hole size doesn't change to a cone shape. The half ton drill bar impacts the ground with enough force to grind up the rock in the presence of water to create a sludge called "cuttings". A hammer driller will typically drill 3-6 feet per hour and the operator regularly needs to stop drilling and pump the sludge out of the well (with a twenty foot hollow tube with a dart valve at its bottom) before adding more water (5-10 gallons) typically by using a pail. When water is struck the pump will come out of the hole with more water than the 10 gallons added manually. Conversely, a Rotary Driller turns a pressurized drill tube and the rotating bit at the bottom of the drill tube grinds up rock much more efficiently than a hammer drill. The cuttings are constantly being blown up the outside of the drill tube by pressurized air that is forced down the center of the drill tube (typically 2000 PSI). A Rotary Driller only needs to stop drilling to add another 20' drill tube to extend the well depth. Therefore, a Rotary Drill can drill several wells in one day in decent drilling because of the efficiencies mentioned. So what does this mean to the customer. There are significant differences in the two drilling methods: 1- Impact: The biggest difference is the amount of impact the ground receives. A Hammer Drill pounds violently and this force can easily be felt a mile away if the rock being drilled outcrops near the surface. This impact will agitate any small seam in the rock to allow water to enter the well. But a Rotary Drill grinds away at the rock with only a slight vibration on the rotating drill bit. 2- Time: Drilling in softer rock such as red shale, a Hammer Drill can drill a 100 foot well in two to three days; a week or more in hard rock. A Rotary Drill can drill 2 or 3 wells in one day in soft or even medium hard rock. Many times my Hammer Drill ended the day with a dry 60' hole and returned the next morning to find 5 gallons per minute of water flow. The "Impact" mentioned in #1 above had loosened a slow trickle water seam and the overnight hours allowed it to open up and supply ample water. 3- Pressure: Hammer Drilling requires one to bail out the cuttings so an empty hole 60' deep can have a 60' water head forcing water in any surrounding seam into the well hole. This pressure can cause a slow leak to allow this small seam to be flushed open. Conversely, a Rotary Drill forces 2000 PSI down the drill tube to force cuttings to the surface. Imagine a small water seam in these two cutting removal processes. A Hammer Drill operates with an empty hole with water table pressure trying to access the hole. A Rotary Drill forces cuttings into a water seam with 2000 PSI of pressure to block water access into the hole. 4- Operation Costs: A Hammer Drill business can be started with a $20K drilling machine and a functional half-ton. A Rotary Drill would need a ballpark million dollars for the drill, drill tube service truck and accessories. Instinctively one would prefer a more efficient Rotary Water Drill, but the efficiencies of a newer higher tech Rotary Drill do not translate into a better water well or a cost savings to the customer, only a faster hole. Note, my family has all retired from well drilling, like most Hammer Drillers. I only post this information to educate. I built a house in a subdivision where every house had Rotary wells and they mostly had such a low supply (less than one gallon per minute) from a 200' well that one shower a day was their limit. I paid a Hammer Driller a footage premium to drill my 120' well and got 10 gallons per minute, enough water to run two water sprinklers all day in a dry spell. In summary, find a Hammer Driller, pay him a footage premium to save money and get a great water supply.
Our well was hammer drilled 45 years ago. It's 47 ft deep and flows over 25 gal a min. Every old time well man always said a hammer well will produce better for longer. I don't know much but ours has never let us down.
I’ve been watching quite a few of your videos and now realize that I have done many things incorrectly on my well. Over the past 35 years years we’ve used a 250 foot deep well producing about 20 gallons per minute serving our domestic needs. Pump set at 200 feet. About 25 years ago, I decided to add a “pump and dump” groundwater heat pump using the existing well. The well supplied plenty of water. The P&D heat pump discharged into a 200 foot “return“ that was drilled for that purpose. The heat pump used almost 3000 gallons per day in addition to our domestic water needs. (BTW The return well never received all the return water and produced a swamp in its vicinity). Starting with a small three-quarter horsepower Goulds pump which soon failed, we had to pull the pump and replaced it. Upon tearing the old pump apart, I found the impellers were completely clogged with a very fine silt. It almost resembled Portland cement which couldn’t be cleaned out at all, so the pump had to be replaced. We went with a larger one horsepower pump. About three years later, we replaced the one horsepower pump with a one and a half horsepower, AeroMotor brand pump (same failure, plugged impellers). After another three years it failed and once again it got replaced. After three or four pumps (about every three years) we gave up on the “pump and dump” heat pump. We drilled two more 200 foot wells in the vicinity of the original “return” well that had been installed for original heat pump, and installed a new “closed loop” heat pump. With 600 feet of vertical loop plus another 100 feet back to the heat pump which gave a total of almost 800 feet of loop. The new heat pump has been working well for the last 11 years “knock on wood“ but I know that the one and a half hp pump that’s in the bottom of the residential well could give up most anytime, especially knowing all the mistakes that I made with all those past pumps that went down the well. I installed all of them with a torque arrestor and centering discs but I know I never taped the wire anywhere so who knows, at age 78 I just hope it lasts until I’m gone. Still watching your RUclips videos. Wish there was something like your channel many years ago (before cell phones😳🫤🙄☺️😀). I live in Central Pennsylvania
Your pump and dump system might have been drawing a lot more silt into the well simply because of the increased volume from the demands of the heat pump. You should expect for the existing pump to last longer because of the lower demand.
Thank you for the excellent content & the quality of your video’s! Since my husband passed 4 yrs ago I’ve had to replace everything from the pump all the way to the house with very little help, on a strict budget and learning as I went. Lived for 1 1/2yrs having to turn power off & on to the well or no water. (used a hose for 6mons from my sisters next door to water the ranch animals) Just found your channel and I love it! Learning a lot and refreshing this 62 yr old Gramma’s memory!! Thanks so much!! ❤
This is an amazing video. Ling up the drill rig on an existing well is quite the task. You do amazing things to drill a well for your clients. Keep up the great work!!!
Down hole air hammer drills were the hot thing in the 70's along with a bunch of neat handling tools. Much faster in granite than rotarys for the shallow (
I love your videos. I’ve watched all of them to date. One thing I wish you would include is the total well specs on each well such as total depth, depth where water was struck, well yield, static water level, and pump set depth. You could include it at the end with a graphic or just a reading of the data. I’m fascinated at how the drilling process is constant yet the results can be so different from location to location. Again, great work and nice videos. Keep it up!
I have watched many of your videos, and its amazing how deep you have to go, and sometimes how little water you find. I live in southern Michigan, and literally all the water i want on a 30 foot well with a 1/2hp top pump does everything i need in the shop. The house is a submersible but not much deeper. Code or something. I dont drink the shop water, its there for washing stuff or fire watch when welding. Keep up with the awesome, informative content!
We need some of you well drillers up in the NW. It took me 3 years to get my hole drilled with me being on the list of two different well drillers., and now am waiting on the pump installation, which is a separate company all together. Well drillers up here for some reason do not instal pumps. Just found your channel and it is great.
Brilliant video! Came across your channel last week I've watched quite a lot of videos now. I never even knew this was a thing drilling wells in peoples gardens uk term 😁 keeps up the good work it's a fascinating process. 👍🏻
so weird i dont have well city water but for some reason i love watching your work, the best thing is you work smart and know what are you doing , wish you was up north i would hire you just to the sake of it :)
I remember as a kid in the 60s, folks with summer homes near ours having wells dug with those old 'pounder' rigs. They'd say drilling rigs, but they sounded (and looked) like 'pounders' to me. These new rigs of today seem so much more efficient. 😁😆
in the 80s I remember a family having a around 40 foot well made deeper with a pounder. The idea I was told was it would break the rock more and allow more water in. The well had been there for probably 20 years or more before that but started running dry. As of know in 2024,. that well is still going strong.
To make your teams and life work easier, I highly recommend you carry 1" thick 4' x 8' sheets of uhmw poly board at least 2 on the drill truck. They can survive almost anything and they make crossing dangerous terrain easy.
always enjoy seeing people work hard to fix existing problems drilled wells and shot fire just a suggestion cribed drills and other heavy equipment your cribbing should start level it will slide on it self and bend the heck out of your steels never thought of removeing front tires can always learn somthing
We don't usually have the elevation changes like that here in central Florida, but that alignment tool was genius. Wish I would thought of that. Good job.
I’d love to have half of that. Once you get up into the hills at all, it gets tough to find water. Real hit or miss. I’m lucky to get 11gpm at 180ft. The neighbor drilled to 400 or 500 and it was dry the whole way down.
Our well was dug first in 1994 375 ft 40 gallons a min. Ran dry after well wasn't used for years then in 2019 dug it anther 150 ft hit more water than the Guage could read. My tag says 100gpm
We had to go deeper in our well in PA the well went dry I think the well was 160 feet or so I think the original was in the 125 or so range. The drilling company went deeper in the same well. We had a rod pump, most people use a submersible pump now. Our farm had a 20 foot well and the water was horrible. Even collagen said drill a new well. Then call us if you want a softener. We never called because the new well was the best tasting water. Even my uncle used to take some home to drink. 73
not sure if my method might help you here, but I'm an electrician. I use a semi decent laser level that has plumb marks when doing layouts for lighting, that way I can measure and mark on the floor and use the plumb bob feature of my laser level to shoot it to the ceiling. Lot easier to pull measurements on the floor than on the ceiling when you are by yourself. I know that it would be difficult to see in daylight, but you don't have to deal with the pendulum swinging around all the time. They make aerosol sprays that would make the laser beam a lot more visible. Just a thought anyway, That was my solution trying to work backwards against a plum bob :) The red klein is like $150 but the green ones would be easier to see outside.
We’re here in northern Arizona with our house at 6000’ elevation. Back in 2006 we has a well drilled. They went down 490’ into the Coconino sandstone. They hit water at 390’, and the bottom 100’ is so the well will be efficiently replenished. We pump 12 gallons per minute with a 3 HP pump and can do that all day. We have a 3000 gallon tank up the hill that we use for gravity feed pressure. We generally go through one tank about every 2-3 weeks.
Our solar power system can run that size pump. Most folks around here have 3 HP pumps. One neighbor has a 12 HP pump and his well does 30+ gallons per minute. He uses a 20 kW generator to power his well.
When running, our 3 HP uses about 4 to 4.5 kW. Startup power is closer to 6 kW. Our power is split phase 240 VAC either from the solar inverter or our 14 kW propane generator. Most installations that use 1 HP pump motors are 117 VAC around here. If so, you should be able to use a small 2 kW unit with no problem. Of course, you may have other power consumption items as well. Good luck.
@@gazelam Thanks, I think my 10kw figure is about double what"s actually needed to start the pump. This 1hp pump is running on 240. A ~5kw generator should suffice, with careful management. Not sure where my 10kw figure was derived.
hi there, instead of a regular plumb bob that truck movement and wind affect, perhaps a self leveling laser plumb that projects a beam downward would be a better bet, unless you need a plumb bob very infrequently...
My well gets 19 gallons an HOUR, 1/2 gallon a minute is over 50% more water and with a family of four we don't have any issues. Can't water the lawn but with 450 gallons reserve we don't have any issues except when the toilet gets stuck. Given how high the water came up they must've had over 200 gallons reserve just in the well alone before re-drilling.
When we had the drought in California I was down to a half gallon a minute I had to put a special controller on the pump and I designed a pressure type of valve adjustable to hold pressure on the pump to slow down the flow.
I set up trailers for years, 1' drop over 20' looks bad aftet you go out 80' that is 4' plus the 18"-24" minimum height required for plumbing and such, typically 24"-32" is the most without getting crafty and expensive!! We did all the difficult setups, in places ppl said were impossible, we nearly pulled frames out from under homes going up hills that steep, and broke trailer tongues off backing trailers uo 60° + hills required two D8 dozers one pulling one pushing backwards! Elevation is everything!
Maybe you can use that nice inspection camera but stick it in a hole right next to the plumb bob string hole so you can see exactly where you need to go. just a thought. Have a great day
$50 or less. set it over the hole where the string comes through and you can centre it to 1/8" Also, same tool can shoot straight up inside a drill pipe and you can check centreing to make sure it is dead naughts plumb.
Videos are great. I own a water filtration/purification business, also a licensed plumber and licensed well tech. A well driller in my area hit a methane gas source while drilling, burned a one year old rig to the ground and the brand new, not even moved into yet, custom built log home that was only 40ft away
Good informative video! We have a 600+/- water well here in north Texas that we will need to have fixed. Years ago, my father in law got tired of 'fixing' it, and hooked up to city water. We would like to see if we can remove the old pump jack and put a submersible pump in it's place, and get enough water for livestock and irrigating big garden. We will have to find someone that can give us a bid. :)
I reckon even if you don't find more water you will make the reservoir deeper to hold more water at least. 100 foot x 6 inches is another 146 gallons of capacity.
Great job as usual. If a customer has rusty water and if drilling deeper for cleaner water is possible, whats the cost to do something like that. approx is OK.
Respected, subcontractors that are drilling wells on open pit coal mine (water wall), have extendable stabilizer legs. Something that looks similar to stabilizers on mobile cranes (or how are they called i'm not sure) would be such an improvement for stability of the rig (in my humble opinion). I don't have any pictures or videos of them working since this is strictly forbidden, but rigs are kind of similar, except the working platform with commands is on the left side and not on left back like on yours, much more instruments and buttons and levers. Think the rig is quite bigger also, and they do bore up to 250 mm on our site, sometimes some extra large holes (who knows for what) too. Thanks You very much for very informative and educational videos. Best Regards.
You do deeper, you need a bigger rig to drill a bigger downhole. Stepping the bore will make it easier to get equipment down bore and easier to drill. That is how the oil field roughnecks out on the ocean rigs do it.
Not sure if he uses the same technique, but have seen drill rigs just blowing down compressed air through the pipes and check how much water comes out.
@danielrose1392 both of yall are correct. We stop injecting our water & only estimate the water getting blown out. The driller sees its every day & knows what is what. A true test typically shows more than what we estimate
Did you ever have the ground blow out from under one of your jacks while you are drilling, and your committed to stay there. Have seen it happen. Dave D.
Tire isnt flat. The truck can use outriggers to level left and right. You can see to level front to back they have to get the front way lower. The rod has to go in plumb or you'll never get the rod out, the well will collapse because gravity will pull the walls in.
What's the cost comparison between drilling a new well vs redrilling an existing hole? Also, does the homeowner need to do any paperwork with the county on redrilling the existing hole? Thanks
If the well is atleast 200ft it's cheaper to drill it deeper. A new well gets new casing that can deeper & prevent surface water intrusion. There's a few variables we look at before we drill a well deeper
Chad a question : Could the chambers of the barrels not be polished with a sacrificial case doped with a dab of fine valve compound or a felt mandrel loaded with matchless metal polishing compound ? Useing light pressure spinning while the polish loaded mandrel with a drill or a lathe at low speeds and light pressures apply to the tool. I have learned how to such repairs like this in the past at a gunsmithing school located in Colorado . Also not a perfect repair , it does allow a otherwise unserviceable rifle barrel to achieve a partial useful life versus being a paperweight or expensive pisto blankl blank.
![[#2024MAMA] BIGBANG (빅뱅) - 뱅뱅뱅 (BANG BANG BANG) + FANTASTIC BABY | Mnet 241123 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EQsYfiPR9uM/mqdefault.jpg)
I have a waterwell on my five acres here in Southern Colorado, and it needs to be drilled down to 470 feet, it's at 365 now. I have a pump, but that's it, living on a fixed income and fighting cancer doesn't give much money to do much of anything. I had a nice dream of what this property would be, but once cancer came into the picture, everything changed five years ago when I was diagnosed.
I'm glad you were able to fix their situation, may it pump Clean water forever.
God bless you all.
I have watched all of the H2O Mechanic’s videos - including the car/motorcycle & other videos and love them all. Bought a home in Texas with 3 existing wells each with it’s own problems. Tomorrow morning I am replacing a well pump that’s on PVC pipe at about 160 feet using a rig I built patterned after what I have seen in these videos. Installing the new pump on 1” black roll pipe using the techniques I have learned here as well. Thank you so much for your hard work not just on the wells but on your channel - you have saved me THOUSANDS !!!
PS - Everything I do on these wells takes about 4 times longer, but there is great joy in doing something that very few people even dare to try!
You're right about that! ;)
I'm from a family of well drillers and am still amazed at the few number of people who understand this process. I'd like to add some information on the difference between a Cable Tool Drill (also called a Hammer Drill) and a Rotary Water Well Drill. It's important to understand the differences from a functional and financial standpoint.
A Hammer Drill drops a thousand pound 20' long solid steel drill bar from the height of two feet via a cable under a walking beam, then lifts it up again and repeats this process. The detachable drill bit on the bottom of the drill bar has tungsten carbide "buttons" on the bottom and sides that maintain the size of the typical six inch diameter drill bit so the hole size doesn't change to a cone shape. The half ton drill bar impacts the ground with enough force to grind up the rock in the presence of water to create a sludge called "cuttings". A hammer driller will typically drill 3-6 feet per hour and the operator regularly needs to stop drilling and pump the sludge out of the well (with a twenty foot hollow tube with a dart valve at its bottom) before adding more water (5-10 gallons) typically by using a pail. When water is struck the pump will come out of the hole with more water than the 10 gallons added manually.
Conversely, a Rotary Driller turns a pressurized drill tube and the rotating bit at the bottom of the drill tube grinds up rock much more efficiently than a hammer drill. The cuttings are constantly being blown up the outside of the drill tube by pressurized air that is forced down the center of the drill tube (typically 2000 PSI). A Rotary Driller only needs to stop drilling to add another 20' drill tube to extend the well depth. Therefore, a Rotary Drill can drill several wells in one day in decent drilling because of the efficiencies mentioned.
So what does this mean to the customer. There are significant differences in the two drilling methods:
1- Impact:
The biggest difference is the amount of impact the ground receives. A Hammer Drill pounds violently and this force can easily be felt a mile away if the rock being drilled outcrops near the surface. This impact will agitate any small seam in the rock to allow water to enter the well. But a Rotary Drill grinds away at the rock with only a slight vibration on the rotating drill bit.
2- Time:
Drilling in softer rock such as red shale, a Hammer Drill can drill a 100 foot well in two to three days; a week or more in hard rock. A Rotary Drill can drill 2 or 3 wells in one day in soft or even medium hard rock. Many times my Hammer Drill ended the day with a dry 60' hole and returned the next morning to find 5 gallons per minute of water flow. The "Impact" mentioned in #1 above had loosened a slow trickle water seam and the overnight hours allowed it to open up and supply ample water.
3- Pressure:
Hammer Drilling requires one to bail out the cuttings so an empty hole 60' deep can have a 60' water head forcing water in any surrounding seam into the well hole. This pressure can cause a slow leak to allow this small seam to be flushed open. Conversely, a Rotary Drill forces 2000 PSI down the drill tube to force cuttings to the surface. Imagine a small water seam in these two cutting removal processes. A Hammer Drill operates with an empty hole with water table pressure trying to access the hole. A Rotary Drill forces cuttings into a water seam with 2000 PSI of pressure to block water access into the hole.
4- Operation Costs:
A Hammer Drill business can be started with a $20K drilling machine and a functional half-ton. A Rotary Drill would need a ballpark million dollars for the drill, drill tube service truck and accessories. Instinctively one would prefer a more efficient Rotary Water Drill, but the efficiencies of a newer higher tech Rotary Drill do not translate into a better water well or a cost savings to the customer, only a faster hole.
Note, my family has all retired from well drilling, like most Hammer Drillers. I only post this information to educate. I built a house in a subdivision where every house had Rotary wells and they mostly had such a low supply (less than one gallon per minute) from a 200' well that one shower a day was their limit. I paid a Hammer Driller a footage premium to drill my 120' well and got 10 gallons per minute, enough water to run two water sprinklers all day in a dry spell.
In summary, find a Hammer Driller, pay him a footage premium to save money and get a great water supply.
Our well was hammer drilled 45 years ago. It's 47 ft deep and flows over 25 gal a min. Every old time well man always said a hammer well will produce better for longer. I don't know much but ours has never let us down.
What a son, your a true professional
I’ve been watching quite a few of your videos and now realize that I have done many things incorrectly on my well.
Over the past 35 years years we’ve used a 250 foot deep well producing about 20 gallons per minute serving our domestic needs. Pump set at 200 feet.
About 25 years ago, I decided to add a “pump and dump” groundwater heat pump using the existing well. The well supplied plenty of water. The P&D heat pump discharged into a 200 foot “return“ that was drilled for that purpose. The heat pump used almost 3000 gallons per day in addition to our domestic water needs. (BTW The return well never received all the return water and produced a swamp in its vicinity).
Starting with a small three-quarter horsepower Goulds pump which soon failed, we had to pull the pump and replaced it. Upon tearing the old pump apart, I found the impellers were completely clogged with a very fine silt. It almost resembled Portland cement which couldn’t be cleaned out at all, so the pump had to be replaced. We went with a larger one horsepower pump. About three years later, we replaced the one horsepower pump with a one and a half horsepower, AeroMotor brand pump (same failure, plugged impellers). After another three years it failed and once again it got replaced.
After three or four pumps (about every three years) we gave up on the “pump and dump” heat pump.
We drilled two more 200 foot wells in the vicinity of the original “return” well that had been installed for original heat pump, and installed a new “closed loop” heat pump. With 600 feet of vertical loop plus another 100 feet back to the heat pump which gave a total of almost 800 feet of loop.
The new heat pump has been working well for the last 11 years “knock on wood“ but I know that the one and a half hp pump that’s in the bottom of the residential well could give up most anytime, especially knowing all the mistakes that I made with all those past pumps that went down the well.
I installed all of them with a torque arrestor and centering discs but I know I never taped the wire anywhere so who knows, at age 78 I just hope it lasts until I’m gone.
Still watching your RUclips videos. Wish there was something like your channel many years ago (before cell phones😳🫤🙄☺️😀). I live in Central Pennsylvania
Your pump and dump system might have been drawing a lot more silt into the well simply because of the increased volume from the demands of the heat pump.
You should expect for the existing pump to last longer because of the lower demand.
Thank you for the excellent content & the quality of your video’s!
Since my husband passed 4 yrs ago I’ve had to replace everything from the pump all the way to the house with very little help, on a strict budget and learning as I went. Lived for 1 1/2yrs having to turn power off & on to the well or no water. (used a hose for 6mons from my sisters next door to water the ranch animals)
Just found your channel and I love it! Learning a lot and refreshing this 62 yr old Gramma’s memory!! Thanks so much!! ❤
This is an amazing video. Ling up the drill rig on an existing well is quite the task. You do amazing things to drill a well for your clients. Keep up the great work!!!
That's only when you have to re-drill existing well hole
You might say it was well-done! Awesome job! 😀
I am obviously ignorant on water wells but I had no clue fracking was used in that industry also. Makes complete sense!
I would buy a laser plumb bob. Set it on the well put the target on the truck. Tinted plastic disc for a target marked for center.
Down hole air hammer drills were the hot thing in the 70's along with a bunch of neat handling tools. Much faster in granite than rotarys for the shallow (
It is amazing what the rigs can stand and do. Great job with the whole job.
I love your videos. I’ve watched all of them to date. One thing I wish you would include is the total well specs on each well such as total depth, depth where water was struck, well yield, static water level, and pump set depth. You could include it at the end with a graphic or just a reading of the data. I’m fascinated at how the drilling process is constant yet the results can be so different from location to location.
Again, great work and nice videos. Keep it up!
I have watched many of your videos, and its amazing how deep you have to go, and sometimes how little water you find. I live in southern Michigan, and literally all the water i want on a 30 foot well with a 1/2hp top pump does everything i need in the shop. The house is a submersible but not much deeper. Code or something. I dont drink the shop water, its there for washing stuff or fire watch when welding. Keep up with the awesome, informative content!
We need some of you well drillers up in the NW. It took me 3 years to get my hole drilled with me being on the list of two different well drillers., and now am waiting on the pump installation, which is a separate company all together. Well drillers up here for some reason do not instal pumps. Just found your channel and it is great.
Me too in SW WI 45 years ago..3 years.
Brilliant video! Came across your channel last week I've watched quite a lot of videos now. I never even knew this was a thing drilling wells in peoples gardens uk term 😁 keeps up the good work it's a fascinating process. 👍🏻
so weird i dont have well city water but for some reason i love watching your work, the best thing is you work smart and know what are you doing , wish you was up north i would hire you just to the sake of it :)
I remember as a kid in the 60s, folks with summer homes near ours having wells dug with those old 'pounder' rigs. They'd say drilling rigs, but they sounded (and looked) like 'pounders' to me. These new rigs of today seem so much more efficient. 😁😆
in the 80s I remember a family having a around 40 foot well made deeper with a pounder. The idea I was told was it would break the rock more and allow more water in. The well had been there for probably 20 years or more before that but started running dry. As of know in 2024,. that well is still going strong.
im a plumber,and i love ur videos thanks for ur good work
To make your teams and life work easier, I highly recommend you carry 1" thick 4' x 8' sheets of uhmw poly board at least 2 on the drill truck. They can survive almost anything and they make crossing dangerous terrain easy.
I've used 3/4 plywood with crane trucks.
Appreciate your dedication to your profession. 💪🏻
Amazing skill thanks for sharing you work with us, looks like exhausting at times.
Fascinating. Thanks for sharing. All that work and just a few more lengths of drill pipe. Crazy.
I was a well driller for ten years or so. Young man's job
always enjoy seeing people work hard to fix existing problems drilled wells and shot fire just a suggestion cribed drills and other heavy equipment your cribbing should start level it will slide on it self and bend the heck out of your steels never thought of removeing front tires can always learn somthing
Dam son, I think we found something you do well!
😂😂😂
We don't usually have the elevation changes like that here in central Florida, but that alignment tool was genius. Wish I would thought of that. Good job.
I have to give credits to my father on that one! It's a 30 year old tool that's seen a few different rigs. The wood is old, but it works!
18:43 Wow I feel blessed I can pump 60 gallons a minute out of my 2" irrigation pump
I’d love to have half of that. Once you get up into the hills at all, it gets tough to find water. Real hit or miss. I’m lucky to get 11gpm at 180ft. The neighbor drilled to 400 or 500 and it was dry the whole way down.
Our well was dug first in 1994 375 ft 40 gallons a min. Ran dry after well wasn't used for years then in 2019 dug it anther 150 ft hit more water than the Guage could read. My tag says 100gpm
you sir have my respect
We had to go deeper in our well in PA the well went dry I think the well was 160 feet or so I think the original was in the 125 or so range. The drilling company went deeper in the same well. We had a rod pump, most people use a submersible pump now. Our farm had a 20 foot well and the water was horrible. Even collagen said drill a new well. Then call us if you want a softener. We never called because the new well was the best tasting water. Even my uncle used to take some home to drink. 73
Always excited for your videos
Well. That's a DEEEEP subject
What great work!
How do you add well casing to the extended hole or do you . Maybe smaller casing ?
Thanks for the content. Love your channel.
When you says you get 'er done , your right.
In Kansas in most of central Kansas , you drill 60 foot and you will hit secondary water ( into the aquifer) mostly sand and clay.
not sure if my method might help you here, but I'm an electrician. I use a semi decent laser level that has plumb marks when doing layouts for lighting, that way I can measure and mark on the floor and use the plumb bob feature of my laser level to shoot it to the ceiling. Lot easier to pull measurements on the floor than on the ceiling when you are by yourself. I know that it would be difficult to see in daylight, but you don't have to deal with the pendulum swinging around all the time. They make aerosol sprays that would make the laser beam a lot more visible. Just a thought anyway, That was my solution trying to work backwards against a plum bob :) The red klein is like $150 but the green ones would be easier to see outside.
Man the green ones are fantastic. We have a few at work and boy they make some stuff so much easier and faster.
Did you install a 5" screen and casing to extend the existing 6" casing?
Good job
Always a great & informative videi
We’re here in northern Arizona with our house at 6000’ elevation. Back in 2006 we has a well drilled. They went down 490’ into the Coconino sandstone. They hit water at 390’, and the bottom 100’ is so the well will be efficiently replenished. We pump 12 gallons per minute with a 3 HP pump and can do that all day. We have a 3000 gallon tank up the hill that we use for gravity feed pressure. We generally go through one tank about every 2-3 weeks.
Wow, 3hp is a big pump.
Our solar power system can run that size pump. Most folks around here have 3 HP pumps. One neighbor has a 12 HP pump and his well does 30+ gallons per minute. He uses a 20 kW generator to power his well.
@@gazelam I figure I'd need a 10kw generator to run my 1hp pump. Maybe I overestimated.
When running, our 3 HP uses about 4 to 4.5 kW. Startup power is closer to 6 kW. Our power is split phase 240 VAC either from the solar inverter or our 14 kW propane generator. Most installations that use 1 HP pump motors are 117 VAC around here. If so, you should be able to use a small 2 kW unit with no problem. Of course, you may have other power consumption items as well. Good luck.
@@gazelam Thanks, I think my 10kw figure is about double what"s actually needed to start the pump.
This 1hp pump is running on 240. A ~5kw generator should suffice, with careful management. Not sure where my 10kw figure was derived.
Great topic & vid!
hi there, instead of a regular plumb bob that truck movement and wind affect, perhaps a self leveling laser plumb that projects a beam downward would be a better bet, unless you need a plumb bob very infrequently...
My well gets 19 gallons an HOUR, 1/2 gallon a minute is over 50% more water and with a family of four we don't have any issues. Can't water the lawn but with 450 gallons reserve we don't have any issues except when the toilet gets stuck. Given how high the water came up they must've had over 200 gallons reserve just in the well alone before re-drilling.
When we had the drought in California I was down to a half gallon a minute I had to put a special controller on the pump and I designed a pressure type of valve adjustable to hold pressure on the pump to slow down the flow.
Awesome job getting the rig leveled, etc. Maybe need a plumb bob with a laser pointer in the tip shooting a beam down on that orange cap. LOL
I set up trailers for years, 1' drop over 20' looks bad aftet you go out 80' that is 4' plus the 18"-24" minimum height required for plumbing and such, typically 24"-32" is the most without getting crafty and expensive!! We did all the difficult setups, in places ppl said were impossible, we nearly pulled frames out from under homes going up hills that steep, and broke trailer tongues off backing trailers uo 60° + hills required two D8 dozers one pulling one pushing backwards! Elevation is everything!
Nice job
Maybe you can use that nice inspection camera but stick it in a hole right next to the plumb bob string hole so you can see exactly where you need to go. just a thought.
Have a great day
I would make that rig thing and replace the plumb Bob with a laser. No swinging with the laser. Great video.
$50 or less. set it over the hole where the string comes through and you can centre it to 1/8" Also, same tool can shoot straight up inside a drill pipe and you can check centreing to make sure it is dead naughts plumb.
We never had that much trouble ever landing the rig over a hole must have a great spotter
Hey man how far can you dig with one of these things? Are you able to dig for geothermal heat?
Good job 👏
At least there wasn't a pump house there too. I really don't like pump houses. Stay safe!
Videos are great. I own a water filtration/purification business, also a licensed plumber and licensed well tech. A well driller in my area hit a methane gas source while drilling, burned a one year old rig to the ground and the brand new, not even moved into yet, custom built log home that was only 40ft away
I think a gravel pad around that hole would have been a great investment for them and y'all's rig
plumb good 👍
Good informative video! We have a 600+/- water well here in north Texas that we will need to have fixed. Years ago, my father in law got tired of 'fixing' it, and hooked up to city water. We would like to see if we can remove the old pump jack and put a submersible pump in it's place, and get enough water for livestock and irrigating big garden. We will have to find someone that can give us a bid. :)
This video was great, I would hate to have a well that deep but he has plenty of water
I reckon even if you don't find more water you will make the reservoir deeper to hold more water at least. 100 foot x 6 inches is another 146 gallons of capacity.
You guys need to buy a laser. One that shoots a dot up and down at the same time. Very handy to have
So is the pump still at 200 ft or did you make the line longer, you didn't show it in your video.
Im in NC, and this looks somewhat familiar!
Interesting
Great job as usual. If a customer has rusty water and if drilling deeper for cleaner water is possible, whats the cost to do something like that. approx is OK.
A good trick to line up of a experence drilleralso hope for a streight bore
Ca-ching on this job! $$$$$$$$.
We just moved the pipe down then dropped a quarter stick of dynamite down the pipe ...plenty of water after that ...
I would say, that aligning the rig up over an existing well would be the one time I would absolutely want a backup camera lol.
I don’t understand, how do you extend the casing and perf ?
You should try a laser pointer insead of a plumbob.
And what do you do if you hit shallow gas or oil by chance? Has this ever happened to you or anybody else?
If you could modify a plumb bob with a bore sight in the end of it.... That would be nice.
Amazing, I had no idea this was possible. And it turned ou fantastic, what's not to like? ;)
Yes it can be drilled deeper
I'd be so nervous super saturating the ground right next to the support blocks for the truck😅
That's why we wrapped the wood with plastic wrap, I just cut that in editing
@@h2omechanic nice😉
Just had mine redrilled deeper. 140 foot extra
I'm sure you've thought about using a winch to make small repositions of your rig?
So how did you pump the water up and what did you use for a pump and hose or pipe?
Respected, subcontractors that are drilling wells on open pit coal mine (water wall), have extendable stabilizer legs. Something that looks similar to stabilizers on mobile cranes (or how are they called i'm not sure) would be such an improvement for stability of the rig (in my humble opinion). I don't have any pictures or videos of them working since this is strictly forbidden, but rigs are kind of similar, except the working platform with commands is on the left side and not on left back like on yours, much more instruments and buttons and levers. Think the rig is quite bigger also, and they do bore up to 250 mm on our site, sometimes some extra large holes (who knows for what) too. Thanks You very much for very informative and educational videos. Best Regards.
I totally agree! I wish we had 2 more riggers that were angle supports, but there's limited space for such a thing.
a weighted laser on a self leveling gimble would be nice.
You do deeper, you need a bigger rig to drill a bigger downhole. Stepping the bore will make it easier to get equipment down bore and easier to drill.
That is how the oil field roughnecks out on the ocean rigs do it.
how do you calculate the gpm with the drill rods still in the well? I do a lot of well work and curious how you know
Not sure if he uses the same technique, but have seen drill rigs just blowing down compressed air through the pipes and check how much water comes out.
I’m pretty sure is the water runoff is how they calculate it
@danielrose1392 both of yall are correct. We stop injecting our water & only estimate the water getting blown out. The driller sees its every day & knows what is what. A true test typically shows more than what we estimate
should put a laser pointer on that bob.
Right on .
A green laser plumb bob might help. Now neighbor will complain you are taking “their water 💦 “ 😊
Did you ever have the ground blow out from under one of your jacks while you are drilling, and your committed to stay there. Have seen it happen. Dave D.
Imagine getting a flat tire on the boom truck. How convenient it would be to have a built in tire jack.
Tire isnt flat. The truck can use outriggers to level left and right. You can see to level front to back they have to get the front way lower. The rod has to go in plumb or you'll never get the rod out, the well will collapse because gravity will pull the walls in.
I was thinking about that and drawing up plans tonight to put some on my Kia next weekend
Hey can you do a video on Shallow wells I have what's believed to be but would like to talk over phone or some way
When do you know when to refill and when to hydro frac it?
I’m in the Mojave Desert
My well is 150 feet and I make 40 gallons a minute.
What's the cost comparison between drilling a new well vs redrilling an existing hole? Also, does the homeowner need to do any paperwork with the county on redrilling the existing hole? Thanks
If the well is atleast 200ft it's cheaper to drill it deeper. A new well gets new casing that can deeper & prevent surface water intrusion. There's a few variables we look at before we drill a well deeper
would it be possible to position the bit before attaching to rig?
Would it be better to dig a hole for the front tires to go in?
Question, wondering why not drill along side of previous well suite ? Instead of going thru that wo4k.
How are you determining how much water . Gpm is coming out white the op for a set up?
How deep could you install the pump
Chad a question : Could the chambers of the barrels not be polished with a sacrificial case doped with a dab of fine valve compound or a felt mandrel loaded with matchless metal polishing compound ? Useing light pressure spinning while the polish loaded mandrel with a drill or a lathe at low speeds and light pressures apply to the tool. I have learned how to such repairs like this in the past at a gunsmithing school located in Colorado . Also not a perfect repair , it does allow a otherwise unserviceable rifle barrel to achieve a partial useful life versus being a paperweight or expensive pisto blankl blank.
Can you drill a well with a full length casing, and screens at the bottom deeper?