How to rock a well after drilling: how to properly and how much to pump

When a well appears on the site, giving a steady stream of water is a joyful event, because the complex and expensive work was completed successfully. Do you agree?

But the quality of the water obtained may cause some bewilderment among unknowing owners of the site. It is more like a stream of very liquid dirt than drinking water. Do not worry, it should be.

Drilling a hole is only half the battle. To provide the house with enough usable water, you need to learn how to rock a well, and then perform a series of simple, but quite labor-intensive operations. We will tell you how to cope with this seemingly difficult task.

Below will be described the reasons why wells need pumping and how to eliminate them. You will also find information on how to perform pumping yourself, which is required for this. The article is accompanied by vivid photos and video materials that will help to understand this issue in more detail.

Why does the well need pumping?

Dirty water coming at the beginning from the well is a completely natural and regular phenomenon. Small particles of soil and other insoluble inclusions are mixed with water, forming a suspension that is not suitable either for people or even for household needs. The only way to get rid of it is to deflate pollution with water.

Understanding the causes of silting will not only bring the well in order initially, but also help to organize it proper operation. Usually such a strong contamination of water in the well is observed only immediately after the completion of drilling.

However, the owners of the new well should remember that such problems may arise later.

Small clay particles, together with larger inclusions, accumulate at the bottom of the barrel, which leads to siltation of the well. Most often this occurs if the well is used irregularly.

For example, if the dacha (and the well) were not used throughout the winter period, the owners can detect serious silting. Skills learned from well pumping will also be useful for solving this problem.

Depending on the composition of the soil, impressively thick sandy deposits can naturally accumulate in the well. They also create significant problems that are solved by pumping large volumes of water from the well or cleaning it.

Well pumping stages

Information about the need to pump the well is useful even at the design stage. If the drilling is entrusted to a professional team, rather than amateur drillers, the contract usually includes pumping services.

Stage # 1. Preparation for work

Professionals usually have special pumping equipment capable of pumping about 3-6 cubic meters of dirty water per hour. Of course, this increases the cost of work, but you should not immediately abandon this supplement.

Although the process of self-pumping a well is relatively simple, it will require not only time and effort, but also certain material costs. In addition, you will need minimal skills with pumping equipment.

No one can accurately predict how long it will take to pump a well. It is believed that this procedure takes from 12 hours to two days. In practice, the process of self-pumping may take several weeks or even months, depending on the situation.

A number of factors can affect the time of work:

• well depth;
• the nature of the soil and pollution;
• professional level of performers;
• features of the pump, etc.

Usually for pumping a well that is not too deep, in which the aquifer is located in a sand or limestone layer, one working day is enough. But the extraction of sand or clay deposits dissolved in water from a deep “artesian” well can last for weeks or months.

If the work is delayed in time, experts do not recommend to immediately put an end to an expensive construction. Most often, the well manages to successfully pump. Although it also happens that even professionals can not cope with the pumping of a well, and are forced to recognize the structure as unusable. Fortunately, such cases are very rare.

The biggest problems during pumping are waiting for the owners, who have to remove the clay deposits dissolved in the water from the well. There are cases when the decision was made to scoop out clay and practically all the water from the mine. The result of this time-consuming process was a clean and convenient to operate well.

Each well is a structure with individual characteristics. Even if it was possible to pump a well in a nearby area in a matter of hours, this does not guarantee the same success for a new facility. Usually with wells “on limestone” there are more problems when pumping than with wells “on sand”.

For various reasons, the duration of pumping may be the maximum or minimum. Delays can also result in damage to the pump, which will have to be completely replaced. Such a situation is not uncommon even while pumping a shallow well.

Stage # 2. Selection of equipment and preparation of the place for draining

Before starting work, several important issues should be addressed. First you need to stock up on the necessary equipment, and then provide a place to dump the pumped dirty water. The main work tool for well pumping is a pump.

You should not use for this purpose the pump that was chosen to supply clean water to the house. Not all pump equipment It copes with the pumping of large volumes of water containing a lot of sand, dirt and other suspended particles.

For a home it is better to buy expensive equipment that will provide uninterrupted water supply for a long time. For pumping more suitable inexpensive models, the breakdown of which does not hit the family budget.

Most often independent work on the buildup of the well is performed using a domestic low-cost model of the type "Kid" or "Spring". Well proven more powerful "Aquarius".

According to reviews, excellent work with the pumping of wells submersible pumps “Water Cannon”, although at the beginning of the device may form a sand plug.

Not very good in combination with sand models in which water passes through a metal impeller in the form of a “snail”. This element is very quickly clogged, it often has to be cleaned or replaced. Sometimes such pumps break almost immediately. It all depends on the model, the depth of immersion and the nature of the pollution.

Experts strongly do not recommend the use of vibration pumps for the well, preferring centrifugal models. It is believed that vibration can adversely affect the state of the well, break the connections of the pipe string, rock the casing, etc.

At the same time, many owners describe the positive experience of pumping or cleaning a well with the help of inexpensive vibration equipment.

If the drilling work was carried out by specialists, they should receive not only a passport for the well, but also recommendations on equipment for its pumping. The value can have not only the type of pump, but also its performance.

If the owner of the well chose a budget option: the already mentioned “Kid” or “Streamlet” pumps, he should take into account one thing. In the process of cleaning, especially in areas with complex, clay contamination, such a pump can quickly fail, because it is designed to work with clean water.

Two or three “killed” budget pumps for pumping a well after drilling are considered to be almost the norm. Some owners even “buried” even five inexpensive aggregates.

In the process of preparing the submersible pump, you should also make sure that its cable has the required length comparable to the depth of the well. If necessary, the cable length is increased, while observing all the requirements of electrical safety standards.

Another important point is the cord on which the pump will be suspended during work (you cannot use an electrical cable to lift the device out of the mine!). Budget pumps are equipped with at least budget cords.

The unit will often have to be taken out of the mine for flushing, the fragile cord may simply break. As a result, the problems with flushing will add to the trouble of getting the fallen pump.

In some cases, this led to the loss of the entire well. To prevent such a sad situation, you only need to spend money on a reliable and durable cord or cable of sufficient length. In the process of work, it will not hurt to periodically inspect it to identify scuffs.

Immediately you need to decide where the pumped water will be discharged (and its total volume may be several tons or more). There is a rule: dirty water should be poured at some distance from the well, otherwise pumped water just return to the well’s well, it will have to be pumped out again and again, the process can last infinitely.

In addition, the return flow of water into the mine can adversely affect the strength of its walls, because the incoming water under pressure can break the connections. After that, the liquid penetrated through the gaps in the dock will be able to blur the soil surrounding the well.

Part of the pumped water can be used on the site, for example, for irrigation. Of course, for this you must first clean the water from contamination. You can make a simple sand trap.

To do this, take a barrel of a suitable volume and make two holes in it: the first is at the top of the tank, the second is approximately in the middle of the barrel.

Contaminated water in the sand catcher is served from above, it settles for some time and goes into the second hole located in the middle part. Contamination, sand, silt and other particles remain at the bottom of the tank. Periodically, the sand trap should be freed from this sediment.

Stage # 3. Well pumping

When cleaning the well after drilling perform the following simple operations:

1. The pump is lowered into the well in such a way that it is located at some distance (30-40 or 50-70 cm) from its bottom.
2. The pump turn on and start pumping water.
3. After some time, the equipment is removed and washed, immersed in a container with clean water.
4. The washed pump is again lowered into the well and the pumping of dirty water continues.
5. The procedure is repeated again and again until a steady stream of clean water appears.

Of course, if the pump fails, it must be replaced with a new device. It should be remembered that as flushing the bottom of the well may decrease slightly. The pump is lowered in this way: immerse it until it reaches the bottom, then choose 30-40 cm of cord and fix it. Sometimes the recommended depth of immersion is 50-70 cm.

If you set the pump too high or too low, the results will be unsatisfactory. In the first case, the cleaning will be of poor quality, since the main pollution simply does not fall into the pump.

If the pump is suspended too close to the bottom of the well, the flow of contamination may become too intense. As a result, the pump will quickly become clogged and may soon fail.

There is another scenario. When immersion is too low, the pump can simply be dragged into sludge or sand. It is not always possible to free the pump that is stuck in this way, or even the powerful equipment is sucked in very heavily.

Sometimes this leads to a complete loss of the well. Again, it makes sense to recall the need to purchase a durable cable for hanging pumping equipment.

In order to pump out dirty water as efficiently as possible, do not leave the pump in a static state during operation. Experts recommend to smoothly move it in a vertical plane by about 4-6 cm.

There should not be sudden movements in order not to damage the equipment. This technique allows you to pick up dirt from the tube parts, which largely prevents clogging of the hose.

To ensure that the depth of the pump is correct, you should not rely on the length of the cord, marked at the first immersion of the pump. After each flush, the pump must be lowered to the bottom again, and then raised to the desired height. If water stops flowing, the equipment should be immediately disconnected from the power supply.

Perhaps the pump is still sucked into the mud, or it simply burned out, or clogged. In any case, the device must be removed from the mine and inspected. If after washing the unit works as before, you can continue pumping.

If the pump is broken, work will have to be stopped to purchase new equipment. You can prevent downtime if you buy another pump in advance. If in the process of pumping it is not needed, it can be sold or used for other economic needs.

What to do if pumping was delayed?

Some wells have to be pumped for almost months. If the work goes on, but the result is not noticeable, it makes sense to recall the main mistakes that beginner masters often make when performing works of this type.

Here are the most common:

1. Pump suspended too hightherefore, cleaning of bottom layers of water is not performed.
2. Pump suspended too lowIt often becomes clogged and may soon break or be sucked into muddy sediments.
3. Dirty water flows back into the mine well., which leads to re-contamination of the well.

A simple check of each of these items will allow you to identify and fix the problem before the situation becomes truly complex. If the work has been delayed, it makes sense to spend money on the services of specialists or simply consult with more experienced craftsmen.

Causes of silting and how to fix it

When silting well cleaning can be done by different methods. As a preventive measure, it is enough to turn on the pump for several hours after some idle time or if a slight silting is detected and to pump out the water with accumulated sludge. Problems are evidenced by a slight decrease in well flow.

Finding out how to properly pump a new well, one can find various recommendations, some of which are applicable to the cleaning of ready-made and commissioned facilities. For example, there is a method of cleaning a well with a fire engine.

At the same time, a large amount of water under pressure is fed into the well, which makes it possible to break up the accumulated pollution, partially wash it out and facilitate further cleaning of the water source.

The idea is interesting, but it refers to structures that are already in operation and for some reason need to be re-cleaned. It is difficult to pump a well directly at the end of drilling operations in this way.

The same can be said about the work with the shelf. This is a manual cleaning method in which special bottle (heavy metal product) is thrown to the bottom of the well in such a way that it breaks and scoops dirt and sand accumulated at the bottom. The slug is removed, freed from sediment and again thrown to the bottom of the well.

Pump well and using a motor pump: Caiman, Hitachi, Honda etc. The cost of such a unit can be about a thousand dollars, or even two or three thousand, depending on the model.

This method, like the ones described above, will come in handy later if needed reanimate the finished well and clean it from dirt, sand or silt. But at the end of drilling should use pumping equipment.

Conclusions and useful video on the topic

Clearly information about drilling a well and its buildup is presented in the following material:

The study of video materials for cleaning household wells will also be useful:

It may take a lot of time and patience to successfully flush the well. But with the right approach, this problem can be solved quite successfully.

Have experience in dealing with silting a well? Please share information with our readers, suggest your own way to solve the problem. You can leave comments in the form below.