Drilling water wells with your own hands: tips on how to drill a well yourself

A water well is a reliable source of water supply for a home. This is a stand-alone unit. Installation of such equipment is not always due to the lack of centralized water.

Sometimes the presence of interruptions in the supply encourages the drilling of water wells with your own hands. Other reasons: the high cost of water and its shortage, deterioration in the water utility network, and other factors. And many are interested in how to drill a water well yourself.

Determining the optimal depth

Almost all owners of country cottages and summer cottages are trying to equip an autonomous water source on their site. The choice here can be different. Someone prefers a well, others put a well. If you settled on the last option, then you need to decide on the depth of the location. She may be:

1. Shallow. In this case, the well lies at a distance of up to 3 m in the ground. This option is preferable if the aquifer is close to the surface of the earth, and the water will be used exclusively for irrigation and other technical needs. To drill such a well, it is enough to have a casing, a hand pump and a drill.
2. Medium-deep. Does not exceed 7 meters. It makes it possible to obtain water suitable for human consumption. Before figuring out how to drill this type of well yourself, you need to prepare tools: a drill and a shovel. It will take time to equip a pit with a size of one and a half to one and a half meters. These preliminary works make it easier to drill deeper. Strengthen the resulting space with plywood or boards. After that, the pit is filled up. Water is supplied by a pump.
3. Deep. The well lies at a level of more than 7 m. This approach allows satisfying the water demand of all residents of the house or cottage. There is enough water not only for individual consumption, but also for compliance with sanitary requirements, technical needs, maintenance of the pool and watering plants.

The choice of a specific option is determined here due to a geological survey of the place of organization of the device. The latter option, in which the well lies at a great depth, is still preferable. At the same time, it is the most difficult of the presented ones.

Water well classification

Having decided on the optimal burial depth, you need to understand which well modification will be suitable in your case. The following types can be distinguished:

1. Well on the sand. It has become widespread due to the low cost of work and the ability to do it yourself. Structurally, it is a single column with a bottom filter. It produces from 5 to 100 cubic meters per day. The drilling depth is limited to 10 meters. For machine drilling, it is 30 m. The hand pump can be used to pump out water. This is the so-called manual column. You can also use a pumping device. The service life of such a well is 10 to 15 years.
2. Artesian well. It is much less common. The need to coordinate the project with local authorities and the high cost of work play a role here. Structurally, the well is very complex. It has two columns. One is casing and the other is working. The first is mounted before lime, the second is located directly in the limestone. An artesian well can produce from 7 to 40 cubic meters per hour, depending on the diameter of the pipe. Its service life is impressive and is equal to 50 years. Drilling requires the involvement of special equipment. The depth can reach 320 m.

Step by step instructions for drilling

The above types of wells, in addition to artesian and lime models, involve drilling using various technologies. This could be:

• auger drilling using an appropriate drill;
• core drilling with a ring drill;
• percussion wireline drilling. In this case, drill bits are used, which are driven into the soil without carrying out the soil. The earth is compacted in different directions from the bit axis. The tool is driven in with a tripod with a winch;
• rotary percussion drilling. During operation, the soil is washed out with water. The method involves a lot of labor;
• rotary drilling. Mobile drilling rigs are used. They can be small-sized and have a movable hydraulic rotator.

Selection of a suitable project

In the event that the depth of the groundwater is determined, you can drill with the dimensions of the drill for the casing. If the location of the aquifer is unknown, you will first need to determine where they are. It turns out that any well is an individual project. For her, parameters such as are important:

• the selected drilling method;
• geological structure of the soil;
• water quality requirements;
• the ability to maintain the required distance to places of pollution, i.e. arrangement of the so-called sanitary zone;
• the depth of the location of the aquifer.

This does not mean the first vein to be reached, but the one that meets the requirements in terms of ensuring debit.

List of tools for work

Let's try to consider the percussion-rope method of drilling wells with our own hands. He has the following benefits:

1. Keeps a significant part of the useful soil layer in its original state.
2. When using special equipment, landings on the site do not suffer.
3. There are no restrictions on the drilling area. A hand drill can be used in almost any part of the territory.
4. Extreme ease of operation of the unit and minimum requirements in relation to the qualifications of the worker.

To successfully cope with the work, you need to stock up on the necessary tools. You will need a shovel, a drill, in which the cutting part will be strengthened.

You can strengthen the unit by adding cutters to the screw. File elements can play their role. The incisors can be sharpened using a grinder. You will also need a "kid" type pump with a hose, a trolley for soil removal, a container with water. You also need steel wire for the filter, pipe, gravel or crushed stone as a pillow, wire for mounting the bottom filter.

Search for a place

It is better to do this with the help of professionals. But some owners of home gardens resort to folk methods using silica gel, focusing on the amount of dew, and so on. The first option is preferable as it provides a quality guarantee.

The hired workers dig a hole first. This is the excavation of the soil to a certain depth to facilitate future drilling. This stage should not be overlooked for two reasons. First, the drilling depth is decreasing. Secondly, the collapse of the soil around the well is excluded. The dimensions of the pit are determined individually. Usually it is equal to 1.5 × 1.5 and 1.5-2.5 m.To exclude soil crumbling, the pit is reinforced with metal, boards or plywood.

Method one: tripod

This is the name of the shock-rope mechanism used for the arrangement of water wells. The support structure is required to make the work process easier. The tripod is made of wood without knots or a metal pipe. An alternative can be a metal profile. The length of the timber should be between 4 and 5 m.

Next, a mechanical winch with a cable is attached to the tripod. The drill bit is being repaired here. Such an installation is compact and has a large margin of safety. The installation works according to a simple principle. First, the glass falls into the ground and picks up soil. Depending on its composition, in one blow you can gain from 20 cm to 1 m.

The drill bit needs to be cleaned periodically. To facilitate the process, you can fill the working area with water. The cable on which the drill is fixed must be longer in length than the depth of the hole. Otherwise, it will break off and the instrument will remain at the bottom. The casing is mounted simultaneously with the advance to the depth. But you can do this at the end of all work.

Drill and casing

Casing can be delivered while drilling. In this case, its diameter should exceed that of a drill. In this case, he will be able to move freely in the pipe. During the work, it is necessary to constantly monitor the soil moisture so that the aquifer is not missed. If you do not pay attention to this, there is a risk of closing it with a pipe. The main signs are as follows:

1. The knot sits down quickly.
2. During the flushing, aquifers appeared.
3. In addition to clay, sand is visible in the groove.
4. When installing the rod, a static head appears.
5. The water began to rapidly disappear from the pit.
6. The puncture effect was noted.

In fractured aquifers, vibration from a drill appears. After the discovery of the aquifer, it is necessary to pump out the dirty water. It is necessary to understand whether there is enough water supply in this vein. For this purpose, a manual or submersible pump is used. If, after pumping out 3 buckets of turbid water, clean water still does not appear, drilling continues until a more capacitive layer is formed. The pump is not designed for such operating conditions, therefore, after cleaning the liquid, it may break. That is why you need to stock up on a high-quality pump in advance.

Casing

Plastic or steel pipes are used for casing. Their service life reaches 60 years. The use of galvanized pipes is not recommended, as there is a risk of contamination of the water with zinc impurities. What casing is required for:

• well walls do not crumble;
• it is possible to prevent siltation;
• the ingress of top water into the well is eliminated. This is the name of rain or melt water;
• the risk of clogging is eliminated.

The installation of the casing pipe is carried out immediately after the end of work or directly during drilling. If the pipes move with a creak, you must attach a sledgehammer to them.

Flushing after drilling

At the next stage, the well is washed. For this, the pipe is lowered into the resulting space. Water is passed through it under pressure. Due to the strong pressure, a layer of clay and sand is washed out of the well. Such dirty water must be pumped out. After the appearance of clean water, it is necessary to hand it over for analysis.

If it is determined that it is of satisfactory quality, you can continue working. To prevent the pipe from silting up, a bottom filter is installed. You can make a slotted version with your own hands. Notches are made on it with a grinder in the area of ​​\ u200b \ u200bthe ends. There should not be too many of them, otherwise the pipe will be weakened.

Alternatively, you can drill holes in the pipe. The area where the notches are made is wrapped with wire. It turns out a filter that is placed on a crushed stone pillow. It prevents the filter from getting silted up.

The diameter of the filter pipe should be less than that of the main pipes so that it can be immersed in the well without any problems. The easiest way is to buy a ready-made filter. In any case, the well will not work without this element. The absence of this component is justified only if the pipe was laid at a distance of more than 40 m deep.

An important parameter is the well debit

To get the most complete picture of the capacity of the well for sand, you need to wait a day. After that, the level of the incoming water is checked. If it is sufficient for the needs of users, fill in the distance between the casing and the soil. The well is also buried. This is followed by a mandatory stage, which involves the buildup of the well after drilling. To accomplish it, you need to install a high-power centrifugal pump. Periodically, it is used to pump out water for 2 weeks. This moment is necessary for the final cleaning of the device.

Pump installation rules

Surface pumps are not suitable for downhole installation. This is due to the depth limitations that go up to 8 years. For this purpose, submersible pumps are better suited. They can be vibratory or centrifugal. Each of these subspecies has its own set of advantages. The final choice is based on factors such as the water level in the well, the depth of the pipes, the flow rate of the well, the diameter of the casing, the water pressure, and the cost of the pump.

When all the above stages have been passed, the well is put into operation. If the work was carried out with the involvement of outside help, before accepting the project you need to get hold of the following documents:

• well passport;
• hydrogeological conclusion on the feasibility of the project;
• permission of the sanitary and epidemiological station;
• act of work performed.

When performing all the work on your own, the only thing that is important to remember is the need to comply with the technology and key points of the process. It is important to use quality materials. This will be the key to the long-term operation of the well.