when you "drive" a water well........

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rbig

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Couple of questions about what happens when you drive a water well:

* You can't use pvc pipe in driving water wells, can you? Seems like you chances of splitting pvc would be excessive. Maybe you can risk it using schedule 80 pvc?


* When you drive down, how do you know if/when you hit water?
 

Mike Pastorelli

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Hahhaha, You'll be glad I signed on and saw your question...
YOU MOST CERTAINLY CAN DRIVE A PVC PIPE WATER WELL... How do I know? Becuase I did it...
Everyone I talked to said, it couldnt be done and I would break the pipe. Here is my post from August that outlines how I did it:

I'm down here in S. Florida and I just drove a 1.25 well for a little over $20 bucks. I got her down 22 feet. You could try my method and if it doesnt work for you it only cost you roughly $20.. Go to Lowes and get the 48" ( 1.25 ) well point for roughly $9.00 / 1 inside coupling / 1 outside coupling / several lasko brand PVC caps / and 2 sticks of 1.25 PVC.

Get a post hole digger and add extension handles if need be.. Just try to dig a hole as deep as you can where you want the well. I dug my hole 8 feet deep by adding cut bamboo to the handles.

Put the point in the hole with 1 stick glued on and a lasko cap on it ( cap unglued ) Its 14 feet long. get up on the ladder and holding the pipe with one hand ( keeping it stable ) start pounding it with a 6 lb hand sledge. Nice firm and square repetitive hits. Use the side of the sledge for a flatter hit. Make sure its straight. Dont try to pound the hell out of it.. Just take your time and take breaks. If you have access to water, fill the hole with water as lubrication. It worked for me.

Note: buy several caps.. They are taking the blows from the sledge and they eventually shatter and break apart violently ( wear eye protection ) Put a new cap on when this happens and keep pounding. Dont use a full swing sledge hammer. Use a hand sledge.

Water table in Florida is very shallow... Get down around 20 feet and you'll be in the shallow water aquifer for consistent water supply
 
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hj

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Why would you mess around with PVC, when steel pipe would work as good, or MUCH better, with less chance of fracturing, especially if the ground is not loose sand like Pastorelli's?
 
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