Can anyone offer tips on this?
As soon as it thaws, I would like to install an irrigation well. I am leaning towards a sandpoint, but would rather install a cased well as I don't want the maintenance and the costs appear to be the same for a DIY job.
I don't have far down to go to get to good water, 15-20' max. When I was younger, I remember my dad and the neighbor man digging a cased well with a post hole digger an extensions, but I can't seem to find anyone that carries those or anyone that can tell me about them.
Any pointers?
Well, at 15-20' it's much cheaper to just do a sledge-hammer well. However, I have one of these I bought used at an auction, and it works well:
http://deepwelldrill.com/
or
http://www.deeprock.com/#Scene_2
Try to find one used somewhere, like I did. You can get them MUCH cheaper than buying new. Or, find somebody local that owns one, and ask if he'd be willing to let you rent it. Even if you buy a new one and use it, you'll probably be able to resell it for a good price, if it's only been used once or twice.
Or, you can also buy one of these, and make extensions for the drill head out of iron pipe:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_528_528
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200337868_200337868
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200337866_200337866
You can rig up a tripod and pully system, hang this one on it like the Deepwell unit, and it'll work just the same. Depending on how deep you drill, you'll need casing pipe, plus a water pump to pump in water as you're drilling, and you'll need to also use some sort of rigged up barrel inline with the water pump, to inject powered CLAY to keep the walls from collapsing as you drill.
Like I said, sledgehammer well is cheaper....
Ok, just for the heck of it, I checked e*bay, and found this:
http://cgi.e-b-a-y.com/Drill-A-Wate...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50
Ok, looks like this forum censors links from a old established auction site. Just put e-b-a-y in place of the stars above, and remove the dashes first. Or use this link:
http://t-i-n-y-u-r-l.com/73nupg Put t-i-n-y-u-r-l without the dashes, in place of the *'s
I have NO financial interest whether you buy his unit or not, but it looks pretty cool to me.