Trying to reactivate old well for irrigation

First, the details: The home was built in 1964 and has a city water supply. The location is North Central Florida. In the back yard, there is a 9" diameter steel pipe coming out of the ground 24" that is threaded on the inside. There is no pump attached, but there is evidence of a pump's having been there as there is electricity there.

The problem: The pipe goes into the ground at least 12 feet. When I probe the hole with PVC piping, it goes 12 feet down and then hits something solid.

So I guess my question is how do I go about making it so I can pump water out of this thing again? If I assume that there are just hardened soil/sand/sediments there, then it seems the fence-post-pipe-pounding method would help me break through. If this is the case, then I have a question relating to the whole screen thing -- do I attach the screen to the first length of pipe so that it does the pounding? If so, wouldn't that damage it?

The other assumption I could make, however, is that the thing has been capped with cement. If this is this indeed the case, then how would I make the well active again? I have a hard time believing that the thing is capped because why would they not have filled the entire pipe to the top? Secondly, I filled the entire pipe with water and it drained all the way down to the bottom within a couple of minutes, which tells me that the bottom is more porous than one would expect cement to be. Of course, the pipe could be completely rusted all the way to the bottom, as well, but it is a pretty thick schedule.

The goal here is to run a pipe and attach a jet pump for the purposes of irrigation only. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanx in advance.

Is there or was there a pool close to this pipe?

I had a friend that put in pools down there, and he would dig a short (well) like the one you are talking about.

It was used to de-water the ground while the pool was excavated.
Most of the time the pipe was pulled back out of the ground to use for the next pool.
The home owner may have ask to keep the pipe there, to try and do the same thing you are trying to do.

That may be what you have.


Just a thought I had.


Travis

Nope, no pool in my back yard. I wish there were one! No reason to believe there ever was one, either.

Does what I am describing to you not sound like a well? It occurred to me that it may never have been a well, but I can't imagine what else it would be.

To me, it doesn't sound like a well. I may be completely wrong.
Only going down 12' is the part that gets me. If it were a well, even for irrigation, it should be deeper.

Being 8" steal pipe, it leads me to believe it is, or was deeper at one time.
If it was a well it was probably drilled by a well company.

It also may have been a well that was drilled for a oil well or gas well, and then abandoned and plugged, when the oil well people where done.

If it at one time was a well.
It has been plugged, or has caved in, and filled with earth.

I am just guessing at this here.



You can try to take a piece of 3/4 pvc pipe. Attach a garden hose to it, and see if you can wash it down any deeper than the 12' line.
At least you will know if it goes any further than it does now.

It may even be an old flag pole...lol.........just kidding


Travis

It's probably an old grove well (irrigation well) that has been plugged by a developer because it was abandoned. If a well is abandoned in Florida, it's supposed to be filled with cement from bottom to top. Or maybe it's elbowed over to some other pipe that leads to the well. Hard to say.

9" with threads on the inside sounds like an eight inch coupling though.

bob...