Need driven well advice

WellConfused · Aug 29, 2005

Two months ago, I drove a 1.25" point down 19 feet and there was 6 feet of water standing in the pipe. Hooked up a 1/2hp shallow jet pump with 1.25" pipe from well pipe to pump. I could run a lawn sprinkler for hours with 45-48 psi. Then, last week, pressure began to gradually fall off until the pump could not maintain pressure. It has been a dry summer and obviously the well isn't recovering fast enough. However, six feet of water still shows when I drop a string.

Question is - Should I drive deeper, pull the pipe and try another location, or leave it alone in hope that it will return next year? Thanks for any help.

Editing post. Another option would be to drive another point and connect the two. If this is a viable option, how far apart should the points be, and will the pump be able to handle the two points?

Speedbump · Aug 29, 2005

It's hard to say. Did you check the well every 5' as you drove it down with a pitcher pump? If so, did you get some water, drive another 5' and get more water then stop? Or did you just drive it stop and hook up the pump?

If you drive another one just like this one, expect the same result. Moving over probably won't make any difference at all.

bob...

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WellConfused · Aug 29, 2005

speedbump said:
It's hard to say. Did you check the well every 5' as you drove it down with a pitcher pump? If so, did you get some water, drive another 5' and get more water then stop? Or did you just drive it stop and hook up the pump?
bob...

I know that in this area you find water starting at about 10-13 feet, so I started checking with a string after this level. Had a pitcher pump on at 19 feet and pumped til water was clear. Then I hooked up the jet pump directly to the drive pipe.

Five years ago, I helped a neighbor four doors down the street put one in. There, we put a 3/4" CPVC drop pipe down the drive point. Even this dry summer he can't pump it dry. I tried doing the same here, after pressure went down, and the well just wouldn't recover fast enough to maintain constant pressure. I've tried blowing out with a garden hose coupled tightly to the drive pipe, but that doesn't help.

Speedbump · Aug 29, 2005

When you pumped with the pitcher pump did it pump smoothly or did the handle kick back at you?

What does it do now when you pump it with the pitcher pump?

Dropping down to 3/4" is not a good thing to do. You will cavitate the pump and drastically downgrade the pumps ability to get the flow it is capable of.

It is possible you went somewhat past the vein or didn't get into it far enough and your point is in clay half way or so. Not all wells are created equal.

Did you use the same length screen and the same slot size as the neighbor?

The garden hose hooked up isn't going to make any difference either.

Are there a lot of minerals in the water?

bob...

WellConfused · Aug 29, 2005

speedbump said:
When you pumped with the pitcher pump did it pump smoothly or did the handle kick back at you?
I used a small pitcher pump, and, yes it did kick back, also seemed too hard on the down stroke. What does this mean?

What does it do now when you pump it with the pitcher pump?
Haven't used the pitcher pump since the first time>

Dropping down to 3/4" is not a good thing to do. You will cavitate the pump and drastically downgrade the pumps ability to get the flow it is capable of.
Did this as a last resort. I thought that pumping from the point directly might have created vaccum in area surrounding point that would draw in sand/silt, and that with the drop pipe natural flow would be utilized.

It is possible you went somewhat past the vein or didn't get into it far enough and your point is in clay half way or so. Not all wells are created equal.
This is a big question. One of my neighbors went into clay and had to raise his point. He's had a good well for 10 years, drought or not. Our village sits in kind of a saucer. Lots of sand and surface water below all around. I figured if I had a 4 foot point with 6 feet water in the pipe, I must have been below the water table, unless pressure was forcing another 2 feet up into the pipe. But, if this was the case, seems like pressure would have given me good recovery. On the other hand, my neighbor who had to raise his point is now at 20 feet, just about where I am. Total confusion here.

Did you use the same length screen and the same slot size as the neighbor?
The neighbor I helped used a 3 foot point ( mine is 4 feet) but I can't remember screen size. My openings are extremely small. I thought of pulling the point and enlarging some of them.

The garden hose hooked up isn't going to make any difference either.
It did help somewhat, but only temporarily.

Are there a lot of minerals in the water?
Can't say.

bob...

Bob, I really appreciate your taking time to help.

Speedbump · Aug 30, 2005

The kick back on the handle indicates a big vacuum and not a big supply of water. Could be your not in the vein all the way or you may be past it some. Could be the screen slot size or gauze size. Since you can't get a sample of the sand down there, you are blindly installing a screen. It could be too course (pumping lost of sand) or too fine, (not enough water).

In some areas people use a piece of 2" pipe, stand it up 10' go inside it with a piece of 3/4" with the end cut on a 45 degree angle to make it sharp, pump water down the 3/4" while juking it up and down which makes a hole for the 2" to fall into, when the sand starts coming up, either around the 2" or through it, that is the start of the vein (clean sand that is) keep going to the bottom or until clay starts coming. Keep track of the distances. This is where you want your screens. There is a guy in St. Petersburg, Fl. That makes 1" and 1-1/4" well points out of pvc pipe. They have very fine openings but there are so many of them that they will out perform 4 of the standard screens on the market. So you glue them together however many feet of sand you have, glue a piece of pipe on the top and throw them down the hole. Pull the 2" back, wash the sand back in around the well pipe and you have a well that wasn't guessed at.

bob...

WellConfused · Sep 1, 2005

Speedbump,
Thanks for the help. I hooked a pitcher pump back on and am pumping lots if silty water now. My guess is that something collapsed down there after I had run the well for about six hours couple weeks ago. I've hooked up the pitcher pump and am now pumping lots of silty water. I'll keep pumping a little each day and see what happens. Thanks again for responding.

Speedbump · Sep 2, 2005

I don't think there is anything down there that can collapse, just sand and water. The silt is the fines that will get through the screen. The coarser material will gather up around the screen acting like more screen around the metal one and eventually the silt will stop when it gets far enough from the screen to quit being pulled by the pump according to the amount of flow you are pumping. (Did that make sense to you, because I think I confused me)

If you get it to clear up at say 10 gallons per minute and then started pulling water at 15 gallons per minute, you will get some more silt for a while.

When you break into a water vein the water in the pipe will seek the leval of the highest point in that water vein. This can be anywhere from the bottom of the screen to the top of the casing or higher in the case of a flowing well.

bob...

WellConfused · Sep 2, 2005

speedbump - about collapse:

Years ago I tried to install a driven well, and lost patience with the pitcher pump. I rented a 5hp gasoline pump, necked it down and began to pump. Only after I had a truckload of sand in the yard did I wake up. I had a hole down there the size of a box car. Shovelled back all the sand and still had to get a truck load of fill. Actually, I didn't mean a real collapse, just that maybe something had changed down there. Maybe water from another vein was drawn in and brought sand with it to accumulate around the point. Right now, the pitcher pump is pumping lots of water, but it's silty. I'll keep trying and see if it clears up.

Speedbump · Sep 2, 2005

Yup, I've created a few sinkholes like that myself. Messing with my own junk at home though, not at the customers.

If your getting a decent flow of water from the well with the pitcher pump but still getting silt, hook up the jet and let it clear the well up for you. Otherwise you'll be going to the doctor complaining of tennis elbow.

bob...

Need driven well advice

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