Sandpoint well has water but I can’t pump it up

[Urban Sugarmaker]

I just installed a new 1-1/4” sand point well. I’m currently at about 20 feet down. It’s all sand to about 19 feet and then it feels like gravel. I can feel it if I turn the pipe with a pipe wrench. I initially drilled a pilot hole with 1” pvc pipe and a water pump. Worked fantastically until I hit the gravel. At this point it’s 40 sledgehammer hits per inch to drive it down but it’s still going down.

The water level has remained stable at about 5 feet from the bottom in the pipe and I can fill it with a garden hose and it drains right back down to 5 feet.

The problem is my pitcher pump isn’t bringing any water up. It draws hard and the handle will release quickly if I let go. Feels like pulling a syringe plunger against a vacuum. I also tried my Honda water pump and it wasn’t able to pull anything.

What is the cause of this. Do I need to go deeper? I have enough pipe to get a full 25 feet down but I don’t know easy that’s going to happen with 40 hits per inch. Maybe rent a jackhammer?

 

[Valveman]

If it feels like a vacuum it is probably a vacuum. Don't understand why it is taking water freely though? Jack hammer will probably ruin the connections. But you need to get down in the water somehow.

 

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[Urban Sugarmaker]

If it feels like a vacuum it is probably a vacuum. Don't understand why it is taking water freely though? Jack hammer will probably ruin the connections. But you need to get down in the water somehow.

So is vacuum caused by not enough or no water? I guess I will just sledgehammer it down little by little and see what happens.

 

[Urban Sugarmaker]

@Valveman I ran a 20 foot length of PEX with a foot valve into the well. The line primed and I pumped out a couple gallons of silty cloudy water and that was it. It wouldn't pump any more. Dropping my weighted string to see the water level, it looks like only 3 feet or so of water. At a current depth of 21 feet it would appear that the recovery is very slow. Apparently it's not making enough water to be useable at this depth. I will try to go deeper but it's pretty difficult to pound it down when it takes 40 hits to move an inch.