How not to get drilled by the well driller

[Mark Williams]

The drought has taken it's toll on our water well. We've had two different
drillers come take a look. The first guy must have more work than he needs at the moment.

Second guy seemed pretty "Can Do" about the process.

I'm pretty familiar with how the process works. Just curious if there were
any pitfalls that I'm not aware of.

How could I tell when water was reached while observing this procedure ? Would the water being pumped in to clear the path suddenly stop gushing out ?



Any advise appreciated.

Mark

 

[Jim G.]

It is pretty much up to their honesty, they usually drill past the first water they hit so that the pipe is set deep enough that you aren't siphening the water off the top and then waiting for it to refill.

 

[555]

The one thing I've found here is the wells are as deep as there were extensions on the Truck.

Paying by the Foot, you know.

My flow rate isn't that good like those with 60 GPM. I tried to watch to see if I could tell when they hit water, but it was hard to tell with their own equipment pumping so much water into the well for Dust and to clear bits of rock that I didn't see anything dramatic happen.

 

[wintermute]

Are these mom and pop drillers or big companies? If big companies, feel free to e-mail me and I can see if I know of them.

I'm assuming up in the mountains they'll be using mud rotary drilling. While drilling down, they keep pumping a drilling fluid, or "mud" down the drill stem to keep the drill bit cool as well as keep the hole open (the mud is usually made with something like guar gum - keeps fractured rock together temporarily so it doesn't collapse into the hole - biodegrades into nothing in a few days). This mud makes it's way back up top and flushes the drill cuttings out of the hole.

They'll be looking for fracture zones in the bedrock - this is where groundwater is held in the rock. Sometimes these fracture zones hold water, sometimes they don't. You can tell when they hit a fracture zone because the drilling will be going smoothly (and slow) and then the bit and stem will start jumping around a bit, skidding around on the "loose" stone. The progress through the zone not be constant - fast/slow etc. They can probably tell whether there's water in the zone because more water/mud will likely be coming up, but they will probably stop at this point and send a tape down to check for water. If there isn't water in the fracture, they'll lose mud. Like Jim said, in unpolluted areas, they'll skip the first water and check out the second. They'll make sure that the fracture zone is thick enough to hold enough water (this is a regional thing) and hopefully run a pump to see what type of flowrate they're getting. hopefully they'll let that pump run for a decent amount of time to make sure the fracture doesn't dry up. If it doesn't, they'll set the well.

 

[kvaughn]

The depth generally depend on the yield[gallons per minute]/recovery rate and the static level[how far the water comes up in the well-depth from surface]. A 300 ft well with a yield of 2gpm + and a static level of 30 ft or less is good for the average 4 bdrm residence. Every foot of water in a 6" bore well =1.48 gallons. With this formula you can figure how much storage you have in your well. 75 gallons per person per day is pretty much the industry standard but you can get by with less with some simple conservation tips.---KV

 

[Mark Williams]

Thanks Guys

The one fella is just a local fly-by-night sorta driller. I was warned by the health dept that though he does do a good job,not to pay him until he fills out all the paperwork.

I guess it may be a good idea to look for a few more prospective drillers before we commit.

 

[Burchtree]

I he just shows up with a pair of posthole diggers, then he probably isn't your man.

Good luck!

 

[WA Martin]

You definitely want the old grandpa well driller that gives a darn about his customers and knows the local area.

A friend's kids needed a well. The guy came out and hit water at about 60 ft but told them they'd probably get a better well with less problems if they let him keep going. He went down to about 130' and they ended up with like 100 gpm. They would have had good water at the first hit but there are sand problems etc in that particular area. This water was deep enough not to have those problems.