Reviving an old well

Users who are viewing this thread

Heatmiser

New Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Hello all....first time posting here. First of all I would like to say I enjoy taking on challenges including researching and all that. I think this time I may need to reach out to some for some help reviving an old well. I will try and post a couple of pictures now.
IMG_20160128_130758.jpg


The casing is 3 inches inside
 

Heatmiser

New Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
OK..... I got one picture up guess that's good enough for now. I do not know very many particulars about this well. I am trying to bring it back to life to water my garden. Hopefully I can get some ideas on at least where to start. I am thinking this may have been the main well for my house as it was built in a rural area back in the early 70's which is small city now with city water quite expensive I might add. My plan as of now is to try and flush out all the dirt with garden hose and or pressure washer hooked up to some small diameter PVC and eventually trying to pull out the submersible pump which I believe is hiding down there somewhere. I am going to cap off the pvc with the electrical wires just in case i want to do something with that later.....dont need any more water or debris in that pipe. The casing is 3" ID..and pretty thick walled. Any ideas where to start I would appreciate it. I am only needing ground water....but if I could get a deeper well out of it....may go that route also.
 

Valveman

Cary Austin
Staff member
Messages
14,583
Reaction score
1,296
Points
113
Location
Lubbock, Texas
Website
cyclestopvalves.com
I would recommend jetting with a large air compressor to get the debris out of the well. If you can get the debris and the pump out of the well, you can measure the well depth and standing water so we can help you with a pump system.
 

Heatmiser

New Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Thanks for responding... I am assuming that I would have to blow air around the outside of the center pipe to get the debris out. There would be no need to blow down center pipe correct ? Center pipe probably has a foot valve that would not let air pass to through the pump? So if I rented large compressor...(since my shop compressor is surely not big enough) what kind of nozzle or connection would I need just something to connect to PVC I am assuming. I may need to just keep gluing sections together say 1/2 diameter to get down beside center pipe..may get a little tight with couplings...unless I could go smaller diameter or use the couplings that fit inside the pipe? I do have a welder if I went small diameter steel and welded sections together..maybe steel would be better stronger maybe doesn't matter...steel is more expensive though. I want to try and do it right the first time. I am also thinking I should have said "help" in the title of this thread. Thanks again
 

Smooky

In the Trades
Messages
2,299
Reaction score
152
Points
63
Location
North Carolina
I was thinking the pipe down the center was the well and the outer part covered by moss was grout. Does the outer ring have a metal casing? Are you talking about blowing out the area where the moss is located, between the outer circle and the inner pipe? You may need to clean it up a little to see exactly what you got there. ....Someone might have abandoned the well by pouring concrete down it and did not or could not pull the pump. If that happened, I would spend my time and effort drilling a new well.
 
Last edited:

Reach4

Well-Known Member
Messages
38,749
Reaction score
4,400
Points
113
Location
IL
img_2.jpg
picture to try to illustrate discussion.

Is the green ring the 3 inch ID casing?
 

Heatmiser

New Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Yes the green circle is 3 inches inside across.........3 1/2 outside across.
Update this is what I found today....now I am baffled looks like a flag pole or something.. What is going on here ????
IMG_20160312_111356.jpg
 

Reach4

Well-Known Member
Messages
38,749
Reaction score
4,400
Points
113
Location
IL
Your flagpole suspicion sound good to me.

So the prior person may have filled the whole well with dirt, or even concrete farther down, for all we know. Does it look that way?
 

Smooky

In the Trades
Messages
2,299
Reaction score
152
Points
63
Location
North Carolina
Often when people hook up to city water or a well goes dry etc., the well is abandoned. Some municipalities, counties or states require them to be abandoned properly. My county does not charge a permit fee for a new well if you properly abondon the old well. There are proper methods to do that. I have abandoned many old wells and followed proper procedures including getting a permit and having the county well inspector on site during the abandonment process. Most people do not do that, they just fill them up with whatever. My father has abandoned many wells over the years. He always liked to fill them with rock because he was not concerned with the ground water; he just did not want it to settle when he was finished. Normal for a well like you have we dig down 4-6 foot and cut the casing off. I measure the depth to figure how much volume of concrete I need to order. The county requires the old well to be chlorinated before it is abandoned. I fill the well up with concrete to where we cut it off and then fill up the big pit we dug with soil. If we are abandoning a bored well or a hand dug well we use a special type of clay soil called montmorillonite clay. The clay goes in dry and granular but when it gets wet; it expands and completely seals the well.
My guess is your well was abandoned and filled with a mixture of soil and gravel. That section of pipe may have been used to tamp the mix down the hole.
 

Heatmiser

New Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
I appreciate all the responses...trying to keep everyone informed of my progress. I know some people ask questions and they never return to give follow ups. Now just trying to decide to use industrial sized air compressor as mentioned....or water ??? Called rental place and they say 180 cfm 110 psi compressor rents for around $175 for 8hrs use 24 hour period. I was able to dig down a foot or so....doesn't seem to be no concrete. I have never seen a piece of pipe shaped that way on the end....ses to be an odd place for flag pole....maybe abandoned well and somebody had an old spinning clothesline thing there ???????
 

Heatmiser

New Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Do you suppose I could get some water down the hole and stick a pipe say 2 " PVC down into the slurry and cap the top and lift the debris out of the hole? It would be like when you stick a straw in a glass of water then put your finger on the top sealing it off lifting it out full of water. I got a kick out of seeing the link with the ground spike....sure enough that's what they did. I am sure it was a well at one time though because of the 220 volt wiring in PVC next to it.
 

Valveman

Cary Austin
Staff member
Messages
14,583
Reaction score
1,296
Points
113
Location
Lubbock, Texas
Website
cyclestopvalves.com
I have revived old wells that were just filled with dirt. Run a piece of 1" pipe, open ended, down the hole and hook up a big compressor. As you push the pipe down the air will blow the dirt straight up out of the hole. If there is no concrete or big rocks, you can basicallty re-drill a well like this. You may or may not have a good well when you get it cleaned out, but you won't know until you try.

It would be a lot more of a sure thing to just drill another well. But if you have more time than money, it could be worth a try.
 

Heatmiser

New Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Well folks I think I am about to give up. I was able to get the pipe cleaned out to a depth of a little over 3 feet. I am thinking it may be filled with concrete. This picture shows my son with the pressure washer wand stuck down the hole. What is confusing to me though is all the crap that comes out of the pipe is that color. I had a 1 1/4 PVC pipe with garden hose hooked up first on the top and some teeth cut into bottom of PVC and used that to initially get everything out of the hole to 3 feet then it would not go any further and water would start to turn clean. I then took a long solid steel 1" diameter shaft with a chisel ground on one end and a point on the other. I would drop that down in the hole and felt like I was hitting concrete and loosening something up... then the color changed it was the brown clay/sand and never changed to a white or gray cement color even after pounding the shaft and breaking/grinding the crap up. Why it stayed brown/orange color i do not know. Soooo at this point....it's on the back burner. Thanks to all who helped me.
IMG_20160313_172246.jpg
 
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks