Failed Well Rehab Costing $1000

[K Bar]

Hello,

I hired a company to rehab my well. It is 65 feet deep. Six inch steel casing in rocky creek bed terrain. They said they could slip a four inch pipe down to bottom then do hammer drilling to to 120 or 150 feet or where ever we hit good water.

Problem--it took them a couple hours to set up on site and then they quickly found out that there is a deviation near the bottom of the hole and their four inch pipe would not go to the bottom so they could not do the job.

They called and gave me the bad news and told me I would have to pay $1000 mobilization fee. That is all fine and dandy--it was all in the estimate.

However after doing a little research I don't think the job should have ever been initiated. The deviation is clearly visible to the naked eye with a flash light. The well is not that deep--65 feet--you can see pretty far down maybe 50 feet and then it bends off line.

Question to you pro's. Shouldn't the driller have checked that his equipment would go down the hole--at least do a visual inspection. When he showed up to check the site to see if his rig would get in he wanted to look down the hole but didn't have a flash light so that never happened. I am not a pro but I can easily see that it is not a straight hole. There is a pretty good curve down there making it so you can't see any part of the bottom. Being that it's not a very deep hole and the curve is near the bottom kind of seems obvious that you are not going to get 20 foot sections of rigid steel pipe down it.

I feel like they screwed up or were negligent and it's costing me $1000.
What should I do.
Thanks for reading,
Thoughts, advise welcome,
Kbar

 

[Smooky]

Setting a big well drilling rig up over an existing well is very difficult and time consuming as you saw. Paying $1000 for nothing is painful but it is not fair for the driller to lose money because he put in a day’s work with his men and his equipment. Even if he did not put in a full day he lost a full day and his people had to be paid. Well drilling is always a gamble, always. That is why he made you sign that contract. You took the gamble not him….. There used to be a well guy around here that did shallow bored wells. He was soft hearted and did not charge if he did not hit water. He would just leave a deep dry hole for you to cover up. Everybody would have him to come first because they had nothing to lose. The bored well guy was a nice guy and in just a few years he was bankrupt and out of business. ......You might be able to get them to take a little off if you asked nice. Maybe they would do a deal if you drill a new well.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Craigpump]

I've never seen a perfectly straight water well, there is always some deviation due to changes in the rock and the rotation of the tools. The only way to get a perfectly straight well is to use collars or full size stabilizers, and most don't.

 

[Valveman]

Even though the well is not straight, there is still some room for some deviation using 4" pipe in 6" casing. You really don't know if it will slide on down until you try it. If he rigged up and ran pipe down until it stuck before giving up, the $1000 bucks MIGHT cover his actual cost, but I doubt it.

 

[Craigpump]

$1000.00 probably wouldn't cover the expenses that's why a 65' well isn't worth fooling with IMO. Drill a new one right from the start and be done with it.