My drill "watered out"

[Clayton Stewart Rowland]

I would think drilling deeper was not the problem (you have plenty of water), but the inability to put in a screen and gravel was.

I get that, however the first hole seem to be running dry before we shut the pump off. That's why my instincts said to drill quite a ways further to get clear away from that bad strata, and accumulate a larger reserve above the pump, but I am ignorant of how these things work.

In my area water is coming out our ears, there are many springs and spring fed creeks that have water all year and the water table seems quite high. We shouldn't have a problem with the amount of water, though I understand geology is totally unknown and changeable with location.

 

[Reach4]

I get that, however the first hole seem to be running dry before we shut the pump off. That's why my instincts said to drill quite a ways further to get clear away from that bad strata, and accumulate a larger reserve above the pump, but I am ignorant of how these things work.

Casing goes to the bottom now, and gravel is at the bottom of the casing? Maybe there are slots in the casing at water-bearing levels.

I think the hope that pumping will make this good is realistic. If there are slots or holes, the hope is that half of the sand gets stuck on the way into the well. And once you pump the relatively small stuff, the new water will clear up.

How high is your static water level?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Boycedrilling]

As an example, I’m currently drilling an irrigation well for a farmer. It is a replacement well for his old well that was drilled in the 1970’s. The old well is 800 feet and is taking water from two formations. The upper aquifer is the Wanapum and the lower is the Grand Ronde. These are basalt formations. There is a clay layer or interbed 30 feet thick between the two formations. The original well has 8” casing thru this interbed and the pump can not be lowered any further. The condition of the permit to drill a replacement well require us to install permanent casing 200 feet Past the bottom of this clay layer.

we started out with the casing hammer on the rig and drilled and drove 20” steel casing to 25 feet thru soil and broken basalt, to solid basalt. We then continued drilling air rotary with the 19” hammer bit to the top of the clay at 425 feet. We’re we’re able to hammer drill thru the clay and about 50 feet into the Grand Rhonde. This clay is highly reactive to water and swells and sloughs. We had to trip out of the hole and take the hammer off and switch to mud rotary drilling with a roller bit. We did have to run a bunch of lost circulation material to get the hole to seal up and get circulation. We have have another 100 feet to go to get to our casing point. Then we will install 16” steel casing to 660 feet and cement in place the entire length. We will then switch back to air rotary drilling and drill out the bottom of the 16” casing with a 15” downhole hammer bit. Depending upon the amount of water we encounter' the hammer might “water out” and we have to switch to a roller bit to finish drilling the well. Oh yeah, cost? Over 300k.

 

[Clayton Stewart Rowland]

How high is your static water level?

About 50' I believe. I don't know how much casing I'm trying to find that out now.

 

[Clayton Stewart Rowland]

As an example, I’m currently drilling an irrigation well for a farmer. It is a replacement well for his old well that was drilled in the 1970’s. The old well is 800 feet and is taking water from two formations. The upper aquifer is the Wanapum and the lower is the Grand Ronde. These are basalt formations. There is a clay layer or interbed 30 feet thick between the two formations. The original well has 8” casing thru this interbed and the pump can not be lowered any further. The condition of the permit to drill a replacement well require us to install permanent casing 200 feet Past the bottom of this clay layer.

we started out with the casing hammer on the rig and drilled and drove 20” steel casing to 25 feet thru soil and broken basalt, to solid basalt. We then continued drilling air rotary with the 19” hammer bit to the top of the clay at 425 feet. We’re we’re able to hammer drill thru the clay and about 50 feet into the Grand Rhonde. This clay is highly reactive to water and swells and sloughs. We had to trip out of the hole and take the hammer off and switch to mud rotary drilling with a roller bit. We did have to run a bunch of lost circulation material to get the hole to seal up and get circulation. We have have another 100 feet to go to get to our casing point. Then we will install 16” steel casing to 660 feet and cement in place the entire length. We will then switch back to air rotary drilling and drill out the bottom of the 16” casing with a 15” downhole hammer bit. Depending upon the amount of water we encounter' the hammer might “water out” and we have to switch to a roller bit to finish drilling the well. Oh yeah, cost? Over 300k.

Yikes, sounds like quite a hole. Our issue has not been so much with cost, rather the value obtained for it.

 

[Boycedrilling]

I live in Eastern Washington, but we’ve owned farm ground in Missouri. On our farm east of St Joseph, wells were drilled with a bucket rig. To capture the water in very thin layers of gravel above bed rock. These wells were less than 40 ft deep. We never had wells drilled on our farm ground at Grain Valley, east of Kansas City! It was bottom ground along the Missouri River. We did have a well drilled on the farm at Warsaw, next to Truman reservoir. It was air drilled in limestone to about 800 ft deep.

I remeber the worst water I’ve ever tasted was in a Nevada, Missouri, west of Springfield.

haven’t spent much time in Eastern Missouri, though I do have to go to Paducah, KY in the near future to pickup some equipment.

 

[Clayton Stewart Rowland]

Casing goes to the bottom now, and gravel is at the bottom of the casing? Maybe there are slots in the casing at water-bearing levels.

I think the hope that pumping will make this good is realistic. If there are slots or holes, the hope is that half of the sand gets stuck on the way into the well. And once you pump the relatively small stuff, the new water will clear up.

How high is your static water level?

The bill does not say how much pipe was purchased.

 

[Greenmonster123]

As an example, I’m currently drilling an irrigation well for a farmer. It is a replacement well for his old well that was drilled in the 1970’s. The old well is 800 feet and is taking water from two formations. The upper aquifer is the Wanapum and the lower is the Grand Ronde. These are basalt formations. There is a clay layer or interbed 30 feet thick between the two formations. The original well has 8” casing thru this interbed and the pump can not be lowered any further. The condition of the permit to drill a replacement well require us to install permanent casing 200 feet Past the bottom of this clay layer.

we started out with the casing hammer on the rig and drilled and drove 20” steel casing to 25 feet thru soil and broken basalt, to solid basalt. We then continued drilling air rotary with the 19” hammer bit to the top of the clay at 425 feet. We’re we’re able to hammer drill thru the clay and about 50 feet into the Grand Rhonde. This clay is highly reactive to water and swells and sloughs. We had to trip out of the hole and take the hammer off and switch to mud rotary drilling with a roller bit. We did have to run a bunch of lost circulation material to get the hole to seal up and get circulation. We have have another 100 feet to go to get to our casing point. Then we will install 16” steel casing to 660 feet and cement in place the entire length. We will then switch back to air rotary drilling and drill out the bottom of the 16” casing with a 15” downhole hammer bit. Depending upon the amount of water we encounter' the hammer might “water out” and we have to switch to a roller bit to finish drilling the well. Oh yeah, cost? Over 300k.

How much water do you get from a well like that?

 

[Boycedrilling]

Customer needs 1,500 gpm. Field is planted to Timothy grass for hay. They get 2 cuttings per year. About 6 1/2 - 7 tons per acre total yield. It all is premium hay and gets exported to Japan Asia, or the Middle East. Export grass or alfalfa hay is a huge market on the west coast.