Jetting Water Wells

[Brute 23]

Water wells come up from time to time on here so I caught some video of us jetting a well. Jetting wells tends to get passed over due to the additional cost but it's amazing how much trash can come out out of an older well. Getting a static debth measurement, flow rate, and draw down measurement is very helpful with proper pump sizing, also. With as expensive as pumps and labor are getting, a little extra to jet and test the well may pay dividends.

BEFORE


AFTER

 

[TCRanch]

Huge difference! The guy that drills our water wells always does that. The well in the east 80 hadn't been used for probably 20 years before we bought the property, and that water was naaaasty - and full of sand. We'd love to go deeper, but we're dangerously close to a salt table.

 

[Redgully]

This is how i do it, I've clean 20ft of sand out of bores with this method. Your method is good for cleaning the slots in the casing so restoring flow.

 

[Brute 23]

This is how i do it, I've clean 20ft of sand out of bores with this method. Your method is good for cleaning the slots in the casing so restoring flow.

Very cool. Once you get water moving up it probably acts like a vacuum down hole, correct?

How deep is that well?

We do see the flow increase while we are jetting them. As they start to clean up they will make more water.

These wells in the video are just a hair over 600' deep. That is the first fresh water zone. Shallower zones are pretty salty. The good thing is although the wells are deep, the water level comes up to 80' from surface.

 

[Allenw]

Interesting.

I have a well that the tin casing has rotted away and is partially collapsed that I've been trying to figure out the possibility of putting new smaller casing down.

 

[Brute 23]

Here is a better video from another well. It shows the air comp and set up a little better. You can see a color change around the roll of polly, that is sand from the well bore. That poly was laying on top of the ground in grass. By the time we were done, there was several inches of sand, several feet from the well, piled up.

 

[Brute 23]

Interesting.

I have a well that the tin casing has rotted away and is partially collapsed that I've been trying to figure out the possibility of putting new smaller casing down.

There are quite a few videos of diy people who drill water wells. A lot depends on the debth but you can use trash pumps (transfer pumps, donald duck pumps) like a harbor freight or other places to wash down with home made paddle bits. Some even had 2 pumps going for deeper wells.

It works just like a drilling rig, coil tubing, wor, etc. You pump down thru a bit and circulate your sand and water up to surface. You set up off the well head to catch the fluid and solids in a tank. You hook the suction of the pump back to the clean side of the tank and reuse the water.

 

[Redgully]

Very cool. Once you get water moving up it probably acts like a vacuum down hole, correct?

How deep is that well?

We do see the flow increase while we are jetting them. As they start to clean up they will make more water.

These wells in the video are just a hair over 600' deep. That is the first fresh water zone. Shallower zones are pretty salty. The good thing is although the wells are deep, the water level comes up to 80' from surface.

Around my area water ranges from 60' to 100' before you hit granite. Cracks in the granite can yield good water but are hard to find. This bore is 300'. The deeper you go the more pressure required, this was about the limits of this compressor. And yes you're right, it works like a vacuum and sucks up all the sand and mud, nuts and bolts too once!

 

[Redgully]

There are quite a few videos of diy people who drill water wells. A lot depends on the debth but you can use trash pumps (transfer pumps, donald duck pumps) like a harbor freight or other places to wash down with home made paddle bits. Some even had 2 pumps going for deeper wells.

It works just like a drilling rig, coil tubing, wor, etc. You pump down thru a bit and circulate your sand and water up to surface. You set up off the well head to catch the fluid and solids in a tank. You hook the suction of the pump back to the clean side of the tank and reuse the water.

That is sort of like mud drilling, it's all about getting the balance right so the mud is the right weight to stop the well collapsing, heavy enough the keep pressure on the walls and hold back the water. You can use bentonite but some modern polymers work really well and give you more control.

 

[Brute 23]

Thanks for the info @Redgully . We have a real shallow well that my dad always talks about by a barn. He claims it use to frost up a glass when the water came straight out the ground. At some point it sanded up on them. He and I discussed rigging up pumps and circulating the sand out but I'm going to talk to him about your method. It may be a good option.

 

[D2Cat]

I have a hand dug well that is about 6' dia. laced with large rock, 23' down to the muck and mud, then 3' to the bottom. Has a hand pump at the top setting on a concrete slap. I also installed a shallow well pump that supplies a automatic waterer and a couple of hydrants. I have tried to drain the well down by running the pump for hours, just to see if I could, but can't. It has an overflow line coming out about one foot below the slab. Several months out of the year water runs from that line.


A few years back had a couple stop by and ask if the well was still there and in the '30's folks would come there to get water. So it's been there a long time and has good water.

How would I get the muck and mud out of the bottom? Hire someone with a big pump to agitate it to muddy water and pump it?

 

[SmokinM]

If it is a good well with good water I wouldn't mess with it. You stir all that up it may never get clear again or take awhile to get there. Sounds like it has worked that way for a good while. A well driller told me the only time you work on a well is when you dont have good water. A lot of people ruin good wells trying to make them better.

 

[TexasRancher]

Pretty interesting well cleaning thanks for posting all. I love wells...i run two antique hand-dug 36" wide by 20 foot deep bricked ones on my land. One dries up every summer...One is a gusher that never runs out of water and the pump is 5 feet off the bottom.

 

[Brute 23]

I agree with not messing with it.

There is a truck called a hydro vac. It can reach down that far and suck out that sludge like a vaccum cleaner. They are kind of pricey though.

Some thing like above might also work to suck out the sand and would be more economical.

 

[Ebenezer]

I saw and read about breaking dry ice, dropping in the well. banging a plug in the casing and running for cover. It supposedly blew out a lot of debris. At least it was exciting.

 

[Redgully]

I saw and read about breaking dry ice, dropping in the well. banging a plug in the casing and running for cover. It supposedly blew out a lot of debris. At least it was exciting.

Not sure it would achieve much but sure would be fun.