Do a web search for the hydra-drill water well drilling machine. Just google "hydra-drill" and you should come up with something. There is a company out of Arkansas I think that makes these things to drill your own wells. They're about a thousand bucks, but definitely cheaper than hiring these drillers, which has really turned into a rip off. The hydra-drill is a little lawnmower motor powered drilling machine with a small tower and winch to raise and lower the pipe. The drill stem is steel pipe with ROLLED threads (instead of cut threads which are weaker) for strength and you can get several different sizes and types of drill bits for them, they're generally known as fishtail bits. As long as you're not trying to drill through granite or other hard rock, they should work ok.
There really isn't much to it. I've drilled a 6 inch hole with a hand auger type post hole digger with extensions when my Dad's well went out, and would have kept going but we hit the first water ribbon sand and the hole was collapsing. That's when you have to switch to wet drilling and pump water down the drill stem to flush the bit and support the sides of the hole to keep the sand from collapsing in. Around here we don't have bedrock, just clay, then the ribbon sands and clay alternating layers for a few feet, then several thick water sands, then water bearing gravel beds and sand beds alternating down to over 100 feet. We can hit water here at 22 feet, but you need at least 40 to 50 feet to make sure it doesn't go dry during the droughts. The water is excellent from these sands. A lot of shyster drillers around here want to go to a minimum of 300 feet, so they can justify a HUGE bill, but it's really stupid because at those depths all you get is 'mine water' which is SO heavily contaminated with sulfur and iron that it literally stinks and turns all your plumbing red from oxide. The deepest we would let the driller go who eventually drilled my Dad a new well (since he didn't want to get the equipment I needed to switch to wet drilling) was 100 feet, and we had him set the casing at 80 feet.
So long as you aren't drilling trough hard rock, there really isn't anything that hard about drilling a well. I do all my own water well service. You drill the hole, usually at least 6 inches, to the desired depth. You have to know about how deep the wells you have are where you plan on drilling, and what kind of formations you should expect to be drilling into (rock, sand, clay, or gravel) and you'll need to haul some water to pump down the drill stem to flush the cuttings and support the hole while you drill through the water formations, or the water flowing into the hole will cause the sides to collapse. The pressure of the water above the water sands being pumped out of the well by the water coming in through the drill stem keeps water from the water sand from entering the well and causing the sides to collapse. If you're drilling through gravel and the hole goes dry, get a couple bags of feed oats, mix it with your drilling mud (usually the water going down the drill stem makes it's own drilling mud as the bit cuts through clay; most guys use a Pacer pump to recirculate this muddy water back down the drill stem, since mud is heavier than plain water and helps seal the hole and lubricate the bit as you drill. Anyway, if you hit a dry gravel bed and your water/mud is escaping out into the gravel bed, mix in a couple bags of feed oats in the drilling mud and pump that down the hole-- the oats will seal off the gravel pores and swell, sealing off the hole enough to keep drilling (learned that trick from an old driller). Once you have the hole to the depth you want, pull the drill stem and bit, and put your screen and casing in the well. Most guys nowdays use 4 inch PVC screens, which you should be able to buy at a well supply, or you can cut slits into regular 4 inch PVC pipe with a hacksaw and accomplish much the same thing. The screen has hundreds of small thin slits that allow water to come into the casing, but keep rocks, sand, and gravel out. The screen is usually about ten feet long. The driller that did Dad's glued the screen pipe onto regular 4 inch PVC pipe and then put a couple wraps of plastic sheet around it with a hose clamp above the screen, just to keep stuff from settling in too tightly around the screen when the well is set. Then you just lower the screen and PVC casing into the hole, keep on gluing more PVC pipe on as you go til you get it to the depth you want. You don't HAVE to go to the bottom of the hole; the hole collapses in around the casing within a few days anyway and locks it in place. Once you have the casing set, be sure to leave a couple feet above ground, and then using another ten foot stick of say 1 inch PVC, shove some QuickCrete bags down around the casing to about ten feet deep, and then pour quickcrete in around the casing, set up a 4 by 4 form and pour a small concrete pad around the casing head. This is to seal the well from surface contamination and comply with safety regulations to prevent groundwater contamination. It's also handy for setting you tanks or pumps on or the foundation for a small pumphouse. That's it. The well is finished.
To put it into production, go to TSC and either get a submersible pump or surface pump and jet ejector, and a pressure tank. Install it in the well, with the submersible wiring for submersible pumps or the foot valve and jet for surface pumps, with the rot line providing pressure from the pump to the jet and the suction line to the pump inlet, set the throttling valve, plumb it into your system, and your done. Finish her off by dropping a couple chlorine tablets (SMALL ones like aspirins, or a cup of bleach will do) down the well to sterilize it from any contamination on the pump, pipes, foot valve, jet, etc. and you're done. Give it a day for the bleach to work before drinking the water, and it may take a day or two for the water to totally clear up, as it is often cloudy until the sand and stuff in the formation settles against the screen and stabilizes. Good luck! OL JR
