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I've thought of using a windmill, that is, a wind powered pump. I have been able to find little information on this. I'd want to install a cistern up the hill far enough to have good water pressure without using a jet pump to bring water from my existing cistern into the house. The cistern is necessary as I have a low flow well. I do not want a wind turbine as I have read poor reports on their reliability, whereas not much can go wrong with a pump, and parts can be fabricated locally if necessary.
Does anyone here have experience with a system like this?
We have a regular well, drilled to 200 foot and the water comes up to 68 foot.
We have power outages from time to time, sometimes for an hour sometimes for a few days. So we have looked at what alternatives exist. Mostly for ourselves and livestock when the power is out.
For $30 I can get a handpump that will lift up to 20 foot. In this region I do not need to go any deeper than 10 foot to get water. So this handpump on 10' of pipe set in a half drum filled with gravel would be an option.
Another option is to spend $800 on a fancy handpump that can lift further than 20 foot and slide it's pipe down inside of our existing well casing. This pump plus 80' of pipe and a different well cap, maybe just over $900 out of pocket.
I do not see any problem with having a handpump here as an alternative to our electric well pump.
Budget is a consideration for a lot of folks... whether we like to admit it or not. In a self-sufficiency and survival situation, it's even more dire.
Here's some food for thought... a little break down of our analysis for sourcing water at our place. Keep in mind that we have NO regulations, permits or inspections -- the only thing DEC cares about here is that your crapper is downhill from your water source -- and we live way the heck out in the middle of nowhere compared to most folks YMMV
Shallow dug cistern well:
by hand with a shovel, lined with rock - $0
hiring a backhoe - $250
purchasing brick, block or bagged concrete - $350
having those materials delivered - $600
having concrete poured from a mixer truck - impossible due to distance
Rope and bucket - $10
Shallow cistern pump & pipe - $30
Max Total: $830
Shallow, narrow bore sandpoint driven well:
by hand, 20' - $75 for drive point, 2 lengths of threaded pipe and a drive cap
hiring a tractor to drive the pipe - $75
shallow cistern pump - $20
Max Total: $170
Deep, wide bore sandpoint driven well:
by hand 50' (minimum for drilled well) - $75
hiring a tractor to drive the pipe - $150
deep well inner casing and hand pump - $400
DC electric pump - $300 (additional to power generation)
Max Total: $925
Drilled and cased well:
transportation of driller and equipment - $5000 up front
drilling - $100/ft cased, $50/ft for dry holes or drill-throughs -- no guarantees, no limits... but there is a minimum of 50ft
My dad was a well driller. I learned from him. I've driven many a foot of 2" galvanized pipe opened ended after boring a lead hole as deep as possible with an auger. Any water these days from shallow hand driven wells certainly needs to be tested for safety. You need a pump and barrels of water to wash the pipe out as you go. We had special make drill bits for drilling through bed rock to get to the aquifer underneath. Once the casing was seated in hard rock we only drilled until the drill flush water went down instead of coming up. After that we put a gas pump on and pumped until all the sand stopped coming and the water was clear. We actually were pumping out a cavern under the rock for water to come into. It's not rocket science but can be intensive labor. My days for doing this kind of manual labor are over. We drove the pipe with a heavy weight on top of a shaft. Pick it up and slam it down. When the hammer just bounces you know it is seated in rock.
My dad was a well driller. I learned from him. I've driven many a foot of 2" galvanized pipe opened ended after boring a lead hole as deep as possible with an auger. Any water these days from shallow hand driven wells certainly needs to be tested for safety. You need a pump and barrels of water to wash the pipe out as you go. We had special make drill bits for drilling through bed rock to get to the aquifer underneath. Once the casing was seated in hard rock we only drilled until the drill flush water went down instead of coming up. After that we put a gas pump on and pumped until all the sand stopped coming and the water was clear. We actually were pumping out a cavern under the rock for water to come into. It's not rocket science but can be intensive labor. My days for doing this kind of manual labor are over. We drove the pipe with a heavy weight on top of a shaft. Pick it up and slam it down. When the hammer just bounces you know it is seated in rock.
Wow...that is WORK!!!!!
My rig drills about 60 foot an hour in the drift and 40/50 foot an hour in the bedrock. We drill almost an 8" hole to set 5" PVC casing. Really grouting and moving equipment is what takes the most time.
We drill the well one day and do the hook-up the next.
My rig drills about 60 foot an hour in the drift and 40/50 foot an hour in the bedrock. We drill almost an 8" hole to set 5" PVC casing. Really grouting and moving equipment is what takes the most time.
We drill the well one day and do the hook-up the next.
Yes it is work. Not for me anymore. My choice would be a gravel pack well like you do with a good 4" submersible pump with back up generator. The easiest well I ever put down I used a stainless well point and the total depth was 7' and it pumped 100 gallons a minute. Irrigation water, non potable. I don't remember anything by hand open case over maybe 60'. My late father worked with some big rigs that put down 30" steel casings. That would be over kill for a homestead. I want a good well that will supply a house and irrigate up to a couple of acres of garden and corn for animal feed. The specs you have mentioned should be good with the right pump and good water supply in the well.
Yes it is work. Not for me anymore. My choice would be a gravel pack well like you do with a good 4" submersible pump with back up generator. The easiest well I ever put down I used a stainless well point and the total depth was 7' and it pumped 100 gallons a minute. Irrigation water, non potable. I don't remember anything by hand open case over maybe 60'. My late father worked with some big rigs that put down 30" steel casings. That would be over kill for a homestead. I want a good well that will supply a house and irrigate up to a couple of acres of garden and corn for animal feed. The specs you have mentioned should be good with the right pump and good water supply in the well.
I am in Michigan, the amount of water the wells produce in our area goes from 100+ GPM down to being lucky we get 7/10 GPM. This is due to glacier activity.
No well will produce more the the pump in it. Not even a flow in Michigan, we can not let them flow now.
We also have to get special permits to take more than 70 GPM with a finished well.
This is what about 60 GPM looks like being pumped with the air compressor on the rig. This is how we develop the well.
Budget is a consideration for a lot of folks... whether we like to admit it or not. In a self-sufficiency and survival situation, it's even more dire.
Here's some food for thought... a little break down of our analysis for sourcing water at our place. Keep in mind that we have NO regulations, permits or inspections -- the only thing DEC cares about here is that your crapper is downhill from your water source -- and we live way the heck out in the middle of nowhere compared to most folks YMMV
Shallow dug cistern well:
by hand with a shovel, lined with rock - $0
hiring a backhoe - $250
purchasing brick, block or bagged concrete - $350
having those materials delivered - $600
having concrete poured from a mixer truck - impossible due to distance
Rope and bucket - $10
Shallow cistern pump & pipe - $30
Max Total: $830
Shallow, narrow bore sandpoint driven well:
by hand, 20' - $75 for drive point, 2 lengths of threaded pipe and a drive cap
hiring a tractor to drive the pipe - $75
shallow cistern pump - $20
Max Total: $170
Deep, wide bore sandpoint driven well:
by hand 50' (minimum for drilled well) - $75
hiring a tractor to drive the pipe - $150
deep well inner casing and hand pump - $400
DC electric pump - $300 (additional to power generation)
Max Total: $925
Drilled and cased well:
transportation of driller and equipment - $5000 up front
drilling - $100/ft cased, $50/ft for dry holes or drill-throughs -- no guarantees, no limits... but there is a minimum of 50ft
deep well inner casing and hand pump - $400
DC electric pump - $300
Min Total: $10,700
Good info.
I have my own backhoe, digging a 10foot deep hole is no problem for me.
This summer while doing another project I consistantly hit water at 2 foot down.
Budget is a consideration for a lot of folks... whether we like to admit it or not. In a self-sufficiency and survival situation, it's even more dire.
Here's some food for thought... a little break down of our analysis for sourcing water at our place. Keep in mind that we have NO regulations, permits or inspections -- the only thing DEC cares about here is that your crapper is downhill from your water source -- and we live way the heck out in the middle of nowhere compared to most folks YMMV
Shallow dug cistern well:
by hand with a shovel, lined with rock - $0
hiring a backhoe - $250
purchasing brick, block or bagged concrete - $350
having those materials delivered - $600
having concrete poured from a mixer truck - impossible due to distance
Rope and bucket - $10
Shallow cistern pump & pipe - $30
Max Total: $830
Shallow, narrow bore sandpoint driven well:
by hand, 20' - $75 for drive point, 2 lengths of threaded pipe and a drive cap
hiring a tractor to drive the pipe - $75
shallow cistern pump - $20
Max Total: $170
Deep, wide bore sandpoint driven well:
by hand 50' (minimum for drilled well) - $75
hiring a tractor to drive the pipe - $150
deep well inner casing and hand pump - $400
DC electric pump - $300 (additional to power generation)
Max Total: $925
Drilled and cased well:
transportation of driller and equipment - $5000 up front
drilling - $100/ft cased, $50/ft for dry holes or drill-throughs -- no guarantees, no limits... but there is a minimum of 50ft
We had a granite well on our farm when I bought it in 1978 ( 330 ft deep)........excellent water
All our neighbors had granite wells, some as deep as 600 ft.
In the early 80's, suddenly none of them could produce enough water for the dairy farms.
A witcher was kept busy as finding water is hard in our area.
Today, most farms have 60-70 ft wells that water up to 300 head of cattle.
Dry holes are common when drilling if you don't hit the vein that runs east/west.
Thus the need for a witcher in our area.
If I was going thru a lot of hard labor to get water, I would get a witcher unless I was certain that water could be found anywhere I wanted to dig/pound.
Equally as important when one is dishing out big bucks $$$$$$$ to get a well drilled.
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YMMV
