Diy water well: manual drilling technologies

For normal life support in the house or in the country there must always be water. The most common sources are a well or borehole. A well is preferable. First, because, as a rule, deep enough aquifers with cleaner water are reached. Secondly, they last longer. Thirdly, their debit (replenishment rate) is much higher. It is also important that it is possible to drill water wells with your own hands. There are several technologies, you just have to choose.

Water near the house is always good

Self-drilling methods for water wells

Water wells are drilled or driven in - different technologies require different methods. Drilling water wells with your own hands is not possible by all methods, but some can be used really.

Auger drilling

With this technology, a well is drilled using a special drill - auger. It is a steel tube with helically welded blades. When rotating, the projectile plunges into the ground. After it has gone to its full depth, it is taken out, the soil remaining on the blades is poured out. The auger is again lowered into the well, having grown the pipe on top, and the excavation is continued. So, over and over again taking out the shell and shaking off the soil, they drill a well. The pipes at the ends can be threaded or connected with studs.

This is what the auger looks like

The disadvantage of this method is that it is not suitable for all types of soil. Soft or medium-hard rocks are normally drilled. If a stony or rocky layer is encountered, the work will be ineffective - the auger is powerless here. In loose soils, blockages will be observed, which is also problematic.

Quite powerful installations work according to this technology, but there are even manual augers. Working with them is very difficult, but possible. There is a simple device that makes auger drilling of water wells with your own hands easier - this is a tripod with a collar and a block reinforced at the top. With the help of a cable, a winch and a block, it is easier to reach the drill, and this should be done often.

Manual Auger Drilling Rig

More convenient motorized drilling rigs, and not necessarily purchased. There are interesting homemade products. In any case, this is a frame with a movably fixed motor that drives the drill. An example of such an installation is in the following video. The auger drill is not used for water wells, but the essence of the installation itself and the principle of operation does not change from this.

With a small auger and rods, which increase the length (up to 1.5 m), this method of drilling water wells can also be used inside a house, a summer residence, a bath. The main thing is that the soils are suitable.

Water fertilization (using a pump or pump)

As the name implies, this method uses water to drill wells. When used independently, water is most often pumped into the pipe. It comes out through special holes at the bottom of the drill, flows out by gravity through the gap between the outer wall of the pipe and the walls of the well.

Hydrodrilling organization diagram

In addition to the drill and threaded pipes, this method also requires a pump. Before starting work, two pits are dug near the future well. In the first, the bulk of the soil settles, in the second, water, devoid of most of the impurities, enters. A little water is needed for the process - it is constantly circulating. From the first pit, sediments are periodically removed, usually with a shovel. If necessary, if the water becomes too dirty, it can be replaced.It is pumped out using the same pump, only it is not fed into the well, but poured somewhere on the site. Filling a new batch of water, you can continue drilling.

After the well has reached the required depth, a casing pipe with a filter at the end is inserted into it. Recently, the most commonly used pipe is HDPE or PVC. It is easier to work with HDPE - it bends well. The filter is the holes drilled into the end of the casing. The length of such a filter is about a meter. Then you can wind a stainless steel wire on top, and a fine mesh from the same stainless steel on top.

Shock rope method

One of the easiest ways to make a well on your own is the percussion rope method. But it is also the slowest, in the absence of mechanization it requires significant physical effort. On the other hand, it can be viewed as a simulator. Moreover, it is very effective - almost all muscles of the body work.

Do-it-yourself wire rope drilling for water is a universal method that can be used on any type of soil. Only the projectile changes, but the technology and installation remains the same:

• On clay and other non-free-flowing soils, a section of a thick-walled metal pipe is used, at the end of which a cutting edge is made, beveled inward. It is also called a drill glass for its characteristic shape. It's easy to do it yourself. The main thing is to find a pipe with a thick wall (the thicker the better). It remains to sharpen the lower cutting edge, make slots in the sides (for easy soil removal), and make “ears” in the upper part for attaching the carabiner and cable.
  

  Wire rope drill

• In a layer of loose rocks - crushed stone, sand - use bailers... This is a piece of pipe to the bottom of which a spring-loaded valve is welded. On impact, the valve opens, soil enters the pipe. When lifted by gravity, the valve closes, preventing the rock from spilling out.
  

  Thief with valve for loose soil

• In the same soils, it is sometimes more effective to use a drill spoon. It is so named for the specific shape of the lower part - two petals bent towards each other.
  

  Bur spoon for sticky soil

• A drill bit is used on rocks. First, the rock is crushed, then it is removed using one of the shells described above - whichever is more convenient, this is how they work.

The wireline drilling rig can be done in different ways. The most common type is a tripod, in the center of which a block is fixed. But the unit can be attached to the L-shaped structure, and an electric motor with a gearbox can also be used to facilitate labor.

The technology of percussion drilling itself is very simple: the projectile is lifted, released into free fall. This is repeated many times. With each blow, the hole gets a little deeper. When a section of 50 cm has been passed, the projectile is removed, freed from the soil. And everything is repeated anew.

To drill faster, you need a heavy drill. If the pipe walls are thick, the mass can be significant anyway. If necessary, you can make it heavier - fill the upper part of the pipe with lead. Also, to speed up the passage, the bottom edge can be sharpened, but this must be done so that the bevel is directed inward. Another point: pay attention to the slots in the drill bits. They facilitate rock removal. This is especially important when passing through dense, viscous clay layers.

The rope for the percussion-rope drilling rig is needed with a diameter of 10-12 mm. Gloves are required if you work by hand. When passing through the upper layers, it is easier to use a hand drill, and for easier passage of the upper layers in dry time, you can pour water into the drilled well.

Casing pipe and filter

All the technologies described above for self-drilling water wells have common features.After the well has entered the aquifer (water in large quantities will appear in the rock), they continue to drill for some time, going deeper into the depth of the water carrier by 1-2 meters. Then the entire drill string is disassembled, and a casing is installed inside the well.

The casing needs to be dealt with. Select the diameter depending on what size you drilled the well and on the type of pump you plan to use. It is necessary to carefully consider the choice of material. For some time, asbestos pipes were used for casing. But they are very harmful - the strongest carcinogen. You should not use galvanized pipes either - zinc is not excreted from the body, it accumulates. And poisoning with it has very bad consequences.

There is not so much choice left - pipes made of steel and stainless steel, as well as plastic pipes - HDPE and PVC. Stainless steel is almost ideal, except for the cost and complexity of welding. To prevent the seam from rusting, welding in an argon atmosphere is necessary, and this is not easy. Although, to some extent, special welding electrodes stainless steel.

In recent years, plastic pipes have become more and more popular. PVC and HDPE are cheap and cheerful, but for their installation the well must be perfectly flat. Another point is that plastic does not carry loads very well. Therefore, they can be used at a shallow depth - up to 15 meters. In any case, it is not worthwhile to install sewer pipes for the well, it is better to find water pipes, although they are more expensive: the walls in them are of different thicknesses, so the investment will pay off.

Steel pipes will definitely not crumple and will stand for a long time, but they also have a significant drawback: they rust. Nevertheless, of the options described above, it is the metal that is optimal if there is no money for stainless steel.

In order for water to enter the casing, a filter is made in its lower part, which is immersed in the aquifer. Holes are made in the pipe. There are two options. The first is with a large-diameter drill, in four rows in a checkerboard pattern. The second - cut longitudinal slits with a grinder (size 1.5-2.5 mm).

A wire (3-4 mm in diameter) is wound on top of the pipe, and a mesh with a very fine mesh is attached on top of it. It is best to use stainless steel. In this case, it will be possible to wash the filter from deposits using flushing solutions, and the wire and mesh can be welded to the pipe.

If you use any other metal, the filter will fail after a while. Ferrous metal rusts, the rest are destroyed due to electrolytic corrosion.

Abyssinian well or needle well

This is a type of manual drilling for water wells and drilling cannot be called - a special rod with a cast cone-shaped tip is driven into the ground, building up as necessary with pipes-rods (one 1-2 meters long), which are connected by means of a thread. This type of well is called differently, driven, Abyssinian, needle. It's all about one method.

The difference from all other methods is that these pipes remain in the ground, it is through them that water will flow. That is, this is a well without installing a casing. It is pierced with the help of these pipes, and then they are used. Therefore, thick-walled water pipes are used as the rods with which the needle is built up. Diameter from 25 -32 mm. Since the pipes are clogged forever, their connection must be tight. Traditionally, to increase reliability, a winding (usually linen) is used, you can coat it with a sealant.

The first element of an Abyssinian well is called a needle. But the lance tip is far from the only difference between this part and others. Almost the entire length of the pipe is drilled in it. This is a water filter. Through them, water will flow inside. So that they do not get clogged with rock, a wire is wound with a spiral over the pipe, and a fine mesh is attached to it. In order for the well to serve for a long time, not to clog, it was possible to flush, the wire and mesh must be made of stainless steel.Only in this case the filter will serve for a long time and without problems. The use of other metals, albeit stainless ones, greatly reduces the life of the well - metals are destroyed due to electrolytic corrosion. Therefore, brass, copper or any other wire or mesh is not suitable for a steel pipe.

The first element of the Abyssinian well is a needle with a lance tip and a filter

One more point. To prevent the mesh and winding from being torn off during clogging, they are welded to the pipe. The next point: the diameter of the wider part of the cone should be wider than the diameter of the pipe. When hammering, the cone leaves a hole wider than the winding pipe following them, so it will not rip off.

The technical process of plugging a well-needle is extremely simple: they beat the pipe, driving it into the ground. But if you knock something heavy on the top of the pipe, it deforms. Therefore, a special device is made - a headstock and a cone, which is screwed onto the top of the pipe. Inside the headstock, the impact surface is also cone-shaped. The existing cavities inside are filled with lead - to increase the weight. The more the projectile weighs, the faster the pipe will clog, but keep in mind that you need to lift it with your hands and very many times.

The woman herself is much larger in diameter than the pipe that will be driven into. So that during its movement there is no backlash, a washer of a suitable diameter is installed at the bottom (slightly larger than the outer diameter of the pipe). As a result, the headstock moves freely up / down, but without any backlash. The lifting height of the projectile is determined by its dimensions - it is necessary that it does not fly off the pipe being driven. The appearance of the headstock for driving the Abyssinian well and its drawing are located below.

This is not the only device with which wells are clogged. A powerful clamp is made on the pipe, which is fixed according to the principle of a clamp. Instead of a headstock, a heavy metal ring with two handles is used. How to work with them - see the video.

As you can see, you can punch a water well inside the house or even at the bottom of an old well. Not much space needed.

How to equip a drilled well

Punching / drilling a well is not enough. We still need to raise the water, and this is a completely different story. Read how to draw water from the well to the house here. If you want to make the water supply constant, with normal pressure, so that you can connect household appliances, you will need pumping station.

For seasonal water supply in the country, you can get by with a more modest set:

• vibration pump;
• check valve, which is installed in front of the pump;
• water tank;
• watering hose;
• taps, etc.

Note that the check valve is installed in front of the pump and not at the end of the hose when it is submerged in the well. It's just that this very hose will not burst during freezing. Another plus of such a device is that it is easier to dismantle for the winter.

Another tip: the well must be closed with something. In houses of permanent residence, a caisson is made - a concrete or plastic bunker, which is located below the freezing depth. All equipment is put in it. When using water only occasionally, the caisson is too expensive. But something needs to be done to close the well. Firstly, some living creature may fall into it, which will not please you in any way. Secondly, "good" neighbors can drop something. More budgetary way out - build well house... An even cheaper option is to dig a pit, beat it up with a board, make a board cover. Key point: all of this must be locked.