If you have a question or problem please email us at drillingfab@aol.com
Q: Good Afternoon!
I found your site, and for someone who is new to well drilling altogether, I have found it very eye-opening. After getting a quote of $10,000 ( before pump/wiring/pipe) to drill another well on my property here in Arizona, I began looking for alternatives. I found a small (toy?) rig that was $2195 complete! Halelujiah! I was saved. It will drill to 450 feet, according to the specifications! Wow!
Then I happened on your site, and I thank God that I did. After taking a fresh look at the specs, I also decided to check this rig company out on Better Business Bureau online. Well, what do ya' know? They are rated "F" for:
Number of complaints filed against business.
Failure to respond to complaints filed against business.
Number of complaints filed against business that were not resolved.
Number of serious complaints filed against business.
BBB does not have sufficient information to determine how long this business has been operating.
BBB does not have sufficient background information on this business.
Sounds like a fly-by-night organization to me. I don't think that I'll be buying from them.
Now to where I'm at now:
my Challenges:
My well is at 85 feet and not producing very "well" at all, so I still need to drill a well. Probably to around 200' since that is where most of the wells here are at. Many are deeper recently, with drilling companies citing the need for "more water column" as the reason for increased depths.
I'm hauling in around $200 worth of water a month. More now that I have cows on the property.
I've never drilled a well before.
I only have a couple thousand dollars to play with. Actually "play" isn't a good word, since if I blow that money, chances are my wife will have me sleeping outside. With summer coming up in Arizona, that's not looking like fun.
Assets:
I'm fairly handy/mechanically inclined
I'm a decent welder
I'm a former Marine, so I'll stick with something to the point of stupidity (is that an asset?).
My wife is really smart and organized.
So that being the case, are there plans in your books that will get me a rig that will do the job, for the price?
Your help would be greatly appreciated.
B Nelson
AZ
A:
Thanks for your question, And yes water wells are exspensive as you found out. also one more thing, the 10k does not guarantee water, if they hit a dry hole, you still owe them100% .
Drilling yourself is best if you can aford good equipment. 2000.00 price will not buy you much. If you decide to build one, we do sell plans and also parts like swivels and bits. If you dont hit water your only out your time and a few hundred dollars it takes to build your own drill. Plus when your through drilling, you can sell the rig or use it to help others with.
Make sure if you build or buy a rig, be sure it has a real swivel with high flow. The better the swivel and better the drill pipe the better rig you will have.
The problem is the better the equipment the more cash it takes. That's why people who sell toy rigs hook so many unlearned saps daily.
The cheap price looks to good to be true, then once they spend 2 to 4 k on a toy rig, They find out it was to good to be true, just like moma said.
Try my rig plans book and water well drilling & troubleshoot book. If it does not help you, send it back, and i will refund you. I wish you well.
Drillingfab
Q: When drilling a geothermal loop bore hole we want to only drill a 3" hole. Our drill pipe is 2 3/8" and it seems we dont get good water flow. I like the smaller geo hole, because the dealer says it saves us money on grouting later, and takes much less. what is our problem?
A/C contractor
NE
Bobby Crane
A: Rememer drilling for real is differant than drilling on paper. Geo product dealers push smaller holes to save you 20 bucks on grout per hole. But if the hole is too small and you work 4 or 5 hours longer per hole trying to get loops in, it would be much better to drill a 4 inch hole, the loops go down right the first time. Which is better saving 20 bucks on grout, but paying 2 or 3 men for 4 more hours messing with loops that dont go in. As far as the 3" bit. the bit must be larger than the drill pipe to get flow. If you have couplings on drill pipe they are even larger than the 2 3/8" OD pipe, that leave little or no room for flow. Go to 3 1/2" to 4 Inch bit, your flow will be much better. Please remember figures don't lie,but liers figure!
Q:
We are drilling a borehole in Uganda. At 40 feet we hit rock and in the process of pulling up the 40 feet of 1 1/4" drilling pipe and 6 inch drill head to replace with a 4 inch drill the 6 inch drill fell to the bottom of the hole and is still attached to an eight foot section of 1 1/4" pipe. Any suggestions on how to get this drill and pipe back out of the hole?
Thank you for any help you can give. I got your email address from an internet search just so you know why I'm asking you?
J Rich
Pastor /Director
Called Christians/ Calvary Chapel Jinja
A:
fishing tools. we sell them, but even once you get it out, you still have a problem, you have the 1 1/4" toy pipe.
What happened was it drilled ok until it got tough, thats when you found out the diferance between drill pipe and toy pipe.
Drilling rock will require at least 2 3/8" drill pipe with tool joint connections.
The fishing tool looks like a pointed tap with threads, you use it to screw into the old pipe and hopefully get it out. There is no sure way, its like opening a car door with a coat hanger. some people can do it in 1 minute, some people exhaust themselves.. Making a good drill log helps to know where things are when this happens.
One more thing. 1 1/4" drill pipe pilot hole should be 3 1/2" or less, then if you make it through, go back and open it up alittle at a time. Drilling the first hole 6 inch is not wise,even with larger pipe. Drilling the pilot hole have many advantanages. You may try a new hole, with bigger pipe, and smaller bit to start off right.
Q"
First of all you have a very informative site...
I have a 150 ft well on a piece of property I bought, the well has been idle for a few years and when I started pumping it I was sucking out animal hair and the water taste terrible even after pumping for weeks. I asked another property owner, he told me that a younger couple that had the well drilled that they went through a nasty divorce and one of them poisoned the well with dead animals. Is there any way to clean this well out???
and yes I will be buying your book...
Thanks Fireup
A"
Thats what i call a hairy Job ( LOL). Things like this can happen sometimes on old hand dug wells by accident when wild animals fall in. One tip i would give you, if you see hair, wait dont taste the water yet. On your case, i would get a large cfm air compressor and first blow the well, this will remove remaining debree or Dead animal carcass. Blow it for 1 to 3 hours, or until you dont see any more hair. The add One quart of clorox bleach to shock treat the water remaining. Let it sit over night, then blow it again for about 30 minites. Then install pump again and pump water for a few days. Take a sample of the water to your county agent and have it tested . If water test is ok, then you fine, if not repeat shock treatment, but remove pump, the clorine will distroy pump housing. If you blow or pump enough water out it should clean up in time. The main thing is to get most of the remains out by blowing first. Once well is ok, try this , wait until your freinds get hot and thirsty and get a big drink of water before you tell thim the Whole well story. They will never be the same.
Q"
I am a real estate appraiser for an agricultural lender in Central California . I own 40 acres and need a deep ag well to supplement my district irrigation water for irrigating almond trees. I recently saw a bid come through our office for a well and pump. The well will produce enough water to irrigate 17 acres of trees and provide domestic water for two small houses. The depth of the well will be about 300 to 340 feet. I'm not sure what the casing size is. He could go down to 240 feet but he is afraid the water table will continue to drop in the future (and he is right). The cost for the well - and the motor and pump for the trees is $50,000.
I don't have that kind of money just sitting around. I do not have any experience with drilling wells and I need to educate myself quick. My soils are sandy loam with no rock, but maybe a little hardpan. The farmer across the street just drilled a domestic well because his went dry at 125 feet, so he went down to 240 feet. I expect I will need to got down to at least 250 feet.
So which of your books should I read and what advice can you give me?
Thanks for help!
J Abel.
A"
If you have no experance in drilling wells,our drilling & troubleshooting book is a good start. Seems the well prices there are getting the drillers rich, at that price one well finished per week equals 2.6 million per year income.Materials to drill, set screen and casing is only 2.00 per ft. Pump, tank and pressure tank prices start at 750.00 and go up depending on what size and hp.
If you have no rock you can get away with less rig. Softer formations are also faster drilling.
Q:
hello, I bought a swivel and a 6 inch drag bit from you a couple of years ago and finally got around to building a drill. I got down 32 feet and hit a hard layer of rock. there is supposed to be a layer of shale at that depth but I think this is too hard for shale. I only need to get another 30 feet or so to get good water so I have a couple of questions. I was wondering if I dropped a piece of sharpened 1 1/2 shaft down the hole a bunch of times if I would have a chance to fracture this rock enough to continue drilling. Next question is if you don’t think that will work I wonder if you would build me a 2 inch carbide drag bit to open the hole and then I can ream it out. I have a good pump and have a good flow of mud. I just don’t have the weight or horsepower to push a 6 inch bit through the first time without tearing up my drill. if this is the way to go I wonder if reaming it with the 6 inch would be easier on my drill.
thank you
lennard perry
A:
Drilling the pilot hole with a 6 inch bit to start is not good at all to do. Larger the bit, the more weight it takes to cut with it. Start out with a 3 inch or 3 1/2 inch for the pilot hole. The smaller bit will drill faster, and straighter. Drilling the hole the first time with a 6 inch bit is asking for trouble, things like crooked holes, pipe wobble, and longer times to wash hole clean. This is a problem i fight with all the time. Everyone is looking for a short cut or saving money on buying bits. These kind of short cuts, just frustrate people to the place they give up. Follow instructions in my water well and drilling book to save yourself from defeat. dropping somthing down, ther may work, or may get stuck, and you loose the hole. If it did work, you would have to di it every few inches of drilling. The drilling mud present would most likely blunt the fall of it.
Shale can act and drill as hard as rock. I have ruined a rock bit on shale before. In fact if you have a roller cone tooth bit, it will drill shale better and faster than a drag bit. I have drilled shale that was so hard we had to drop bit from above 2 ft to fracture it enough to drill through it. Drag bit was just polishing off and not making any drill time to speech of. When we dropped it and fractured it, we could drill 6 inches real fast, then we would have to drop bit against it again for another 6 inches. We made it through it, but the 300.00 drag bit was shot when we got through drilling the 250 ft hole. The roller cone worked much better on shale and rock. But the roller cone will not drill fast in sand or clay at all. Sometimes we would use drag bit to drill faster, when we hit hard rock or shale we would trip pipe out and change bit to roller cone. Each formation is different. We drilled 8 geothermal holes 250 ft deep, only 20 ft apart. drill time varied from 4 hours to 13 hours each, depending on formation hardness, and if out bits were sharp. When it comes to reaming, the roller cone is best. No other bit drills as smooth. The Drag bits take lots of torque, where the roller cones grind away with much less torque, plus the bore hole is much better conditioned and then there is no problem getting the well casing in later. If you need to, add a weighted drill collar. We sell these, or you can make one yourself. the weight drill collars put the weight where you need it, on the bit. If you hit hard shale or rock early on, you may need more than one drill collar.
Thanks Drillingfab
Q:
Hello,
The drillers around here are saying the water is at 900-1000 ft.
Seeing how we are only 600ft above sea level, and are located near a lake, I find this hard to believe. some of the wells on record are 200 ft some are 800ft. is looks like a real mix or differences in drillers. Are there places that rent drilling equipment? What determines the drilling depth of a rig? The amount of pipe it must lift back out of the hole? I'm probably 100ft above the lake level... is it likely I will hit water if I go 200ft? If I have to go 400ft, can I lift the pipe back out of the hole. Is there a setup to just leave the pipe in the hole as casing in order to drill past the rigs ability to lift and get a deep well?
Thanks,
James
A:
If there are 200 ft wells there. That's what I would drill for. The diferance of 200ft to 1000ft is when the drillers there got greedy. 1000 ft for water well is crazy. Technology to drill that deep is less than 80 years old. So that means no one ever lived there and had water until 1920s or after. Remember drillers need to get rich, drilling shallow wells do not pay motor home payments. On the drill pipe question,You use drill pipe to drill with, casing has a differant job to do. You need a better understanding of the drilling process, i recommend getting the book Water well drilling and troubleshooting. www.drillingfab.com/books
Rental is hard to find. drill pipe is 140.00 to 300.00 per joint, no one wants to chance someone loosing 1000s of dollars down the hole, plus anyone who is making 250,000 per year and only working 3 days per week does not want to deal with people like you. Its like finding a caring, loving and cheap lawyer that desires to help people. Drilling depth of a rig is determined by many things, the main things to look for is swivel weight rating. If your swivel weight rating is 500lbs, that means you can only add drill pipe until you reach the 500lb limit, so if drill pipe weighs 50lbs each @ 10ft that equals 10 drill pipes. 10 drill pipe @ 10ft = 100ft deep. If you want to drill deeper, you need a swivel with larger weight rating. Remember, if you have a toy swivel, you have a toy rig.
Thanks
Drillingfab
Q:
Well here is the same old stories you have heard before many times I bet. I bought a three point rig from hydra!?^^&%*(&:;(. it uses four and one half foot one in pipe . I am drilling rock and the pip breaks at the threads over and over ,and the 5" tri cone froze up so lost it for a day and one half.they won't answer the phone when do just tell lies .what should I do? I need bigger pip but can't find any that isn't nine dollars a foot which comes from rock!@#$%%^(*(. After reading on your web sight I realize I have made a very expensive mistake the only thing that I can do is buy bigger drill stem inch and one half I only want to drill about 160ft to 180ft at the most so far 40ft of rock and broken inch pip over and over. very hard sand stone using a tri-cone drill bit could send a picture if need be. was wondering about your bits any help would be appreciated any suggestions would be greatly appreciated . And if anyone needs to
know what not to buy, email me at rpenman@ftitel.net
Thanks
Ron Penman
hard rock, colorado
A:
Drilling Rock is hard anywhere. If you do drill in rock, it takes real tool joint Drill pipe, real swivel and real equipment, not china plumbing pipe, like some companies say,( they use double wall even), the wall thickness is not so much the problem,as it is the cheezy thin water pipe threads. Thats why machined tool joint couplings are best. They slip over drill pipe and are welded on. No more thin plumbing pipe threads to break or over tighten. But then you have another problem, even if you get tool joint drill pipe you need, you have a rig with only 4 1/2 ft drill pipe. The short toy pipe is unstable and more costly. You always want the longest drill pipe you can get. The tool joint couplings cost from 95.00 to 135.00 per set. So if you have longer drill pipe you only need half as many coupling to get the same footage. One more problem, if you drill anything hard, use a pilot bit first. A 3 7/8" roller cone would be better and get faster drilling, once you drill through, come back with larger bit. The Bit you got, may be a used one, with new paint. The new roller cone bits are good for 100s of feet. Looks like you bought yourself some yard sale inventory. You can't make a silk purse out of a Sows ear. The rig you have would be great for a 60ft sand & clay well in the south.
Herb Jansonzal
Q: I need to buy a drilling rig to drill water wells with for my farm, and maybe for others for money, but not sure what to get. please help, me so im not the next questions and answer Sap , and 5k lighter to boot.
A: Any body can make a good buy, if they first know what they are doing. I suggest you buy my water well drilling and troubleshooting book first. After reading this book you will have a good understanding of how to drill and what is needed to do it.. If you know what you need, then you will know what to buy. Plus you will see through the sales pitches and power words seller use.
Depending on what your drilling through will determine what equipment is needed. measure twice and cut once.
Q: I found a older truck rig for sale, it is mounted on a GMC diesel 5 ton truck with a tall derrick, it uses 10ft mayhew jr drill pipe, has Harrisburg 3 x 2 mud pump driven by Chevy 350 engine, Hydraulics are run by a diesel engine. It drills like it is, but does need work and some repair, and truck needs brakes. They are asking 18,500.00 is this price in line. what do you think.
Bobby Little
Postville, ark
A: 10ft drill pipe is great, the longer and larger the drill pipe the better. But with fuel prices changing twice in one day, how can having three engines that burn fuel make you money. Also truck rigs require 3 men to run safely.
3 men @ 150.00 per day, plus 150.00 per day fuel means it cost you 600.00 per day just to wake up and drill, what if anything breaks down, thats extra.
Stay away from high over head. Also large trucks require dot inspections plus 500.00 per year extra tax. Thats why Our R-77 Magnum works out much better, 2 men can run it fine. Plus the Honda engine only burns 5 gallons per 8 hours. The high over head of larger truck rigs is why it cost 13,000.00 to get a 300ft well drilled these days.
Q:
Drilling deep for water storage
Hello, I would like a price on my own drilling rig. I had a guy drill a well recently. The was well drilled first 25' sand clay ect the next 200' solid rock . hit water at 74' and drilled shaft down to 225 for water storage. looking for something to drill with every day that can do this same type of job if needed.
A:
So you hit water at 74' ft, thats where you should have stopped, but the drilling contractor i bet is charging you by the foot, so the extra 151 ft of Water storage sounds good, but was just another motorhome payment, you payed for him. Why spend 2 days drilling rock and wear and tear for water storage except to make more money, like he did.. Facts are " a 4 inch casing only holds 1 gal , every 18 inches, so 151 ft of hard rock drilling gives you a extra 100 gal storgage. A 25 gpm well pump output gives you only 4 minites of stoarge, using a water tank and the right matched pump out put and hp rating is better spent. The water storage idea is better done, with above ground tank, much cheaper. One more thing, if you make a well at 74 ft, and go futher down, you could hit formations that take water away for the above formation, making the well less productive. The sad thing is 95% of customers know nothing about drilling water wells, so that makes you open for making more motorhome payments for them. Try getting my Water well & troubleshooting book for a better understanding of drilling.
Q:
I recently bought your book "Drilling Water Wells Troubleshooting Guide, and had a question about well casings. What size well casing would I need for a submersible pump and will the well screens that you offer, work with a submersible pump. And, if not can you suggest a supplier for well screens as well as a supplier for water pumps. From reading the government surveys, the depth of the well I will be drilling will be around 100' to 150'. Any information that you can offer, would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
B DeSoto
A:
Home wells are usually 2 inch or 4 inch wells. The submersible pump fits inside the 4 inch casing. One more thing, i get ask alot. How does a 4 "pump fit into a 4" casing. A 4 inch submersible pump is not 4 inches. It is called a 4 inch pump, because it fits inside the 4 inch casing with enough room for water to travel past and cool motor. On the side of the box of pump it will give you exact measurments of pump.
Well casing and standard PVC casing are near the same except the casing with the print on the side that that says ( well casing) is made with plastic that stands heat better. even though the well pump is under water while pumping, the pump motor makes lots of heat. In fact I have seen many times the well went bad, not dry. The well pump welds to the side wall of casing when over pumped or if water level gets too low and lets the pump heat up really hot. When looking for well casing, look for the writing on the side wall of casing that states, Well Casing. Plumbing supply dealers will have it. Small hardware stores will not. When looking for this, look under plumbing supply in the yellow pages.
Well screens can be made or bought, if you have my troubleshooting book, you know how to make them. If you want to buy screen we sell them or you may order them other places.. Well screen can be bought from larger plumbing suppliers. They are sold in sizes. The sizes are to deal with what size sedement you formation has. Larger slot size lets more water in, but more sedement also. Smaller Slot size you have cleaner water , but less GPM output from well. You decide what you need. On Well pumps make sure you get a USA made one, Say no to China!
Q: I need to drill a water well and people say we have rock here, will a small hydra drill do this. We only have 2 to 3 thousand dollars to spend? From what i see for sale, it is easy to drill.
Thanks
Louis K.
Atlanta,GA
A: Louis If you have to drill rock, it is hard and slow even with $100,000 truck rigs. What i call toy rigs only do well in perfect places like soft sand and clay.. Your place is not perfect. To drill rock you must have heavy weight againest the rock bit for it to work properly. Even if you use weighted drill collars , the toy rigs can't support the weight with out failing. You will need to buy a larger rig, or hire someone to do it for you. Thats why you see barely used rigs for sale on the net cheap, those people found out. Small toy rigs work, but only in shallow easy drilling places, plus they are LABOR INTENSIVE. They only turn drill pipe one way. Your elbo and pipe wrenches do the rest.
Q: We bought a small post hole digger rig . Last weekend we drilled down 60ft and lost circulation after our pump lost prime. Then our pipe got stuck too. How do we get our drill pipe out. We tryed to get pump going, it runs, but does not pump water.Do i need a bigger pump?
BJ Ountksi
Smithville,Kansas
A:Sounds like you saved some money and got what i call a China Knock off pump. They look like honda, but as you see they are not. Some people sell these pump because they make a extra 150.00 on there drilling packages, but now you lost the pipe, bit and maybe the hole. First you need a good mud pump to start, a USA made one, cast iron housing. When drilling the sand and grit cuts the seals out of the china pumps almost instantly. Once the seals leak, they suck air and it is junk.I have one man who lost 300ft of exspensive tool joint drill pipe in the hole because of this. Remember, if you save money, don't save money on a swivels ,drill pipe, and mud pumps, the rest of the equipment is not near as important. Once you get another pump (a good one) try getting the water circulating again. The sooner the better. The longer your pipe is in the hole, the better the chance you will never get it out. Last resort use hydraulic jack with nylon strap or chain.
Q: Do i need a 2 inch well or 4 inch well. I have a garden and small house we are building. Also what screen is better, PVC or stainless steel. PS, thanks for the useful info i aready got off your site.
Jose Ramos
south,texas
A: Either one will work for home use. There are pro's and con's for both. On the 2 inch well ,all your equipment is above ground and you can repair pump and motor yourself. But the 2 inch jet pumps use more electricity and do have problems sometimes loosing prime on the foot valve down in the casing. The 4 inch well never looses prime and is more effective. This is the most used style now. Also the 4inch casing has more square inches of screen to take advantage of larger water intake. Well screen is like cars, people swear by ther favorite brand. I like the PVC screen, it is simple and cheap, the mineral deposits seem not to stick to it like it does stainless steel screen. Some drilling companies use the stainless steel screen for a selling point on quality to impress customers. After all when your charging $10,000 or more for a water well you do in 3 days or less, you have to tell them something special.
Q: I bought a small drilling rig . The drill pipe threads have stipped out and i need more drill pipe to finish out the well. The size my onwers manual says it is 1 3/8" drill pipe. I called everywhere , lowes,home depot and even some small town hardware stores,and no one has 1 3/8" size. where do i get 1 3/8" pipe at.
Mike Books
jackson,ms
A: What you have is 1 inch pipe. Many people who buy small rigs belive anything they read. When sellers want you to think that they offer heavy duty pipe, instead of giving you better pipe they just measure the out side (O.D.) of 1 inch pipe and tell you your drill pipe is 1 3/8". Just go to any hardware store or lowes and ask for what it is, ONE INCH PIPE. If it makes you feel better measure the outside of it and it will read 1 3/8 like you think you have. Check the threads to match. some are NPT and some are Flat threads . Here is a sample picture of toy rig
pipe after drilling two 40ft wells. As you see the threads
do not hold up well.
Q: I want to get a rig to go oversea's and do drilling in africa. What rig works best over there. Do i need a DTH, and what does it do.I do not know much about drilling, where can get a book on how to drill water wells
Lamba Okickia
Harlem . New york.
A:First of all if your going that far with a rig, you will need one that fits your drilling needs and matches your formations where your drilling at. Find out what formations are there and what average depths they are drilling there. If you start looking for the better rigs, they always try to sell the DTH's. These are short for down the hole hammers. These breakup rock like mini jack hammers, also it takes air to run these and lots of it. Your swivel must be psi tested for this or it will explode like a bomb. I do not like DTH hammer because they are to exspensive (smallest 5000.00) plus air compressor to run it is 20,000.00. Unless your drilling for money and lots of it, the roller cone rock bit or claw bit works great. They are slower drilling but only cost 350 bucks, not $5,000. Before you buy anything may i suggest you go to drilling classes. We have them from time to time and once you get some hands on training you yourself will know what equipment and options you need to drill. Remember most salesmen who represent rig sales don't know how to drill, but here they are recomending you to buy upgrades and extra equipment you may not even need or that will not work out there. We sell water well Drilling & troubleshooting books, but like i said ,hands on is even better.
Q:Can i drill my own water well on my land. Our water bill is getting higher than our light bill ,until we fixed our leaking pipes. I don't know if drilling myself is cheaper, but it sounds like fun, plus if it works i will drill another at the land my dad left us.
Ben McTurbele
Waco,tx
A:In texas and most other states it is still legal to drill your own well. Its ashame we live in a free country,but people are so beat down, they are still afraid to do things on there own land, and keep calling around to the suprise it's ok to drill. If you drill for monatary gain for others the law changes then. Drilling is fun and rewarding. If the formations are easy, try a toy rig. Better have plenty of freinds (strong backs) there though.
Q: Where do i get well screen at, and well casing.
Thanks
Susan Pellington
A: Water Well screen & PVC sch 40 well casing,Most drillers like to use the 20ft lenghts with the bell connections aready on them.Most plumbing supply stores have it.
If you read in my troubleshooting book, it shows how to make your own well screen in a straight,But you can buy it also.
Try looking in the yellow pages in your town under water well supplies. There should be a well supply dealer in your area..
Q: What is drilling mud , and do i need it when drilling. How much do i use?
Roger Owens
sweet water ,TX
A: Drilling mud or bentonite is very good clay ground into fine powder like flour. When mixed with water it coats the bore hole and cakes up bore hole wall and keeps hole from caving in. One other job is to cool and lube the bit. Dirty water carries more cuttings up and out of the bore hole than clean water well, so heavey drilling fuild is a plus. If your drilling in porus sand or gravel it takes more drilling mud to keep bore hole wall in good condtion, if your drilling in natural clay it will make its own drilling mud, and you don't need any or very little. Keep some on hand, because if you need it, you will not have time to go get it while drilling.
Mixing it , there is no set mix. If your circulation is good and your not losing water out of the water pit, your ok. But if your keep losing water and also losing circulation from time to time. Stop, pull drill pipe up a few joints until you get out of danger of losing it, then add water to mud pit and add drilling mud until it is thick enough to keep circulation going again. For more Mixing tips read my water well drilling & troubleshooting guide, it cover this.
Q: Most of the wells here where i am at are 150ft. My freind next door has a well 153ft and it makes 20 gpm.
We drilled here next door into the same water table at 156ft and hit red clay and stopped there. and set casing and finished it up today. But i am only getting 4gpm out of it , what did i do wrong. I need at least 8gpm to supply our needs.
Ken Robertson
A: You can drill 4 water wells on the same 1 acre lot and get 4 differant results. It could be many things.Here are just a few things to check. When drilling you could have over done the drilling mud and stopped up water bearing formations.Remember drilling mud helps while drilling, but later when your finished can be bad by clogging up water bearing formations. Thats why when finished drilling you must blow the well asap, before drilling mud sets up.When setting the casing down if you put it down through clay formations somtimes the screen hits bore hole side walls and can get the slots plugged up so they don't work, to fix this try jetting with water or air to clean up screen slots holes. Also did you gravel pack around the well screen. Some drillers do this and some do not. I like it because it not only filters the sediment out better, it also connects smaller formations you may not even know you went threw together to make more water.
Q: Where can i get a cheap swivel to build a drilling rig at. Is there any plans for one?
Jason bellington
A: First of all there are no cheap swivels anywhere. Finding a cheap swivel is like finding a cheap jet airplane engine! If you find a cheap swivel it will be a garage made toy swivel with no weight or psi rating. Real swivels are machined, have chevron seals and bearings designed to hold up, not china axle bearings and wheel seals, like the one i see on toy rigs. Machine shop time is 75.00 per hr plus anywhere, at that rate there are no deals. Many people try to save on this, but don't mind spending money on other things. Do not skimp on water swivels, and drill pipe, if you do you will be sorry later. It amazes me to see people buy smaller rigs with large hp output and pay extra for that option, but end up with a toy swivel and 3/4 " drill pipe and wonder why it will not preform well.
Q: Can you hit artesian water in any valley? And is the water ok to drink?
Jack Branski
A: Artesian water quality vairies from place to place depending on favorable or not so favorable mineral content. Anytime you hit one, it is best to let it stay free flowing. When flow is cut off they usually sand in and stop flowing. But free flowing can make new problems also, like swamps or wet lands where you do not want it. I once saw a funny picture of a toy rig on the web that hit artesian water, it looked like a staged photo, if i ever saw one. I guess it helps sell products though. If you hit artesian formation and water is comming up drill pipe 4 inches high, how come the water in bore hole is NOT flowing ! They must have burried a water hose connected to it. In the picture the water is comming up a good 3 to 4 inches out of drill pipe. it would take 35psi or better to do this with a water hose. If the bore hole was drilled just 4 inches in size, a 4 inch flow@35psi would be 500gpm or better. But the only water comming up is out the drill pipe end.Fishy Fishy.
Q: How can i drill faster with the rig i have? it is a older deeprock m-50 with 5ft pipe. My pump is a older 2 inch centrifical. It seems to take to long when i hit hard stuff early on.
Hank Kala
kala geothermal
A: The trouble with getting drilling rates better on any rig, is for the bit to work properly you have to have enough weight againest it to make it work right and better water flow and higher psi.. Try adding drill collars, these help bit cut faster and drills straighter. Most cheap rigs do not use drill collars,because there swivels can't handle the extra weight. If you have a real swivel add more weight. Upgrade your mud pump to 120psi or better.
One more idea is put T valve in and add some air with drilling mud. you will have to keep air less than the water psi for it to work. This brings cutting up faster.
Q: I drilled down easy to 65 ft, but now it is drilling real slow. Also while drilling the drill pipe jumps up and down and jerks while turning. What do i do. The water here is about 140ft, so i still have a ways to go.
David Kernerany
A: Look at your cuttings comming up to see what it is. Sounds like you hit rock. when your in soft formations the drilling is fast, rock even with larger rigs is slow. To drill through rock, try using a smaller bit ( pilot bit) so the pipe weight is on a smaller foot print of bit. One more thing, if your rig and swivel have a high weight rating use weighted drill collar or collars. Also match bits to your formation. One bit does not fit all. Roller cone and claw bits do rock better, but they take weight to make them work right. This picture is a toy bit, not good for rock drilling.
Rock bits are roller cone or Claw bits. Prices start at
435.00 & up for real ones. For real rock drilling it takes real tools.
Q: Thanks For the great info on your website. My question is we already drilled 2 wells, but can;t get the casing down. The bore hole we drilled is 6 inch,we used a 6 inch bit from start to finish, and the casing is 4 inch, total depht is 120ft. Right now casing is stuck. The rig we used drills fast, it is a old hydra drill dr100.
A: Better check your bore hole for straightness. Many people like to drill fast, and use the biggest bit they have. This is a mistake.A pilot hole first with smaller bit drills straight, and keeps you out of trouble. With a large drill bit from start to finish the bore hole is spiral, and not straight, then when setting the casing time comes, you see the results. Getting in a hurry is not good when drilling. At all cost, keep bore hole straight, come back later with larger bit to open hole. then set casing. The roller cone bits do a better job at condtioning the bore hole than drag bits. When the roller cone is on bottom and you pull it out, it swabs the hole slick and clean. The drag bit blade edges sometimes cut into bore hole wall when comming up. Some people think roller cone bits are only for rock, they also work good for hole openers.
Q: Hello, I am one of the fools who went out and spent $4,000 bucks on a peice of ?!@#$#@!? that never worked right. It might of been parcially my fault because I didn't know what I was doing. or it could of been because I still don't understand how you are supposed to find water by flushing water down a hole while you are drilling to find water.
I live in Gladwin Michigan and I drilled three holes 200 feet deep and still haven't found water with this rig I spend a fourtune on. the well surrounding me are anywhere from 30 feet to 300 feet. so I guess what my first question is how would I find water if I have a hole full of it already?
The next question I have is. can I convert this rig over to take 2" pipe and drill with that? and can I get or make bits for it? I was just going to pound the well after wasting all that money and never found water. then I thought to myself if I was to drive this 2'' pipe 300 foot into the ground ( I hope I don't have to go that deep) I would need to be dropping a V W bug on the pipe to get it down that far. so why not just drill it into the ground and leave the bit there after I am done? I could put the bit at the bottom of the well point and just leave it there.
could any of these ideas be possible or probable? or do you have a better Idea? I am more then open to any suggestions. I am on a limited income of 800 bucks a month and wasted all my savings on this d$&$&$&! rig I can't sell or return.
Please, any help would be appreciated.
J Millard
Moron from Michigan
A: First of all, you need a trophy for drilling 200ft with a toy rig. One more thing is most companies have salemen to recomend equipment you need and do not even know how to use the equipment they sell. Some are just teenage punks from pizza hut one week and pro water well rig tech managers the next, plus working on commisson. Sounds like you did not log the well when drilling or do not understand how to log and read a well log. The well logs tells you where your at and what formation .Then you have on paper what formations your drilling to look back too. Pounding a drive point works for 40ft or less, any deeper is just luck, unless you have a heavey build driving rig. Larger drill pipe is better also, but 2 inch drill pipe with the same old small toy swivel is wasted time and effort. If you add bit to drive point the bit will not work, you will loose water psi to the screen and not have any water to the bit where you need it. Try it again and log well cuttings. Try a 40ft to 80ft well,But watch well log and set casing even with water bearing formation. Only after setting casing and then blowing the well will you find out if there is watwer there, unless you hit a artesian well that 1 in a 100,000 odds. Try reading more about drilling and well logging, once you get that down, try again...You may get out water well troubleshooting book to answer these and more questions.
Q:
HELLO
I'VE BEEN SCANNING THE INTERNET SEEKING HELP REGARDING MY ARTESIAN WELL AND STUMBLED ACROSS YOUR WEBSITE, WHICH IS QUITE INTERESTING. AFTER READING FOR AWHILE AND SEEING THAT YOU CLEARLY KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT WHEN IT COMES TO SUCH A WELL, I WAS HOPING YOU COULD GIVE ME YOUR OPINION ON A PROBLEM I'M HAVING. I JUST BOUGHT A HOUSE IN BRIDEWATER, MASS WITH AN ARTESIAN WELL, 165FT DEEP, THAT IS USED FOR UNDERGROUND POP-UP ROTOR HEAD LAWN SPRINKLING. IT WAS INSTALLED IN 1996 BY PRIOR OWNER, WHICH WAS AN ELDERLY WOMAN ONLY WHO SAID IT WORKED FINE WHILE HER HUSBAND WAS ALIVE BUT THAT SHE HADN'T USED IT SINCE HE PASSED AWAY 1 YEAR PRIOR. IT IS ONLY 4 ZONES AND WAS RUNNING OK WHEN WE WENT TO USE IT, BUT NEVER FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME. THE SYSTEM SHUTS ITSELF DOWN, SOMETIMES AFTER A COUPLE DAYS OF ONLY 5-10 MINUTES/ZONE 2X/DAY AND MOST RECENTLY AFTER JUST A FEW MINUTES OF RUNNING IT BECAUSE WE FINALLY FOUND OUT THE FILTER GETS CLOGGED WITH WHAT APPEARS TO BE GRAY CLAY, I MEAN REALLY GETS CAKED AND CLOGGED. I'M USING A MESH FILTER AND HAVE TRIED DIFFERENT GRADE MESHES, BUT WHATEVER IT IS THAT MY PUMP IS SUCKING UP IS OVERWHELMING ANY FILTER I'VE TRIED. I HAD THE PUMP RAISED 9 FEET AS WELL TO TRY AND GET IT OUT OF ANY MUCK IT MAY HAVE BEEN LYING IN. THE WATER IS THICK, MILKY AND GRAY AND IT DEFINITELY LOOKS LIKE CLAY. THE CONTAINER THE FILTER IS IN IS FULL OF THIS AS WELL WHEN I CHANGE THE FILTER. LOOKS LIKE GRAY PEA SOUP. ANY THOUGHTS? I'D BE GREATLY APPRECIATIVE, BECAUSE I'VE BEEN THROUGH 2 IRRIGATION COS, A COUPLE LANDSCAPERS AND A DRILL GUY THAT THREW HIS HANDS UP IN AIR AND DIDN'T SEEM TO KNOW ANYTHING OR HAVE ANY IDEAS. SAID IT ISN'T THE WELL, BUT WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE? ALL ABOVE GROUND CONTROLS ARE WORKING; PRESSURE TANK, SWITCH, CONTROLLER AND I'VE PUT ALL NEW VALVES AND SPRAY HEAD NOZZLES IN. I'M STUMPED, AGGREVATED AND DESPERATE AT THIS POINT. CAN YOU HELP?
THANKs
J CALLOW
BRIDGEWATER, MA
A: ARTESIAN WELLS work best when they free flow. If flow is shut off and on, this works against the well. When flow is shut off, the pressure of the water finds other places to go, when flow is going it brings water from clay formations,cracks or anywhere else bleeds back in, so when flow continues, you get what ever sediments comes with it. Try to keep flow open and set up different way to control it, or another option is open well up, and let it run continually for 2 or 3 days with no filter,open pipe to clean well out of sludge and other sediments that are there.
Q: I bought a smaller cheaper trailer mounted rig off the Internet, it looked ok, but when i got it and started to use it, it only drilled 35ft before the pipe broke off and fell down the well. I know now what you mean by Tool joint pipe. The 4 1/2 long drill pipe was a joke. Is there a way to make this thing better.
L Janski
Casper, WY
A: There are certain things that are important when looking to buy drilling rig, The swivel and the size and kind of drill pipe. This is why sellers use power words like " commercial swivel or " heavy duty drill pipe .If you Don't have the money for a real rig, stay with a cheap toy rig. Do not buy a toy rig if your drilling lots of rock or very deep, Like over 150ft. Tool joint drill pipe is machined and heat treated, there are no deals on tool joints. Swivels are the same, any swivel worth using starts at 500 bucks and goes up to $25,000.
Tool joint drill pipe can be used over and over. Standard thread drill pipe you have to baby it and act like its made of glass, then its only good for a few wells. If your rough when operating rig and use down pressure you can crater the drill string instantly. If you plan on keeping the rig, look for some M-50 or CA-21 tool joint drill pipe, but be ready to spend 90.00 to 150.00 per joint.
Please look on my front page to see what real drill pipe is. . ALso you will need larger pipe, these cheezy rigs with 1 inch drill pipe measured on the out side and calling it 1 3/8" is a joke. There is no such thing as 1 3/8" pipe. try calling any pipe yard or hardware store and ask for 1 3/8" pipe. there is none. I am amazed at people beliving this. The reason sellers use this is because they know larger drill pipe is better to drill with and they dont have any.
Q"
I had a well drilled in Oct of 2006. Its on some property that we plan to build on in a few years..provided we can get water. Our driller hit at 80 ft with about 3 gpm, but he wanted to get into sandstone, so he drilled a bit farther...lost it. We allowed him to continue up to 300ft. We are getting water but if we pump it frequently our recovery seems very slow. My concern is we are still getting a lot of dirty water when we start the pump as well as small rock and sediment even though we pumped it all summer last year. We are concerned that he drilled too fast and filled the seams. Could the rock and dirty water we see be the seams clearing? Is there anything we can do to help it clear quicker or are we in for a new well?
Any information you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
CJ Murphy
A"
Seems like it has had enough time to clear up.. These are things to check, that may cause these problems.
Did they use gravel pack? ( this helps filter sediment out and clears water better).
What size screen did you use ? too large of a screen slot will let lots of sediment by .
Drilling through several aquifers and not cementing them off, can let bad water from other levels drain in the the good one.
Is the casing cemented up top on the out side? this keep ground water from running down casing and contaminating the water.
Where is the well screen set at (how deep)? and what depth is the pump set at? If you set the pump where the screen is, it draws water directly from the screen sides and can cause to stir up sediment and cloudiness. To fix this just raise pump or lower it until you pump is out of screen height, this is why you log the well and log where you set the screen so you can troubleshoot problems better later.
One more thing, if the driller used too much bentonite when drilling it can clog water formations off, so water out put is low or almost nothing. Most drillers use bentonite on 1st hole when drilling, but when they come back to ream out bore hole to fit casing they use less or no bentonite at all, so there is no danger of plugging up the formations. One other case is if the used bentonite when drilling, and do not blow the well with air or jet it with clean water to clean it out, it sets in and you end up with near 0 water out put. There is no sure answer, but this is the best i can do, by the description you gave me.
If you water gpm is low, be easy on the well, over pumping it causes more problems, only pump what the well can handle.. If you need inscruction on well blowing, it is in our book " water well drilling and troubleshooting"
thanks
Mark
Q"
I recently bought your book "Drilling Water Wells Troubleshooting Guide, and had a question about well casings. What size well casing would I need for a submersible pump and will the well screens that you offer, work with a submersible pump. And, if not can you suggest a supplier for well screens as well as a supplier for water pumps. From reading the government surveys, the depth of the well I will be drilling will be around 100' to 150'. Any information that you can offer, would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
B DeSoto
A:
Home wells are usually 2 inch or 4 inch wells. The submersible pump fits inside the 4 inch casing. One more thing, i get ask alot. How does a 4 "pump fit into a 4" casing. A 4 inch submersible pump is not 4 inches. It is called a 4 inch pump, because it fits inside the 4 inch casing with enough room for water to travel past and cool motor. On the side of the box of pump it will give you exact measurments of pump.
Well casing and standard PVC casing are near the same except the casing with the print on the side that that says ( well casing) is made with plastic that stands heat better. even though the well pump is under water while pumping, the pump motor makes lots of heat. In fact I have seen many times the well went bad, not dry. The well pump welds to the side wall of casing when over pumped or if water level gets too low and lets the pump heat up really hot. When looking for well casing, look for the writing on the side wall of casing that states, Well Casing. Plumbing supply dealers will have it. Small hardware stores will not. When looking for this, look under plumbing supply in the yellow pages.
Well screens can be made or bought, if you have my troubleshooting book, you know how to make them. If you want to buy screen we sell them or you may order them other places.. Well screen can be bought from larger plumbing suppliers. They are sold in sizes (.018, .014 ect..). The sizes are to deal with what size sedement you formation has. Larger slot size lets more water in, but more sedement also. Smaller Slot size you have cleaner water , but less GPM output from well. You decide what you need. On Well pumps make sure you get a USA made one, Say no to China!
Q:
I want to drill water wells on a 10 acre parcel of land we are going to split up in 10 one acre lots. I payed 20,000 for the 10 acres, if i can get water on the lots with a well, these lots will bring 9500.00 each. I need a rig and need training. wells in this area are 150 to 225ft deep.
A:
This is a great way to make your money back, and give people a place to build there dream home. If you plan on drilling 10 wells or more, you need real equipment, that will last and work daily ( not a toy rig). I suggest you read my book water well drilling and troubleshooting to get the feel of what is required to drill. This will give you a simple understanding of the drilling process. We do offer free hands on training to customers. Drilling is not that hard to learn. If you notice most drilling companies crews look like x carnies or pot heads . If they can train x carnies to drill, you have a even better chance.
