# VUNDER,Question About Old Wells



## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

We have an old well here covered with a cast iron or clay cap.The last time somebody lived here was 1953.Don't know how long its been since the well was used though.
We measured it ,its plugged 35 feet down.We thought of dropping an anvul down to try to unplug it.Maybe fill it with water?:dunno:.
We bought a pully and rope for it.We will have to build a shed around it too.
Any suggestions on how to get the trash out of it so water will rise?We are old and broke so is there a way thats not costly or hard labor?


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## TheLazyL (Jun 5, 2012)

Meerkat said:


> We have an old well here ...its plugged 35 feet down...?


Abandon wells are often plugged with concrete.

Or it's a dry well and at 35' you are hitting bottom

Assuming it isn't concrete or a dry well I'd ask the local fire department to run a high pressure hose down the well and see what they can knock loose.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

TheLazyL said:


> Or it's a dry well and at 35' you are hitting bottom
> 
> Assuming it isn't concrete or a dry well I'd ask the local fire department to run a high pressure hose down the well and see what they can knock loose.


You prob just have a dry hole after the water table dropped. If that's the case, you need to go deeper.

I would avoid the fire department. They are not obligated to come out and do something they have not had training in doing.


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

TheLazyL said:


> Abandon wells are often plugged with concrete.
> 
> Or it's a dry well and at 35' you are hitting bottom
> 
> Assuming it isn't concrete or a dry well I'd ask the local fire department to run a high pressure hose down the well and see what they can knock loose.


 A couple of locals here said its never been plugged,just covered so nothing falls in.There are actually 2 wells here one has a pipe in it.Its sits on a concrete pad.I think the locals said it was to water tobacco fields.This was a plantation back in the day.It had a windmill ,but one of the locals got that many years ago.The inside of the well wall has round cylinders made of some kind of cast iron or clay.One of the old timers here said probably built by sharecroppers because they quit using them years ago.
I was collecting the fire bricks from the old homeplace fireplace to build an outside pit.But I did'nt dig up enough of those.They were bulldozed into a pile I guess.


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

LincTex said:


> You prob just have a dry hole after the water table dropped. If that's the case, you need to go deeper.
> 
> I would avoid the fire department. They are not obligated to come out and do something they have not had training in doing.


 We don't really want any officials here snooping around.Like Reagan said"the worse 9 words is,I'm from the gov and I'm here to help'.Or somethign like that.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptist_well_drilling

http://manualwelldrilling.org/


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

LincTex said:


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptist_well_drilling


 Thanks,The reaming on that page may be what we need to do.The bottom is only 35 ft.but who knows how much deeper it was.
Maybe if we fill it up with water.First drop a heavy object into it a few times first?
It has been covered but for how long we don't know.Our kids are all middle aged now and busy ,plus they live hundreds of miles away.Son was suppose to be here this week,but job held him up.
Sometimes I wish we'd just stayed in the city.I keep the place so the kids can have a place to come to in shtf,but its getting harder.They have never had to go hungry or do without so they can't imagine a shtf situation,in denial.
I live around soem pretty savy folks though.One got water by hooking up a chain to her rear axels and spinning it!:dunno:.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

Can you let someone down on a cable and see if its a plug or dry?


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Try to fill it with water. If all the water disappears just as fast as you pump it in, you might be in good gravel but just need to go down further. 

If you fill the pipe all the way to the top and it stays full for hours, forget about it - it's worthless.


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

Magus said:


> Can you let someone down on a cable and see if its a plug or dry?


 An old man here said to be very careful doing this.He almost drown after the water pressure was released on him.Hes an old ww11 country boy from upstate NJ.He is full of wisdom.
But yes it can be done,but who would do it is the question.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

Never said anything about tinkering with it, just see what's up.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Magus said:


> Can you let someone down on a cable and see if its a plug or dry?


Lower a video camera down, the watch the tape after you bring it back up


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

If a dug well is dry it is most likely because it is DRY. Drill a well.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

Or if it's plugged, drill it out.


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

hiwall said:


> If a dug well is dry it is most likely because it is DRY. Drill a well.


 In a draught the water will go down and trash will fill up the hole in time,I would think?Then the water comes back up after heavy rains,the water could be trapped under the debre or it could have not been coverd when first left,in this case would be very dangerous.


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## LincTex (Apr 1, 2011)

Not really. 

See what is down there, first.


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

LincTex said:


> Not really.
> 
> See what is down there, first.


 Will do.We have so much to do now.I still have'nt got to the beach yet for a little relaxation.Guess thats ok ,its better in the fall anyway.
I need a giant grabber to drop in there.


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## VUnder (Sep 1, 2011)

Sorry, I was out. My mother stopped by a few weeks ago on her way home from work, and told me she had cancer. Last Thursday was one week after the surgery, and she went to work for a few hours, she runs a rural water system in the country. Yesterday I took her to town for the first time since. It was supposed to be another week until she got the results back whether or not all the cancer was gotten out. The call came early. She called me on my birthday, all the cancer was gone. I took a dinner down there and ate with them. She just looked across the table and told me that I got my birthday present. It was exactly what I had prayed for.

So, about the well. Sometimes they can be cleaned out and brought back. Also, sometimes dangerous gases build up in a well that has been dormant. Old guy taught me to lower a kerosene lantern all the way to the bottom. Drop an air hose down in it and purge the bad air out. You can clean it out, but make sure you don't go any deeper than the original curb in the well. What kind of curbin is in it anyway? Some were brick, concrete culvert, and some were wood. Stay away from the wood, I would dig another well if it has wood curb. When you get closer to doing something about it, I will be around. A lot of those old wells didn't have screens in them. So, sometimes they are just silted in. If you can ever get it to flowing, then you got something to work with and can reclaim it. What you are seeing as a bottom now may just be a layer of silt that is at the top of the water table. It does concern me that there are two wells. Means maybe one of them is bad. The one with the most recent activity is probably the most salvagable one. One old trick is to find a long steel rod, maybe an inch in diameter or better, point one end, put a ring or loop on the other, and drop it to the bottom and let it sink down. Pull it up and check for any moisture on it. Do a little investigating before you turn into an all out well digger. What diameter are these wells? There is a big one here that is eight feet in diameter. Those people had running water when nobody had running water, around year 1900 or so. There was a large windmill, a tank that it pumped into, and gravity feed to the house. Good luck, be careful.


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## Well_Driller (Jun 3, 2012)

How deep is your other well? My guess is it's probably just dried up. We have a lot of old wells around here that were drilled in the 50's 60's that were about that depth and nearly all of those have dried up and had to be drilled deeper to get the water as the water tables have dropped. If there is rocks or whatever stuck in that hole, chances are you're going to need a rig to drill it out, but you might get lucky.


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

VUnder said:


> Sorry, I was out. My mother stopped by a few weeks ago on her way home from work, and told me she had cancer. Last Thursday was one week after the surgery, and she went to work for a few hours, she runs a rural water system in the country. Yesterday I took her to town for the first time since. It was supposed to be another week until she got the results back whether or not all the cancer was gotten out. The call came early. She called me on my birthday, all the cancer was gone. I took a dinner down there and ate with them. She just looked across the table and told me that I got my birthday present. It was exactly what I had prayed for.
> 
> So, about the well. Sometimes they can be cleaned out and brought back. Also, sometimes dangerous gases build up in a well that has been dormant. Old guy taught me to lower a kerosene lantern all the way to the bottom. Drop an air hose down in it and purge the bad air out. You can clean it out, but make sure you don't go any deeper than the original curb in the well. What kind of curbin is in it anyway? Some were brick, concrete culvert, and some were wood. Stay away from the wood, I would dig another well if it has wood curb. When you get closer to doing something about it, I will be around. A lot of those old wells didn't have screens in them. So, sometimes they are just silted in. If you can ever get it to flowing, then you got something to work with and can reclaim it. What you are seeing as a bottom now may just be a layer of silt that is at the top of the water table. It does concern me that there are two wells. Means maybe one of them is bad. The one with the most recent activity is probably the most salvagable one. One old trick is to find a long steel rod, maybe an inch in diameter or better, point one end, put a ring or loop on the other, and drop it to the bottom and let it sink down. Pull it up and check for any moisture on it. Do a little investigating before you turn into an all out well digger. What diameter are these wells? There is a big one here that is eight feet in diameter. Those people had running water when nobody had running water, around year 1900 or so. There was a large windmill, a tank that it pumped into, and gravity feed to the house. Good luck, be careful.


 Sorry to hear your mother was sick,so very glad she is ok now.:flower:.
I know everyone has a remedy for cancer,but this one may be worth checking into.Some say cancer likes a acidic invironment to thrive.So they say to try to keep your acid low and your alkaline high.Acid should be kept at about 20% if sick and no more than 40% if well.
Alkaline foods,
apples
pears
sweet potatoes
tomatoes
peas;not green'
almonds
chestnuts
bananas"
peaches
honey dews
watermellond
strawberry
pumkins
peppers

acidic,
all wheat products
sugar
corn
all meats
coffee
olives
winter squash
cranberry
bluenerry
oats
rice
potatoes
green peas
peanuts
walnuts
all dairy ,except sour cream,etc.

As mentioned you can still eat the acidic ,you need them to survive,but just not as much as alkaline.Said a prauer thanking God for your mothers cancer to be gone.
Our well we use now is 90 feet deep,they hit water here at 27 ft.14 years ago.This would be a good time to check I guess since we had lots of rain and the rivers are up.All fed by natural springs.Of course the water companys are pumping out millions of gasllonms a week,so who knows how long we'll have water.


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## Meerkat (May 31, 2011)

Well_Driller said:


> How deep is your other well? My guess is it's probably just dried up. We have a lot of old wells around here that were drilled in the 50's 60's that were about that depth and nearly all of those have dried up and had to be drilled deeper to get the water as the water tables have dropped. If there is rocks or whatever stuck in that hole, chances are you're going to need a rig to drill it out, but you might get lucky.


 The well we use now is about 90 ft.they hit water at 27 when they first drilled it.The other well has a round clay like wall.Sleeves slide together.Most wells here are shallow.

Thanks well driller for reply.:wave:


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## VUnder (Sep 1, 2011)

They went on past 27 so you can have some volume. Those hand diggers couldn't go too far below hitting water because they couldn't get rid of the water. We drill completely through the water sand, however deep it is, then stop and keep our casing a little above the bottom of the water sand.


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