Anyone ever install a well point?

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With all the stuff going on about severe drought, it's reminding me that water will be really important and likely hard to get post-SHTF. I'm on town water, and installing a full blown well is out of the question. I'm wondering if installing a simple well point may do the trick.

I understand they're good up to at most 25 feet. The hand pump is also a limiting factor since it can't pump water up any further than that. What's the likelihood that I'd reach a decent supply of water around here (NW of Boston in the suburbs) with it?

Can you pump an adequate supply of water with one of these? How clean is the water? Would I need to filter it before drinking (yeah, I should probably have it tested too)?

If I don't do something like this, the it's a mile to fetch water from the nearest river. That's difficult to do on a regular basis. There's a canal much closer, but YUCK it is disgusting looking.
 
My well is 258' From what I understand, that's pretty average.

I'd filter anything that's close to the surface. Heck, I filter my well with both media as well as charcoal. I need the media due to the sediments, but I run the charcoal because I want to, not because I have to. (it also acts as a secondary media filter and catches a lot of the really fine stuff)

Some kind of rain catch might be easier. A friend has a large tank connected to his gutter in the back of the house and it's almost always between 1/2 and full. Something like 240 gallons. They use it to water the garden so that they don't get hit with the water and sewer charges. Not enough to water a lawn, but it's apparently saved enough in 4 years to have paid for itself.
 
There is a ton of info out there about rainwater recovery. The most expensive part of the whole thing is storage - you can get very large tanks - but they get costly. And you have to have some place to put them.
 
My understand is that well points are relatively easy to install in loam, small gravel or sand, but not in typical New England rocky soil. AFAIK 25' would be considered a shallow well. Be careful of surface contamination (septic systems, road and ground run-off, including leaves during the fall) in siting it. Test, and treat it if necessary, if you plan to use it for drinking. I would think it would be fine without treatment for outside watering and flushing, and maybe cooking if you boiled it.
 
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Yeah, contamination is another concern. My yard used to have a septic system (it's been filled in with gravel). I'm not sure I can avoid the contaminants from it.
 
I had a shallow well when I lived in Becket. It was 25-feet deep and the water in it was terrible, but perfectly filterable. Unfortunately, folks have moved away from the cistern. The house I live in was built in the 1750's and at some point, there was a cistern here. I've been thinking about a redo, but my well here is deep and produces great. I also have a direct hook-up to a spring up the hill, (a unique system). I can choose between spring water, well water, or a combination, (which I have going now), with a turn of a valve.

It's almost too bad you can't unearth your septic tank. I would think it could be cleaned out - even sealed or lined - it's a concrete box afterall. You could then route rain gutters to it like a cistern. In a SHTF scenario, you could easily filter that water to potable standards. I've used my microfilter to drink "questionable" water from Adams to Africa with good results...
 
Yup Done that

Way back when Motorcycles were rare. A bunch of friends in Wilmington decided to build a Lodge for Scooter bums in the backyard.

We got a well point and a driving pipe and a few sections of Galv pipe.

Get 25 or 30 of your drunkest friends and give them sledge hammers. Have them run a contest on who can beat the shit out of the pipe the hardest.


Poof after about an hour you get water!


Be sure to find the correct drilling location by Dosing with a freshly cut split branch of Apple wood branch. Used to do that a lot when I was a kid with a piece of pipe and a hammer. Found lots of natural underground springs just for something to do.[hmmm]


See some stupid things come in handy later in life[wink]


I now have a 600 ft deep rock well and get great drinking water but the volume is low. OIk to run the house but not enough to water the garden and grass etc.. So I was thinking of driving a shallow well point out back. Ill by the equipment and beer if you guys want to beat the shit out of a piece of pipe with sledgehammers

Capt Walt
 
I've always enjoyed beating things with hammers (just ask my daughters, especially regarding boy friends). But I prefer to do it sober. ;)
 
Yup , I sank one for my cabin last summer. A few lessons I learned :

A metal sledge will destroy the pipe joints causing massive fits of frustration and swearing. You must use a wooden hammer. Mine turned out to be a six foot pile driver on a tripod.

Get a head start by digging as far as you can first. Then get another 4 feet with post hole digger. Assemble as much as you can and drop it in the hole. Use tripod hammer to continue driving.

Commercial driven point well pieces are 1.25 inner diameter.

There are no available pumps for 1.25 ID that will draw beyond 24 or 5 feet.
Except inertia pumps , which are slow & low volume. But my well is waiting for the end of the world , where it will be nice to have.

Bring friends


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I bought my house in Maine back in 1990 and all I've had for water the whole time is a driven point. The well has never run dry and the water quality[knock on wood] has been surprisingly good. I'd like to get an artesian well but I'm afraid after all the expense I'll get water that needs to be treated. I'll probably break down next year and do it anyway. Fubar, your camp looks like it is located on the Cape. Digging looks nice and sandy.
 
Interesting pictures, I've thought of digging one in my back yard, there are springs that run through the area. And yes, smashing things while drinking can be fun especially splitting wood, but drunk...no way, to much potential for injury.
 
Fubar, your camp looks like it is located on the Cape. Digging looks nice and sandy.

Brownfield Me. , Poland Spring Co pumps from here as well.

I had to bring in rocks for the fire pit. Far as I can tell it's sand all the way to China.

Next year or so we'll be p[aying for a deep drilled well for imaginary house to come.
 
If you decide to go with rain water capture there are food companies that purchase raw materials in bulk 1000 pound heavy duty plastic containers 4' x 4' x 4' that are tossed after they are empty. There is no aftermarket for them.

They have a spout built right into the tank and they are not reused because they are a pain for the manufacturer to clean and cost too much to transport. In fact they are a cost to dump. They can be easily cleaned and had non toxic ingredients.

Try contacting a food or candy manufacturer for them.
 
If you decide to go with rain water capture there are food companies that purchase raw materials in bulk 1000 pound heavy duty plastic containers 4' x 4' x 4' that are tossed after they are empty. There is no aftermarket for them.

They have a spout built right into the tank and they are not reused because they are a pain for the manufacturer to clean and cost too much to transport. In fact they are a cost to dump. They can be easily cleaned and had non toxic ingredients.

Try contacting a food or candy manufacturer for them.

I have seen this type of thing posted before - any more specific info? Like any companies in this area that might something like this - or what type of products are shipped in these containers?
 
I have seen this type of thing posted before - any more specific info? Like any companies in this area that might something like this - or what type of products are shipped in these containers?

I'm interested , like I don't need more stuff in my yard. Seriously, sounds good for water storage.
 
Smashing a pipe while drunk does sound fun, although I do have to wonder what all my close-by neighbors are going to think.

The old cabin I had up in Maine had an old dug well on the property (in addition to the good drilled well that was connected to the house). I was curious about the old well anyway and wanted to see what I could do with it. I built a new cover to replace the rotting one and put one of those old-fashioned hand pumps on it with a pipe (black PE pipe) going down in. I primed it with a couple gallons from a bucket, and sure enough water started pumping out! Suddenly, I realized why the previous owners replaced it... there was an extremely strong stench just like the inside of an outhouse. And I don't mean these fancy new outhouses with the solar panel, fan and composting features... I mean the 100+ year old wooden ones in the woods where you have a big hole in the ground and it just rots and festers. Anyway, the well water smelled just like that. It was nasty. I'm not sure why it was like that, since the septic was over 100 feet away, and my dug well was just 10 feet away from it (but much deeper). The dug well was only 12 feet (and dried up during summer).
 
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