drill your own well mud pump in stock

A mud pump represents a huge improvement in drilling over just using two hoses.  It improves water flow.  A typical mud pump will put out 100 gallons per minute whereas two hoses are only good for about 12 to 15 gallons per minute.

It saves water.  Just as important, a mud pump allows you to employ a re-circulating system so you can use bentonite or other gelling material that will solidify the sandy, crumbly walls of your borehole long enough you can drill without worrying about your hole collapsing on your drillpipe.

Water is pumped, using the mud pump, down the drillpipe.  At the bottom of the borehole it turns and goes back up outside the drillpipe carrying cuttings with it.  When it reaches the top it goes out through the tee over to the portable mud pit.

The portable mud pit is continiously shoveled to get the mud out of the water.  A water/mud mixture is then pumped out of the pit and back down through the PVC drillpipe.

Before we go further please take a look at the drawing below.It is from an excellent site, http://www.lifewater.ca/  that is dedicated to helping third world countries drill for water.  The drawing shows their drilling rig, an LS-100  instead of our PVC apparatus but the mud pit arrangement is excellent.  If you have time, it would be a good idea to go to https://www.lifewater.ca/drill_manual/Section_3.htm and browse around as well.  They have many other excellent ideas.

The drilling fluid (water & bentonite) is pumped by the mud pump down the drilling pipe.  At the bottom of the borehole it picks up cuttings and carries them to the top.  At the top of the borehole the mixture of drilling fluid and cuttings go into a ditch that leads to a settling pit.  The cuttings fall to the bottom in the settling pit while the drilling fluid goes over a small ditch into the the mud pit.  During the drilling process, the cuttings are occasionally or continually shoveled from the bottom of the settling pit.  From the mud pit, the mud pump pumps the fluid back into the drilling pipe and the process continues.

Note I am saying “drilling fluid” and not water.  That is because bentonite or some other gelling agent is added to the water to make drilling fluid.  As the hole is bored, this drilling fluid causes the sides of the borehole to harden.  This is extremely helpful because the driller doesn’t have to worry (as much) about the borehole caving in on his drilling pipe.  Any of you who have had a PVC drillpipe stick in a hole can appreciate how useful this trait is!!

Now let’s move on to George’s arrangement.  Rather than dig up his yard to make the settling and mud pits, he is using a portable mud pit.  He has inserted a six inch diameter piece of PVC into the ground where he will be drilling.  Then he attached a tee with a four inch pipe coming off the side.  This four inch pipe leads to his portable mud pit

Below are a series of eMails George sent as he was drilling the well.  As you can see, it took a bit of experimentation to find the right combination of size, speed, and drilling mud.  He kept at it and his ultimate success is most impressive.  I left off a couple of the first emails.  As the story begins, George has a two inch pipe stuck in the ground from an effort using two water hoses as drilling fluid.

Using the mud pump method was GREAT !  I set everything up and had my neighbor over to help.  I put the 20’ piece of 3″ pvc over my stuck 2″ pipe …. fired up the mud pump and got the water recirculating into my 110 gallon livestock tub.  In less than 30 minutes, I had washed down to where the 3″ pipe was on top of the 2″ pipe.  The 3″ pipe started wanting to stick in the soft sand, so I had my helper to add about 15 lbs. of “Aqua Gel” that I picked up at the plumbing store where I buy my well screens from.  It’s a combination of bentonite and a vegetable polymer.  Within a few minutes, I was able to easily slide the 3″ pipe up and down/side to side to enlarge my bore hole …… it quit caving in and sticking like it had been doingJ   Instead of having to take the 2″ pipe out, both pipes washed down together !  At about 19’, I hit hardpan … so I decided to stop and pull out the 3″ pipe.  After doing this, I had so much room left in the borehole, that I was able to pour 2 bags of pea gravel down  the outside of my 2″ pipe all the way to the bottom …. without any caving in issues.  I think I could have easily put down a 4″ pipe and well screen down that hole.  The Aqua Gel was doing its job nicely.

Total time using the mud pump from starting to when I finished putting in the gravel pack was only 1 hour !  The guy at the plumbing shop told me I would have to backwash the well to remove the Aqua Gel because it would stop up the aquifer.  I did that using my 110 gallon sprayer tank that was standing by full of clean water.  I then hooked up my mud pump to the well and pumped it for 10 minutes … only getting about 9 gallons/minute flow.  During this time, I filled my 110 gallon sprayer tank back up with clean water.  I back flushed the well again …. after this time, I got a 16 gal/min flow …. getting better J  On the third time I back flushed the well, I surged the mud pump from slow to fast … back and forth as it back flushed.  Hooked everything back up and started pumping from the well ….. now getting 30 gal/min !!  I decided to quit while I was ahead …. plus the temperature was pushing 100 degrees !!

Next weekend, I’m moving over about 14’ and putting down a second well so that I can eventually combine the two for my irrigation.  I’ll take pictures and email them to you.  I used a 6″ tee that had a 4″ side port to recirculate back to my 110 gallon stock tub.  I only put 3’ of 6″ pvc in the ground and packed around the pipe to prevent leakage.  Everything worked great … just like in the PVC video you sent me where the guy was using two dug pits to recirculate from.

next eMail)We jetted down the second well this past Saturday morning.  It took only one hour from the time we started the pump until I finished with the gravel pack !!  I used a 3″ pipe to jet with …. dropped in my 2″ pipe with 5’ well screen …. then pulled out the 3″ casing.  At this point, there is enough room to pour 2.5 bags of pea gravel down the hole beside the well pipe. By using the Quick Gel, the hole does not cave in on the well pipe.  The big difference this time was that I immediately back flushed the well with 110 gallons of fresh water to clear out the Quick Gel …. instead of trying to pump from it at the beginning like I did with my first well.  This second well pumps a huge 60 gpm !!!  I was amazed … to say the least.  Tied together, both wells produce 90+ gpm with the pump slightly above idle speed J  I’ve included some photos in this email and will send you some short videos in a follow up email.  I hope it does not clog up your Inbox.Thanks so much for your help …… and inspiration from your website which got me started on this project !

Here are the short video clips.  One thing I forgot to mention earlier was that you really have to mound up and pack the dirt around the bottom of your 6″ tee.  We had a couple of times when the circulating water tried to come up around the 2.5 foot piece of 6″ pipe we had in the ground below the tee.  It would be better if you could drive that pipe in the ground maybe another foot, but I did not have anything to do that with.  Using the Quick Gel gives you enough time to stop and fix your leaks as you go without risking a cave in on your pipe.

Historically, most drillers dug two pits prior to drilling a well.  A first pit, called a settling pit, received the drilling fluid and cuttings from the drill hole via a short shallow trench.  The cuttings settled down to the bottom of the the settling pit.  A second pit, called a mud pit, was dug nearby and a second trench directed the overflow of the settling pit into the mud pit.  Most of the cuttings settle to the bottom of the settling pit and the drilling fluid in the mud pit has a much higher liquid to cuttings ratio.  In other words, the water in the second pit, the mud pit, is “cleaner.” Drilling fluid from the mud pit is then pumped, by a mud pump, back down the drillpipe.  During the drilling process, cuttings are continuously shoveled from the settling pit so it does not become clogged with cuttings.  Although most of the cuttings settle in the settling pit, it is also necessary to occasionally shovel cuttings from the mud pit as well.

Below is a photograph of mud pits prepared for drilling.  This photograph is from the hydra-jett site.  Hydra-Fab manufacturing http://hydra-jett.com/index.html  sells small and medium sized drilling rigs and is worth looking at if you are considering moving up to a small rig.

As you might imagine, diggining mud pits is a significant undertaking and it makes an even bigger mess of your drilling site.  Modern drillers, being both ingenious and capitalistic souls, have devised a way to avoid this costly, unpleasant step.  They bring portable mud pits to the drill site.  A portable mud pit is simply a container or series of containers that the drilling fluid from the hole is directed to where cuttings settle out prior to the fluid being pumped again down the drillpipe.  Not only does it eliminate the time/money consuming digging but it leaves a cleaner drillsite upon completion of the well.

….but it frequently doesn’t work as well for those of us who have small portable mud pits.  Using real mud pits results in more efficient drilling.  There is no leakage around the guide tube with real mud pits.

Here is an example of a portable mud pit positioned at the back of a commercial drilling rig.  Cuttings from the hole are directed into the settling pit on the right.  Then drilling fluid passes through to the mud pit on the left and it is pumped back down the hole.

There is a wide variety of designs of portable mud pits.  Here are just a few sketches I found to give you an idea of designs that folks have come up with.

So, by now your are probably wondering, where does all that leave us?  We are not going to buy one of those $500 portable mud pits for our $200 project are we?  Absolutely not, in fact you may just be better off digging your pits.   If you are going to dig several wells you might want to consider using a portable mud pit with a mud pump.  I made one out of wood and it works fine.  It is not as efficient as the commercial mud pits but it does the job.  Please take a look at the video below.

As you can see my portable mud pit is just a wooden box with a fitting for the suction line and a minor obstruction to keep the cuttings away from the suction.  You can probably come up with a better design for a portable mud pit that I have.  I probably could but it is already built and I’m not inclined to build another one – but – If I were doing another one, I’d probably build two boxes that fit inside one another for easier travel and storage, and then sat beside each other when drilling.

more at http://www.drillyourownwell.com This is an example of a Mud Pump Water Well Drilling Setup utilizing a Portable Mud pit. This particular well was ...

When choosing a size and type of mud pump for your drilling project, there are several factors to consider. These would include not only cost and size of pump that best fits your drilling rig, but also the diameter, depth and hole conditions you are drilling through. I know that this sounds like a lot to consider, but if you are set up the right way before the job starts, you will thank me later.

Recommended practice is to maintain a minimum of 100 to 150 feet per minute of uphole velocity for drill cuttings. Larger diameter wells for irrigation, agriculture or municipalities may violate this rule, because it may not be economically feasible to pump this much mud for the job. Uphole velocity is determined by the flow rate of the mud system, diameter of the borehole and the diameter of the drill pipe. There are many tools, including handbooks, rule of thumb, slide rule calculators and now apps on your handheld device, to calculate velocity. It is always good to remember the time it takes to get the cuttings off the bottom of the well. If you are drilling at 200 feet, then a 100-foot-per-minute velocity means that it would take two minutes to get the cuttings out of the hole. This is always a good reminder of what you are drilling through and how long ago it was that you drilled it. Ground conditions and rock formations are ever changing as you go deeper. Wouldn’t it be nice if they all remained the same?

Centrifugal-style mud pumps are very popular in our industry due to their size and weight, as well as flow rate capacity for an affordable price. There are many models and brands out there, and most of them are very good value. How does a centrifugal mud pump work? The rotation of the impeller accelerates the fluid into the volute or diffuser chamber. The added energy from the acceleration increases the velocity and pressure of the fluid. These pumps are known to be very inefficient. This means that it takes more energy to increase the flow and pressure of the fluid when compared to a piston-style pump. However, you have a significant advantage in flow rates from a centrifugal pump versus a piston pump. If you are drilling deeper wells with heavier cuttings, you will be forced at some point to use a piston-style mud pump. They have much higher efficiencies in transferring the input energy into flow and pressure, therefore resulting in much higher pressure capabilities.

Piston-style mud pumps utilize a piston or plunger that travels back and forth in a chamber known as a cylinder. These pumps are also called “positive displacement” pumps because they literally push the fluid forward. This fluid builds up pressure and forces a spring-loaded valve to open and allow the fluid to escape into the discharge piping of the pump and then down the borehole. Since the expansion process is much smaller (almost insignificant) compared to a centrifugal pump, there is much lower energy loss. Plunger-style pumps can develop upwards of 15,000 psi for well treatments and hydraulic fracturing. Centrifugal pumps, in comparison, usually operate below 300 psi. If you are comparing most drilling pumps, centrifugal pumps operate from 60 to 125 psi and piston pumps operate around 150 to 300 psi. There are many exceptions and special applications for drilling, but these numbers should cover 80 percent of all equipment operating out there.

The restriction of putting a piston-style mud pump onto drilling rigs has always been the physical size and weight to provide adequate flow and pressure to your drilling fluid. Because of this, the industry needed a new solution to this age-old issue.

As the senior design engineer for Ingersoll-Rand’s Deephole Drilling Business Unit, I had the distinct pleasure of working with him and incorporating his Centerline Mud Pump into our drilling rig platforms.

In the late ’90s — and perhaps even earlier —  Ingersoll-Rand had tried several times to develop a hydraulic-driven mud pump that would last an acceptable life- and duty-cycle for a well drilling contractor. With all of our resources and design wisdom, we were unable to solve this problem. Not only did Miller provide a solution, thus saving the size and weight of a typical gear-driven mud pump, he also provided a new offering — a mono-cylinder mud pump. This double-acting piston pump provided as much mud flow and pressure as a standard 5 X 6 duplex pump with incredible size and weight savings.

The true innovation was providing the well driller a solution for their mud pump requirements that was the right size and weight to integrate into both existing and new drilling rigs. Regardless of drill rig manufacturer and hydraulic system design, Centerline has provided a mud pump integration on hundreds of customer’s drilling rigs. Both mono-cylinder and duplex-cylinder pumps can fit nicely on the deck, across the frame or even be configured for under-deck mounting. This would not be possible with conventional mud pump designs.

Centerline stuck with their original design through all of the typical trials and tribulations that come with a new product integration. Over the course of the first several years, Miller found out that even the best of the highest quality hydraulic cylinders, valves and seals were not truly what they were represented to be. He then set off on an endeavor to bring everything in-house and began manufacturing all of his own components, including hydraulic valves. This gave him complete control over the quality of components that go into the finished product.

The second generation design for the Centerline Mud Pump is expected later this year, and I believe it will be a true game changer for this industry. It also will open up the application to many other industries that require a heavier-duty cycle for a piston pump application.

The average minimum depth of all domestic water wellsis slightly less than 50 feet! Basically, a water well is a hole or shaft down to a water-bearing layer of sand or gravel, void or a crack in the rock. Fortunately for the well driller, most of the clean fresh water beneath the surface of the ground occurs within 200 feet. Unless your area is very high elevation, famous for deep dry holes, the chances are that by a little investigative drilling you can find a useful water-bearing strata at a reasonable depth.

There is no single "best" source. Some folks have the idea that the deeper you go the better the water, or only "good" water comes from rock, but this is not true. In fact, some rocks have natural minerals that dissolve in water; stain, leave undesirable deposits and these minerals give the water an odd taste and sometimes an odor. Minerals such as iron, sulfur, lime . as last resort they can be removed by a good water filtration system . As a general rule, the finest quality water comes from layers of sand, which filter the water naturally. You will frequently hit layers of sand and gravel before you hit solid rock. In other words, the deepest water is not necessarily the most and the best. BY STOPPING ... at a decent looking water level with good flow, visually pleasing clean water within meeting your acceptable gallons per minute requirement criteria, may be best . Going deeper ...may just ruin the well by undesirable deposits or minerals. Who knows.. You can"t see what is below the ground.

In the old days a man dug his own well and took the work chore more or less for granted. Wells dug by a pick and shovel, and is hard work and more than a little dangerous. There is always the risk of cave-in or asphyxiation. Still, a lot of water wells around the world constructed with simple tools and manage to get enough water to sustain life.

Today the most modern well drilling method is the rotary air method. It is fast and efficient but until recently it was only available in big, heavy, truck-mounted conventional drill rig models. The rotary drill consists of a rock cutting drill bit attached to a length of hollow drill steel. The drill steel and bit are rotated and by injection methods drilling fluids are pumped through the drill steel. The bit cuts into the earth and the water washes the cuttings out of the drill hole to the top of the ground. Additional sections of drill steel are added as the bit goes deeper.

In a rotary air/mud/ water injection drilling system such as the PORTDRILLMINI® DRILL, a rotating bit cuts away material at the bottom of the well. By method of injection drilling fluids or air is constantly pumped down the well to flush out the cuttings. This rotary system of drilling provides indications, which will let you know when you may have hit water.

The most important indication to watch for is the type of cuttings being flushed from the well as you drill. When you see coarse, pea rock, gravel-size pebbles coming up, you may be drilling into a water-bearing strata.

Another good indication can occur when you shut off your injection valve to change a drill steel: if the water in the well recedes quickly down the well, you may have reached a water-bearing strata. OR can indicate that the well walls collapsed on and round the drill steel causing a "bridge" in the well preventing the water to drain down into the well.

Because the ground water can be 20-30 degrees warmer or cooler than the drilling fluid and outside air there is a sudden change in the temperature of the drilling fluid when a water bearing strata is encountered.

From two years of research and development safety features are incorporated in the design of the PORTADRILLMINI ® DRILL, and operators are cautioned against modifying the components of the drill unit. As with any water well drilling equipment, normal safety protection and practices are required. Do not fuel a hot engine. Keep long hair and loose clothing away from the moving parts.

WARNING:Take the required time to check for underground utilities . Do not drill near underground tanks or pipelines. Beware of overhead obstacles and electric lines.

Is a complete man portable, compact one-person well drillingsystem! It can be maneuvered into locations where conventional truck-mounted drill rigs cannot go. For example, it can be used in confined locations, or to drill in backyards where large truck drills would tear up the landscape. It can be maneuvered into wooded areas or hilltops or by helicopter to remote locations where it would be considered impossible to drive a truck because the roads are not adequate enough to sustain a large truck drill rig or simply don"t exist .

The PORTADRILLMINI ® DRILL system makes it ideal for people with no prior experience in well drilling. The portability advantages of the system makes it possible to have water wells where ever you need them, not just where you can afford to pay a drilling contractor to drill.

With one PORTADRILLMINI ® DRILL, you can drill many wells repetitively. If you are drilling near an existing water system, you can frequently use water from the garden hose to assist in injection methods. Otherwise, you will need at minimum a 5 h.p. trash pump or mud pump and access to 50 to 150 gallons of drilling water to re-circulate the water.

A & D Drilling Supply Corporation can supply you a pump that is designed for the job. It will handle abrasive sandy water, and will allow the use of additives to prevent cave-ins when drilling in sand or gravel strata (more on that later). You will need 10 to 20 gallons per minute at 20 to 40 psi..

To use the well drilling pump, dig a small pit next to the drill hole and fill it with water. Use the pump to draw the water out of the pit and into the drill steel and bit. As the water flushes back up the hole, channel it into the pit to be re-circulated. This way, you drill your well using a minimal amount of water. As a starter, have on hand about one gallon of water for each foot you expect to drill. A 30-gallon plastic bag in a trashcan makes a good container for hauling water to a drill site. Two or three 30-gallon bags should provide enough drilling water for most locations.

The circulation of water keeps the hole clean by washing the cuttings to the surface; this also allows you to examine the cuttings and identify the material from each level of drilling. These cuttings can tell you when you have found water.

Maintaining good water circulation while you drill is the most important factor in successful drilling. Failure to maintain good water circulation can cause bit failure and other problems. If at any time you lose circulation, stop drilling and pull up at least one drill steel section until circulation is restored before you continue to drill deeper. WARNINGCONTINUING TO DRILL DEEPER WITHOUT CIRCULATION MAY CAUSE THE DRILL BIT AND DRILL STEEL TO BECOME JAMMED AND STUCK !

DRAG BITS: The Heavy Duty DRAG Bitis used in drilling earth, sand, clay, gravel and some softer rock formations. Unless you run into a layer of hard, solid rock, you should drill to the total depth of the well with your DRAG BIT .

Tri-cone Bits(also known as roller cone bits):The Tri-cone drill bit is used in solid rock. The long toothed, tungsten carbide tipped bit is used in most sandstone, limestone, coral, granite and some lava rock formations that have favorable cutting characteristics.

Occasionally, you may encounter a stratum of sand that tends to cave in on the drill steel. Or you may drill into an extremely porous stratum that causes a loss of circulation. In this event, you will need to pre-mix a thickening additive with your re-circulation system or use foam injection methods.

There are two types of thickening agents. One is bentonite clay called "drillers mud." The other type of thickening agent is a gel that forms a viscous fluid the consistency of buttermilk. These products are most effective when mixed together in your injection drill fluids.

As long as proper circulation was maintained for the full duration of the drilling process the drill bit and drill steel can easily be lifted from the hole. Each bit is designed to cut a hole that is larger than the bit itself. If the drill steel does not turn freely by hand then the well did not remain open and can possibly be jammed with well cuttings, or worse collapsed.

After you have drilled down and found a promising formation. Now you "case" the well, which simply means inserting a casing (metal pipe) to keep the well from collapsing at some future time. At the bottom of your well, you will use a "well screen" or strainer to keep the sand and gravel out of your well.

To increase the full potential of volume of this well solid casing is joined to the well screen and continued all the way to the top. Some small pea gravel is poured on the outside of the pipe to within 20 feet of ground level. The pea gravel helps filter the sand out of the water before it enters the screen and casing. It also serves as a conduit or passageway for water from a stratum above the screened area to work its way down to the screen filtering through the gravel pack all the way.

If you drill through a water-bearing stratum along the way and don"t notice it, you haven"t cut off the supply from the stratum. This is why we recommend only one section of screen and a good gravel pack. The top 15"-20" of your well must be sealed around the outside of your casing to prevent ground water contamination.

Before you install the permanent pump on the well, it is necessary to clean out any cuttings remaining inside the casing. Much of the material can be flushed out by test pumping the well with a gasoline water pump or by dropping a water hose to the bottom of the well and pumping clean water through it. Because this is a shallow depth pump, it may be necessary to add clean water to the well as you pump to maintain an artificial shallow pumping depth.

If you have an air compressor, the well can be circulated - flowed with air. This will not only clean out the well, but will give you a good idea of the water production of the well. The well needs to circulate and flow to remove the cuttings and or residuals of drilling additives. This "circulation " is the term "developing a well," it gives the water vein a chance to open up and flow more freely. Just about every new well will improve in both quality and quantity of water after a few hours (or even a few days in some cases) of pumping.

Much has been researched about water well drilling -find an underground vein or strata of water and dig or drill an opening to it. When you see fresh, clean cool water pouring out on the ground, you will realize that whatever effort of labor you made to get it was meaningful. Water is life! To control one of the elements of life makes the thrill of discovering water an experience hard to equal!

To view the PORTADRILLMINI Drill in action drilling through rock see the video link.The link for the video is mms://media.engr.psu.edu/rth_net/drill_june2006.wmv

Greetings Tim & Charlott, below is a GPS link and information on the well we just installed in the honor of Tim & Charlott King! Your love and commitment has allowed our Clean Water 4 Life ministry to sink over 500 water wells for those in need here in the Solomon Islands! Here is a link to read my current newsletter with lots of pictures! http://www.rickrupp.com/newsletter.php

Togokoba SSEC Church & Community is approx 58 kilometers east of Honiara. It was a long bumpy drive to this village. I had to walk a long way to get to the place where they lived. They explained that their source of drinking water was the stream. They were so happy when I explained that our CW4L team was going to come sink a well right in their village. I tasted the well water several weeks later after our team had blessed them with a water well. It tasted so good! It was nice clean & cold water! It never ceases to amaze me that there is such a nice water table here in the rural areas of the Guadnacanal plains! I counted 10 houses in this community and the population is approx 80 people. Now they finally have a source of clean drinking water! These people have suffered for many years either drinking from an open hand dug well or from the stream. Togokoba SSEC Church & Community is very grateful to our CW4L sponsors.

Mud pumps, or mud drilling rigs, are also used as water well drilling rigs, to address water concerns at the bottom of the mines. Mud pumps, also known as mud drilling rigs, are water well drilling rigs that are used to extract water from pits, and mud drilling rigs. The mud water drilling rig is also called as water well drilling rigs, and are also called as water well drilling rigs. The mud pumps, mud drilling rigs, are also called as water well drilling rigs, for example, droplets or mud pumps. They are designed to cut slurry from pits, mud pits, and mud drilling rigs. The most common mud pumps and mud drilling rigs are also called as water well drilling rigs, to mud pits.@@@@@

A water well drilling rig can consist of a large amount of mud, which is easily drained by due to the conditions of the water being high. There is also a band of mud trucks and drilling holes that are adequate for flowing water.@@@@@

A gasoline powered pump, also known as an off-road mud drilling rig, is a good choice for people that choose either a gasoline-powered pump or a water well driller rig. Gasoline-powered water well driller rig, for example, is a type of water well drilling rig that has two or more volt engines. On the other hand, a gasoline-powered water well driller rig is hard to distinguish from one of these two. Generally speaking, a gasoline-powered water well driller rig is one with the energy of a day, it is important to consider the type of water well drilling rig that is powered by a gasoline-powered pump, for instance, is a by-product of the two types of water well drilling rig. For instance, a gasoline-powered water well driller rig is by one that is high-pressure, and a two-stroke engine.@@@@@

Choosing the mud pumps depends on the size, the course of time, and the surface of the water. For instance, a one-stroke mud pumps depends on the size and the type of mud pumps. For instance, gasoline-powered is an electric version of the water well drilling rig.

This video shows a DIY Mud Pump Water Well Drilling Setup utilizing a Portable Mud pit. A typical mud pump will put out 100 gallons per minute whereas two hoses are only good for about 12 to 15 gallons per minute. A mud pump allows you to employ a re-circulating system so you can use bentonite or other gelling material that will solidify the sandy, crumbly walls of your borehole long enough you can drill without worrying about your hole collapsing on your drill pipe.The portable mud pit is continuously shoveled to get the mud out of the water. A water/mud mixture is then pumped out of the pit and back down through the PVC drill pipe.

There are many different ways to drill a domestic water well. One is what we call the “mud rotary” method. Whether or not this is the desired and/or best method for drilling your well is something more fully explained in this brief summary.

One advantage of drilling with compressed air is that it can tell you when you have encountered groundwater and gives you an indication how much water the borehole is producing. When drilling with water using the mud rotary method, the driller must rely on his interpretation of the borehole cuttings and any changes he can observe in the recirculating fluid. Mud rotary drillers can also use borehole geophysical tools to interpret which zones might be productive enough for your water well.

The mud rotary well drilling method is considered a closed-loop system. That is, the mud is cleaned of its cuttings and then is recirculated back down the borehole. Referring to this drilling method as “mud” is a misnomer, but it is one that has stuck with the industry for many years and most people understand what the term actually means.

The water is carefully mixed with a product that should not be called mud because it is a highly refined and formulated clay product—bentonite. It is added, mixed, and carefully monitored throughout the well drilling process.

The purpose of using a bentonite additive to the water is to form a thin film on the walls of the borehole to seal it and prevent water losses while drilling. This film also helps support the borehole wall from sluffing or caving in because of the hydraulic pressure of the bentonite mixture pressing against it. The objective of the fluid mixture is to carry cuttings from the bottom of the borehole up to the surface, where they drop out or are filtered out of the fluid, so it can be pumped back down the borehole again.

When using the mud rotary method, the driller must have a sump, a tank, or a small pond to hold a few thousand gallons of recirculating fluid. If they can’t dig sumps or small ponds, they must have a mud processing piece of equipment that mechanically screens and removes the sands and gravels from the mixture. This device is called a “shale shaker.”

The fluid mixture must have a gel strength sufficient to support marble-size gravels and sand to the surface when the fluid is moving. Once the cuttings have been carried to the surface and the velocity of the fluid allowed to slow down, the fluid is designed to allow the sand and gravel to drop out.

The driller does not want to pump fine sand through the pump and back down the borehole. To avoid that, the shale shaker uses vibrating screens of various sizes and desanding cones to drop the sand out of the fluid as it flows through the shaker—so that the fluid can be used again.

When the borehole has reached the desired depth and there is evidence that the formation it has penetrated will yield enough water, then it’s time to make the borehole into a well.

Before the well casing and screens are lowered into the borehole, the recirculating fluid is slowly thinned out by adding fresh water as the fluid no longer needs to support sand and gravel. The driller will typically circulate the drilling from the bottom up the borehole while adding clear water to thin down the viscosity or thickness of the fluid. Once the fluid is sufficiently thinned, the casing and screens are installed and the annular space is gravel packed.

Gravel pack installed between the borehole walls and the outside of the well casing acts like a filter to keep sand out and maintain the borehole walls over time. During gravel packing of the well, the thin layer of bentonite clay that kept the borehole wall from leaking drilling fluid water out of the recirculating system now keeps the formation water from entering the well.

This is where well development is performed to remove the thin bentonite layer or “wall cake” that was left behind. Various methods are used to remove the wall cake and develop the well to its maximum productivity.

Some drillers use compressed air to blow off the well, starting at the first screened interval and slowly working their way to the bottom—blowing off all the water standing above the drill pipe and allowing it to recover, and repeating this until the water blown from the well is free of sand and relatively clean. If after repeated cycles of airlift pumping and recovery the driller cannot find any sand in the water, it is time to install a well development pump.

Additional development of the well can be done with a development pump that may be of a higher capacity than what the final installation pump will be. Just as with cycles of airlift pumping of the well, the development pump will be cycled at different flow rates until the maximum capacity of the well can be determined. If the development pump can be operated briefly at a flow rate 50% greater than the permanent pump, the well should not pump sand.

Mud rotary well drillers for decades have found ways to make this particular system work to drill and construct domestic water wells. In some areas, it’s the ideal method to use because of the geologic formations there, while other areas of the country favor air rotary methods.

Some drilling rigs are equipped to drill using either method, so the contractor must make the decision as to which method works best in your area, for your well, and at your point in time.

To learn more about the difference between mud rotary drilling and air rotary drilling, click the video below. The video is part of our “NGWA: Industry Connected” YouTube series:

Gary Hix is a Registered Professional Geologist in Arizona, specializing in hydrogeology. He was the 2019 William A. McEllhiney Distinguished Lecturer for The Groundwater Foundation. He is a former licensed water well drilling contractor and remains actively involved in the National Ground Water Association and Arizona Water Well Association.

To learn more about Gary’s work, go to In2Wells.com. His eBooks, “Domestic Water Wells in Arizona: A Guide for Realtors and Mortgage Lenders” and “Shared Water Wells in Arizona,” are available on Amazon.

Drilling a well by hand is a lot of work, but it can be done with the right equipment. Whether you’re looking to drill a shallow or deep well, this skill is perfect for those seeking self-reliance.

Wells are normally drilled on private land where city or rural water isn’t available. It’s possible to hire a licensed professional to provide this service but you can expect to spend several thousand dollars. If you want to save money, you can do it yourself, but prior to getting started, you need to research local regulations.

Each state or county will have its own list of requirements and regulations. These can be found online or at your county courthouse. When asking about these regulations, make sure you explain that you will be drilling the well yourself and on your own land.

Once you receive a green light to move forward, it’s time to learn more about your land. Go to thecounty agriculture extension office to find out what soil type you have. This could include sand, clay, rock, or a combination.

The local courthouse may also have well drilling logs from professional well drillers. These will include things like when they hit ­ first water, what type of soil condition they encountered, and how deep they drilled the well. This could be helpful information but do remember that every property is different. The very ­ first step might be determining how deep you need to drill.

Things to consider when choosing a well location are: convenience, a power source, and location. It’s very important the well be uphill from any septic system or barn runoff.

The final thing to do before drilling is to contact utility companies to make sure you don’t hit any underground pipes or lines. Sometimes this information can be found on your original land plot, but it’s always good to double-check.

Drilling a shallow well is a pretty simple task, going down about 25 feet or so when you hit first water (at least in my location). This type of well could be drilled in a weekend by hand using a general purpose, extendable post-hole auger.

This type of well can be cased off with a manual pump and used for irrigation. This would be more of an emergency setup that could also provide water needs at a weekend cabin in the countryside.

Shallow wells have a difficult time keeping up with average water usage. It’s estimated each person uses between 80 and 100 gallons of water a day. Imagine storing 20, 5-gallon jugs a day per person.

The majority of our water usage comes from flushing toilets and bathing. If you multiply that by a family of four, it’s easy to understand you would need a deeper well to keep up with demand.

Professional well diggers will often recommend a depth of 200 feet or more, but remember, for hundreds of years every well in this country was hand-dug and that’s how people survived.

Also remember, licensed well diggers get paid by the foot, so sometimes they drill further than they have to. So, if you decide to hire this out, do your research and make sure to write down where first water is normally hit in your area. And keep in mind that first water may not be the best, can dry up in some years, or may not be able to keep up with demand; all of these things need to be considered.

A pneumatic drill is like a giant eggbeater driven by compressed air. This tool can drill a 200-foot well in a matter of days or weeks, depending on the soil type, and can be purchased online.

In addition to the drill, you’ll also need a very powerful air compressor to run the equipment. These can easily cost two or three times as much as the drill. A couple of ways to keep costs down include purchasing a used compressor, or purchasing a new one and then after the project is completed, selling the almost-new equipment for a few hundred dollars less than what you paid.

You can choose between, gas, diesel or electric-powered compressors. An electric compressor will cost you less to run and be more dependable. We chose a compressor powered by gas because our well project was several miles away from the homesite.

This brings us to the drill setup. This will require a day of planning before drilling begins. Most home improvement stores will carry almost everything you need.

Step 1: After purchasing the necessary supplies and choosing the drill location, begin digging the main drill hole with an auger or post-hole digger. Dig about 4 or 5 feet. Then, if necessary, cut the 8-inch PVC to fit the hole, allowing 4 inches to stick above ground. In the side of the PVC pipe aligned with the settling pond (see Step 2), drill a hole large enough to insert the 2-inch connecting PVC pipe.

Step 2: Dig a shallow settling pond 10 feet behind the well, no less than 4 feet across. Then dig a shallow 8-inch ditch connecting the pond to the well hole. Connect these spaces with 2-inch PVC pipe and cover. This pipe will transfer clean water from the pond to the drill hole. The pipe opening in the pond will need covering with netting so debris doesn’t flow back into the well.

Step 3: Insert the 55-gallon drum at the edge of the pond, secure with stakes, and face the opening toward the well. The drum catches water from the well and empties into the pond where clean water will flow from the pipe back into the well.

Step 4: Attach 1-inch PVC pipe to the pneumatic drill using PVC glue and secure with duct tape to prevent leaks. Use a marker every 5 to 10 feet so you can keep track of how far down you have drilled. Rest the other end of attached PVC pipe in the 55-gallon drum. While the drill is running, mud and water will enter the pipe through small holes above the drill and be pushed up by the compressed air, traveling through the pipe into the drum and settling pond to be cycled back into the well hole.

Step 5: The air compressor will need to be set up and connected to the drill. Use duct tape to secure the air hose to the PVC pipe to keep it out of the way while drilling.

Note: Depending on your soil type, you may not need the 8-inch PVC. Our soil, for example, is hard clay and stable enough to keep the hole from collapsing without the pipe.

Drilling a well with this tool can take anywhere from 15 hours to weeks depending on the soil type, so make sure a chair is handy and you’re working with at least three people. One to operate the compressor, another to drill, and a third for breaks.

The air supply to the drill should never be turned off while the drill is underwater. If this happens, you’ll have to stop drilling and clean the motor before starting back up. This can take time and delay progress, which means it’s important that your drill team understands the process from start to finish.

Begin by filling the well hole with water. Turn the drill on before inserting, and then begin drilling. The bit will drill through all soil types, but when it hits clay or rock the process will slow down. Don’t get frustrated, just keep drilling and, before you know it, first water will be hit.

Move the drill in an up, down, and side-to-side motion as this will help the drill drive through the soil. The motion should be constant but not forceful; the drill will do the work. When you reach the point of needing to add more pipe, pull the running drill from the hole and, once it’s out of the water, turn the air pressure off. As you add pipe, secure each addition with PVC glue.

Add the next several feet of pipe and start again. Once the desired depth is reached, it’s time to case off the well. Casing is a matter of inserting SDR 35 pipe and securing in place with pea gravel and concrete. To do so, drill a hole through both sidewalls of the first piece of pipe, 2 or 3 inches from the bottom so you can attach the rope to lower the pipe into the well. When the top of the pipe is even with the ground, apply PVC glue and attach the next piece of pipe. Let dry for 15 minutes and then continue to lower down and add pieces as you go to meet the depth of the well. The last piece of pipe will be cut about 3 feet above ground level and capped off.

Pour pea gravel between the casing and the dirt. Next, mix the concrete and pour between the ground and casing. This will prevent the well from becoming contaminated from runoff. Once this is complete and you’ve added a well pump, you’ll need to run the well for a couple of days until the water is clear, and it’s always a good idea to get the water tested before using it for drinking.

Drilling a well can be a long process, but if you can save money and learn a new skill at the same time, why not give it a try? It’s a matter of getting back to basics and doing more for yourself.

The average minimum depth of all domestic water wellsis slightly less than 50 feet! Basically, a water well is a hole or shaft down to a water-bearing layer of sand or gravel, void or a crack in the rock. Fortunately for the well driller, most of the clean fresh water beneath the surface of the ground occurs within 200 feet. Unless your area is very high elevation, famous for deep dry holes, the chances are that by a little investigative drilling you can find a useful water-bearing strata at a reasonable depth.

There is no single "best" source. Some folks have the idea that the deeper you go the better the water, or only "good" water comes from rock, but this is not true. In fact, some rocks have natural minerals that dissolve in water; stain, leave undesirable deposits and these minerals give the water an odd taste and sometimes an odor. Minerals such as iron, sulfur, lime . as last resort they can be removed by a good water filtration system . As a general rule, the finest quality water comes from layers of sand, which filter the water naturally. You will frequently hit layers of sand and gravel before you hit solid rock. In other words, the deepest water is not necessarily the most and the best. BY STOPPING ... at a decent looking water level with good flow, visually pleasing clean water within meeting your acceptable gallons per minute requirement criteria, may be best . Going deeper ...may just ruin the well by undesirable deposits or minerals. Who knows.. You can"t see what is below the ground.

In the old days a man dug his own well and took the work chore more or less for granted. Wells dug by a pick and shovel, and is hard work and more than a little dangerous. There is always the risk of cave-in or asphyxiation. Still, a lot of water wells around the world constructed with simple tools and manage to get enough water to sustain life.

Today the most modern well drilling method is the rotary air method. It is fast and efficient but until recently it was only available in big, heavy, truck-mounted conventional drill rig models. The rotary drill consists of a rock cutting drill bit attached to a length of hollow drill steel. The drill steel and bit are rotated and by injection methods drilling fluids are pumped through the drill steel. The bit cuts into the earth and the water washes the cuttings out of the drill hole to the top of the ground. Additional sections of drill steel are added as the bit goes deeper.

In a rotary air/mud/ water injection drilling system such as the PORTDRILLMINI® DRILL, a rotating bit cuts away material at the bottom of the well. By method of injection drilling fluids or air is constantly pumped down the well to flush out the cuttings. This rotary system of drilling provides indications, which will let you know when you may have hit water.

The most important indication to watch for is the type of cuttings being flushed from the well as you drill. When you see coarse, pea rock, gravel-size pebbles coming up, you may be drilling into a water-bearing strata.

Another good indication can occur when you shut off your injection valve to change a drill steel: if the water in the well recedes quickly down the well, you may have reached a water-bearing strata. OR can indicate that the well walls collapsed on and round the drill steel causing a "bridge" in the well preventing the water to drain down into the well.

Because the ground water can be 20-30 degrees warmer or cooler than the drilling fluid and outside air there is a sudden change in the temperature of the drilling fluid when a water bearing strata is encountered.

From two years of research and development safety features are incorporated in the design of the PORTADRILLMINI ® DRILL, and operators are cautioned against modifying the components of the drill unit. As with any water well drilling equipment, normal safety protection and practices are required. Do not fuel a hot engine. Keep long hair and loose clothing away from the moving parts.

WARNING:Take the required time to check for underground utilities . Do not drill near underground tanks or pipelines. Beware of overhead obstacles and electric lines.

Is a complete man portable, compact one-person well drillingsystem! It can be maneuvered into locations where conventional truck-mounted drill rigs cannot go. For example, it can be used in confined locations, or to drill in backyards where large truck drills would tear up the landscape. It can be maneuvered into wooded areas or hilltops or by helicopter to remote locations where it would be considered impossible to drive a truck because the roads are not adequate enough to sustain a large truck drill rig or simply don"t exist .

The PORTADRILLMINI ® DRILL system makes it ideal for people with no prior experience in well drilling. The portability advantages of the system makes it possible to have water wells where ever you need them, not just where you can afford to pay a drilling contractor to drill.

With one PORTADRILLMINI ® DRILL, you can drill many wells repetitively. If you are drilling near an existing water system, you can frequently use water from the garden hose to assist in injection methods. Otherwise, you will need at minimum a 5 h.p. trash pump or mud pump and access to 50 to 150 gallons of drilling water to re-circulate the water.

A & D Drilling Supply Corporation can supply you a pump that is designed for the job. It will handle abrasive sandy water, and will allow the use of additives to prevent cave-ins when drilling in sand or gravel strata (more on that later). You will need 10 to 20 gallons per minute at 20 to 40 psi..

To use the well drilling pump, dig a small pit next to the drill hole and fill it with water. Use the pump to draw the water out of the pit and into the drill steel and bit. As the water flushes back up the hole, channel it into the pit to be re-circulated. This way, you drill your well using a minimal amount of water. As a starter, have on hand about one gallon of water for each foot you expect to drill. A 30-gallon plastic bag in a trashcan makes a good container for hauling water to a drill site. Two or three 30-gallon bags should provide enough drilling water for most locations.

The circulation of water keeps the hole clean by washing the cuttings to the surface; this also allows you to examine the cuttings and identify the material from each level of drilling. These cuttings can tell you when you have found water.

Maintaining good water circulation while you drill is the most important factor in successful drilling. Failure to maintain good water circulation can cause bit failure and other problems. If at any time you lose circulation, stop drilling and pull up at least one drill steel section until circulation is restored before you continue to drill deeper. WARNINGCONTINUING TO DRILL DEEPER WITHOUT CIRCULATION MAY CAUSE THE DRILL BIT AND DRILL STEEL TO BECOME JAMMED AND STUCK !

DRAG BITS: The Heavy Duty DRAG Bitis used in drilling earth, sand, clay, gravel and some softer rock formations. Unless you run into a layer of hard, solid rock, you should drill to the total depth of the well with your DRAG BIT .

Tri-cone Bits(also known as roller cone bits):The Tri-cone drill bit is used in solid rock. The long toothed, tungsten carbide tipped bit is used in most sandstone, limestone, coral, granite and some lava rock formations that have favorable cutting characteristics.

Occasionally, you may encounter a stratum of sand that tends to cave in on the drill steel. Or you may drill into an extremely porous stratum that causes a loss of circulation. In this event, you will need to pre-mix a thickening additive with your re-circulation system or use foam injection methods.

There are two types of thickening agents. One is bentonite clay called "drillers mud." The other type of thickening agent is a gel that forms a viscous fluid the consistency of buttermilk. These products are most effective when mixed together in your injection drill fluids.

As long as proper circulation was maintained for the full duration of the drilling process the drill bit and drill steel can easily be lifted from the hole. Each bit is designed to cut a hole that is larger than the bit itself. If the drill steel does not turn freely by hand then the well did not remain open and can possibly be jammed with well cuttings, or worse collapsed.

After you have drilled down and found a promising formation. Now you "case" the well, which simply means inserting a casing (metal pipe) to keep the well from collapsing at some future time. At the bottom of your well, you will use a "well screen" or strainer to keep the sand and gravel out of your well.

To increase the full potential of volume of this well solid casing is joined to the well screen and continued all the way to the top. Some small pea gravel is poured on the outside of the pipe to within 20 feet of ground level. The pea gravel helps filter the sand out of the water before it enters the screen and casing. It also serves as a conduit or passageway for water from a stratum above the screened area to work its way down to the screen filtering through the gravel pack all the way.

If you drill through a water-bearing stratum along the way and don"t notice it, you haven"t cut off the supply from the stratum. This is why we recommend only one section of screen and a good gravel pack. The top 15"-20" of your well must be sealed around the outside of your casing to prevent ground water contamination.

Before you install the permanent pump on the well, it is necessary to clean out any cuttings remaining inside the casing. Much of the material can be flushed out by test pumping the well with a gasoline water pump or by dropping a water hose to the bottom of the well and pumping clean water through it. Because this is a shallow depth pump, it may be necessary to add clean water to the well as you pump to maintain an artificial shallow pumping depth.

If you have an air compressor, the well can be circulated - flowed with air. This will not only clean out the well, but will give you a good idea of the water production of the well. The well needs to circulate and flow to remove the cuttings and or residuals of drilling additives. This "circulation " is the term "developing a well," it gives the water vein a chance to open up and flow more freely. Just about every new well will improve in both quality and quantity of water after a few hours (or even a few days in some cases) of pumping.

Much has been researched about water well drilling -find an underground vein or strata of water and dig or drill an opening to it. When you see fresh, clean cool water pouring out on the ground, you will realize that whatever effort of labor you made to get it was meaningful. Water is life! To control one of the elements of life makes the thrill of discovering water an experience hard to equal!

To view the PORTADRILLMINI Drill in action drilling through rock see the video link.The link for the video is mms://media.engr.psu.edu/rth_net/drill_june2006.wmv

The objective in choosing a method to drill a water well is to use the least expensive method that can be successful given the type of material that must be drilled through and the depth that must be drilled to reach an acceptable source of groundwater.

Often, there are no options, and the choices we have are limited, maybe even non-existent. But the method used to drill a water well must match the geology.

Most manual well drilling methods have been adapted to use machine power instead of human power. Also, powered methods have been developed that can drill larger diameter boreholes much deeper and faster than any manual method. Machines used to drill a water well are typically called a "drill rig" or just a "rig".

This method employs a pump to force a flow of water down a drill pipe and out a narrow nozzle to make a ""jet"" of water that loosens the sediment. The return flow of water outside the drill pipe carries cuttings up to the surface and into a settling pit. The pump then returns the water back down the pipe. The drill pipe is suspended from a tripod and rotated by hand to keep the borehole straight.

This method only requires lengths of pipe and a water pump that can generate sufficient pressure. The pipe is often left in the ground to serve as the well casing.

The diameter of the borehole is only slightly larger than the drill pipe/casing. Therefore, it is difficult to install an adequate sanitary seal to protect the well from surface water contamination.

This is a mechanized version of manual percussion drilling. The heavy drill bit and related parts are called the ""tools"" and they are raised and dropped on a steel cable.

A cable tool rig can drill through anything. The larger versions can drill a water well hundreds of meters deep. Compared with other powered drill rigs, the machinery is simple and has a relatively low rate of fuel consumption

Compared to other drill rigs of a similar size, a cable tool rig will drill a water wellvery slowly. When drilling in loose sediments, it is necessary to drive steel pipe behind the drill bit to keep the borehole from collapsing.

This method used to drill a water well starts with the basic concept of well jetting described above. Add a larger cutting bit, lengths of steel drill pipe with threaded joints, a motor to turn and lift the drill pipe, and a sturdy mast to support the pipe and you have the elements of a mud rotary drill rig. A further refinement is mixing bentonite clay or other materials in the water to improve its ability to lift cuttings out of the hole; this fluid is called ""drilling mud"" or just ""mud.""

There are many kinds of mud rotary drill rigs used to drill a water well. They fall in two basic categories; table drive, where the drill pipe is turned by a rotating mechanism near the base of the rig, and top-head drive, where the drill pipe is turned by a motor attached to the upper end of the pipe.

In both types, the upper end of the drill pipe is attached to a lifting mechanism that raises and lowers it along the mast. Both types of mud rotary rigs also have a swivel attached to the upper end of the drill pipe that allows drilling mud to be pumped down the drill pipe while the pipe is rotating.

The larger the rig, the faster and deeper it can drill. The LS100 and LS200 drill rigs are mud rotary rigs at the small end of the range of drill rig sizes.

Mud rotary drilling is also much faster than cable tool. A large mud rotary rig can drill a borehole 60 cm in diameter to 1,000 meters or more. Even a small rig like the LS200 can drill a 20 cm porthole to a depth of 60 meters.

As a result, mud rotary rigs use more fuel per hour than a comparable cable tool rig. Most drilling operations that use a large mud rotary rig also require support vehicles to haul water and drill pipe.

The mechanical elements of an air rotary drill rig are similar to a mud rotary rig; table drive and top-head drive are the two basic options for rotating the drill pipe. The principal difference is an air rotary rig uses compressed air to remove cuttings rather than drilling mud.

A type of ""foam"" can be added to the air stream to improve cuttings removal and provide some borehole stability. An air rotary rig can use the same type of drill bits as a mud rig, but it can also drill with a down-the-hole hammer.

This type of bit uses compressed air to break up rock and it can drill very fast. A large air rotary rig can drill a borehole 60 cm in diameter