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  1. #1
    Senior Member Rank = Gosai Brandlin's Avatar
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    Arrow Well, well, well ...

    A bit of an oddball question...

    I wonder if anyone here has experience of drilling their own well to get 'free' water?

    My estimate is that i need around a 5m deep hole to reach the water table (based on nothing more than observation of surrounding land and streams.

    I *think* my ground is made up of layers of.
    top soil
    flint based gravel
    clay

    I know the top soil and the gravel extends around 2 m down and is heavily mixed in places (house used to be a church and the location i prefer used to be a graveyard so had many 6' deep holes dug and refilled in it - once to put someone in, once to take them out again when the ground was de-consecrated).

    I've been looking at a number of DIY methods before committing to "phoning the professionals" to survey the ground conditions, write a report and then turn up with 100k worth of machinery...

    I mean.... how hard can it really be to dig a 6m deep 150 wide hole?


    Last edited by Brandlin; 16-05-2018 at 02:23 PM.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    your braver than me,id be worried they forgot someone and knowing my luck i'd find them,andi

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  4. #3
    Senior Member Rank = Gosai Brandlin's Avatar
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    Not brave - adventurous!

    Doesn't look like this topic has much interest though....

    More research required.....

  5. #4
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Nanasai Rog.G's Avatar
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    If you google “drill your own well” you will see lots of videos showing you how to do it.
    I think a lot depends on how stoney the ground is and how far you have got drill to get to the water table. If you are lucky it can be achieved with a bit of plastic pipe fitted with a home made drill bit on the end and a garden hose supplying water for lubrication.

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  7. #5
    Senior Member Rank = Gosai Brandlin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rog.G View Post
    If you google “drill your own well” you will see lots of videos showing you how to do it.
    I think a lot depends on how stoney the ground is and how far you have got drill to get to the water table. If you are lucky it can be achieved with a bit of plastic pipe fitted with a home made drill bit on the end and a garden hose supplying water for lubrication.

    Hi Rog.G thanks

    I've looked at a number of methods from vac pumps, augers (manual and machinery) as well as the various water and air powered methods. 6m (estimated) is pretty shallow so its probably not worth the expense of investing in a specialist drill... but its a little deep for a simple augered hole ...

    I just thought it might be an interesting side topic here if anyone had practical experience...

  8. #6
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Frimley Koi keeper's Avatar
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    Sounds like an interesting project good luck with it as I'm sure with your knowledge you'll crack it in no time. Just hopefully you won't crack someone's water supply or it won't be a well it will be a geyser

    I've had to dig a few trenches for cable runs over the years and it seems everywhere I dig as soon as I go much more than 12" below the surface the water starts appearing in the bottom of the trench. That's probably got something to do with surface water seeping through the layers of soil as it sinks through to the water table below than actually reaching the water table at that depth.

    BTW I had to use spell check to get the right spelling for geyser as I had gezzer at first which is something totally different so I hope you don't end up finding one of them seeing as your on the site of an old graveyard

    I always though I must be anorexic or illegitimate as my spelling's terrible

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  10. #7
    https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F322691749158

    Business opportunity?




    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  12. #8
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Frimley Koi keeper's Avatar
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    And I thought I had a good sense of humour

    I knew koi keeping was expensive but that's OTT in anyone's book isn't it LOL

    He's an engineer not a millionaire

  13. #9
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Frimley Koi keeper's Avatar
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    Maybe this is a more cost effective option

    https://www.partypacks.co.uk/bucket-...BoCgEIQAvD_BwE

    Sorry - I'll get me coat !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  15. #10
    Senior Member Rank = Gosai Brandlin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frimley Koi keeper View Post
    He's an engineer not a millionaire
    Are the two mutually exclusive....


    As to all your suggestions - haha


    I suspect I am more in the market for this

    Although this looks like lots of fun!



    Though a quick look through local geology records is suggesting that the town i live in is called flint for a reason!

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  17. #11
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Frimley Koi keeper's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brandlin View Post
    Are the two mutually exclusive....
    OK you got me there Brandlin you could be both.

    Quote Originally Posted by Brandlin View Post
    Make sure you have your 3 shredded wheat and spinach before using the first one!!!
    And as for the second one I thought it was a WMD when I first saw it
    Last edited by Frimley Koi keeper; 18-05-2018 at 11:09 AM.

  18. #12
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Frimley Koi keeper's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brandlin View Post
    Did you find that by mistyping M&S

  19. #13
    Senior Member Rank = Gosai Brandlin's Avatar
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    no... S&M....

  20. #14
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Frimley Koi keeper's Avatar
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    Lol I thought you were trying to dig a well not take out a small country with your WMD

  21. #15
    Banned Rank = Mature Champion Trace's Avatar
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    My dad was involved in various aspects of quarrying as an explosives engineer ... I remember him with a large tripod supported powered drilling rig that he used to carry about on a landrover in the 70's ... unfortunately he's been dead for a good while now but wow you talking about drilling brought back memories of him taking me to his work the odd time (health and safety was a bit more relaxed in those days) ...

    I'll be interested to see how this goes ... love stuff like this ..

  22. #16
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Adult Champion bowsaw's Avatar
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    you can get a crew in Wirth a drill rig on the back of a trailer, same sort of set up as using poured pilling

    do you need an abstraction licence in your area?
    the slow pond build thread

  23. #17
    Senior Member Rank = Gosai Brandlin's Avatar
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    ah but where's the fun in having someone else do it?
    Its one of those things where doing it yourself is more fun than having the actual thing!

    Abstraction license.... See, i knew there was a good reason to ask if people !


    (several minutes on google later)

    If i am reading things correctly then the application process is the same across the UK and administered by the UK environment agency.
    You only need a license if you want to remove more than 20 cubic metres of water a day. I wont be anywhere near that...

    But i suspect a conversation with the Environment agency would be beneficial.....

  24. #18
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Adult Champion bowsaw's Avatar
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    the EA has been separated from covering England and Wales to just England now, Scotland all ready had its own agency and laws

    Wales has the NRW
    the slow pond build thread

  25. #19
    Senior Member Rank = Gosai Brandlin's Avatar
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    Sadly it looks like this little project is going to be beyond me.

    Whilst the NRW is happy in principle for me to abstract from the water table, it turns out that is a lot deeper than the stream running through the bottom of our little valley.

    In fact a quick survey and some conversation with local contractors suggests that could be as far as 15 metres down. I'm on a slab of rock which sits on and under glacial detritus ranging from pebbles to full on house sized boulders. So it wouldn't be a case of 'digging' more of 'professionally drilling'.

    It's possible but considering this was an 'interesting diversion' rather than any kind of necessity - it simply doesn't justify the expense or the effort.

    Oh for those lovely acres of easy dig sandy soils EVERY americna You Tuber seems to have lol....

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