The process of having the well drilled was fairly straightforward, although the company we hired was very busy and they were a month out when we scheduled with them. On the day of the drill, they arrived with two trucks - the well drilling rig, and the supply truck. Both are pictured below.
The well drilling process begins with installing casing, steel pipe that extends from about one foot above finished grade to at least 10 feet into the ledge or bedrock. This creates a seal minimizing the chance of ground water entering the well. Typical wells in this area require between 40' and 100' of casing. We needed 40', and the depth to bedrock at our site was 20'.
Once the casing is installed, the drilling process continues. A drill bit is sent down the casing, while simultaneously introducing water in the hole to create a "slurry." The slurry carries debris from the drilling up and out of the hole.
The drill bits used with drilling wells are pretty impressive, and although I don't have a photo of the exact bit used for our well, below is an example of a Tricone Rock Bit, similar to what was used for our well. The bit has three conical rollers with teeth made of a hard material, such as tungsten carbide. The teeth break rock by crushing as the rollers move around the bottom of the borehole.
As drilling continued, they reached 200', the average well depth, and kept going… no water until a depth of 385 feet!!! And when we hit water, it gushed at 15 gallons per minute! Apparently, this much volume could provide water for an entire neighborhood! In general 5 gallons per minute is able to meet most demands of a residential home, so we certainly don't need to worry about running out of water!
Once the well is drilled, the trench to run the water pipes from the well to the house can be dug. In the photo below, you can see the top of the well on the left and the trench going to the house. The well company came back about a week later to connect the well to the house.
The final step is installing and connecting a well pressure tank, otherwise known as the water tank. There are two pipes coming into the house, one for the water, and the other for the electric to run the pump. We installed an 35 gallon water tank. Although we don't have power yet, we can run the well pump using the generator, hook up a hose and have running water! Exciting!
Next on the agenda… POWER!!!!!!
The water tank is a 35 gallon tank.
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