I spent the last couple of days reclaiming a shallow water well that has not been used in at least 20 years...the well originally furnished water for the house I inherited, and pump and tank actually lies at the bottom of a 10' bricked well shaft about 6' in diameter...having an on site source of water for hurricane season or whatever has been one of my long term goals... I was just going to drive a sand point well down, but since the casing was already there, would try to resurrect it and have the water tested....so naturally in the cramped quarters, broke off the top of the drop tube...found I was unable to pull the drop tube... and had to deal with a really pissed off black snake... decided to add an extension to the drop tube to ground level and add a pitcher pump...decked over the open hole...problem was that the pitcher pump was very hard to work, and thought I'd probably break off the drop tube...I was saved by YouTube... thanks to a video by "babaloo42" and a modification to the pump shaft by "sameggers1"... built a PVC bicycle style pump that is very easy to operate, and will pump from much deeper than the traditional 20-25' pitcher pump....still pulling a bunch of rust from the original well, but it is slowly clearing up...look up the deep well hand pump, and add it to you storehouse of vast knowledge....a 3/4" foot valve attached to a short section of pipe (for weight) coupled to a length of 5/8" garden hose could probably be dropped down a shallow well casing, raised and lowered a couple of feet at a time, and be used to pump non potable water that could be treated...

sounds like a job "well" done..i did about the same with the hand pumped well at my first home in the 70's.i put in a submersible pump on the end of 70 feet of plastic pipe.i was told to run the pump all day to clear the sand or the pump would bind.

Any suggestions for a really deep well.. 350'

lostscout... try the "sameggers1" vid on YouTube... he makes a modification of the PVC deep piston pump shown by "babaloo42" and is able to pump around 90' and probably good for more... his well casing is 400+ deep... I used his modification, but only need to pump about 20'...my casing is over 90' but I was not able to pull the existing drop tube..


we seem to have lost some posts...