Dug Well

[sdunston]

Just purchased the farm across the road from were I plan the move the sawmill soon. While cleaning around I found an old dug well that is laid up flat ston and is about 20 feet deep(has about 10 feet of water in it. Are you soposed to dig out the sediment in the botton every or just leaving it along. My plan is to just use it in the case the power goes out for any length of time( just to wsah and flush not to drink) this is my first dug well so I am in the dark on how to maintain it , Any help would be great
thanks Sam

[Weekend_Sawyer]

When I was a teenager my brother had a hand dug well. He still has it but does not use it.
We had clean it out because all of the stuff we threw down it when we were kids just to hear it go sploosh. I wouldn't fit down it now. His was  40' deep and only had a couple of feet of watter in it. It would run out pretty quick. It was amazing to go down it and look back up and see how the pipe sections were not quite in line and a small circle of light at the top with a little face looking down at you.

I would think with 10' of water you would be pretty good. Why don't you put a pump in it and pump it for a while, see how long it lasts and if it brings up any sand or mud.

Jon

[Papa1stuff]

I can remember when I was a Kid ,we had a dug well (in Vermont ) and there was a brook trout in it ,as long as he was alive the water was Ok!

[Don_Papenburg]

I had have a dug well on my farm  .   I had to clean it out the last owners filled it with old building material and dirt .  I got the big stuff out and then had the vator truck come and suck out the remainder.    Then I pumped it a few times and caped it then built a pit around the well and back filled so it slopes away .  Then I put up the windmill so I can put in the hand pump some day .  It has a jet pump  now that feeds the sheds and house.

I had the best dug well when I had property in Manville . Nice cold water .  It had a cracked Red Jacket hand pump . All the forks from the town would come and get water there .For years  I used to drink out of the well . that is till I saw a stray dog pee on the pump right on the crack.

Peple all over the world use dug wells . Noreason you could not use yours .  Keep it covered and don't let the dogs near the pump and you should be fine.

[Chris Burchfield]

My Dad's parents had a hand dug well.  Red brick was laid to wall it about 42" in diameter.  It was about 10' down to the water table.  They used a bucket initially, then later a pump.  The well was enclosed on the back screened in porch and was built up to waist high.  They kept a bi-fold wooden cover over it.  Raised three girls and six boys on it.  Not to mention the slew of grandchildren who'd visit.

[Qweaver]

I'd like to dig a well close to the house just as a backup to our rainwater system.  It would just be used for washing and flushing.  How could I find out how to dig a well?  My backhoe will reach down about 9' but I could dig a pathway in and get down below the water level easy enough.
Quinton

[Holmes]

I have and use the dug well on my property. The board of health told me I had to make it amphibian proof, it had an  open top and was stone lined. I had an excavator dig out all the old well {only 10' deep}then we put in 2 5' diameter  concrete cisterns and a 4' cistern with cover. It is gravity feed [ 550' ]to the house with a booster pump in the cellar. The cisterns hold about 1200 gallons of water underground. I also had to put in an overflow pipe and it does get used. You do not want fish or anything that can die in your well. If you use the well as a secondary water supply you do not want it connected to your existing water supply, you could end up with 2 contaminated wells. You do not have to remove the  sediment unless  you want to get drinking water. The easiest way to remove sediment will be with a trash pump [ construction pump].     Holmes

[scsmith42]

that is till I saw a stray dog pee on the pump right on the crack.

:D  :D  :D

[Don_Papenburg]

I just read about digging a well yourself .    The article I read suggested the use of concrete pipe about 42" so you have room to move.  Dig a hole deepenough for the first pipe . Set it into the hole with the female flange down and dig around enough to get it level and plumb.  Then set the second on top of the first and then dig around it slowly enough to keep it straight .  When it is deep enough to be level with the ground surface roll on another .  Repete the digging .  Put on another pipe and get help hauling the dirt out  or put a guilt trip on the kids so they will finnish digging . Make a tripod or some other winch to help the kids get the dirt out .  Dig till you get water.

[Dan_Shade]

also, when somebody is about 10 foot down, toss a cat in the well with them  :D

[Onthesauk]

I have a dug well somewhere uphill from our house, have never been able to find it.  Dug back in the early 50's.  I talked to the daughter of the fellow who dug the well.  She remembers her father digging it when she was about 5 years old.  Her job was to hang around and run for help if it caved in on Dad!

[easymoney]

you might find that lost well when you are not looking for it if it is covered over with boards and weeds. a tractor wheel would mark the spot really well.
there is an old hand dug cistern on the farm where we once lived. the house burned years ago but the cistern was not damaged in the fire. it is scarey to think about walking around old house places where there might be an old well or cistern covered over with rotten boards just waiting for you to step on them.

[Onthesauk]

I worried a little about finding it that way, but it's suppose to be lined and have a concrete cap on it.  Was suppose to have been just 10 to 12 feet deep and when siphoned into a stock tank at the bottom of the hill, would run, non-stop, all summer long.

[iffy]

We had 2 dug wells laid up with limestone rock on our farm. Grandpa usta tell me about a guy that would travel around cleaning wells. He would rig up a catbird seat and a pulley and would wear a miner's lamp. He would take along a hammer and a bucket and have someone lower him slowly into the well. On the way down every time a snake stuck its head out he would hammer it and catch it in the bucket. At the bottom he would pick up all the trash he could find and then send it up in the bucket. Usually took several trips. 'Course Grandpa usta tell me a lot of stuff.  :D
In later years I was checking out the water level in one of the wells. It had a metal cover with a hinged door in the middle. I opened the door and laid down with a flashlight and stuck me head in. Was eye to eye with a bullsnake. Grabbed him and hauled him out, then did it again. And again. Ended up pulling 5 out from 4' to 6' long. Glad we were only using that well to water the garden. Maybe Grandpa was right.  ;D

[ely]

we have two dug wells on our property. if they ever need cleaning it will be someone else cleaning them. snakes he said snakes
there used to be an old man in the community that was a well digger by trade. he has dug many wells in the past and many of them are still used today, that was eighty years ago or so. he lined the wells he dug with red brick. you can look into the wells and they are laid perfectly straight. the details on the wells or should i say craftmanship are amazing. the most amazing thing about the story is this man was said to have been born blind.

[den]

A good book

Hand Dug-Wells and their Construction S.B.Watt and W.E.Wood - IT Publications, 1985

[Chuck White]

You could also contact someone in your local Fire Dept to see if they would bring out their "trash pump" and pump out the muck in the bottom of the well.

Actually pump (or see if you can) the well dry and find out how long it takes for it to refill!

Doing this will actually help to keep the water veins and channels open.

[Tug Hill Walt]

Up until we got municipal water three years ago we depended on a dug well. 18 feetdeep usually with 10 feet of water. Opened it up one year pumped it down for inspection and found a bunch of small bones on the bottom.looked like snake. the wife asked 'what happened to the rest of it ?"  told her that we drank it. Finished the clean out and poured a gallon of bleach in for good measure.  Got down in by putting a ladder in and suspending it by tying it off to something solid. Didn't stur up the bottom that way.

[sandhills]

Never had a dug well, but have had a cistern. Knocked the screen off the overflow pipe with the mower one time, anyway gophers taste just like a dead mouse smells if anybody was curious.  Never told the wife why I had to clean the cistern that time, she divorced me soon enough the way was!! :D