[susan1p]

Hello, I live on farm and we have an old well with a wood casing that is collapsing. We use a bucket to draw water, but we were wanting to repair the shaft and put a hand pump on the top to replace the bucket. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we can get started with this project?
My husband and I were thinking we would dropa plastic tube in close to the size of the width od the wooden shaft and go from there....
any suggestion would be so appreciated!

 

[hayewe farm]

What is the inside diameter of the casing and how deep is it?

 

[Thurman]

I had to read this one twice. " Hello, I live on farm. We use a bucket to draw water." If this is the way you want to live then that is fine with me. What caught my eye is that you "draw water from a well" but you evidently have Internet access as you posted your message on this forum. May I ask-why would you not invest in an electric pump to draw your water? AND, if you are drawing your water with a bucket then you are not drawing it from very deep, what is the water quality at that level vs, a deep well?

 

[joed]

What is the diameter of the casing
Two possible solutions.
1. A culvert pipe(steel or plastic) the proper diameter dropped inside the old wood casing.Possibly fill the gap with stone or clay fill.
2. Concrete tube. Think manholes. Those concrete tubes they stack to create a manhole.

A well with a bucket does not necessarily indicate no plumbing. I know places that have nonpotable wells with hand pumps installed and used for lawn and garden watering.

 

[susan1p]

we do have all the modern amenities...

I had to read this one twice. " Hello, I live on farm. We use a bucket to draw water." If this is the way you want to live then that is fine with me. What caught my eye is that you "draw water from a well" but you evidently have Internet access as you posted your message on this forum. May I ask-why would you not invest in an electric pump to draw your water? AND, if you are drawing your water with a bucket then you are not drawing it from very deep, what is the water quality at that level vs, a deep well?

We just use this well to water the animals and trees etc....
it is about 2.5 ft in diameter and approx 40 ft deep.We have an electric pump that we do drop down occasionally to empty it onto the garden, but seeing that the farm is almost 100 yrs old and we have a keen interest in antiques etc, we wanted to maybe put a hand pump on top and maintain the "old" feel of the yard as well as have a useful well...

 

[susan1p]

Thank you

What is the diameter of the casing
Two possible solutions.
1. A culvert pipe(steel or plastic) the proper diameter dropped inside the old wood casing.Possibly fill the gap with stone or clay fill.
2. Concrete tube. Think manholes. Those concrete tubes they stack to create a manhole.

A well with a bucket does not necessarily indicate no plumbing. I know places that have nonpotable wells with hand pumps installed and used for lawn and garden watering.

the first idea sounds like about the best one. The diameter is about 2.5 ft and maybe 40 feet deep. I think we will give it a try and hopefully be able to mount a hand pump on the top....

 

[susan1p]

thank you for the replies

We will try dropping the plastic pipe down, it is about 2.5 ft diameter and approx 40 ft deep....then we want to put a hand pump on top and possibly build a stone type "pile" for it. The well is only for animals, plants and decoration. Has anyone actually done this before?

 

[jogr]

Susan, there are a lot of local, state and federal regulations dealing with wells. You really should consult with your local regulatory people. Do you have a local USDA county extension agent. They are often a good source of information for things like this. Your failing casing could potentially contaminate the ground water and placing an inner round casing might require grouting the space between the old and new casing. You may or may not want to do this yourself. 40 feet of pipe being lowered down an 40 ft deep 2.5 ft diameter hole could be very dangerous. And you may be able to use a much smaller diameter casing since you won't be using a bucket.

There are certainly a lot of hand pumps available and they are not rare(at least outside of Georgia LOL). Here's just a few that popped up on a quick search.
http://www.bisonpumps.com/index.htm
http://www.simplepump.com/hand_pumps.html
http://www.pumpsandtanks.com/Pumps/hand_pumps.htm
http://www.bakermonitor.com/domestic_new/hand_pump_stands/index.html

You will likely need a deep well hand pump.

 

[hayewe farm]

If you have livestock you might want to check with the Extension Service, there may be money available to do it right.

 

[DUDE!]

Not the same as your situation but at old house, had a 22' well out front, stone sides, wood boards across the top, used pvc pipe attached to a hand pump, used sometimes for watering plants. One problem I had was I had to prime it everytime I wanted to use it, maybe this is not the case if I used it more or had thought to put a check-valve at the bottom. And yes, I'd get the water tested if I was giving it to the animals.

 

[piercekiltoff]

I think it's generally true that animals can withstand WAY more contaminants in the water than people can, and they generally won't drink really bad water. I recently bid a project where the client said he was only cleaning and showering in the water, but strangely, his entire kennel full of dogs wouldn't touch the stuff - I don't know how he even brought himself to shower in it.

Anyway, I digress. Definitely check with the local regulators - typically natural resource departments are in charge of this stuff.

There is very very strong evidence that surface water can and will follow well casings from the surface all the way down to the ground water layers - essentially, this means anything you spread on the surface, can end up in the ground water (such as RoundUp, manure, dog fecal matter, septic system grey water, etc).

If I were you, I'd look at installing a steel or plastic/fiberglass liner, then filling around the casing with grout sealant - preferably bentonite. If you use bentonite, you should probably gravel pack the bottom 5 feet of the pipe - use pea gravel 1/4" or smaller, graded & chlorinated. Obviously, this description of work is based on my personal opinion, not any local codes - even for where I work this is not a legal fix.