DIY Water Well Questions

I live in the Houston area and we have ground water with a head around 20' or so. My buddy and I have been working to drill our own wells and I have been finding some good help on this forum so I wanted to post a few questions here before I get everything finished up on it. First, some details:

We hand augured a 6" hole down 15' and put in a 6" thin well PVC pipe as our outer casing. Then we water jetted a 4" pipe down 40'. We removed the 4" and installed 20' of 4" .010 PVC well screen and 4" casing down to 40". The water head is around 23' at the moment. After installing the screen, we put a 2" pipe down to the bottom and used a trash/mud pump to flush the well clear. I am installing a 1/2 hp submersible pump with a 1" ploy pipe riser. It will be hooked to a 20 gal diaphragm tank. I will be hooking the tank to my irrigation system and also pulling a 3/4" hose bib off of the tank for a water hose. We will not be hooking up to the house. This will strictly be for irrigation, which is why 40' was deep enough.

For washing the 4" screen in, we used a 4"x2" reducer bushing with 2" pipe threaded in hooked to the mud pump. When complete, we unscrewed the 2" and pulled it out. Then we poured a small amount of gravel down to semi-seal the hole.

I've killed 2 pumps at this point. After installing each one, I have been able to run for as long as I like - 20-50 gallons at 10 gallons/minute. Initially, the water has been dirty and sandy then clears up around the 5 gallon mark. Then, I've turned the pump off and then the pump gets frozen and won't come on. I've been able to remove the pump, and manually rotate the impeller shaft to get it free, then run in a tank without issue. However, it freezes back up the next time down. Upon further inspection, it appears that the impellers may be getting chewed up since I'm seeing some white plastic shavings.

So, I have a third pump on order as well as some stainless screen to wrap the pump in to prevent larger particles from getting in. I'm just trying to figure out if I'm doing something wrong here.

Am I getting gravel in the pumps (doubt it since I haven't had it come out when manually reversing the impeller and can't hear it when shaking)?

Is it just the sand that's killing them?

Is my well screen not fine enough?


At this point, I've got a decent amount of time and money in this effort, but this is the most critical part I guess. Any advice, pointers, or even gentle criticism is welcome. I'm sure I've done some things incorrectly at this point, but I just want to get this working...

Thanks in advance!

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With a 6" hole you will need 4" casing with centralizers to get the annular space needed for a good gravel pack. Still not going to be much annular space, so centralizing is important. You don't want the mud any thicker than necessary, but thick enough to float out the heavies. If you get too much mud on the walls it is hard to develop and get water to come through. Not enough mud and the walls sluf off before you get the casing installed. Every area does it a little differently. A driller from your area would know more about the size of the perforations or screen needed, and the size of gravel to go with. But normally an analysis is done of the drill cuttings to determine the perf and gravel size needed to keep the sand out. In our area we rarely have to add mud. There is enough clay on the surface to make the mud needed when we get to the water bearing zone. But we usually sweep the well with a polymer from the bottom of the hole, then flush a load of fresh water to thin the mud as much as possible before installing the casing. Gravel pack must be done slowly to prevent bridging, and to be careful not to add to much. We stop the gravel at more than 10' below the surface, so we can grout or cement the top 10' to seal the well. If the well is flushed properly before adding the casing, there isn't much left to develop. Just pumping it hard is all that is needed to clean it up and make a good well.

There are lots of little tricks to know like using a drill collar and stabilizer to keep the hole open and not have to push down too hard. The drill needs to be heavy enough to drop on its own, as pushing makes for a crooked hole. We use flow through stabilizers to keep the mud walls packed tight and smooth. All of this needs to be done properly because a sandy well is a problem for life. And of course you need to make sure to have the proper permits and well spacing for your area. Wells need to be a certain distance from each other, a certain distance from septic systems, and a certain distance from the border of your property.

If you manage to make a good well, then you will need a good pump system. There are lots of tricks to learn there as well. The first thing to learn is that a pump likes to run 24/7/365, but they hate to be cycled on and off. You will need to install a pump large enough to meet the peak demands of the system, but set it up to not be cycled to death when using smaller amounts of water. Rarely is a pump used at its maximum flow rate, which causes the pump to cycle on/off repeatedly while you are using water. House well size pumps will work perfectly fine down to as little as 1 GPM, but they won't survive long when being cycled on and off repeatedly. A Cycle Stop Valve will make a standard pump into a variable flow pump that will not cycle as long as you are using more than 1 GPM. Normally you have to use the max flow a pump can produce to keep it from cycling, which is hard to do. A Cycle Stop Valve solves those problems and many others as well. Understanding that cycling is the worst thing for a pump and they will work fine down to 1 GPM is a sign of someone who really understands what they are doing. This industry is full of people who think they know everything, yet don't have a clue how pumps really work. You can use the Cycle Stop Valves as a litmus test to find knowledgeable help. Anyone who says cycling on/off is not bad for pumps or that they need more than 1 GPM to stay cool is giving bad advice about everything. The ones that don't understand pumps usually have the biggest mouths, you just need to back away and find some knowledgeable help.

There is a lot that books can't teach about well drilling. Many of us have spent 50 years learning this stuff. Good thing I am a retired well driller or I wouldn't be apt to give out that information. I think it is good for people to try drilling their own well, as that will make them appreciate what a good driller can do and how much he charges.With a 6" hole you will need 4" casing with centralizers to get the annular space needed for a good gravel pack. Still not going to be much annular space, so centralizing is important. You don't want the mud any thicker than necessary, but thick enough to float out the heavies. If you get too much mud on the walls it is hard to develop and get water to come through. Not enough mud and the walls sluf off before you get the casing installed. Every area does it a little differently. A driller from your area would know more about the size of the perforations or screen needed, and the size of gravel to go with. But normally an analysis is done of the drill cuttings to determine the perf and gravel size needed to keep the sand out. In our area we rarely have to add mud. There is enough clay on the surface to make the mud needed when we get to the water bearing zone. But we usually sweep the well with a polymer from the bottom of the hole, then flush a load of fresh water to thin the mud as much as possible before installing the casing. Gravel pack must be done slowly to prevent bridging, and to be careful not to add to much. We stop the gravel at more than 10' below the surface, so we can grout or cement the top 10' to seal the well. If the well is flushed properly before adding the casing, there isn't much left to develop. Just pumping it hard is all that is needed to clean it up and make a good well.There are lots of little tricks to know like using a drill collar and stabilizer to keep the hole open and not have to push down too hard. The drill needs to be heavy enough to drop on its own, as pushing makes for a crooked hole. We use flow through stabilizers to keep the mud walls packed tight and smooth. All of this needs to be done properly because a sandy well is a problem for life. And of course you need to make sure to have the proper permits and well spacing for your area. Wells need to be a certain distance from each other, a certain distance from septic systems, and a certain distance from the border of your property.If you manage to make a good well, then you will need a good pump system. There are lots of tricks to learn there as well. The first thing to learn is that a pump likes to run 24/7/365, but they hate to be cycled on and off. You will need to install a pump large enough to meet the peak demands of the system, but set it up to not be cycled to death when using smaller amounts of water. Rarely is a pump used at its maximum flow rate, which causes the pump to cycle on/off repeatedly while you are using water. House well size pumps will work perfectly fine down to as little as 1 GPM, but they won't survive long when being cycled on and off repeatedly. A Cycle Stop Valve will make a standard pump into a variable flow pump that will not cycle as long as you are using more than 1 GPM. Normally you have to use the max flow a pump can produce to keep it from cycling, which is hard to do. A Cycle Stop Valve solves those problems and many others as well. Understanding that cycling is the worst thing for a pump and they will work fine down to 1 GPM is a sign of someone who really understands what they are doing. This industry is full of people who think they know everything, yet don't have a clue how pumps really work. You can use the Cycle Stop Valves as a litmus test to find knowledgeable help. Anyone who says cycling on/off is not bad for pumps or that they need more than 1 GPM to stay cool is giving bad advice about everything. The ones that don't understand pumps usually have the biggest mouths, you just need to back away and find some knowledgeable help.

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