Need beginner advice on how to put in shallow well

[stormy]

I need a well to water plants, wash off beach stuff & pets. We have a shallow water table (15 to 25 feet) & have sandy soil across the street from the Atlantic ocean (excluding a macadam layer which is vestigal remnant from runway dating back to WWII). The well which came with the house does NOT supply our potable water & I do not intend to use the new well for this. Our initial well/pump system simply quit providing water several years ago even though the pump runs. We have had a heck of a time to have even 1 person come look at system - declared it "fouled" & unfixable as it sits next to the back of the house beneath the stand holding the heat pumps. Sooo, I am interested in digging a shallow well myself. I can't get a truck into our yard due to big shrubberies on our wedge-shaped lot so this will be using tools I can drag into the back. Simple specific info would be REALLY appreciated. Thanks in advance...

[Bob F]

Wash in PVC well points with your hose.

You can get the well points by going to a full service hardware store and ordering them.

Or, you can get stainless steel "driven points"

Google "well points" for more ideas.

Bob

[Rick]

One of the guys at work did the same thing. He had sandy soil too. He went to a plumbing suppy and got some advice, a well point, some well casing, pipe and a tripod/rope/weight arrangement and pounded the point 25 ft down to make a well for lawn irrigation. Took him a couple of days.

But first, check if your original well pump perhaps lost its prime? There is a check valve at the foot of the well that prevents the water in the well pipe from dropping back into the well when the pump shuts off. It keeps the water in the pump. There has to be water in the pump body before it will pump anything. I would try to run some house water back thru the pump into the well to restore prime. That may be all you need to do: prime the pump, or if it won't hold, remove the pipe from the well and check if there is water in the well at all, or most likely fix a leaky/stuck open check valve. Good luck.

[lee houston]

go to google.com and enter driven water well for more hits.

lee

[Goedjn]

You can buy a well point from

that you should be able to just drive into sandy soil with a sledghammer, once you get past the pavement. Or you could just bury a couple of plastic water tanks and fill them with water off the roof. Most places on the east coast get enough rain for that to work.

[gfretwell]

I would try to jet one down before I got to involved. Just hook your hose up to a piece of 1.5" pipe, turn the water on and push it down. If you don't hit a shell ledge you will go right down. It will pump sand for a while but it will be OK.