E-Mail 'Thirsty Are Those Who Do Not Prep- Part 3, by The Grumpy Gunfighter' To A Friend

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5 Comments

  1. Or you can go to YouTube and enter this in the search window:
    Drill Your Own Well Series – Part 1

    Though I haven’t tried it yet, it seems to be much simpler.

  2. On the links for pumps, the siphon pump link mentioned in the 2006 Survivalblog article doesn t work. The Gould pump link only sells electric pumps and the stainless steel pump is no longer available.
    Does anyone have information about the large metal hand pump in the picture at the beginning of the article? I’ve seen pics of it before. It’s installed in what looks like an African village and appears very sturdy.

  3. Here’s another way to dig a shallow well, we used this in Viet Nam. In an area where you know the water table is no more than 20-50 feet deep this will work fine. It is labor intensive but absolutely no special tools are needed. Get a number of sections of standard cement culvert pipe. Maybe 3-4ft diameter. Set the first section vertically on the ground where you wish to establish your well. Climb up and inside the culvert, start digging the dirt from the inside. It is of course helpful to have a couple assistants. Have them stand on the outside of the pipe with ropes attached to a five gallon buckets, placed inside the pipe, that you fill and they will remove. As the dirt is remove from the inside of the pipe it slowly settles. As it settles to slightly below the surface of the earth place the next section. Continue this procedure until you reach the water table. Continue digging until the water is at least waist high….about half a culvert. Of course this is a very crude and rudimentary well, make sure to leave at least six inches to a foot of culvert above your surface level. Make a simple rope bucket winch, like you see in the old western movies. Also it would be good to make a lid to keep out debris between uses. If you have the manpower this can be a very quick and efficient means of obtaining a well. I have heard of a well such as this becoming operational within 6-8 hours.

  4. What about freezing ? Are you going to build a “well house” over the well and keep pipes from freezing ? How do you plan to heat the well house ? What about a “pit-less” adapter ? We all have seen fence posts “heaved” because of frost. Putting concrete as you advise is asking for problems. The well casing should be “grouted-in” (cement and sand) from above the screen to the surface. It has to be pumped in from bottom to up because pouring from top to down will cause “honey-combing” and a lack of seal. A lack of seal sets you up to have a contaminated well from ground water and pollutants . Do you plan on paying full MSRP or higher for your pump , pipe etc? How do you plan on decontaminating the casing, pump, pipe, and wire going down the well ? Are you willing to accept the liability that your well contaminated many wells in your area ? As I was working on an old mans well he (90 years old) ,casually said “someday water will be more expensive than gasoline”. Then gas was very cheap and water was not sold in grocery stores. At the time I could not imagine that. I can now, some 40 years later. I wish I could talk to him again.

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