Well Drilling Procedure with the LS200 Drill Rig

Part 2 - Drilling the Hole

The first step is to dig the mud pits and fill them with water.  We usually get water by filling three 55-gal. drums that are in the back of the Toyota at the nearest creek or pond - it takes around 50 drums of water to drill a well.  The kids really like helping with this duty.  We then add bentonite to the water to get it to the right viscosity. Then the drill rig and mud pump are set up, and everything checked out.

The well is drilled by the drive motor turning the rod, with drill bit attached, while the mud pump pumps the the drilling mud through the hollow drill pipe.  After the hole is advanced 5 feet, the rod is unscrewed, the motor lifted up and another pipe threaded on.  Then the hole is drilled 5 feet deeper.  This process is continued until the desired depth is achieved.  In new locations where we are unsure of the geology, we drill a 4" pilot hole to a depth of about 100 ft. below the local water table (as determined by nearby hand-dug wells).  Next we ream out the hole to the 6" final diameter so that we can set the 4" diameter well casing pipe. 

As the hole is drilled it is very important that a drilling log be kept of the rate of penetration, hard or soft zones and that soil samples be collected every 5 feet.  In addition, the properties of the drilling mud need to be tested and modified as needed.  Linda is in charge of  keeping all the notes and she is also the "mud engineer".

Drilling is muddy, tiring work, but we often thank God that this is what He allowed us to do at this point in our lives.  Imagine - a few years ago Linda was trying to convince her database clients that "backing up the computer really is a good idea" and Ed was filling out financial reports to put the best light on the quarterly earnings report of the large engineering firm that he worked for.  Now we are....

We never leave the drill rod and bit in the hole overnight for fear that the hole may collapse, trapping the bit - DISASTER.  So, "tripping out of the hole" each afternoon and going back in the next morning is part of the process.  On a recent hole we drilled 300 ft. and this process took almost 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon - in slow drilling sandstone (30 minutes per 5 ft. rod).  So we wound up working very long days just to get in some drilling time.

Finally we are ready to set the well - for the details  click here.