Can consumers drill a do-it-yourself water well? It's very dangerous for consumers to dig a water well with a do-it-yourself drilling rig, and most end up wasting money. It's possible, but I've seen a lot...
It's possible, but I've seen a lot of people wasting a lot of time and money doing it. There is actually a company that sells drilling rigs for home use. They sell little units that fit in the back of your truck. You can go along and in a couple of days if your formations are very soft, if you know what you are doing, and if it is not very deep you can drill it on your own well in a couple of days.
Most of the time people wind up losing money on that, but the biggest problem is that it's dangerous. You are dealing with a lot of weight and with things that can fall down holes and drag you in. A lot of people don't realize how dangerous it. The second thing is that you wind up buying a lot of equipment that doesn't always work.
People typically do what we call a "quicksie," which means they drop the pump in the well. We get to go out and charge a lot of money to fetch the pump out of the well. If we can't fetch the pump out of the well, we'll have to drill a new well. You really spend a lot more money just to get the pump out.
People also waste money buying pumps at Home Depot. Home Depots pumps are fine for shallow wells. It's common practice to replace your own pump and if you know what you are doing. If your well is only 70 feet deep, it's probably not going to be very dangerous, either. However, if you have a 700 or 800 foot well it's extremely dangerous.
