Removing Silt/Mud Sediment from our Well

[@luckylou396]

Hey Martin, just a suggestion. Use your auger to dig another 4 foot or so and then once the silt is removed fill that space with your gravel then the foot valve would would sit above the gravel and will help keep the silt below it.

[@woundeddove]

You need to make a Patton on your auger, perhaps you can earn money from your invention. I think it’s fantastic! You’re really doing an amazing job. Your son’s attitude is A plus.

[@MrRockymntman]

Hi joined your channel a couple of months ago and I enjoy watching you and your family build the homestead . I can see how much you love your family and for what's it's worth I would not cut corners on your family's water supply. Get it done right and have the water tested. God Bless

[@MartinJohnsonOffGridLiving]

Thanks for your concern. We will not be drinking unsafe water. We have lived in a 3rd world county for 9 years. We know how to purify water on a daily basis.

[@Richard-zb6mk]

Big thumbs up from me. I admire your tenacity at trying to solve the well situation. Lord knows how thick that layer of sand and clay is as it seems to fill in every void you create. I hope this isn't an exercise in futility for you. I'm praying for you. Good luck and I hope your plan works out for you.

[@MartinJohnsonOffGridLiving]

We are enjoying the challenge. Even it the well fails in the end we still learned a lot ant it didn’t cost much.

[@lonniehowell2360]

I worked for the water department and have an EPA license. I'm retired. I can say most water you're getting at that depth is filtrate from the ground. It may or may not be safe, depends on what it filtered through, but I'd bet it was mostly soil which is strongly contaminated with very bad things, the least of which is parasites. To have clean water you need to be pulling from an aquifer. Unless you pull from a spring, you will never get safe water pulling from ground water. It's not even safe to bathe in. Bacteria can still get into you without drinking it, via cuts, your eyes, and inevitably you will get some in your mouth via bathing. Hope this helps!

[@imaslowlerner]

Your son's commentaries really makes the video more interesting. 🥳

[@UniqueLeatherWorking]

My uncle makes well pipe for a living and I worked with him when he was busy for a few years. The grooves you cut needed to be much thinner and a lot more of them. That itself would have stopped the sand issue under most issues. If you wanted to be dam sure it was right you just needed to put a well sock over the pipe to make sure it stayed clean. Your main issue like others said is the well is to shallow right now but if you did either of the first 2 options I told you... you would be in much better shape right now. Love the videos and your son is a riot :)

[@MarcellaSmithVegan]

I'm exhausted watching, I may have to go to bed early tonight, if anything, he is building his muscles!! I give him all the mental hug and support I can!

[@MunkyWrenchAquatics]

watched the last few well vids.. I am going to keep watching to see if you succeed. I filled the actual well pipe with 1 inch stone to keep sediment from filling in the bottom.. once i hit depth.. kept the stone about 2 feet below the foot.. and it allowed sediment to settle to the bottom and the water to clear up.. u put ea gravel around the outside but inside the pipe has no protection.. the stone inside the pipe allows the water to fill the pipe higher and is easier on the pump also.. like when you have a half cup of soda and you fill the rest with ice it raises soda to topp of cup.. same amount of soda

[@philippelapointe6476]

I'm not sure that analogy works, but maybe... Your soda glass doesn't have holes in it, unlike the well casing, which can let water reabsorb into the walls of the well and filter back down to the water level. Just theorizing here.

[@stevecook8810]

I've drilled a few shallow wells in Central Florida and I've always had to dig to a point below the hard pan. The hard pan is a clay layer and the actual water well will be below that. The depth where the water is will have very course sand and look sort of translucent. After you dig below the hard pan, sink your casing into the hard pan some so the well will be sealed off from the surface contaminants. Hope this helps

[@roberthouston8463]

I Robert Lee Houston am very enthusied being introduced to this level of of sharing! 👏🛐👋🤶🎅💭

[@justjenn23]

Y'all make a great team. God bless you for teaching your kid rigt

[@randysilvers3738]

I enjoy your videos. I hope your perseverance pays off for you. Best wishes to you and your family.

[@annamaybeekman5152]

Great job Martin. Keep up the good work. God bless

[@luksurias]

5:07 u can clean that thing in water, more easy to move "send" btw I love ur videos. They are real.

[@anthonysomes9038]

Hello from Northern Maine! My husband found your channel here on KZbin and is enjoying all of the videos and infact he himself actually SUBSCRIBED! That's rare for him! Though he is a professional pipe layer and is now 60 year's old he is enjoying just watching your progress all about manually drilling your well. We too live on a Homestead and have our own well. The benefits of this are priceless! My husband, Tony is from here in Maine. I am from Massachusetts and know all too well about the high prices of water bills! Ugh! So again, once you have your well up and running? Maybe by now you probably do? We're still trying to find that video? We're interested to see how well you've faired? Lol! Because Tony is a professional pipe layer and worked construction for 40 years, he couldn't help himself critiquing your work along the way. He would have loved to been there for you helping, assisting and guiding you through the ropes for such a task. You've worked incredibly hard! Anyway, we are subscribers of your channel. And though sadly we may not be able to afford to be patrons but we certainly look forward to seeing all the videos we can in support of your page through KZbin. Much Love to your family! Sincerely Tony and Jessica Somes of Blaine, Maine.

[@tearsofjoyforallthispain]

Just a suggestion, drive a sandpoint well into your well, your already down 18'. If your county is ok with driven point wells going farther than 18'. I drove one 22' anvit doesnt go dry. If your in the water table another 10' would make all the difference

[@gettingittogether424]

Ur a really cool dad and stand up dude

[@MartinJohnsonOffGridLiving]

Thank you. That is very kind.

[@daledaniel996]

This looks like an ideal location for a horizontal well especially if the well site is higher than the delivery location. No pumping, pumps or electricity required.

[@liamwhitcher9059]

Sorry to be negative as these videos are interesting. I don’t see the point in worrying about the silt as there is so little water in the hole. I think that the previous comments about water divining make sense.

[@arianade680]

made indonesia...Thanks Martin for using Indonesian products

[@offgridathiddenhills4079]

Trying to get water can cause a lot of stress!! We eventually had a well dug. We went 340 feet deep and it cost over 20k. With your higher water table a good 100 foot well would be perfect. It would probably cost you about 5000. But, if you have the time I guess you may as well try. Thanks for the video!!

[@MartinJohnsonOffGridLiving]

Where are you guys located?

[@offgridathiddenhills4079]

We are located in southern Utah. I think $40-60 a foot is pretty standard around here for drilling and casing. We installed our own pump which would have added to the cost obviously.

[@ModernMountainLiving]

@@MartinJohnsonOffGridLiving JR is out of Sagle. I asked him if I can post his number 208 818-5856. He said Elmira(guess) is silt. Hope this works. Good Christian guy too.

[@joelmeixsell9501]

Im a well driller from North Jersey and being you can't go deeper without a license I would start over and get yourself a pre packed screen from a well supply and use a finer grain filter pack instead of the coarse gravel and put it in as soon as you get your pipe in the ground and that should help with the silt and running sand issue and may produce a little bit more. Also look into a whale pump they are 12volt and you can use that and your truck battery to develop the fines out and begin to clear it up. But it's only going to make so much at 18 feet also I would put bentonite or some concrete as a seal about 2 foot down from ground surface to help with surface runoff contamination . But if you can't get pre pack get 10slot screen and number 1 filter sand finer sand =less silt run in and the bigger the bore hole will help get a better filter pack

[@the-papaw]

So did you ever get a usable well with this project? I see you have later videos using large storage tanks instead.

[@stevestrickling2044]

Outstanding video

[@gruntfactory1745]

I feel for you as you are not deep enough. I have now done 3 wells myself using a home made sludge pump that has a rope on it and is support by a block and tackle on a tripod frame. As you are using the sludge pump you are able to get the casing to move down deeper and keep adding to it. You probably need to go a further 10 to 15 feet deeper. 👍

[@Random_How-tos]

I just found your KZbin channel I’m excited to see the process of your build

[@valasir9829]

Samee

[@CorbinAce]

I remember when I was a kid and we had a well at the cottage. The LAW was never leave the handle of the pump UP for any length of time. It will let the water drain down the pipe in a heart beat. Thus loosing the prime every time.

[@roberthouston8463]

More thank you very good information 😊👍 pertaining to this subject matter

[@jamescrabb8766]

Just a suggestion. Drive a well point down the pipe you have. Go down at least another 10 - 15 feet. The filter on the well point will provide filtering and the extra depth will give more water. If there is sufficient water there, where you drilled, you will be able to pump a lot of water.

[@mr.goodday5830]

Such a hard work pak Martin.👍 SUBSCRIBED !

[@TheBanjoman]

As I recall from 1st video you said you could avoid a pulling a permit by only going 18 feet deep. Next I would pull out the 4 inch pvc and dig out p-gravel. Then install another pvc pipe with more smaller cuts or drill many tiny holes and zip tie mesh cloth around pipe. Then add P-gravel again. Or wet vac out the pipe using the 2 inch pvc.

[@PesonaFisika]

I assume you can't drill deeper due to regulations. but are you allowed to dig a hole like 5 or 6 ft in diameter. this way the water accumulated in the hole (well) could be a lot more than that tiny hole you drill. it's quite common here in my country people dig a shallow well near a river or lake to get clean water..

[@jamesg-l8203]

Hello, can you put gravel in to help stop the sediment coming up through the pipe ?

[@gagukyudiarinto4599]

Pak Martin and Bu Jules, if I were there, I will assist you to do that.. But, finally yo complete it successfully...! yeaaayyy

[@rosemarytaylor3720]

Hi I have a drilled 320 ft well...with a black silt problem...really need your advise on where to go from here,...thanks

[@tbirdracefan]

Might as well keep trying.The mud will inhibit water getting into the well so the more you can get rid of, the better. As someone else commented, Could you get a tote full of water to dup down the shaft? Not a garden hose and a little pump, but a large volume of water very quickly. A large column of water could force the mud beyond the gravel pack at the bottom of the well and allow the water to better flow into the well.

[@grantpiper9543]

Drill holes from bottom 8ft up in the pump pipe. Then whilst in ground fill the well liner with a smaller pea gravel than you used earlier. And did you ever get more gravel for around the outside pipe? The idea is you basically inserting a 2 inch well inside a 4 inch well. Thus you will have a steadier flow of silt free water

[@CraftedChannel]

Maybe make the door just about 4" at the top so it fills the container below it. As it is, you are probably losing most of it on the way up. It would seem using a generator powered electric pump swirling it on the bottom to disturb that you could bring it up more efficiently with the water. Much as you were doing by hand with the pump. But, after you clean out the well, raise the pump a foot or two above the bottom so there is space for silt to accumulate below clean water which your pump is accessing.

[@joechase1713]

You'll probably need to get new leathers (or maybe they use rubber now days) for your pump, once you get all that silt out. The last 2 wells I had put in, the well diggers had to pump a lot of silt before the finally got clear water. Keep going, you'll get there.

[@valasir9829]

You know it's a good video when it's 15+ minutes

[@dirmantjiptadji2111]

Om Martin, Bikin sumur minimal pengeboran sampai mendapatkan material pasir. Air akan berkualitas baik / jernih

[@DepexRelaxation]

Made in Indonesia, terima kasih pak martin

[@sun9912]

Good job bro

[@yetemshawel5157]

I would like too give you some advice 1-Use sodium Trapolyphosphete for cleaning. 2- you can make increasing depth and install small diameter PVC which is telescopic well. 3- Conduct proper well development. 4- Use VES to identify good ground water or use traditional methods like two L-shape road.

[@billentsminger3360]

mine clogged up and they had to use high pressure water,, it was mostly sand...big equipment was needed..well was very deep..looked like Belagio !!!

[@brownsrvlifecampground9322]

Hi, did you ever fix the problem or find a way to keep the sand from feeling up your well casing ?

[@MartinJohnsonOffGridLiving]

No. We gave up on it. Maybe we will come back to it another day.

[@Michael-gi3dk]

Excellent videos, you’ll work it out.. 👍🏻

[@pepenramdan5562]

pak martin pekerja yg hebat 💪👍🏼

[@rongray4118]

Use your roof to collect additional water - Earthship Biotecture, Michael Reynolds, Taos, New Mexico. Great video - add cisterns to your systems and you and your family with weather just about anything that comes your way. Blessings!

[@raisagorbachov]

A normal British well is wide enough for a small person to go down and dig. They're usually hand dug. They go down 30 - 40 feet and have brick or stone liners. The water is lifted using a bucket and it's necessary to go down and clean the well out every now and then.

[@kennethjansen9002]

I grew up in Michigan very poor my dad pull as well up many times you change the point because of the iron is so high when you get through the clay you need at least 6 ft of water in the pipe or more four to six feet or more

[@suhendyhasanudin4626]

Normally in our country we drill around 20-30 metre to get good water, but in the mountain we need more deep....

[@tyofarizcha2150]

Keep going pak Martin 💪🏻

[@mdegli]

you have a sump pump , use the water from the pond to fluss the slith out

[@johnhenderson8360]

I agree,, if he could pump water into the well and pump water out at the same time, he might be able to get the silt, sand, and clay pumped out. He needs to keep those things from settling out and becoming more of a solid..

[@yasminghani2073]

Congratulations

[@harlandfazardo799]

you may need to drill deeper until you hit gravel at least. This shallow well may have contamination problems

[@widibagushan9935]

They need permition to go deeper,, thats why they just go at 18ft down for no permite...

[@MrAwsomeshot]

@@widibagushan9935 they are going to to need to boil this water then. I think the reason they arent going deeper is they can't get equipment in there/don't want to pay to have a well drilled, it aint cheap.

[@setiawanputra5718]

Semangat pak martin

[@diksoeybowisani422]

Seth is a young man , can tell by his voice 😀

[@ifsheisgonetowherethere6259]

Would keep adding water w/ using a trash pump work?

[@jiggjohns1028]

Agree with Marc you need a mud hog pump and a lot of water to flush out your casing or else it’ll take you months to get anywhere close to your goal I’m thinking, but I’m rooting for y’all.

[@Kingsleykrewvlogs]

Love the consistency Marty. Doing a great job. LOL'd at the 'sexy' comment below. ha ha !!!

[@paulkish007]

Woud a Berkey (or similar) water filter clean the shallow well water so it is drinkable?

[@avflyguy]

I wish I had the answer but there are a lot of good ideas already posted. Maybe it's just hope looking for hope it'll work out. Seems no matter what you do it doesn't want to cooperate with your best efforts. I too wonder if its' leeching water from that pond nearby and not really a separate water vain you're hitting. Possibly get 2 electric pumps (one from the pond and the other at the well bottom) and keep flooding the well hole with fresh water to maybe help remove the silt/sand/clay. Longshot me thinks, but never know.

[@putraperkasa0059]

That my country.. Indonesia... Thank u sir...

[@adamvanderbur6731]

did you put a cap on the bottom of the well casing ?

[@Banjo-lm2wl]

💗well done! Excuse the pun !

[@southronspirit]

do you have a creek near by , run a pump and pump water to the very bottom of the well with pvc pipe and try to wash it out .

[@ahmedzakiassarpiyoh]

Setelah diperhatikan sekian episode, rasa2 pak martin butuh bantuan tukang sumur bor asal Indonesia 😁

[@thomasbroking7943]

I wonder if you can make some use of one of those epoxy mixing paddles for the drill. I know there would need to be some welding to fill the center and put a cutting tip. How to get out the debris is a question. Maybe air compressor? Boy if you have a compressor you could be using it to drill. Looks interesting hope you get it worked out to your liking.

[@crackberrycampbell]

The best way to clear your well casing. - Make sure you put as much pebble rock around your casing - Get a portal tank of water - Fill it with the water in the pond you have - Use a gas power pump with a pipe going to the bottom of the well - Run the water till it comes up clear (it will be dirty coloured) - you will probably have to do this a few times to clean up the casing -edit- Make sure the water your flushing out is diverted away from your existing well casing (so the silt does not go right back down) Just install a T at the top of the casing with a length of pipe running away from working area

[@ssoltys4128]

That well will produce more and more silt because it’s not deep enough you will never get rid of it

[@freddycarraway]

Martin, I take it there are a lot of people that didn't see your first vlog, and don't know you can only personally dig to 18 foot. My question is. Did you put in a gravel pack?

[@akbychoice]

With the foot valve in place, fill the pipe with water before attaching the pump, less pumping to prime.

[@shanehaws3828]

Try using your pump in the pond to pump water into the well as you're pumping it out with your hand pump that way it keeps adding water 2 be able to pump the silt out

[@MartinJohnsonOffGridLiving]

I like it!

[@shanehaws3828]

I mentioned that sort of thing in your last well vid and also to check out redpoppie ranch in southeastern Idaho

[@jerredwayne8401]

Should you pour gravel in the bottom of the hole to hold the silt back maybe?

[@randymatthews5263]

Removing silt can be done using air as the prime mover and a geyser pump. Cleans out the bottom of the well

[@ModernMountainLiving]

Looks like the muck monster was inspired by that 80's movie that Kevin Bacon, Reba McEntire were in. What was it called?

[@MartinJohnsonOffGridLiving]

I think you are right.

[@stevelalondejr2183]

Slow steady full strokes to remove the sugar sand auger it out dump some gravel in the bottom as you have no bottom cap on your well is it clay or sand ?

[@hendrakristanto195]

drill deeper, at least +- 24 meters or 6 pipes .. or until u find sand and then you'll get clear water.. You can do it !

[@valasir9829]

They cannot because in theyre states legal limit is 18 meters

[@joequillun7790]

Also, you can't remove mud from a deep hole with a fence post auger. It just keeps filling back in. It's a hopeless battle. Been there, done it. Next step is to drive a sand point in it. Forget about a foot valve.

[@JM-yx1lm]

The only way to get that out is to make a pipe with a rubber or metal flap in the bottom that let's stuff in and not out. And just raise the pipe up and down in the bottom.

[@BladeRunner.43]

They can they just need a permit and he's doing it himself

[@andrewchalk9310]

I've drilled a lot of wells and never got any water in clay you have to go deeper and find a gravel bed this well will never work into you find gravel. The clay is to thick for the aquifer to travel through and will not filter your water

[@victorgalagan1151]

I agree,he is not deep enough.He is in a clay layer and must go thru it.

[@phalanx3803]

problem is he needs to get a permit to go any deeper.

[@GDZIEGLER]

He's at creek level. He made a video showing the digging of the well and why they only went down that far. The creek is not that far from them

[@court2379]

@@phalanx3803 And probably have to pay a licensed driller as well.

[@phalanx3803]

@@court2379 yes and they may have to pay extra depending on how far they live out of town. also because of where they live it would have to be a small UTE mounted rig and not many company's run that small of rig anymore.

[@nyektijoe4590]

We need well expert to help mr Martin...clean water = white soft sand you must find about 40m -50m

[@stewbuntu]

Put a hose in the well casing and pump water into the well until no more silt comes out, it will also rinse the gravel you have down there. then you can add more gravel as you go. It will back flush the area some and more pea gravel will fill into the washed out area, enough until you have a lot of bags of gravel in the void.

[@floriotj]

I was going to comment but then I remembered the adage "if you can't say something nice don't say anything" so I'm not going to comment.

[@court2379]

And then you did

[@rbrannon]

@@court2379 He likely typed up a complete explanation/rant about this whole well and then thought, "You know, I don't want to start an argument or ruin this guys youtube channel so I'm going to delete this...but I still must comment something because I put in so much work already."

[@edhiwiluyo318]

Yeeaaayy.... INDONESIA....!!!!!!!

[@DavidJohnson-qr5he]

If you could get your bigger pump hose down in the casing you might be able to get more sand out. Because it has more power. Just a thought

[@MartinJohnsonOffGridLiving]

Agreed.

[@yetemshawel5157]

You can use salt for Clay to dissolve

[@brianwestveer9532]

You need go deeper into sand or gravel and you'll need a screen on the bottom

[@morningdewreynolds5476]

did you not put a cap on the bottom of the casing pipe?

[@joeyhardin1288]

Merry Christmas!

[@HUNBelfegor]

Hi Martin, i’m really impressed about your project! Just keep pushin! A few tip from my side which maybe can work also even with this depth, since a few of your viewers understand the regulation side also in your country... : - make sure that your gravel from outside minimum 1 feet higher as your cutted part on the pipe. Maybe use some more fine gravel which is only big enough not to go in your cuts... you need better and more filtration from outside! - try to wash out the well! Put a real pump in it and pump out as much mudy water as you can... even use water from outside like under the drilling to remove as many sand as you can! - after the cleaning, you should put also gravel inside! Start with fine and use some bigger on the end! Maybe you will loose a feet, but this will be your filter from the bottom - use the well as many as you can! This will help in the cleaning process, but you mentioned this already... Since there is a danger that the well will collapse if you remove the bigger pipe, i’m not sure in this proposal BUT if you decide to do it: move out the outside pipe and cover with some geotextile on the cutted area and fix it well, this combined with the above mentioned tips would be the ultimate solution and the best what you can do for the clear(er) water! Greetings from Hungary! Christian

[@riod_frog1445]

5:50 made in indonesia yeay.. Jangan menyerah pak martin 🙂🙂🙂

[@Rolandojeranu]

Made in Indonesia, semangat pak Martin.

[@imaslowlerner]

Like your videos. Could you put a link to the auger that you used to dig your well? Thanks.

[@bloodyboy1877]

The slits may also be a problem sand could be funneling through the slits you made. Good intentions but unknown issues.

[@akwolf1434]

Should have wrapped the well casing pipe in a landscaping type cloth/sediment sleeve before putting it in.

[@MartinJohnsonOffGridLiving]

Being as that is not the case, do you have any helpful tips?

[@darrellkroeker]

Take the foot valve and pump off and pump water to the bottom to flush it out. It will help stir up the settlement and flush out the the slits you made. But if the bottom of the pipe is in a layer of clay you will never get it clean.

[@nelsonfisher7151]

You did right by putting gravel in but then you need to back fill the hole and cap the top with concrete because if you don't back fill more silt is falling off the wall's higher up and getting through the gravel i think that is the problem but your not going to get to much water from that well. Need to go way deeper

[@keithknott8307]

Something I'm surprised you didn't think about: (1) Having "2" 5 - gallon buckets instead of just the "1", (2) Instead of pouring out the "SILT WATER", keep it in one the buckets and as you pull out an ogger full of silt, use the silt water to rinse out the ogger each time.

[@MichelleCouplandHairStudio]

Did you back fill with sand ang gravel

[@mohamadyasin4173]

Kurang dalam pak martin, minimal 3 pipa 6 meter. Atau 18 meter baru dapat air jernih.

[@БурениеСкважинКазань]

щелевой фильтр не ставится на песок нужно использовать сетку из нержавеющей стали Р52 или р48 в конце трубы обязательно заткнуть пробкой

[@kathylewis7543]

So what happened wit your well D d you ever get one???

[@hvnfun8601]

I do not think you are deep enough to get clean water - but - I've been wrong a couple of times. Before you pump it clean, you have to flush it clean. Connect a hose to where your hand pump threads on, run it down to your pond and pump water up, then down the well pump pipe. This "should" push water down to the bottom and float/push the grud up and out of the top of your casing. Success is having a large enough volume of water to push. If after doing this, you still get mud - fill it in.