Cost to drill well

strange1

strange1

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2005
Location
Elkin
bought a house a year ago that is on a community well. There is no legally binding agreement, just water. The owner is now wanting to change things up a bit. Long story short, I'm thinking I may be ahead of the game to poke my own hole in the ground and let him do his thing all by himself. What's the going rate for digging and installing a new system? I work for a plumbing supplier, so I can save a bit by buying some parts myself.
 
Around here itss 3,000-4,000
 
Around here itss 3,000-4,000
 
When I put mine in about 5-6 years ago, I got quotes of $3000-4000 for the first 100ft, and $9-12 per ft after that. The first 100ft also includes pump, wiring, fake rock cover, valve etc.

I went with the guy that was $3000 and $10/ft, and saved about $500 by paying cash and building my own cover. Well ended up at 320ft deep, so it was about $4700 total. I had good flow at 10 gallons per minute.
 
x2 By the foot. They charge if they break a bit as well. I'm a true believer in having it witched now from an experience from a fellow worker. That is if you have a lot of land. His driller drilled like 1500 feet before breaking a bit and calling it done. This is in Franklin County like elevation 300+/-? Then he had it witched and the witcher traced down 2 streams and told him exactly where to drill at the stream crossing. Told him to keep going after he hits water to the next stream below. He did and gets ungodly amounts of water now.
 
^ I have now heard similar reports from multiple folks in my area. And I too am looking for info on having a well drilled on the property.

What would one do to locate such a witch?
 
I've heard and seen that you just take 2 clothes hangers, but no one drilled there, so its hard to say if it worked.
 
We had this discussion here at work. Everyone agrees that 100 years ago, farmers naturally knew how to witch. Nowdays, since there's no such thing as a witch-app then it can't be done.

Another worker here's step-brother is the witcher used from here at work. Pretty sure he lives in Creedmoore. He's been used twice that I know of. Doubt he'd want to drive to Elkin but I can get the word out to him if you are definitely serious?

I'd start with your local well driller and ask if they might know one if you wanted to go that route?

Just something interesting, there's a flowing artesian well up the road from me that served the entire road back in the day. According to the fella that lives there he says it has never went dry in his 18+ years living there. It keeps a half oil drum filled at all times.
 
Witching isn't all that hard. I've seen it done two ways.

#1, the way I would try. Cut a green piece of wood shaped like a Y. Hold it so that the single point is facing away from you and parallel with the ground. It will bend down and point to the ground when you go over water. Not sure if the type of tree used matters, but it must be green, and probably not much bigger than a pen or pencil

#2, the coat hanger mentioned above. Two pieces bent into L shapes. Hold the short end loosely, with the long end facing away and parallel with the ground. The long ends will pull inward and form an X when you are over water.

Sounds dumb, but I've seen both work. My grandpa witched my uncles well across from my parents. It has overflowed several times, usually 2-3 days after a decent rain. A few years after that, my parents well dried up. They followed the vein that my uncles well was on until it crossed the road and came onto my dads property. It is quite a bit deeper on my dads land, so there is no danger of it overflowing. But there is more than enough water for one house.

The reason I asked about the cost is because the community well I am on has never charged anyone for water. I have only been here 11 months, but apparently the guy who's land the well is on has just been paying the power bill himself for the last 10+ years. Well, now he has gotten himself into a mess, behind on a lot of bills, and the power was cut off (he paid and it was back on after a few hours). I understand he is tired of paying for 5 houses use of the well, and he wants someone else to take responsibility for it. I was unsure what to think of the situation, but after a couple of emails to the register of deeds, I have found the legal documentation I need to protect my interests. And as bad as I do not want to be responsible, it looks like I am going to have to take it from him. Hopefully I can convince my neighbors to do it, since I am gone from home 12+ a day for work and will not be as easily accessible on a weekday.
 
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I used to help my dad trench and lay pipes for people with wells wanting to connect to county water. He would use the coat hanger technique to avoid cutting anything with the trencher that was already in place in their yard. He was great at it. People would swear up and down that there was nothing in our path, and O'l pop would almost always find a sprinkler line, septic line, and all sorts of shit with those hangers.
 
Well dowsing, or "witching"? Good lord, what is this, the 16th century?

Fact is, you'd be hard pressed to drill anywhere and not eventually find water.

anavylifeofapilotswife.files.wordpress.com_2014_04_triple_facepalm.png
 
Along the eastern coast such as Wake Forest, yes. In Elkin NC, not nearly the case.
The cost of a 1500 foot well and get a gallon a minute and hear the wife and kids bitch every time they take a shower compared to a 400 foot well with 30-40 gpm's is mighty worth the well dowsers in my opinion. Not counting the wasted time of not trying to do the job right the first time. If I had to do this for a big property I would invest. But I have never had to dig a well. Just going on stories I've heard. I'd go the extra $200...
 
6BangBronk said:
Along the eastern coast such as Wake Forest, yes. In Elkin NC, not nearly the case.
The cost of a 1500 foot well and get a gallon a minute and hear the wife and kids bitch every time they take a shower compared to a 400 foot well with 30-40 gpm's is mighty worth the well dowsers in my opinion. Not counting the wasted time of not trying to do the job right the first time. If I had to do this for a big property I would invest. But I have never had to dig a well. Just going on stories I've heard. I'd go the extra $200...
Click to expand...
Point is, well dowsing/witching is B.S.

You absolutely, positively, can NOT take a freaking Y-shaped stick and find water. No way, no how, and I don't give a great big crap who's seen it done or heard about it...it was pure luck if it ever happened and anyone else without a stick (or "diviner") could walk randomly on to a property and say "drill here" and have the same success rate.

Now if you want to tell me that someone is looking at the land low spots and where there's more vegetation growing and using THAT to determine where there might be water....then I can believe that.

But a divining rod that points down when there's water? Complete, unadulterated, bovine scatology.
 
But the lay of the land doesn't directly relate to the water table and neither does the amount of plates in an area. Unless you are near the coast the water table isn't going to be high enough to effect plant growth.
 
Pacfanweb said:
Point is, well dowsing/witching is B.S.

You absolutely, positively, can NOT take a freaking Y-shaped stick and find water. No way, no how, and I don't give a great big crap who's seen it done or heard about it...it was pure luck if it ever happened and anyone else without a stick (or "diviner") could walk randomly on to a property and say "drill here" and have the same success rate.

Now if you want to tell me that someone is looking at the land low spots and where there's more vegetation growing and using THAT to determine where there might be water....then I can believe that.

But a divining rod that points down when there's water? Complete, unadulterated, bovine scatology.
Click to expand...

No scientific studies have ever proven this. But then again, out of 500 volunteers, how many knew how...

But same point also applies towards, exorcisms, witchcraft, fortune tellers, superhuman strength by adrenaline, religious healing, dog empathy, phychic powers, even the rain maker man.

But you are absolutely correct that although there's a list of well known dowsers known for their abilities, this power has no science to prove and falls under the "unknown" category.

I've witnessed a few of the special powers so I'm a believer. But I also believe in god, but heaven forbid this thread take that turn...

:beer:
 
Never used it to dig a well, but i have used the two clothes hangers to find water lines that were buried i didn't have a clue where they were and needed to find them before trenching in power. It worked for me.
 
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