I typically drill {have drilled and pay for} about 10 or 12 wells a year.....I build houses. Where I live we have 3 separate "aquifers" {rivers underground}...we are lucky in that you can literally drill anywhere it is convenient and hit water. They use a rig called a "sand drill", it has three separate carbide triangular paddle looking things that make up the bit. There is really no rock here except for gravel and the sand drill will feed down into the ground as fast as the machine will go. All our wells here are 4" PVC pipe lined all the way to the bottom. In flood zones the casing has to be grouted on the outside. A typical drilled well here is 300-600 ft. and costs $8500.00 plus or minus.
I have a hunting cabin in the mountains, they do it a little different there...it is an 8" hole that is done with a big air compressor operated ram that knocks and vibrates it's way down thru the rock. They only line the well thru the dirt or overburden, once thru to solid rock it gets no liner. There are no aquifers in the mountains where my cabin is so you simply drill and pray you hit a fissure that contains water. You never know how deep you have to go there, might get lucky...but I did not. Nope, mine had to go 900 feet. Actually hit water at 600. This well cost me $24,000.00 and change. The water looked like tea {iron} for the first year, but I didn't really use it enough to get it to run clear.
The point being, I have been down the road with wells...my suggestion to you is to first find out if this well is or ever was an acceptable usable aquifer {well that produces safe water as far as the local health dept is concerned} because if it is not then you cant legally use it and more important probably should not. Second thing I would do is find out just how old this thing is if possible...cast iron liners don't last forever. You should be able to get this information from your health dept. They should also be able to tell you how deep it is.
My question is; there should be another pipe inside the liner that the water comes up in. If you are planning to run a 5" pipe down there then you must not see the internal pipe. Did someone take it out??? Not sure I understand how you will draw water from a 6" lined hole in the ground without it. Next question is do you also see the wires that run down to the pump??? Typically, the wire and the internal line all get pulled together....it sounds like that is missing????? Where is this well located geographically??? {if you don't mind me asking....}
I have a hunting cabin in the mountains, they do it a little different there...it is an 8" hole that is done with a big air compressor operated ram that knocks and vibrates it's way down thru the rock. They only line the well thru the dirt or overburden, once thru to solid rock it gets no liner. There are no aquifers in the mountains where my cabin is so you simply drill and pray you hit a fissure that contains water. You never know how deep you have to go there, might get lucky...but I did not. Nope, mine had to go 900 feet. Actually hit water at 600. This well cost me $24,000.00 and change. The water looked like tea {iron} for the first year, but I didn't really use it enough to get it to run clear.
The point being, I have been down the road with wells...my suggestion to you is to first find out if this well is or ever was an acceptable usable aquifer {well that produces safe water as far as the local health dept is concerned} because if it is not then you cant legally use it and more important probably should not. Second thing I would do is find out just how old this thing is if possible...cast iron liners don't last forever. You should be able to get this information from your health dept. They should also be able to tell you how deep it is.
My question is; there should be another pipe inside the liner that the water comes up in. If you are planning to run a 5" pipe down there then you must not see the internal pipe. Did someone take it out??? Not sure I understand how you will draw water from a 6" lined hole in the ground without it. Next question is do you also see the wires that run down to the pump??? Typically, the wire and the internal line all get pulled together....it sounds like that is missing????? Where is this well located geographically??? {if you don't mind me asking....}
