The principle of hydrodrilling wells, the features of this process and its advantages. List of required equipment and step-by-step technology of work that you can do yourself. Hydraulic drilling of wells is one of the ways to create autonomous water intake facilities, which is used in the absence of a centralized water supply system, which is especially important for suburban estates. Today we will tell you how to do it yourself hydrodrilling a water well.
Features of hydrodrilling a well for water
Compared to traditional similar technologies, hydrodrilling is a versatile and most economical method. It combines two critical processes - the destruction of the rock with the help of a drill and its washing out with a working fluid under pressure.
The weight of the string, consisting of drill rods, ensures the immersion of the system in the ground, and special equipment allows pumping a flushing solution, which is a suspension of water and clay, into the resulting cavity. The drilling fluid is pumped out with a motor pump and directed into the well.
In the general scheme of work, the flushing solution performs the following functions:
- Washes out small fragments of destroyed soil and brings them to the surface;
- Protects the working surface of the earth drill from overheating;
- Grinds the borehole walls, strengthens them, reducing the risk of collapse.
As it sinks into the soil, the drill string is built up as needed using threaded connections with one and a half meter pipes with a diameter of 50-80 mm. Their number is determined by the depth of the groundwater. For convenient centering of the well, a cone-shaped drill is used, and a petal-shaped drill is used to overcome dense soils.
If the sedimentary rocks at the site consist of crushed stone or boulders, hydro-drilling of the well will have to be abandoned, since it is impossible to lift their heavy debris from it with the pressure of water.
The above method of water extraction has become popular relatively recently and therefore causes misconceptions for many. For example, that water drilling is suitable only for shallow wells. In fact, with good technical equipment in this way, you can drill them to a depth of more than 250 m, although on average for household wells this value is 20-35 m.
The opinion about the high cost of hydrodrilling is also erroneous. Due to the high speed of work, the cash costs are not as high as it might seem at first glance.
In addition, to the indisputable advantages of this method, you can add:
- The compactness of the equipment, which allows drilling on a site limited by its small size;
- The minimum number of technical operations;
- High drilling speed, allowing it to be carried out at 10 m depth per day;
- Absolute safety for the ecological balance of the area and its landscape;
- The ability to independently perform work and the associated minimum cost.
The advantages of hydrodrilling become especially clear when compared to the "dry" method, in which the constant removal of the thief from the trunk, cleaning it, and then loading it again is a common thing. And the use of drilling mixture in our method successfully replaces this working tool.
Selection of equipment for hydrodrilling a well
The optimal solution for water production in your area is the use of a small-sized drilling rig. It is an aggregate with a diameter of 1 m and a height of 3 m.
Its structure includes:
- Metal frame;
- Drilling tool;
- The engine, used to transmit force to the drill;
- Winch;
- Swivel for fixing parts;
- Column-forming rods;
- Electronic control unit;
- Hoses supplying the flushing mixture from the motor pump;
- Petal or cone drill.
In addition to the necessary equipment, you can purchase a current converter for stable power supply of drilling and a tool - a plumbing wrench, a mechanical clamp and a transfer plug.
For fast hydraulic drilling and high-quality flushing of the well cavity, it is necessary to purchase a powerful motor pump. The performance of this unit must be from 20 m3/ hour, provide a head of 26 m and a pressure of about 2, 6 atm. When buying, you should indicate to the seller the purpose of the motor pump - pumping contaminated liquid.
Water well drilling technology
The existing technology for hydrodrilling water wells requires consistent adherence to all stages of work. These include preparation of equipment, casing and drilling fluid preparation. After that, you can assemble the installation and proceed directly to drilling.
Finding an aquifer
For success in finding groundwater at the site, it is necessary to determine the depth of its soil occurrence, even if these data are approximate. They can be obtained by interviewing neighbors who have wells, or at the local drilling company that carried out their work with them.
Most often, the upper water-bearing layers of the soil are located at a depth of 1, 5 to 6 m. Such layers are popularly called "verkhovodka". Its horizon is not intended for the extraction of drinking water, as it contains household and chemical contaminants that have penetrated from the surface of the soil.
If you need to get water with drinking properties, it can be found with a probability of 70% at a depth of 15-25 m if there is a waterproof layer of loam or sandy loam on top, which protects life-giving moisture from contamination. Aquifers located 25 m or more in depth can guarantee the production of the purest water by 90%.
In search of underground water, it is recommended to perform exploratory drilling using a drill with a diameter of 100 mm. If a positive result was achieved at a depth of 10 m, the drill string with the first rod having holes and used as a filter is left in the well. With a greater depth of water, the well is expanded with a drill with a diameter of 200 mm and a casing pipe 125 mm in diameter is inserted into the cavity, and then a submersible pump.
Preparation for work
If the drilling site is properly prepared, the workflow will be free from many hiccups, since they are undesirable with this method, associated with an uninterrupted supply of flushing solution.
Water drilling requires a significant amount of water - about 15 m3… To provide it, it is necessary to prepare containers or dig a large hole, and then coat its walls with clay, which will not allow the prepared water to go into the ground.
When the tanks are full, you can start assembling the MBU - drilling rig. Its installation is carried out according to the attached instructions, there are no special difficulties in this case, and the work lasts about an hour. The main condition is the horizontal installation of the unit. Otherwise, in the event of a skew, it is unlikely that it will be possible to mount the casing.
When the entire structure is assembled, pits should be dug one and a half or two meters from it, which serve to fill them with drilling fluid. As a result, you should get two depressions in the ground, such as baths. Then they need to be connected by an overflow trench. The dimensions of each of the pits are 1x1x1 m. One of them will be designed to sediment particles of water contaminated by flushing from the well. The water settled in it through the overflow trench will flow into another pit, and then pumped into the drilling unit using a pump.
In the process of hydrodrilling a well for water, the sump will periodically have to be cleaned of sediment consisting of drilled soil fractions. Another pit is considered the main one. Near it, you need to install a motor pump and connect with hoses its inlet to the pit, and the outlet to the installation.
This design provides a circular circulation of water in the process, which cools the drill and increases its resource. After the installation is completed, water can be pumped out into the pits.
Well drilling instruction
After the preparation and assembly of the MBU, the pits must be filled with a washing suspension and drilling should be started.
Its scheme is pretty simple:
- With the help of a motor-pump, the flushing solution is supplied through a hose to the drill string.
- Using the cavity of the rods plunged into the soil, the mixture reaches the drill and helps it break up the rock.
- The slurry that has captured the soil is sent to the sump.
- When the suspensions settle, the solution flows into the adjacent pit and is used again in a circle.
Once the first rod has been submerged to 95% of its length, it must be screwed onto the next pipe in the drill string. Up-casing drilling should be performed until the liquid level in the well rises sharply. This indicates that the brown has reached the aquifer. Depending on the type of soil on the site, the hydrodrilling procedure can last from one to seven days.
The casing string is used to prevent sand and pebbles from entering the wellbore during drilling. To prevent possible collapses, the casing should be lowered almost simultaneously with the deepening of the drill string.
The material for the manufacture of the casing is metal or plastic of a large thickness. Plastic pipes are quite popular as they are resistant to oxidation. However, when hydrodrilling them, it is difficult to push them into the wellbore. It is much easier with this method to use threaded metal pipes that allow alternate screwing of the links.
It is convenient to make a drilling mud for drilling in a pit, mixing clay with water there. Particles of clay, which is contained in the suspension, clog the pores of the soil in the well, thereby reducing the absorption of liquid by the soil. Depending on the rocks through which the drill passes, the composition of the suspension needs to be adjusted. For sands, it is usually thick. Sandy loam, loam and clay soils can be mined using ordinary water, and if the rocks are dense, shot or any other abrasive is added to it.
If the drilling rig has to be stopped for the night, then the carriage with the drill must be lifted with a winch to the top of the MBU and fixed there. The next day after starting the motor pump and its operation, the drive should be turned on within half an hour. After that, the winch must be lowered and slightly raised the drill string. After waiting for an easy movement of the carriage, you can continue hydrodrilling the well with your own hands.
Arrangement of a well for water
After passing the aquifer, hydrodrilling should be continued until it penetrates into the water-resistant layer. This moment will be noticeable by the decrease in the sink rate of the drill. The metal rods must be removed from the well after flushing it with water.
If a large-diameter well was drilled in order to install a submersible pump in it, then you need to worry about installing a filter. This operation is not difficult to accomplish. You will need to insert a number of smaller diameter pipes into the casing and connect them. The bottom pipe of the inner casing must be perforated or have longitudinal slots. It will be correct if this water filtering link is supplemented with a fine metal mesh.
After the filter element reaches the bottom of the well, the casing should be slightly pulled out of the wellbore in order to release the filter holes. The upper excess part of the pipe must be cut off and a head made. If there is a gap around the wellbore, the wellhead must be fixed with crushed stone and cement mortar. This will help to avoid the penetration of melt water from the outside into the aquifer of the source.
When installing, the submersible pump should not come into contact with the bottom of the well - this is a prerequisite. The water level above it must be at least 3 m. After the pump is installed, the well can be used.
After completing all the above work, it is necessary to disassemble the structure of the drilling rig. If the well is narrow, the drill string will act as a filter casing. It is not necessary to remove it from the wellbore, since the water intake will be carried out using the channels through which the drilling slurry passed.
Watch a video about hydrodrilling a well:
This technology for hydrodrilling wells is quite available for independent use. To reduce cash costs when drilling your well, you can not buy MBU, but simply rent it. If you follow the order of the stages of work and the availability of high-quality equipment, you can get an excellent result that will allow you to use high-quality underground water for a long time.
