Quote:
Originally Posted by Xringer
I wonder if DIY well diggers know they need a permit to drill??
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Depends on what state/county/city they are in and whether they are on their own property. It is not uncommon for people in rural areas to pound in sandpoint wells for watering their livestock. They sell the materials at my local farm store.
I've helped put in monitoring wells with drill rigs at hundreds of sites and installed monitoring wells with hand augers at dozens of sites and have thought about putting in geothermal wells at home. I would say that if you are drilling more than 30' deep you will want somebody with experience and some substantial drilling equipment even if you are in easily drilled soft clays. If you encounter sand below the top of groundwater or below about 10' depth you will want hollow stem augers to keep the holes open while you build the well inside of them. A twenty foot string of hollow stems is too heavy to lift by hand, so even if you get a little one man drill rig and can find somebody to lend you the augers you'll need something to pull the string out of the well.
Rock can be drilled, but you definitely should have somebody with experience help you with that because depending on the type of rock you need to use different methods (e.g. down hole hammer vs. tri-cone bit).
If I were to install geothermal for myself, I would go with horizontal loop because bedrock is shallow and problematic at my home.