Its possible call a well driller they could probably do it.My huubys a builder he was talking about people that did this.We got a windmill I have an ad these Amish guys travel around fixing ,erecting windmills.We had a well drilled for it because we have sulphur in our well at the house yuk.We may pipe it to house one day.Love it Its tall.You can by used mills and different heights even different sized wheels

I would love to have a windmill!! Thanks for the info. We are not letting it go just yet!!

Thanks!

If you can't use well, cap it off. We have a major problem in this area with old open pipe wells, then things leak into them contaminating the aquifer!! There is a special stuff to pour into pipe, that keeps expanding. Prevents things going into well down the pipes. Pipe is a straight shot into water supply, could affect lots more people than you.

Thanks. We have a removable cap on it and it is in a little well house that is in very good condition that also stays locked. I have to do some more talking before we will be ready to give up on it.

Try posting this on the Homesteaders forum. That place is filled with DIY'rs, somebody there might have some solutions. - Ellen

Put in submersible electric pump, probably 1/2 to 3/4 hp with good black plastic pipe to the depth you need. Most of these run on 220 volts but some run on 110 volts. Pump it empty and add Clorox about a quart the first time to bacteria in the well. Shouldnt nee to remove all the old pipe un less it is a small diameter well and not at least 24" across. If this well is what you want to use some time instead of spending lots of money on a new well. RANDAL

There are protocols for filling in old wells using dry bentonite clay to keep the groundwater from transferring into the aquifer.

Yes,thank you sharon, but I am looking to restore the well, not fill it in. If we determine that it is indeed unusable we will fill it in correctly, but we have had some new info come our way and feel that it very well may be salvageable. Thanks for all your help!

At a previous farm I updated a well that was decades old. We had a professional come out and test it to see if it was still viable. We then paid him to put in an above ground pump and then we had the water tested to determine if we would use it for drinking or just for 'yard' stuff'. Turns out the water met all of our drinking and washing needs. I believe that we paid $700, still cheaper than drilling a new one.
I just moved into (2 years ago) an older home that has a well on the property. We have city water but eventually I want to have this well checked out also. I prefer well water over city water any day.

Wow that is great, ours is on the back burner at least for a while, but we do not intend to give up on it just yet. Thanks for the encouragement! Hope your new old well is a keeper!

If the well casing has collapsed, the well is no longer viable. I'm a little surprised that it would collapse though- standard well casings are 6 inch diameter steel cylinders. Rehabbing a well would involve a drill rig coming out and pushing new casing around the old, and then yanking the old from within the new. The water should be fine, but if the casing has collapsed, the recharge of the well will be abysmal. Do you know what kind of soil you have? Is there an old well report from when it was drilled? If groundwater is high in your area and you have mostly sands/gravels, you could get away with pounding in several 2-inch "sand point wells", connecting them up and using a single aboveground pump. Good luck!

I have been needing more water for the garden, but with water rates going up as fast as gas, its costly. Plus the city water with high clorine my plants don't do well. I want to buy a water well drilling rig. there are many brands, all have post hole digger power. I needed info on this before i buy one and found a great site to share with others. www.drillingfab.com
Seems hard to get past the sale pitches and this site was honest, and helpful. I was thinking of buying a 2850.00 portable rig, but i have on order a plans book and my sons say they can make me one. I'll keep you posted on what happens in the weeks ahead. the 22 bucks is a lot cheaper gamble that the 2850.00 i almost spent.If anyone has some input please tell me, i'll listen.......

I have an old water well (24" open top cement casing) that I need to clean out in order to supply water to a camphouse. The well is approx. 25 ft. deep with 3-4 feet of sediment and about 5 ft. of water. I hooked up a shallow well pump and pumped most of the water out in 20 minutes and the water level came back to normal in about 1 hour. I would like to see if the well can be cleaned out to allow faster feed-in. The sediment is rather soft as I can feel it with a joint and half of 1" PVC pipe. Can any one help me with this situation.

I have 2 water well scoopers from when our Church was built in the 60's. Would they be of any value now.

I see no reason why the well cannot be used provided that it is stable and safe

. I live in the UK and we use a well that is 1700 years old or more (Roman) it is 55 meters to water level. Just get the water sampled for pollutants and remove any pipework to the well head.