Do-it-yourself Abyssinian well in one day (20 photos)

The problem of the constant availability of clean drinking water in your home or at the cottage is one of the most urgent. Each owner of a private property would like to solve it quickly and at the lowest cost. The construction of the Abyssinian well is one of the simplest and most economical solutions to the issues of autonomous water supply. It was invented in the 19th century, and still this method of water extraction is popular.

The device and principle of operation of the Abyssinian well

Structurally, it is an iron tube assembled from segments and interconnected by means of couplings. A mesh filter and a sharp metal tip, called a needle, are welded at the end of the lower tube. For pumping water, the design provides a manual pump that works on the principle of vacuum. In order for the well to be used all year round, the upper part of it is insulated. The small size of the device allows you to install it directly in the house. In this case, insulation may not be necessary.

Unlike a conventional well, this type of water intake device is most often not drilled, but clogged, so the Abyssinian well is also called a clogged, tubular or needle-hole.

Advantages of the Abyssinian well and its disadvantages

The high popularity of driven wells is based on many of its advantages:

• ease of installation allows you to do without the involvement of special equipment and workers;
• does not take up much space, installation is possible even in the house;
• independent of electricity supply;
• You can break a needle-hole in just one day, and use it for many years;
• if necessary, the entire structure can be disassembled and moved to another place;
• installing a driven well does not require a lot of money and labor.

Separately, you can notice that this type of well gives clean water in quality no worse than artesian, but noticeably less rigid.

The disadvantages of the Abyssinian well are as follows:

• the Abyssinian well is effective when water is not lower than 8–9 meters. Otherwise, the pump will not be able to pump it;
• when clogging the needle, you can skip the aquifer;
• if during the driving process the needle comes across a stone or a layer of hard clay, you will have to choose another place for the well;
• the design of the well does not allow equipping it with a submersible pump.

It’s easiest to make a needle hole on sandy soil, punching the clay layer is much harder, and rocky soil is not at all suitable for this purpose.

How to make an Abyssinian well: work stages

Before starting work on the arrangement of the well, it is necessary to prepare the following tools and materials. We will need:

1. from tools: grinder, drill, welding machine, sledgehammer, garden drill with a diameter of about 15 cm, gas key, hammer.
2. from materials: pipe sections of the desired diameter, bolts and nuts, stainless steel mesh, wire, clamps, non-return valve, pump station.

If during the driving process it becomes clear that any other devices are needed, it is not difficult to find all of them in household markets or stores.

When everything you need is prepared and a place for a well is selected, you need to make a filter needle.

Using a drill, drill holes in the pipe with a diameter of 6-8 mm. Then solder the mesh into the holes. It will work as a filter. A cone-shaped tip should be welded to the end of the pipe. It should be larger in diameter than the pipe. Then the pipe will enter the ground without unnecessary effort. Instead of iron, you can take a plastic pipe. In this case, the mesh is fused into the pipe from the inside, and the holes can be burned with a soldering iron or sawed with a hacksaw for metal.

If all these activities seem too complicated, you can just buy a ready-made kit for the Abyssinian well.

Abyssinian Well Technology

There are two methods of arrangement: driving or drilling.

The driving method is simpler, it is easier to do it yourself. The principle of clogging is as follows: a clogged head is used to clog the needles; in the process, water is poured into the pipe from time to time. When using this method, you need to pay attention to the following points: in a hammering way you can break or damage the needle if it comes across an obstacle, or skip the aquifer. But this method is cheaper and does not require hiring specialists.

The second method involves the use of special equipment and craftsmen, but finding an aquifer is much easier. Let's consider it in more detail.

Abyssinian well drilling

Three methods are used for drilling:

• using a sliding headstock and podbabka;
• clogging with a headstock with a plug;
• driving with a bar.

Having familiarized yourself with all three methods, you can choose the most optimal one for yourself.

Sliding with headstock and tack

The first half a meter or a meter is drilled with an ordinary garden drill. Then, a pipe with a tip is inserted into the drilled hole and verified by level. It should go strictly vertically. Next, put the lower ring on the pipe in order to fix the headstock. Put the headstock on the tip and screw the locking ring to it. In order to hammer the pipe into the ground, they raise the headstock by the handles and lower it with force. A few blows are enough for the meter pipe to go into the sand. Then the headstock and retaining ring are removed, the pipe is lengthened and the initial steps for hammering the headstock are repeated. At the end of drilling, water must be added to the pipe. If it leaves the pipe quickly, then the tip has reached the aquifer. Upon reaching the aquifer, the pipe is extended by another half a meter, a pump is attached to it, and water is pumped. It is necessary to pump until clean, without impurities and turbidity, water appears. Then you need to make a concrete blind area: remove the soil on the bayonet of the shovel, sprinkle with sand, compact it, put the reinforcing mesh and pour concrete. To drain the water, the edges are concreted just below the middle of the blind area.

Blocking with headstock with plug

This method is slightly different from the previous one: the blows fall on the upper pipe, on which an iron plug is screwed, and the headstock is already on it. For efficient operation, the headstock should weigh about 30 kg. The rest of the processes are similar.

Pipe driving with a boom

All the impact force in the applied method falls on the needle itself. The bar is made as follows: you need to take 8-10 hexagonal bars with a length of one and a half meters. At the ends of each bar, except for the first, you need to cut a thread - from one end to the inside, from the other - to the outside.

The sequence of driving looks like this:

• a pipe with a filter is inserted into the drilled hole;
• threaded rods are assembled into the rod and inserted into the pipe;
• clogging is done with a bar until it enters the pipe almost completely;
• the rod is extended by the next bar and the process repeats;
• periodically, water must be added to the pipe so as not to let the aquifer pass.

It should be noted that all connections must be airtight. As a sealant, you can use flax and tape FUM.

All three methods are used to hammer the Abyssinian well. The latter is more convenient to use on the street, and in the house - a grandmother due to restrictions on the height of the ceilings.

The easiest method is to drill a well using one homemade drill. The width of the drill must match the diameter of the well. As the drill lowers deeper into it, they gradually increase it with new extension rods, and put on a collar at the upper end.

Tips for Using the Abyssinian Well

If the well is used regularly, it will last longer. At the same time, the water remains stably clean and the flow rate of the well does not change. If the well is not used in winter, it must be preserved until spring. It is necessary to drain the water from the supply pipe, and cover the pump with waterproof material from rain and snow. Before starting operation in the next season, the well must be pumped.

Installation of a caisson chamber

The Abyssinian well can be equipped with a caisson. It is needed in cases where water is pumped using an electric pump, and the well itself is on the street. To install a caisson around the well, a foundation pit is dug with a depth just below the level of soil freezing. The width of the pit should allow descending and servicing pumping equipment. At the same time, you can dig a trench in order to bring water into the house. The bottom of the pit and trenches are covered with sand and rammed. Next, reinforced concrete rings are installed in the pit, at the level of the trench, a hole is drilled in the ring for the outlet of the pipe. The bottom of the pit is concreted and left for several days to harden. A cover with a hatch is installed on top, the seams are coated with cement mortar or special mastic-sealant. Next, they install pumping equipment and a hydraulic accumulator, connect the well to the pump and check the operability. The lid of the caisson is insulated.

To make the Abyssinian well with your own hands, paperwork is not required, while it will provide clean water for many years. In a large farm, the simplicity of its arrangement will allow to drill 2-3 wells - in the house, for watering the plot, for animals. The water obtained from the Abyssinian well is characterized by purity and the absence of a large amount of salts and minerals, which is characteristic of artesian. It does not require special cleaning and is suitable for all needs.