As an update to my previous post, I decided to try option #4, a shallow well to pump the water out of the ground so that I can dig an additional two feet. I really didn’t expect this to work but I found the following pump on harbor freight with a 20% off coupon. After determining that it would cost about $150 for pump and plumbing I figured it was worth a shot. The video of the installation and result is below.
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- This is the Harbor Freight Shallow Well Pump with Tank and Pressure Shutoff Valve running. $120 with 20% off coupon
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- Water being pumped from a well that was put 10-15 feet down in Florida.
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- This is a photo of a hole before the pump was turned on.
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- This is a photo of a hole after the pump was running for about 45 minutes.
Here is a video of the install, pump running and visual of the holes.
Update 8/11/2017
After three days of running the pump, the water has been removed from the holes and I’m able to dig the 53 inch depth required for the array poles. The engineers also came back with a solution to put 24″ x 24″ footers with rebar spanning the distance of each pair of poles. This sounds like a very sturdy solution but one that would have been significant in both time and money so I”m happy to report the shallow well is doing its job.
