Homestead mailing list

[sjc <indexer AT fairpoint.net>]

Lynn Wigglesworth wrote:


> This is the latest story...it brought out a lot of locals with  
> stories of
> exploding wells:
> http://www.wnep.com/global/story.asp?s=9619920
>
> I see that they haven't come up with a cause yet.

Of course I've no clue why that well blew, but I do know that where I 
grew up in west central IN there were a few of what we used to call 
'grasshopper' wells.  We didn't have one on our place, but several times 
my grandmother was encouraged to allow some company or another to put 
one in.  The big attraction, it seems, was the gas in our water, which 
came from a drilled well about 450' deep.

Obviously there was sulfur in the water, could smell it clear out in the 
driveway even before you got in the house.  When we drew water from the 
spigot, if you drank it right away (we were impervious to sulfur at that 
point), it would spit right up in your face the same as a freshly poured 
soda pop will. 

In the basement we had a several hundred gallon tank which stood upright 
and had 3 spigots on it, lined up vertically with the highest one right 
at the top of the tank.  Every Saturday my uncle would tap the tank to 
find the water level and open the spigot just above that, and light it 
with a match.  It was my job to tell him when water came out the spigot 
and turn off the spigot.  Then he'd come down and light the next-up 
spigot, and the whole process was repeated.  I loved the 'job' because I 
was allowed to read between lightings.  I remember several discussions 
about using said gas for heating/cooking as several of our neighbors 
did, but I think my grandmother was afraid of it.

I presume if that gas were contained/accumulated within the wellpipe 
itself and any spark reached it, it might not have been a very pretty 
picture.

SJ