Hunting in Wells.?

Well, I haven't searched in a well yet but I have some expirience with ancient toiletters (don't worry any smell is long gone  ) ...

You can find marvellous things in ancient toilettes as people used to dump everything they considered trash (and what we may consider treasure nowadays) into them.

But nack back to the wells. I remember having read on various occasions that lost treasure was hidden in wells. People may have dumped it into the well when they had to do a quick job on hiding their valueables things.

However the bad point is that digging it up will mean lots of work. Thsu if possible you might want to use for exmaple a borehole metal detector first or another deep seeking metal detector. But on the other hand you may also find very old and valueable glass or ceramics in the well which the detector would miss however.

To sum up I think it may be a very interesting venture if you have some helping hands that can assit you with the digging.

If you should give it a try please keep us posted about your finds!

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I dunno, but it seems like a type of dig to exercise caution and have a buddy along.

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The casings in old abandoned wells often deteriorate, and underground aquifers can easily penetrate them and weaken them further.  Please use EXTREME caution repelling down an old well, because there is a strong possibility that the structure may completely collapse on top of you!  Even if you have a buddy with you, they won't be able to get you out if you have 30 feet of rubble on top of you.

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GoldFever and fellow members- Greetings-
You have been given some basic precautions- and there are many at the 30 foot depth-an oxygen meter in this situation is a must to test not only for oxygen at a minimum of 19.8% and LEL of 0% because you are now in what is considered a confined space. The LEL will let you know if there could be an explosive situation.Next as already mentioned- cave in- there have been many to die from 7-10 foot cave ins- in much less 30 foot.  I have a vacuum cleaner that run off of air- min 100 lbs.- it is so strong I had to make a special barrel for it to sit on because it will suck the sides in of a 55 gal. drum. I connect PVC pipe to the suction hose and run it down the well. It sucks all the goodys up and no one needs to go down the well. Another way to clean this out is the same way cassons are cleaned out for pouring bridge foundations. With enough air pressure blown down the well - everything will come out. We have seen with enough air pressure that 250 lb. boulders will even come up.
FOS

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		Quote:			Posted by findoldstuff
	Hello Again- I do need to clarify LEL- the LEL will also keep you from being exposed to harmful chemicals that can be detected. I am not certian where you are located but if you are in a coastal area and serious about cleaning this well or cistern - a mirine chemist can test the oxygen for you. However- IF you go down in this you MUST constantly measure the oxygen level. Oxygen can be depleted by rust, the break down of organic material and more. FOS

Everyone is neglecting the common hazard of methane gas (also called swamp gas, natural gas and sweetgas,) common in wells, cellars and comes out of the soil from natural organic break down sources.... H2S as well. Smelling it will not help, as methane is odorless and H2s anesthetizes your smeller.

Anything designed to measure oxygen would be useless to indicate methane or H2S and while H2S detectors are inexpensive; a simple carbon monoxide detector might detect methane, because these detectors work on the shotgun principle.

Seems to me that H2S detectors are as cheap as $15 or $20, they may not be not qualitative, but will indicate a lethal incidence of the gas.

There is lots of both methane and H2S, in my area, and to work on some jobs you are required to take a course called *H2S Alive.* One of my friends was gassed by H2S, as a *battery* operator, in the oilfield. As an operator, he was required to carry a detector that, incidentally, has a very loud piezo alarm.

goldigger

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