At the ranch I have a deep well system on a shallow well. My cylinder and check valve are not buried but below the pump jack in a 16 inch 3 three foot hole. I had a plastic 16 pipe guarding the cylinder so not to get buried. Well the moles have been filling that cavity in with dirt. I been having a perpetual problem with it.
So, yesterday I dug by hand a 6 ft long 5ft deep and 30 inch well pit. I started to shore the wall with a heavy plastic material to prevent them filling the pit.

I told my son my hole is ready when I pass away.

Gives new meaning to being thrown down the well... lol

I would recommend at least using plywood for the sides. If you get a lot of plastic or rain, the dirt could collapse in because the plastic won't support it. You'll have to cover the top well enough to insulate it from freezing.

Our well head basically has a concrete pillbox around it. It makes it very easy to access, when we need to.

Keith

LOL!!! Yes it does gcs.

Actually the shoring material is 3/4 inch panels from a commercial green house. A double wall tough material should be able to hold any sluff that may occur. This a very remote area so I just take pump jack off from well pipe. I pump water using a small gas engine on this well. I pull pump jack because I don't want it to grow legs.
Not all people are good.

It's too bad you can't safely leave your equipment, but it would be really cool to have a remote place like that. There's nowhere around here that you can get more than more than a few miles from other people.

Keith