How to divine for water

As kids we used to hide jam jars full of water in the sand play pit in our back yard, then see who could find the jar first. Great game for kids to get them away from the tv.

Ok, I've been a little taken aback by the reaction this instructable has got, so I did a little research and now I understand why. I'd like people to note a few points before commenting on this instructable

1)I am an engineer, a general sceptic and take a very pragmatic approach to things.
2)I make no claims to this being a scentifically provable phenomenon. Here's the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing and it seems fairly reasonable.
3)This is presented as having potential as a game. My personal motivation is to develop this as a game for kids with disabilities, if they beleive they have some 'magical' ability then thats a really positive thing for them.
4)I can water devine aka dowse, the engineer in me thought it might have something to do with eletromagnetic fields but after the comments from two posters below I did a little more research and it seems the most logical answer is Ideomotor effect ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideomotor_effect ). Someone pointed out I could win one m-i-l-l-i-o-n dollars (love saying that in Austin Powers voice) and I'm very sure that although I can 'devine' I certainly would fail any scientific test on this.

Its simply a great fun game and beats the bejesus out of kids sitting in front of the tv. Either do this little fun experiment and provide feedback or stay away, Its just that its 3F here in New England and asking kids to find buried jars of water in the frozen ground is a little out of the question right now. Please do not bring the whole sceptic v beleiver debate in here. Thank you!

Step 1 Equipment:

One wire coat hanger
One jar full of water, note bigger is better in this case.

Comments

[stevsurv]

was a total sceptic till today. hmmm where do I start? One of the guys at work told me sometime ago that he could find water with 2 bent coathangers, so I said prove it! well, we found 2 coat hangers, bent them into an approximate 90 degree angle and he demonstrated. as he walked around work we watched him(others at work were watching too!) walking around slowly that the wires/rods crossed at several spots. he repeated the same thing twice and the rods crossed at the same places again! I watched his hands carefully while he was doing this and noticed no movement which accured while the rods moved. Being a sceptic I thought I would try this and follow the same path he did. To my amazement the rods actually moved at the same spots that had moved for him! I repeated this and came to the same result! I could feel the rods actually move themselves while holding them! whats going on here? anyone gotta sensible explanation? hmmmmm still trying to work this out. BTW we found all the water pipes in the place while trying this. including the main storm-water outlet. weird?!

[stick1985]

this works for some people and doesent for other people im going to try this in the morining and see for my self

[terrie]

Interesting -- I was with some folks who showed me this about 20 years ago. It was a strange thing to have those wires cross. They didn't tell me where the water sources in the yard were, but I "got a signal" at the appropriate places, plus one they didn't know about (unfortunately, we didn't dig up the yard to see if there was really anything there -- they claimed that there might be some sort of pipe underground there). If I can work out a way to test it again, I'll do so and report back. I'd love to understand why it seemed to work.

[radiorental]

There are various theories. I heard of people detect underground caves, I've seen film of a guy use a map and pointy pendant to detect water remotely. This definitely works, I'm fairly good at it. You said 'wires cross' did you use one in each hand? I should see if thats better, I remember starting that way and then realising I only needed one coathanger.

[terrie]

Yes, we used two pieces of coathanger wire, one in each hand. They'd start out parallel (both pointing forward), but would cross when over the water source. It's been a long time -- I can't remember accurately whether they continued to swing after crossing or not.

[radiorental]

Hey Terrie, read the first page, looks like you and me are some heathens who are out to undermine the entire scientific world with out alien witchcraftry Ladies first on to the wood pile.

[terrie]

Oh dear -- I'm not sure if I'll float, and I can't remember if it's better to float or not float.

[radiorental]

well, you're either with us or against us as they say. Lots of debate but not a lot of results so far. If you have some time I'd appreciate you waving your coathanger wand over a water jar cauldron. I know you said you did this as a kid but.. you know.. for formal scientific testing purposes could you run the experiement again as described here and report any changes you needed to make, I really would appreciate it.

[radiorental]

this is a reply to test what happens if posters keep replying over and over and over and over

[radiorental]

this is a reply to test what happens if posters keep replying over and over and over and over

[radiorental]

this is a reply to test what happens if posters keep replying over and over and over and over

[radiorental]

this is a reply to test what happens if posters keep replying over and over and over and over

[radiorental]

this is a reply to test what happens if posters keep replying over and over and over and over

[radiorental]

this is a reply to test what happens if posters keep replying over and over and over and over

[radiorental]

interesting (o;

[The Muffin Man]

keep going

[sleepiejeanne]

This really works, but from my understanding not everyone is capable of doing this. An old family friend has found water for almost everone in the family, using a peach tree branch. Our well has more water per minute than any of our neighbors. His nephew now does this using welding rods, and showed it to my husband and myself at some land that we are getting ready to build on. My husband cannot make it work, but it worked for me. I even walked thru an area on this property that had been an old smoke house and found plow points, horseshoes, and several other metal objects that were buried under ground using the welding rods. When you walk over metal, rubber, or liquid they will turn and point towards each other. It was truly exciting to me.

[macrumpton]

I think jtobako is missing the point in creating a rig for holding the rods parallel. The rods are just indicators. The person holding the rods is the sensor, and unconscious movements the person make move the rods. I suspect that people are able to do this because they use info that they get from their senses that they are not consciously aware of. Or perhaps we have a magnetic sense like birds do that somehow interacts with the conductivity of the water. BTW I have also tried dowsing with coat hangers, and was able to find a water pipe that had been forgotten by the property owners, on my first try.

[Demosthenes]

So, to test the conductivity-of-the-water theory, all we have to do is use hidden bottles of distilled/deionized water, which has no ions in it. Of course, you still have to make sure that neither the tester observing or the testee finding knows where the buried water is.

[Marcos]

I learned this when I was 11 or 12 years old. Nor from an old country man or even a gypsy, but from a plumber who was in his early 20s. He pulled a hangar out of the back of his cluttered van, cut it as above, held each piece loosely in his hands and found a pipe. We were dazzled and amazed. Many years later, I taught a friend who was looking for an ancient (and still being used) water line. We dowsed with a hangar on his long, gravel driveway. Found the pipe within a foot of where we dug our first hole. Someone told me that this method will find not only water, but -any- disturbance in the ground, e.g., an underground electrical or gas line. It's great to see an instructable that does not involve flashing lights, fancy magnets or batteries! I'll be posting a very low-tech project soon myself. Thanks radiorental. Isn't it interesting how such a simple project has generated so much attention? ;-)

[radiorental]

controversly for the last 2000 years it seems. Simple fact of the matter is that this was one of my all time favourite games as a kid.

[darkmotion]

It is movement from unconsious movement in the hands. Not even close to the truth.

[billybob403]

a friend showed me this in college, except he held them in his hand, being a dis-believer, i tried it in my hands, still a disbeliever, i had to make the previous example to prove to myself, i was not sub-conciously pointing the pens toward one another.......try it for yourself, you too will see.

[jtobako]

care to look up "sub-conciously" again? YOU are doing it, not some magic sticks of any variety. try this, have someone else fill one of two opaque containers with water, then leave the room. try to find out which is which-then claim that you 'were too sensitive' and 'found an underground spring' or 'buried pipe' or 'were influenced by negitive waves' when your 55-45 guess is wrong. otherwise, post a coppy of the check from Randy:)

[billybob403]

its funny, they want to say it cannot be re-created or duplicated, but if you truly believe that your subconcious is making the wand move try this.... (1) Use 2 coat hangers bent at 90 degrees, and place each in a BIC or similar ballpoint pen, which has had the ink cartridge removed. (2) To ensure that each are held at the same angle, to a 2x4 or similar hunk of wood,and drill a hole for each bic to fit into. (3) hold the piece of wood with bic's and hangers in it, angle it in any direction you wish, both hangers will be parallel and point in the same direction. (4) now, for the final part of the trick, while holding it mostly horizontal, walk over to the water, they will cross in the form of an "X" or will attract toward one another.

[western waterman]

note to last comment: I/we tried the forked twig meathod and could not get it to work for us..we were with a pro dowser and he had a stock of rods soaking in a bucket.. he seemed to get them to work , myself and three friends could not.

[radiorental]

I've never tried that method, will any speicies do or did the pro specify a particular tree, I recall willow.. Did you try the metal rod?

[western waterman]

our local water association is a group of around 10 individuals and we maintain our own system we have all used a couple of coat hangers to find pipes installed 20 years ago , we find junctions, t's etc without difficulty. Most of us were scepticle at first but we are all now believers! Recently the local fibre optics cable installers arrived and they use a single piece of copper wire.. I tried it and it was "spooky" so accurate. I want to know more about "lay" lines and if our left and right hands are positive or negative? any advice out there?

[Megavolt]

From what I've seen posted, I think that Divining is best at detecting moving water. I'm not 100% certain of it, but that's what the posts on the intro page seem to suggest.

[Megavolt]

My dad told me that my great grandfather used to divine using welding rods or coathangers and that it worked. I've never tried it, but I think I will after seeing this and reading the posts. Thanks for starting this instructable...I'll let you know my results later.

[GeoManiac]

Hi Guys - thought I would just let you know that I will be giving divining a go on the 7th of May her in Cape Town, South Africa - as I am in the process of looking for water on a number of properties. Before I call in the 'big guys' I want to have a go at it myself - the post to date have been very informative - thanks

[radiorental]

Let me know how you get on, how will you test which results are positive and false?

[VegasBoy]

I was an inspector for the Las Vegas Valley Water District and I doused for water succussfully everyday. It is best to use uncoated/non-painted metal coat hangers. The picture above is the perfect bend. The technique is to balance the coat hanger on pinky finger, it becomes a pivot point, and use your index finger as a rest. Do this with a coat hanger in both hands. Hold your hands away from your body (fully extended). The distance between the hangers should be about 12 inches apart. When you pass water underground the hangers will automatically cross. Start digging! Water will be below. We mark all out street mains that way. No specs, no costly equipment, just a can of spray paint and two hangers. I've doused over grass, sand, desert rock landscapes, blacktop, concrete, tile floors, linoleum, carpet & never missed. People pay over $500 to locate slab leaks when they can do it for free.

[radiorental]

Thanks for that, interesting to hear a first hand account. Ever tried some of the other methods such as a forked branch or from a map?

[vorbis]

I thought "no way this works" so I tried it and i was shockedto see that infact it did work. I explained it to my sister and she tried it again it worked. i realise that it might just be me tipping it when im over the water without noticing so i attachet it to a chair and moved the water under it. this time it DID NOT move. either this dosnt really work or there is something special about you holding it or my test was just wrong. very interesting though. cool post.

[radiorental]

thanks, yeah there is something to it and I think I'm leaning towards the ideomotor effect. I may still try this at a camp this summer but I'm not as inclined to beleive it will be a sucess. Any of the kids with/without abilities have failed to make tis work so far. I do appreciate your feedback on this little experiement, that was just what I was looking for - thanks again

[Hugo.B]

Digby, if you are going to post a comment at least do it properly! Pleeease!

[ll.13]

It only works privatly (see "Pigeon Post" by authur ransome)

[psuagr]

Many moons ago I had a summer job with the Soil Conservation District. One of the things we did was design field drainage. Sometimes to replace old field drains. To find the old drains the technician would take two wire flags and bend them at a right angle just below the flag and use the flag portion as the handle. Holding them lightly he would walk through the field and where they crossed he would mark the spot. This was his way of finding the old drainage more often than not it worked.

[foxxtrot]

My Uncle was building his house in an area where he was going to have to dig his own well, and he always liked to tell this story about when he had a man come out to determine where to dig. The man balanced a shovel on the palm of his hand, and began walking across the property. Where the shovel fell off his hand and struck the ground, he placed a marker. Then, he picked a path that would make him cross that spot again, and did the same thing. Again, the shovel fell and struck the ground near the original marker. My Uncle wasn't too sure he believed this guy, but he decided to drill there, since other people had told him this guy was good. Sure enough, they hit a respectable amount of water about 15 ft down. The diviner assured him, that the real flow was stil about 10 feet down, and so they kept drilling, and sure enough, after about 10 feet the water output from the well had about tripled. I don't understand how it works, but this does seem to be the kind of thing that can work. It would be interesting to see a true scientific study of the phenomenon.