What are the tricks to pulling a well pump?

   / What are the tricks to pulling a well pump? #11  
I too helped pull a submerged pump from a casing at a hunting cabin in PA. the poly pipe was slippery, heavy, and a real handful to control. Not to mention once that rust crap gets on your clothes that are that rusty brown color forever.

We did get our job done but I don't think I would do it a second time.
 
   / What are the tricks to pulling a well pump? #12  
I've helped pull a well.. ya need a couple pipe wrenches, and an a-fram out of 2x4 makes guiding those long pipes up and out a bit easier. A tall ladder and a couple buddies will help this job. I forget what we locked each section off with when we pulled it up to take off.. but I'm guessing it was a 3 jaw vice.. etc.

Soundguy
 
   / What are the tricks to pulling a well pump? #13  
$500.00


I am assuming the 4" is the casing?? not the actual pipe?? I don't know the pipe size but when you have to lift that many feet of pipe along with a pump that is pretty heavy. I use to help my father n law drill wells. On occassions we would go and pull one. It isn't so bad with the well machine but I can't imagine doing/lifting by hand. We lifted one that was plastic about 150 feet down and the two of us had a heck of a time lifting that one.

Pay the $500 let him worry about dropping the pipe back down the casing.



just my 2 cents.

murph
 
   / What are the tricks to pulling a well pump? #14  
All these tractor guys & wanting to do things the hard way! Looks like I've been away too long. What you need here is a little thought into how to pull up that short piece of rusting pipe, that is the way people get there vitimans & iron, is it not?
In order to get the pipe out first, you really need something kind of tall, like the front loader of a tractor, or a loading pole on back of the three-point hitch. That's better than trying to build a tall structure to place over the punched well. A simple pulley hoist (an electric works great) mounted above and using a rope wrapped several times around the pipe as a friction grip will hold onto the pipe as it is being pulled upward. Once you get it moved upward as high as possible, repeat the process (to hold it until you get the winch reset, place a sawbuck over the well, use another rope to tie another friction grip, rope is cheap) until getting to each joint that requires seperating. After getting all the sections out, fix whatever problem you had, and then get some FLEX plastic tubing (there's two different grades of that stuff, get the heavier-duty black plastic version). I would also certainly cover the wiring with some sort of protective flexible covering, especially with deep wells. Had more than one occasion where the wire got cut rubbing against the stone walls of the well. Vibration reducers just don't cut it. Then it's fairly easy to drop the plastic down, even for one person, wire-tying the covered wiring about every 15 ft. to the plastic pipe. Wire needs to have slack!
But, mine's plastic PVC at 500 ft., how can I pull that out, & the water makes it even heavier?!?! That's the #1 reason we all bought tractors, right? Just place a barrel (55 gal plastic one works great) next to the well casing that sticking out of the ground, tie or stake the barrel into position so it won't go anywhere. Again, use a rope to wrap it several times around the plastic pipe for a friction grip, the other end goes?....Oh yeah, on the hitch of that tractor I bought just to do this job! Get the father-in-law, who's been dying to try out the new toy, to mosy up the driveway while you watch the pipe slowly coming out of the well casing, guiding it & watching for anything that may catch the pipe from moving freely. And remember, for you people with deep wells, if the old person driving the tractor can't see your hand signals from a distance when trying to get him to stop prior to ripping apart the pipe & losing the pump forever, use those family-talk CELL PHONES for something besides gossip.
J.W.
 
   / What are the tricks to pulling a well pump? #15  
the trick is to get an 18 year old boy to do the pulling...
other than that, it just gets a little heavy close to the end and
do not drop it...the pipe gets a little slippery too, if your pulling with the pipe...i've pulled some pretty deep ones, have even hooked a vehicle to the rope and let someone else drive slowly away till it was up..but if you do this i recommend you put a pulley up about 6 ft and go thru the pulley so it pulls straight up from the well..
heehaw
 
   / What are the tricks to pulling a well pump? #16  
My uncle took a steel frame for a swing, attached apully ot it and used a tractor and long rope it was a DEEP WELL) and had someone on the tractor to pull as he would be continuously un-attaching a re-attaching the rope and he pulled the pump out just fine. If I remember right he used a riding mower and it never spun a tire.
 
   / What are the tricks to pulling a well pump? #17  
Most pumps around here use 125PSI poly or Poly-B [ump lines.
What a lot of folks do around here is make an outer sleeve to fit the well casing.
Sleeve is about 12" high and the ID of the sleeve is a loose fit on the casing.
2 angle iron pieces (ex 1 1/2 X 1 1/2 X maybe 2 ft long) are welded to the outside of the sleeve with a wheelbarow or trailer rim between the angles.
The main trick is to have the grouve of the rim just lined up with the inner edge of the casing (even about 1/2' closer to center is best)
A small piece of steel stock is welded to the upper rim of sleeve to prevent the sleeve from sliding down on the casing.
More or less creating a lip on the sleeve.

The rest is simple. Attach a sturdy line to the upper fitting (usually a 'pitless') and drive away with the tractor or truck or car.

The grouve in the rim will guide the poly pipe and prevent chaffing while the rim radius will prevent kinks in the line.

Naturally you have to hand guide the pump wires but then many simply pull both at the same time (with a bit of slack on the wires and tension on pipe)

One pump supply house even rents such a rig to his clients
 
   / What are the tricks to pulling a well pump? #18  
Hello TractorByNet,

I was searching for info on pulling a deep well pump and came across this site. I have a problem...big one I think.

I raise commercial poultry (60K birds) and my well pump wasn't pulling quite the optimal amps....soooo, the pump company suggested they pull the pump thinking it might need a small 'part' to repair. I said to NOT do this while I had birds, so since birds went out last week the pump co. came yesterday morning to pull the pump.

Here's my stats that I can remember: Well depth 1460 feet, 5 hp pump set at 700'.

They were able to pull about 300' of pipe and "something" caused the pipe to break and the pump, 400' of iron pipe and most of the elec wiring went shooting like a missile to the very bottom (this shook the ground when it 'landed' at the bottom, so they said).

Apparently when this happened the 2 workers called their supervisor to come to my farm. When he got here...he called me to come to the well house saying there was a BIG problem. The supervisor started to tell me that the pipe must have had a crack in it and that's why it broke. THEN he said he would talk to the owner of the well co and see if they could LET ME MAKE PAYMENTS on placing another 700' pipe AND the (now obviously destroyed) new 5hp well pump, along with all new wiring!!!! REALLY!!

I'm not a stupid woman!! Hate when companies think they can just take advantage of a hard working farmer!! The really crazy thing now is that once they left yesterday morning...NOT ONE CALL to me with a solution!!! I told them that it wasn't a failure of the pipe and it HAD to be something THEY DID.

Also, I said HOW do we get OUT the 400' pipe and pump at the bottom?? He said they would just leave it there and place my new pump at the previous 700' mark. I said how do they know the whole thing, including all the wire went all the way down?? They are bringing in a camera guy to look...so they said.

My basic question about all this is....do you think I should call a special drill company to retrieve the pipe and pump?? NO WAY am I going to get stuck with this horrible expense of replacing pump, pipe and elec. I have used this company for 15 years...had a few glitches in the past...but nothing like this one.

If nothing else....I thank you for giving me a place to vent about this horrible event!!

Thanks again!
Marianne
Maple Shade Farm
Arkansas
 
   / What are the tricks to pulling a well pump? #19  
Chances are there was corrosion on the tubing and it finally snapped while being pulled.

It would seem that a fishing job is in order. Some folks are better at it than others and may even have the proper equipment on hand or know where to rent it. It might take a slightly different rig also depending on what the present fellows have.:)

Chances are the pump rate dropped due to tubing corrosion and a hole or two.:)

Might think of using different material when replacing the tubing.:)
 
   / What are the tricks to pulling a well pump? #20  
Chances are there was corrosion on the tubing and it finally snapped while being pulled.

It would seem that a fishing job is in order. Some folks are better at it than others and may even have the proper equipment on hand or know where to rent it. It might take a slightly different rig also depending on what the present fellows have.:)

Chances are the pump rate dropped due to tubing corrosion and a hole or two.:)

Might think of using different material when replacing the tubing.:)
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Thanks for the reply Egon!

The 300' they removed is in pretty great shape. They use a 'boom truck' with cable to pull pipe. They showed me an attachment with a large hook on the bottom when I indicated that I really wanted the old pump/pipe/elec out of the well. They said that the only thing they might be able to grab is the elec wire. I suspect that the wire alone will probably NOT be able to pull the pump and 400' of pipe.

Will msg back here when a solution is at hand. The really bad thing about all this is that the poultry co I raise birds for will not place new chicks till this is resolved. So, I hope they figure this out. Farming never takes a break!

What other materials might be considered? With that much distance can't imagine that anything flexible would be advised.

Thanks again,
Marianne
 
 
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