How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump

   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #61  
Contrary to popular belief, Timmy never fell in a well. However he did:

...let a rabid dog out of a cage (“Graduation”)
…ate deadly nightshade berries (“Berrypickers”)
…threatened by an escaped female circus elephant (“The Elephant”)
…hides out in the treehouse when he has pneumonia (“Spartan”)
…threatened by a mother wolf (“The Wolf Cub”)
…falls into the lake (“Transition” and “The House Guest”)
…develops a high fever from the measles (“The Crisis”)
…is almost shot by Paul (“Hungry Deer”)
…ignores severe stomach pains; he’s diagnosed with appendicitis (“Hospital”)
…is trapped in an abandoned house with Boomer (“Trapped”)
…wanders into a live mine field (“Junior GIs”)
…is menaced by a bear (“Campout” and “The Renegade”)
…is trapped in a mine (“Old Henry”)
…gets a black eye playing football (“Growing Pains”)
…nearly flies a home-made glider off a cliff (“Flying Machine”)
…runs into a burning house to save a neighbor lady and passes out (“The Whopper”)
…is endangered by dynamite picked up by an escaped lab chimp (“The Man from Mars”)
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump
  • Thread Starter
#62  
The well company sent out a rep yesterday to see what equipment is needed so they can schedule a crew. He lowered a special light a few feet down the casing to get a better look. It turns out there is what he calls a "packer" in the well casing. It's a piece of 4" PVC pipe which is sometimes inserted in problem wells. The broken cable I saw just held the packer in place when it was installed and isn't attached to the pump.

He was not optimistic that anything could be done to recover the pump due to the narrow 4" PVC packer. He said recovery and replacement costs could be as high as $10K if it's even possible to do at all. They are going to bring in a special camera next week to get a better look.

This pretty much eliminates any possibility of me doing the work myself. I'll just have to wait and see what they find & hope for the best.

Thanks to all who posted their suggestions and ideas.
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #63  
The well company sent out a rep yesterday to see what equipment is needed so they can schedule a crew. He lowered a special light a few feet down the casing to get a better look. It turns out there is what he calls a "packer" in the well casing. It's a piece of 4" PVC pipe which is sometimes inserted in problem wells. The broken cable I saw just held the packer in place when it was installed and isn't attached to the pump.

He was not optimistic that anything could be done to recover the pump due to the narrow 4" PVC packer. He said recovery and replacement costs could be as high as $10K if it's even possible to do at all. They are going to bring in a special camera next week to get a better look.

This pretty much eliminates any possibility of me doing the work myself. I'll just have to wait and see what they find & hope for the best.

Thanks to all who posted their suggestions and ideas.
Yeah getting a wall hook and the tools needed to fish through that 4" liner is going to be a problem. Only thing might save you is if the camera shows a thread or coupling sticking up and not against the well wall. That way they could just send a pipe down and with help from the camera just screw right onto the pipe. I will cross my fingers for you. But I know of many where we just had to fill the hole and say last words over the burial of the pump.
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #65  
The well company sent out a rep yesterday to see what equipment is needed so they can schedule a crew. He lowered a special light a few feet down the casing to get a better look. It turns out there is what he calls a "packer" in the well casing. It's a piece of 4" PVC pipe which is sometimes inserted in problem wells. The broken cable I saw just held the packer in place when it was installed and isn't attached to the pump.

He was not optimistic that anything could be done to recover the pump due to the narrow 4" PVC packer. He said recovery and replacement costs could be as high as $10K if it's even possible to do at all. They are going to bring in a special camera next week to get a better look.

This pretty much eliminates any possibility of me doing the work myself. I'll just have to wait and see what they find & hope for the best.

Thanks to all who posted their suggestions and ideas.
Well, that stinks. Hopefully when they get a better look at it, they'll see something hopeful.

If they don't is it new well time?

If it is new well time, then I'd try at least for a few times, to do something myself, or at the least, get another estimate. If you're gonna need a new well, you can't really muck it up any further by attempting the long shot.

Good luck with the next camera. 🤞
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #66  
Not quite sure why you must recover it anyway. There shopuld be plenty of standing water level above the pump on the bottom, cannot you just install a new pump in the standing water level and leave the old one in the bottom of the bore. I know on ours, there is 20 feet of water between the bottom and the where the pump is located.
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #67  
Not quite sure why you must recover it anyway. There shopuld be plenty of standing water level above the pump on the bottom, cannot you just install a new pump in the standing water level and leave the old one in the bottom of the bore. I know on ours, there is 20 feet of water between the bottom and the where the pump is located.
I think he said there's 500' of pipe in there still.
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #68  
Well, that stinks. Hopefully when they get a better look at it, they'll see something hopeful.

If they don't is it new well time?

If it is new well time, then I'd try at least for a few times, to do something myself, or at the least, get another estimate. If you're gonna need a new well, you can't really muck it up any further by attempting the long shot.

Good luck with the next camera. 🤞
New well will be 20-25k…if the well still works 10k is the check to write.

maybe pay them for removal only. Put new pump, wiring and pipe yourself to save $$.
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #69  
I think paying for the camera look/see is worth it. At least you will know what you are dealing with, what there is to grab, and how far down it is. Good luck!
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #70  
Interesting that he could see the packer and that it still had an attached cable, but he didn't think they could pull it.
Well Packers to seal water well to hard rock
They should be able to easily pull the packer.
Then from what I read in the earlier post the section of the pitless adapter thats inside the well casing should still be on your pipe which should give them a good point to get a pull loop on.
I'm surprised at the rep's lack of confidence in their people, unless he doesn't know much about how things work.
 
 
Top