How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump

   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #11  
If you have never done a pump replacement I would say leave it till you can get help.

If you have replaced a pump before then you know the steps. Pull the pipe sections 1 at a time and get it out with a boom and pipe adapter and blocking/lift plate on the head. Once all the pipe is out you can get some cable and try to fish out the pump. Might take 1 try might take 1000 but you can get it out.

second option is to just install a new pump and leave the old one in the bottom…

just takes time and money….
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #12  
My Dad always told me to try to fix it myself before calling in the experts, because they won't charge you any more if you muck it up trying to fix it yourself.

I'd certainly give it a try, if you can get a winch and other tools to try to capture it. I checked on YT and there are a couple of videos on raising a well pump. Might want to watch them to see if you get any ideas before trying.

Good luck !
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #13  
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #14  
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   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #15  
I wouldn't be afraid to go fishing for the pipe, a piece of 3/8 rod bent to a fish hook shape then bent to have an offset.
Especially with the camera mentioned above. Loader with a pulley some good rope on the hook and some mechanical help to pull on the rope after catching it.
What are you going to be out?
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #16  
Did I miss something? Is the 500’ of pipe already out? That is the hardest part. 20-25 years ago means there probably will be 20’ sections of pvc down 500’. So 25 pieces to pull. If the pump is broken off the at the bottom it won’t weight much. When you do it normally, the pipe is filled with water and the pump is on the end. So 500’ would be a lot of weight. But if you pull the pipe without something to support it out of the hole it will break. So you need something to support each piece as it comes out and gets unscrewed from the next piece of pipe. Or just factor in getting new pipe.
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #17  
Mine was done with heavy wall poly pipe, no joints.
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #18  
I suddenly lost all pressure and water began collecting around the well head. The well is +/- 500' deep with a 3/4 hp. submersible pump in a 6" casing. I dug out and exposed the pipe where it connects to the casing and found water spraying out around the pit-less adapter. I removed the pipe from the adapter and found it was loose where it connects to the well casing. Like a bone head, I pulled the loose adapter from the casing without first securing the pump pipe at the well head. Yeah, the pipe, pump & wiring went for a swim. As I recall, the pump was set about 30' above the well point so the iron supply pipe & broken adapter should be 30 to 35' below the well head.
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bdhsfz6 said:
10/3 cable pulled out of the junction box on the well head when the pump fell. I can see the end of it with a flashlight about 10 feet down.
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kf4uda said:
A camera like this could give you eyes to help snare the pipe:

<snip>
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So you've got a 10/3 cable about 10' down. And you figure the supply pipe and broken adapter to be about 35' down.

It seems you've got little to lose if you can get ahold of the 10/3 cable and GENTLY & SLOWLY haul it up so you can get attached to the supply pipe.
If you get the wire try using that as a guide to run a grapple down.

IF you can do that you may succeed.

Unless you have a suitable grapple I'd suggest calling the supply company and see if they could recommend a grapple.

Don't worry about the tripod etc. for hauling up all the pipe until you get ahold of it.

Good luck!
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #19  
Our well went out. Ours was done with 20’ sections of some type of white plastic pipe. They brought out a little stand with driven rubber wheels on it, set it over the well, pulled enough pipe up through it, clamped the wheels around the pipe, and turned on a little motor that turned one of the wheels. It drove the pipe right up out of the well, and as it came up, they just walked the pipe up, let it bend over to the ground, and walked it into the neighbor’s yard. Never disassembled anything. Replaced the pump, and walked it all back down the well.

Now the OP has the task of getting to the first section of pipe and seeing if he can grip it with something that has enough grip to support 500’ of pipe + pump + wiring.

Google up well retrieval tools. There’s a bunch of videos about homemade and commercial tools that seem to work fine.

Then you have to ask yourself if you want to attempt it or get the pros to do it.

If the pump and hardware and wiring is 25 years old, it might be a good time to just consider having them do it and be done with it VS trying to do it yourself and finding out you need all the new stuff anyway, or worse yet, getting a tool stuck in the well casing.

Good luck in your project. (y)
 
   / How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump #20  
If you get the wire try using that as a guide to run a grapple down.
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What I was thinking too, if you're willing to try it, what have you got to lose?
You could try lowering a good flashlight down the well, it'll probably work better than shining it from above and you'd get a better idea exactly how far down the pipe is.
As someone also said, try grabbing the wire and pulling on that...
 
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