How to Recover a Lost Submersible Well Pump

[bdhsfz6]

How deep is the top of the pipe? I would think a pen light on a cord and this number could be had.

Then, is it soil or rock down to that level? Soil, Dig a hole, cut the casing to expose the pipe. Pull well pipe, weld new casing, fill hole? replace pump

I was only able to expose around 5' of the casing before hitting ledge. It's as far down as I can go with my Kubota BH92 hoe. Exposing more would require a much larger machine and it could be difficult working around the conduit next to the well. See the pics in post #97 above.

An interesting idea though.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Good pics, not the reason for, I mean the quality .
Explain to me what the purpose of the packer is? My apologies if it's already been explained and I missed it......Mike

The well rep told me packers are used in "problem" wells with damaged casings. I'm not sure what the problem is here but it could be the corrosion.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Dig down about 10 ft around the casing, cut casing, pull out well pipe, install new casing.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Thank you so much for the pix. Explains a lot.

btw I mentioned your predicament to my wife. She suggested using a toilet plunger ....

Maybe I could fix the casing by wrapping it with toilet paper!

 

[ponytug]

Good pics, not the reason for, I mean the quality .
Explain to me what the purpose of the packer is? My apologies if it's already been explained and I missed it......Mike

They are designed to seal a well casing to hard rock.
E.g. Well Packers to seal water well to hard rock

The presence of a packer suggests to me that the well casing goes into rock pretty close to the surface, but might require pretty extensive excavation to get to the hard rock level, with a large enough space to work in and keep the well hole free of debris while removing the packer and then pump. As the well is at the top of a hill, having rock close to the surface shouldn't really be a surprise...

@bdhsfz6 Nice photos! Thanks for sharing them. They do help out.

All the best,

Peter

 

[cqaigy2]

Do you have livestock and a creek? Now, I'm just throwing this idea out there, not saying I'd do it and don't know if Pennsylvania has this program.
We have new neighbors who have horses, goats, cows. Virginia state installed a new high tensile fence along their creek 10 feet away and drilled a well near their barn at no cost. The idea is (and stupid taxpayer funded waste of money in my opinion) they want to keep livestock excrement out of the creek since eventually that water ends up in the Chesapeake bay.
I could do it here getting a free fence, free well. Another farmer neighbor & friend said he would never do that since he doesn't like government interventions.
Just throwing it out there.
Maybe another idea if you have a pond or creek pump from it to barn. A hydraulic ram actually you could pump for free!

Except it works to keep livestock excrement out of the creek. Also keeps them from breaking down the vegetation and ground around the creeks. Chehalis river back in the 90's wasn't something i'd swim in. Now 20 years later, after fencing out the critters around the creeks and river, the water is pretty clean.

I've thought about doing the hydraulic ram thing from a nearby creek.

 

[Egon]

Fishing or drilling tools to remove packer.
There should also be a tool that is used to remove or reset the packer Specific to the type of packer.
There are many different type of packers. The one shown is inside the casing and probably set at a level above where the casing is sealed in bedrock. In this case if the casing above the bedrock has a leak the packer seals the leak and keeps ground water out of the well bore.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Fishing or drilling tools to remove packer.
There should also be a tool that is used to remove or reset the packer Specific to the type of packer.
There are many different type of packers. The one shown is inside the casing and probably set at a level above where the casing is sealed in bedrock. In this case if the casing above the bedrock has a leak the packer seals the leak and keeps ground water out of the well bore.

If these tools exist, there must be a way to remove the PVC chips & pieces from the well. A special pump perhaps that won't get fouled by the debris?

 

[newbury]

If these tools exist, there must be a way to remove the PVC chips & pieces from the well. A special pump perhaps that won't get fouled by the debris?

You'd need a vacuum with a REALLY long hose.
I'd think they plan on just letting the chips fall where they may.

 

[ponytug]

Things like PVC small amounts of dirt/gravel can be blown out. Yes, you drop an air line to the bottom of the well, where the end is under water as the air bubbles, each bubble gets bigger as it goes up the well, moving the PVC, or dirt, gravel up and out of the well. It is how you do flow test on a well.

All the best,

Peter