Pulling a well point?

[ayelvington]

I'm attempting to drive a well through heavy clay and shale to the water table about 25 feet down. The point is currently at 15 feet and refusing to move any more. My attempt to use a post pounder just buckled the top coupling

All that said, does anyone have experience with pulling and reusing a well point? I have access to more than one large ag tractors, and there's plenty of lift on their 3-pt hitches. My only concern is that the tension on a coupling would cause the threads to fail and shear.

All in all, I'm thinking it's worth a try since the point would be lost to me anyway.

Any stories to share??

 

[Western]

I have never done that before, but maybe if you can get some water pressure down there as you lift, maybe that would help get her out??

 

[bp fick]

Yes, I've pulled up over 60 ft of pipe, using a tri-pod and come along. That was awhile ago.

Each situation is different. I've got one now to pull up myself and intend to try the 3 pt hitch. We shall see. Nothing much to lose.

 

[dieselbeef]

send water down the hole and itll come out once you see water flowing out the top pretty easy

 

[ayelvington]

I'll try it with my BX-24 for starters... I've shot water down a few times while driving the pipe, so I know that there is some gap on the pipe...

 

[kc5dlo]

High lift jack, three rounds of chain around the pipe.

 

[foggy1111]

I lifted 25 feet of 1 1/4" sand-point pipe with my front end loader. :thumbsup:

 

[Stimw]

I was washing down 2" PVC with garden hose attached to it (we wash down shallow wells here) and hit an area where water stopped coming out around the pipe and the pipe stuck at 18'. I hooked a rope to the pipe and used my engine hoist to pull it. Once it started coming I could pull it by hand.
I ended up hooking up a 2" water pump and washing it down to 30'. The high volume kept the pipe free and let it go down.
We then drop 1 1/4" with well point down in the 2" and remove the 2", pump it out until no sand comes out and have a good irigation well.
I also just removed a well that I was using for a geothermal heatpump. It was also 30' down 1 1/4" PVC. I hooked a rope to the pipe and pulled it with my FEL. It came right out.

 

[ayelvington]

I was washing down 2" PVC with garden hose attached to it (we wash down shallow wells here) and hit an area where water stopped coming out around the pipe and the pipe stuck at 18'. I hooked a rope to the pipe and used my engine hoist to pull it. Once it started coming I could pull it by hand.
I ended up hooking up a 2" water pump and washing it down to 30'. The high volume kept the pipe free and let it go down.
We then drop 1 1/4" with well point down in the 2" and remove the 2", pump it out until no sand comes out and have a good irigation well.
I also just removed a well that I was using for a geothermal heatpump. It was also 30' down 1 1/4" PVC. I hooked a rope to the pipe and pulled it with my FEL. It came right out.

We have to use schedule 40 iron pipe as a minimum, and it's looking like I'll have to use schedule 80 because of the density of the clay and shale. I can push water down the hole to let it come around the pipe, but it only comes out a small area.

Friends, this isn't sand, it's the nastiest clay you can imagine. (Brown and blue clay for folks in the know.) We also grow stones in our fields around here like they grow potatoes in Idaho... I nearly put my front tires to the rims with an FEL load of stones today when I was discing an area. It's pure luck if you don't hit something hard before you hit the water.

I'm thinking I'll try and pluck the pipe tomorrow with my 600lb capacity 3 pt hitch. We'll see...

 

[Stimw]

I think you might be able to wash down 3/4" PVC if you all ready have water and you will have a starter hole and know if you hit rocks. ?????
I saw a guy using a pounder rig once and all he really had was a driven spool to wrap a rope around, a tripod for a pulley and a weight to raise and drop on the pipe cap. A loop around the spool and when he pulled on the rope it raised the weight, when he let slack in the rope it dropped. I've though about mounting a car rim on my PTO to do the same thing.