Well with Pitless Adapter?

[valley]

Greetings, We just bought a property, haven't taken posession yet. We were out checking the well. It has a pitless Adapter, the pipe comes up from the submersible pump and 6' below the top of the casing and exits through the casing going underground to a pit that has the tank and valves.

Question: How do I lower or pull the pump out of the well when I need to? When it was installed there had to be a trench from six feet down to connect the pump. Thankyou

Richard

 

[gmbracing]

the top of the pitlee adaptor has threads in it you take a pipe and thread it on and use that to pull it up

 

[mrmikey]

As GM said. the top of the adaptor has 1" npt. female threaded port on top that you screw a puller into. The puller looks like a 'T', the vertical 1" pipe is 6-8' long with a 1" t on top and a couple of pieces of 1" a foot or so long in each end to pull on.....Mike

 

[tommu56]

Why do you think you need to lower it?

You need to find out how deep the well is and at what depth the pump is set and have enough mussel to lift the pump pipe and water in the pipe.
Ive pulled my 200ft one by hand with 3 people helping to lay the pipe (poly) out as I pulled it up but it was a chore.
My 450 ft one is impossible to lift by hand I used my backhoe and an engine hoist to get it done.
You don't want the pump siting on the bottom of the well.

tom

ps make sure you have the TEE with handles on the pipe like mrmikey said in case you drop it it might prevent you from fishing it out

 

[Bill Barrett]

Not are all that easy.
Some have a small wedge that needs a square wrench on the end of a 6' handle.
Also it's very easy to drop the wedge down the well!
You still need the tee handled pipe to pull the adapter, pipe , and pump.

 

[valley]

Greetings, Thanks fellows for posting. Question: If I were to lift, wouldn't I also need to dig down to the Tee and unscrew the line going to the tank?





At this time I know a little about the well, we won't have electricty until it clears escrow.

I lowered a nut on contractors string into the well. Water seems to be at 45'. We ran short of string at 240' that sounds good.

Shall I admitt the nut gets caught on, I'm thinking the torque snubber, just above the water level. I can lower the line but it gets caught on the way up again, not a problem at this time, I tied it off outside the casing.

When I installed my pump here I had the torque snubber just above the pump. I cut the casing off in the pit where I installed the tank, there is a small building over that. As long as they were going to dig a pit for the tank it would have been nice if it were around the casing.

 

[lockhaven]

Mine is easy to remove, thread the pipe into the top of the adapter, depending on the depth and length of pipe you may need assistance to get the pipe out. Once you make it to the plastic flexible pipe a small garden tractor will do nicely. Take a wheelbarrow and remove the tire from rim, turn the wheelbarrow over and lay the pipe in the wheel then pull it with the tractor. You may need someone at the wheel barrow if standoffs were used to help them past the wheel.

 

[hawkeye08]

It is pretty slick, we have one on our well (and I have pulled the pump several times)..

Google Image Result for http://www.merrillmfg.com/about/installation/products/01-YardHydrants/images/PitlessAdapter-03.gif

 

[955Lincoln]

Greetings, Thanks fellows for posting. Question: If I were to lift, wouldn't I also need to dig down to the Tee and unscrew the line going to the tank?

I have never messed with a well before but I have been reading up on them lately. The pitless adapter allows you to pull the pump and pipe out without having to dig or disconnect anything. It's like a sliding joint with a seal that exits the side of the casing. The top of it is open allowing you to pull half of the device up with the pipe. Do a Google image search on it.

edit....slow typer, like hawkeye said.

 

[tommu56]

Greetings, Thanks fellows for posting. Question: If I were to lift, wouldn't I also need to dig down to the Tee and unscrew the line going to the tank?

no the pitiless adapter is sorta of a dove tail

on the drop pipe it is a male dovetail as it slides into the fitting on the casing it locks to the in the female on that part.
here is a image

see above image

 

[haroldy]

you guys are good
for someone who doesnt know you have been a great help

 

[valley]

Thankyou! That looks like what i see down in the casing. I looked at both break downs the one with two holes must be for an above grown pump with a deep well attachment? Thanks again this has been a great help and a load off my mind.

Richard

 

[studor]

the one with two holes must be for an above grown pump with a deep well attachment?

Yes, the two holer is for a deep well jet pump and works basically the same way as the one holer. I have pulled mine a few times and it is a two holer with two pipes in the well. Not a job I want to do every day but not that hard either.

 

[valley]

I would imagine this pump has plastic pipe. I've no idea how deep the pump is but the snubber is not far from the pump I would think. So it must be not far from 45'.

 

[tommu56]

I would imagine this pump has plastic pipe. I've no idea how deep the pump is but the snubber is not far from the pump I would think. So it must be not far from 45'.

the snubber you are hitting might be a centering ring or cable guard

they keep the wire from rubbing the case or bore by keeping it centered in the well

tom

 

[irvingj]

"see above image"


Yep! It's been about 26 years since I've seen it, but that's just what's down my well, too. Looking at that pic brought back all sorts of fond memories...

 

[valley]

The tank and valves are in a square pit with a hindged plywood lid. I lifted the lid and looking down, there was a snake and a web with a large black widow spider, I'll bomb it before I go in to clean it out.

Still in escrow.

 

[tc429]

Not are all that easy.
Some have a small wedge that needs a square wrench on the end of a 6' handle.
Also it's very easy to drop the wedge down the well!
You still need the tee handled pipe to pull the adapter, pipe , and pump.

first time I pulled our pump was lastnight, it has that style wedge lock- I have looked and found ZERO information on the web about this style, until stumbling upon this mention a day later...I believe ours was original, installed way back in 1971- is that possible?
had to weld up a squaredrive tool (1/2" adapter, welded to a pipe with a L-handle) what a pain in the butt to get back into the discharge port and seal...took half a dozen tries before finding the sealing position... the adapter has about a 1/4" projection that hooks into a hole in the casing, but its just there to locate it/prevent sliding down after its wedged from the looks of it. if the projection isnt in the hole, the seal is visibly away from the casing wall. the sealing O-ring has loops that lash it onto the adapter, no idea if the rubber is available for replacement- luckily ours finally sealed after numerous tries- my back is killing me

do you have any info on these styles? I think when warm weather gets here (if ever) I'm gonna dig/run new wire/pipe/etc, (only a couple feet deep to the discharge) as whats there is over 40 years old and fugly...think I'll put a newer - easier to hang pitless adapter in, just wonder what I'll need to do to close off the old pitless hole/bung/whatever they have on it... thanks in advance for any info.

BTW- ours had the wedge safety wired to the adapter- I was scared to loosen the bolt too far for fear of unknown... could it and/or the wedge fall down in? was a kinda false worry luckily, live and learn I guess...

if by some odd chance some other 'beginner' like me stumbles into this thread looking for info on 'wedge type pitless' adapters: the bolt has a flared bottom, so fully loosening is fine, and the wedge is pocketed so it cant fall off till its out of the case (just at the top I can see how easily one would plop into the well if not safety wired). I had put a small NefeB magnet in the 'socket' and just turned 90 at a time- figures, soon as the adapter was free, the bolt had 90 degrees more to its stop

the last owner musta P.O.'d the well guy... the 5" casing top had a 4" threaded stub welded on to a adapter welded to the casing, the pitless adapter was impossible to pull out without cutting the very top off the casing...what a joy that was...2am this morning, we had water again, I tack welded the bottleneck small 'top' back on for now...what a evening... at least it didnt happen a week ago in subzero weather- I'm sure well guys gotta deal with stuff like this in all weather/all hours, hats off to you... not fun pulling even a relatively lightweight 90 foot slippery/slimy drop in the cold even with extra hands

 

[tc429]

"see above image"


Yep! It's been about 26 years since I've seen it, but that's just what's down my well, too. Looking at that pic brought back all sorts of fond memories...

off topic- see you are into rc stuff and old jap bikes- I have a 89 yr old buddy with a 68 honda ca 160 with 135 miles on it- he parked it in 1972, after a busted valve stem on the highway scared him to death of riding... any idea what something like that might be worth? looks good, but surely motors gunked up- garage its in is unheated, and it hasnt been turned over in 40 years, all original except for one tube.
I was into r/c a long time, but lost my 70 yr old flying buddy back in 06, havent been out since... planes/helis lots of fun times... had a r/c car for a few months, way too expensive. flew my helis for years on less $ than that goofy car cost over a few months...

 

[PILOON]

I recently had to mess with a friend's well and pump.
While the problem could have been a bad foot valve we were convinced that the pipe had leaks, because at at every start up lots of air entered the line and tank.
Being such an old installation all the line down to the pump was steel and we discovered a few rotted out areas near the house that sucked back pressure. We temporarily solved the problem by inserting a check valve in the line before the tank however at every pump cycle all the air in the line would get pumped into the tank and system. A shower ensued every time we opened a tap.
We excavated some and sure enough the steel line was well rotted at many areas.
The estimate is that the pump is 300 ft down (known water table in the area) and that would sure be a monster job to retrieve the pump with steel down line. And I'm sure no pit-less adapter was used.
As luck had it a city main is about 150 ft from the building with a valve at the curb so we plumbed the city water back to the building using blue poly B pressure line.

If you want a free 3/4 hp pump and have strong arms come pull that pump. LOL

To make matters worst the well head is 4+ ft down in a 3 ft wide concrete pipe with 1-2 ft of silt covering the well top as the installation is in the middle of a parking lot.
The 'cover' is a 3/8" steel plate flush with the gravel and all sorts of crap simply filtered down. Needless to say we never attempted to pull the pump.
Judging from the feed line to the house I picture the down line to be mostly swiss cheese and rust.