Pump Stuck in Well and Low Yield

[ptappert]

About 8 or 9 years ago, we had our well serviced and the pump broke off and got wedged in the the well, about 25' from the bottom. So our pump now is actually about 25 feet higher in the well than the original pump. Over the last few years, we've been having increasingly lower and lower well yields, although it does vary seasonally (worse toward the end of Summer and early Fall). Last year, I put in a 1500gallon cistern with a Pumptec Plus and that has worked OK up to this point. However, even when I give the well a long time to recover, the pump will only run for 10 to 15 seconds or so before the Pumptec trips. I suppose that would suggest that the static water level has dropped considerably. I don't know exactly, but I'd estimate that the well yield to be 1gal/min or a little less, when it was 15gallons/min when drilled, nearly 30 years ago. The well is 340ft deep and the pump is now at around 315 feet deep.

I'd like to increase the yield of my well but I'm not sure what the most cost effective and reliable (high chance of success and long term solution) solution would be. Any insight would be appreciated. Here are a few specific questions:

1\ Is it possible to somehow "fish out" the old pump so I could put the pump at the original depth? One driller said he could try to drill through it, but had no idea if that would work or how long it would take.
2\ Would hydrofracturing be a potential solution? I don't know much about it or how much it costs.
3\ Any other potential solutions? Would it make sense to drill another well?

Thanks in advance,

Peter

[speedbump]

Drilling through a Pump and Motor would be difficult to say the least. I would have someone with a Pump Hoist with a Walking Beam and Fishing Tools come and give it a shot. If the guys you call don't have the Walking Beam or the Tools, don't let them try to drill it out. All they will do is smash the Pump into a big blob and completely shut off all the water.

The big thing to know for fishing is what is down there. Is it a piece of pipe, if so what size? Does it have male or female threads or no threads since it may have broken off? All the info you can give the Fisherman, the better chance he will have of getting it out. Another thing that matters a lot is how much wire stayed with the Pump and did you notice that it was taped to each joint that you may have gotten out.

bob...