Well wall blockage

[The Big Z]

Deep Well submersable motor stopped last night. Today had Well service out to replace motor. Motor had a lightning strike from the storm. After three days of rain the ground is so soft that we buried the truck to its axles. We finaly got it into position to start pulling pipe. After 200 Ft we got to the pump.

Pump verified as bad. Well guy used a type measure w/plumb wieght to measure the depth of the well. Well measured 232ft. We finaly started to put the new pump down and that is where we ran into trouble. About 57 ft down the new pump would not go any farther. He thought that the shock arestors were stoping it. Pulled it back up and made them smaller. Down it went again and stopped again. Pulled it back up and took them off and sent down just the pump. No go again.

Other then getting a 80k pound rig in to redrill, what are my options. Like i said that it is so muddy that it would take a week for it to dry out. But, its already calling for rain again on Sunday. Calling in a grading company and putting in a gravel road is not an option. I have an easement on this well. Its not my property.

It took us 1 1/2 hr to get the truck back out using a tractor that was just digging trenches.

At this point i dont know what to do. Any suggestions

[Gary Slusser]

You don't say where you are from...

On the east coast you could probably find someone with a pump pulling machine instead of a hoist truck, even though you may have 200' of galvanized pipe. I had one that was wheeled to the well like a baby carriage and sat on the casing. I could handle pipe to 21' long but never had to because most wells had PE pipe to 500' deep.

A pump or some plumbing supply houses could tell you who might have one.

If you have up to a 1.5 hp pump, I'd use 1" 160 or 200 psi rated PE pipe instead of galvanized.

No torque arrestor or rope.

Did they rotate the pipe some when the pump hung up?

[valveman]

Did they rotate the pipe some when the pump hung up?

That is what I would have tried myself. You might also want to get someone out with a down hole camera to see what is really going on.

[The Big Z]

More Info.

Location: Dallas, GA
Depth of well: 232Ft
Depth of Pump: 10 sections of pipe = Approx 200 ft.
Water at 46 ft.
The well casing in 6" white PVC that goes down about 35 ft
Dont know who drilled the well originally, but the well has been in use for about 40 years.

In Jan 2006 when we moved to Georgia this house had no water becase in May of 2005 the well house caught fire and shorted out everything. Part of my neogotiations was to have my own well drilled, but they would'nt go for that and said that they would fix the original well. So, everything was redone. Talking with the well guy yesterday some things didn't add up.

Things that we noticed:
1. The controller on the well was a Franklin that works with a 3 hp motor.
2. There was only a 3 wires going to the well (Red, Black, Yellow) NO GROUND
3. With a 3 hp pump the well guy said that you sould have 1 /14 to 1 1/2 in pipe instead of 1"
4. As we were pulling up the pipe they had used Duct to to tape the wire to the pipe
5. At 100 feet there was a check valve. Well guy said normally that at 200 ft you would not need a check valve. If it was a deepper well around 200 feet is where you would put the check valve.
6. At the pump, just above the inlet, they used duct tape to hold the wires all the way up to the pipe. The normal wire covering was missing.
7. The ground wire was just snipped off.
8. The motor was only a 1 1/2 hp, 10 gpm

I can only assuse that this was thrown together just to get the house sold. 3years latter now I have this problem.

We tried twisting the pump but to no avail. We even put the plumb bob down to measure and to see if it has any openings. Today we are going to put a camera down to confirm.

[speedbump]

Did the old pump come out easily? If so, I would have to think a rock fell into the hole and the pump is sitting on it. You might get a truck to the well when things dry out and have them go down with a cable tool rig and try to knock this rock out of the way.

bob...

[The Big Z]

OK, Had another well company come out to put a camera down the well. Could not tell what was blocking the hole. This guy had a piece of drill that was about 15' long and very heavy. He lowered this down into the hole until the blockage and he would raise it about 5 ft and release it. He worked for about an hour and finally got it knock out.

He then proceeded to set the well pump down 200 ft. Everything is working, except i'm getting alot of sediment. I would have to assume that by knocking the rock out of there that he knocked loose alot of dirt.

How long will it take for this to clear up? Did this do some un-repairable damage?

Thanks

[cacher_chick]

Anytime your pump has been moved it can stir up sediment. Normally opening the outside faucets and running the water for a day or two will clear things up.

It is possible moving the blockage will cause a problem. Only time will tell for sure.