2 inch packer ejector stuck in well

Hello Pros,

I am new at posting on this forums, But I have been reading so very cool stuff here.
First off I want to thank Terry Love.

My problem is that I have a 2 inch well in Houston, It is 2 inch PVC Well Casing and a 1.25 inch PVC drop tube. The casing is 40 feet, the drop pipe is 30 feet and the static water level is about 20 feet this time of year.

My pump was not making pressure so I pulled the drop pipe to take a look at the Packer/Jet.

The problem is that the Jet assembly was cast iron and our water here ate it up, and it is stuck in the casing.

My question is; Can I just cut off 1 foot of my drop pipe so my new Brass Packer will be above the top of the old stuck one , and just leave the old one in the well casing.

The Venturi did come up in the bottom of my drop pipe but the foot valve and Jet assemble is still in my casing and will not budge. Leathers must have it stuck.

How do you guys deal with a problem like this ?

I was just going to leave the old one there, It seams to be letting water past, But I wanted another opinion.

Thank You.

DonL

This happens all the time. The water will pass through the old jet and into your new jet. I personally have one stuck in a well I maintain and it works just fine. I always leave off the footvalve and just let the internal footvalve in the jet do the work since there is already 1 regular f.v. and one internal f.v. built into the stuck jet. You'll see what I mean when you install the new jet and water comes out of the drop pipe.

Cut off a few feet and make sure you use brass. If you need any help etc. PM me, I can either find what you're looking for or send you in the right direction. You would be much better off going to 1" PVC drop line with special adapters to attach to the jet/well head.

Good luck.

Thank You Texas Wellman.

I have ordered a new Brass Packer that has a Stainless screen on the bottom of it.

I was ready to go back with the 1.25 inch suction pipe, and have turned a 1.25 coupling down to 1 and 13/16 OD, so the jet would work better.

What would be the pro of using 1 inch instead of 1.25 suction pipe ?

Thank you for your help.

DonL

I was also wanting to know if it is better to soak the new Packer in warm water, Or will it go in easier Dry ?

I have time to let it get wet inside of the well, But I thought going down dry may be better.

What do you pros do ?

DonL

I do not like using the thin collars because of the high failure rate. The thin PVC is much more likely to break under stress or just break with no stress. I use a special adapter to go from 1-1/4 threads to glued PVC. You can get it from Gulf South Supply on airline drive in Houston if you want to use that part. Ask them for a set of SRA's, they will know what you mean. 1" PVC installes much easier and gives more clearance for the couplings etc. It also bends better and in general is just a better choice for 2" wells. The pump guys will tell you that you'll lose performance etc. but I feel that it is negligible.

No need to soak the leathers, just flare them a bit with a screw driver. You don't need an extra footvalve in the well if there is already a jet stuck in there.

Thank You Texas Wellman.

I understand about the couplings being thin and that they could break. I will have to see if my wife will let me spend more money to get new pipe and couplings. I have already spent to much on rebuilding the pump and for the new packer. I got the new packer today and it looks good. The leathers do look small and measure less than 2 inches, so I assume that flaring them like you say would make the diameter larger ?

Thank You for your input, I like to talk to someone that has been there, They know the good stuff.

I retired from the oil field, working on Drilling Electronics and it is nothing like these water well play toys.

Thanks again. Have a great Day.

DonL

You can get bell end PVC 1" from the big box stores about $5-6 per joint. A set of SRA's should cost no more than $20-30. You can use the 1-1/4" pvc if you wish, I just dislike it for the thin collars but it's not a terribly bad deal. I will re-use it at the customers request but I favor the 1" belled end.

What kind of pump did you rebuild? Are you in Houston proper or the outskirts? I'm not far from Houston but down closer to the coast. I assume that this is the "garden" well, if so I would like to hear how you installed it if you did it DIY.

Good Morning Texas Wellman,
I hope your day got off to a good start. I live close to the great Baseball player. The pump that I rebuilt was the 2 stage Flotec FP4432 1 HP, I bought it when I worked at NASA and had more money than sense. I know it was a big time overkill for this well, but worked very good. It is the well for the house and was drilled about 20 years ago. It looked like they did it right except for using a cast iron packer. I do use it for my garden as well, but i did not install or drill it myself. It was drilled right before I bought the house. I like to fix things when I can, I say If it can break then it can be fixed. The reason I was going to use the original 1.25 inch pipe is because it is 370 psi Jet Stream, Not cheap PVC that you get these days. Thank You for the information that you provided. I was going to clean out the inside of the casing today, and get ready to install the new Brass Packer this weekend. Looks like good weather for us the rest of the week.
Thanks again, Have a Great day.

DonL

The reason why a cast iron packer was used is because they are OK in a steel well. When they started putting in PVC wells in the late 70's it was not known that there would be issues with a cast iron part in a pvc well. What happens is that one part is the only part in the well that is made of iron and electrolysis eats it up. Sometimes they work OK, sometimes they get ate in two right at the hollow part as I'm sure you saw.

That pump is not over-kill for your house. In fact if you're water level is very deep you should consider a three-stage pump (1.5 HP). I know where the baseball player lives and I have actually done a little work for him but I have never met him in person.

The PVC that they sell at Lowe's is sch 40 rated for 450 psi and not a typically big box bad quality. I've used some and it was OK.

Good Morning Texas Wellman and everyone,

After thinking about switching over to 1 inch pipe in my 2 inch well like You suggested, I found that there was a 1.25 inch Iron Nipple on the top of my well head packer adapter.

This nipple is about 6 inches long and connects to the first PVC coupling on the 1.25 inch suction pipe, and is very rusty.

Is there a good way to remove this nipple, without breaking it off in the casing adapter ?

It looks like if it were to break off in the adapter then I would be hosed big time, because in goes up into the adapter where
I would not be able to remove it, in order to install the new SRA's.

I don't want to make things worse by messing with it, but it should be replaced while I have it taken apart. I would like to do it right the first time.

What is the trick to removing the old Nipple from the cast iron Packer Adapter ? A new adapter is about $65 and I would need one if all else fails. Money I would rather not spend.

Have a Good Friday.

I ran into the same problem about a month ago. I just held my breath and unscrewed the nipple, it came out pretty easy but looked terrible. If it does twist off you can try an ease out or use a hack saw blade to lightly saw the "dutchman" in about 2-3 places and then pry it out. I actually went back with the old pipe on that job but I bought a sch 80 1-1/4" PVC nipple to replace the metal one.

Thank You Texas Wellman,

I new that you would have a good answer.

That sound like a lot better that a Chisel and hammer, would not be able to get to it.

I posted another thread about if maybe that could be part of the AVC system.

Thank You for the help, You are the best...

DonL

It is probable that your well and the one I worked on were installed by the same guy. He always used a "green" glue and used Myers pumps. That short galv. nipple was used because there was no good way to go between the 1-1/4" pvc and the well head. That's the reason why SRA's were invented so that 1" PVC could be used. With 1-1/4 galv. it was oK to use thin metal collars but thin PVC proved to be too flimsy.

I think You are correct about maybe the same guy that installed a lot of the same wells around here. The Glue was Green and I believe the old Pump was a Myers. Walker Water Wells was the one that installed mine, So I was told. I am still trying to get a good picture of that Square in the nipple, But I need to go back to school and learn how to use my Digital Camera. My pictures came out terrible, I will try taking them again.
Have a great Weekend.

DonL

I got a picture of the square hole in the nipple. I was able to get the PVC unscrewed from the nipple but the nipple is still stuck in the adapter.

I hope this picture posts OK, Never tried to post a picture.

I think the square hole is just a fluke , but had me thinking.

I hope to get this thing working soon. I have a good neighbor, and do have water in the house.

Thank You for your help Texas Wellman, It is nice to have someone that has been there and done that.

Here is the link;
http://lcsc.net/terry_love/pics/sq_hole_in_nipple.jpg

DonL

"Beer is now cheaper than gas; drink don't drive"

That hole is just a fluke. You need to try to get it unscrewed from the well head next. It will either come out or break. You might be able to get it out with an ease out or hacksaw blade. If not then a new casing adapter would finish the job off.

That picture could look identical to the job I did about a month ago. I believe you're mistaken on who drilled the well, it was probably a guy named Patton and not Walker although I must confess that I have not dealt with Walker very much but I do know the guy who runs it now. Get you a good vise to hold the head down and just unscrew the nipple. If no vise then use a 24" wrench and grab it on the head and put the wrench so that the ground holds the back-up.

Breaking News !

I got the nipple removed ! What a job. I did as you suggested, Using a hacksaw, Chisel and file. I was able to remove the nipple without damaging the threads in the well adapter, Boy was I happy. Now I have to clean it up and continue with the Install. My wife is ready to get back to Soft water
again.

Thank You for all the assistance.
Have a Great Day.

DonL

Good Morning.

I am happy to report that I now have water again. Works very well now. It takes about 60 seconds for it to make up the 20 pound difference that the pressure switch is set at. Much better than the 15 minutes that is was taking.

I did have a problem at first, after getting it all put together, Pump would not prime. I filled the well pipes, mounted the pump, filled the prime hole where the meter mounts, still no prime, No water.

I am thinking , How did I screw up ? I scratched my head for about 1 Hour, Decided to put my vacuum gauge on the suction side of the pump where the Air Volume control would normally go. ( I do not use the AVC because it never worked for very long I just drain the tank when needed)

When I removed the plug to connect my gauges no water came out, I had to smile, because I knew that water should have been coming out.
I then continued to add water to the prime port, until water starting coming out of the vacuum hole, Then put the plug back in.

I reconnected my pressure gauge, Turned the power back on, and my wife did a TADA. Water was pumping again.
I have never seen a pump get air locked, I think that is what happened.

Anyway to make a long story shorter, My wife was very happy, as was I. After all that work, It worked.

Why I had it all apart I did disinfect using bleach, And the water is very clear now.

I want to Thank Texas Wellman, And Terry Love for making all this possible.
I am a Very Happy Camper.

Thank You Again Texas Wellman for all your help with my project, You are the Man.

Now I can do a TADA...

Have a Great Day.

DonL

Need to install packer ejector system on my 2" 65' well

Hi, found this thread while researching online. I live on the eastern shore of Maryland very close to Ocean City. I have a 2", 65' deep well, PVC casing. Water level with drop pipe OUT of well is 25'. Drop/suction pipe is 1" PVC and set 50' down with foot valve at bottom. All pipe dia. is 1" back to a shallow well 1/2 HP Sears Craftsman convertible jet pump with ejector mounted on front. Water flow rate (as you can imagine) has been HORRIBLE as long as we have lived here. And now the pump BARELY is able to fill up tank. I can only get 30 psi AT BEST. Also, pump has run dry several times and overheated or maxed out its ability to fill the tank and just kept running and got hot. Pump still runs but I fear impeller is toast after so much overheating.

That is when I dug down and pulled up the suction pipe to check depth, foot valve, etc. I cut off the foot valve and poured water into it and held it up. Water leaked out of the bottom so I assume it is bad. I understand that a good solution is the packer ejector method with a new 1 HP convertible jet pump. I bought a Shur-Dri SD-100. I got all the part numbers from Shur-Dri for the packer ejector and adapter assembly for the top of the casing but I need to know how to install all of this myself. I can barely afford what I am doing, but the shallow well pump system just isn't cutting it and I am afraid I'll burn up another pump if I try it again.