converting electric to hand pump

[speedbump]

Sorry, been out of town.

What you have is a 2" well with a Sta-Rite deep well jet pump bolted to a casing adaptor. You can unbolt the pump from the casing adaptor by unscrewing the two 3/4" head bolts from the bottom of the pump. Then you have more bolts squeezing the rubber flange at the bottom of the casing adaptor. If you loosen those and turn or move the casing adaptor, the pipe will now have to come out. Once you break the leathers loose down the well, they will not seal up again. Pulling a jet is a very hard job, one we do with a pump hoist with a walking beam so we can beat them out of the well.

My advice is to unbolt the pump if it doesn't work and install a new one that will fit the casing adaptor. The choice of pumps is Sta-Rite MS series, National pumps MSV series or Myers MVP series. No other pumps will fit that adaptor.

If you are not careful and drop a piece of mineral scale or gasket down the two holes in top of the adaptor, you will plug the jet and it will have to come out anyway.

bob...

[DavidL]

So your are certain its a deep well. Once I remove the pump but leave the casing adapter inplace "untouched" will I have access to be able to check the depth of the water in the well. My though is..if its a deep well pump "but" the water level is 20 feet down I may still be able to pull this conversion off. I am so glad I have asked questions and been educated by you so as to not do damage in my desire to do something with this system. I know nothing about the leathers you speek of but definately will not mess with the casing. I dont know if the pump is bad or not. I attempted to prime the system years ago but may have done it wrong resulting in no water. How do you tell if the pump is bad? It turns on and doesnt whine like a bad car water pump. I priming difficult with this system?

[speedbump]

Removing the pump won't allow you to check the water level unless the footvalve or leathers are bad allowing the water to run back and seek it's static water level. If so you could drop a weight down the 1-1/4" pipe that is the larger of the two holes in the casing adaptor. Or the one that alligns with the center of the casing. Listen for the splash, then measure the string.

If you want to prime the pump the easy way. Hook it back to the tank and let the city pressure fill the casing, droppipe and pump housing. You will have to remove the priming plug on the casing adaptor until you get water at that point, then put it back in and start the pump. You may have to back the bolt out of the backpressure control to get water to go down the well.

bob...

[DavidL]

I took a really close look at the pump and casing this morning. The only bolts I see to remove are at the base right next to the 3 inch pipe. But you said if I mess with the casing I can screw things up within the well itself. Now I am calling this housing-- below the electric pump and above the 3 inch pipe the "casing". correct? So in order to remove the pump it looks like I have to take out the bolts at the base. Are there bolts inside the electric pump that I would remove to separate the pump from the lower housing?

[speedbump]

The order of items from bottom to top are: Casing > Casing adaptor > Pump base > Second stage > Seal plate > Motor. The pump base has three ears that will accept 1/2" pipe to stand the pump on if needed. Just below and under those ears are the two bolts that separate the entire pump from the casing adaptor. The other bolts are the three on the casing adaptor's flange which is the bottom most part of the casing adaptor. Don't mess with those.

You will have to stand on your head to see these two bolts and will need a 3/4" wrench to remove them. Box end is the best.

bob...

[DavidL]

Wish me luck Im getting up the nerve to attempt to disassemble it tomorrow. I did notice on the plate the pump was made by Sears.

[speedbump]

No, it was sold by Sears, made by Sta-Rite. Sears just makes some changes so the important items won't fit the real Sta-Rite brand. Dirty trick, but that's how it's done.

bob...

[DavidL]

I removed the 2 3/4 in bolts holding the motor but cant seem to lift the motor off. What is my obsticle here? I looked below the casing housing and see 4 bolts going up into it what do they hold and should they be avoided?
thanks david

[speedbump]

Just give the motor a hard bump in any direction and you will break the gasket loose that is now glued to the cast surfaces. The gasket is the only thing holding the pump there now.

bob...

[DavidL]

I was able to wedge a screw driver in and then a small crowbar. but the shaft of the motor is the only thing that wont separate. Just to be sure let me describe where Im separating it. As you look at the pump from my pics there are openings that expose the motor shaft where the motor shaft goes into the casing.Is the end of the motor shaft a gear that interlocks with a turbing? I took off the regulator port to see if I could see the turbine but no luck. I just dont know what would be holding this motor in place. the motor itself I can rotate around but the shaft is being held tight to something. I used a BFH to wedge the crowbar in hoping that would help but no good.

[speedbump]

Those bolts would have 9/16" heads and there would have been four of them not two. You can't remove the motor without disassembling the pump which is still above where I described the 3/4" (2) bolts are.

bob...

[DavidL]

Im going to focus on it again this week end

[speedbump]

It may be too late for the pump motor if you have been hammering on the motor. The shaft can easily be bent and the shaft seal is almost certainly ruined. There are two impellers slid up on that shaft sitting on keyways and both are held on by a 3/4" head nut on the bottom of the motor shaft. That's why the motor won't come off. If you bent the shaft which is about 6-7" long, you are out several hundred dollars for a new motor. That pump uses a motor that no other pump in the world uses. So the price is high.

You need to go down to the bottom of the pump (by standing on your head) to see the two bolts I am talking about.

I may have steered you wrong on the number of bolts holding the motor to the seal plate, (where you took them out) there may be only two. I just can't remember for sure.

bob...

[speedbump]

I should have done this a long time ago. Here is a breakdown of the Sta-Rite MSE. It is not exactly like the Sears version, but the innerds are the same.

http://www.pumpsandtanks.com/mse.htm

bob...