Well pump replacement - no water

LLigetfa said:

IMHO Franklin today is not the same Franklin of yesterday. I think a lot of pump manufacturers are riding on the Franklin reputation.

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I don't understand, new management or lighter product?

As for the comment about sch 80 steel pipe, yep I know, I use 2" sch 80 to hydrofrac wells, but never have seen a domestic pump hung on the stuff. But there is always a first time I suppose...........

Don't kid yourself about the weight. It will be heavy and a pain to handle, plan on two guys to do the job. As for handling the sch 80, I made a simple tool that I use when I can't get my truck or an up z dazy to the well. I will get a pic of it tomorrow and maybe you can get another idea from it. If you know how to weld it will easy to fab something up.

You don't really need an extra check valve on the pump, but a lot of guys around here do it.

You don't want to do this job again anytime soon, so use the best equipment you can afford. I would only use a Well X Trol tank, but you should check on the warranty particulars for do it your selfers.

I see more Grundfos and CentriPro motor failures than I do with Franklins.

I took a 6" coupling and machined it to drop over 6" casing. It has a socket on the side to hold a 1" piece of steel pipe 16' long which has a hoop at the top to contain the drop pipe. You can probably do the same thing for your 4" casing.

craigpump said:

I took a 6" coupling and machined it to drop over 6" casing. It has a socket on the side to hold a 1" piece of steel pipe 16' long which has a hoop at the top to contain the drop pipe. You can probably do the same thing for your 4" casing.

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This fab tool set; it hold a section of drop pipe as its getting pulled up, and this Fab tool set, is used for the disassembly of a section of pipe from leaning over and for support?

You will also need grips to hold the pipe as you unthread the sections. There are lots of different designs like this from deanbennett.



What I use is a simple wood block clamp.

I have some scrap metal and pipe available, and metal tools and welder.
To hold pipe; will be fabbing a pipe clamp holder with a couple of wood block. I have a variety of clamps to play with here.

I have pulled 1†and 1 ¼†sch 80 PVC by hand without taking any of the joints apart many times. You just have to be careful to not bend it much at the couplings, especially if it has plastic couplings. Even with metal couplings the weak point is the threaded parts on both sides of each coupling. Just don’t bend it much at the couplings and the rest of it is very flexible. It will also be very buoyant with a 10’ static, and won’t weigh as much as you might think. But pulling a 3.5†pump up in a 4†pipe full of water is hard if you try to go too fast. It is like pulling a paddle through water, or more like pulling a plunger in a huge syringe, just don’t try to pull too fast.

You will need about three strong people. Back a pickup truck up to the well and have one person in the back of the truck. Disconnect the pipe at the top of the well, loosen the well seal, and attach a strap. Everybody grab the strap and pull the pipe up. The person in the back of the truck takes the pipe over the cab, and by the time it hits the ground, another person picks it up and pulls it 200’ straight across the yard. Don’t try to cut the wire loose or anything. Just drag the whole pipe string out in one long piece, (of course you must have the room to do this). One person pulling up at the well, one pulling it over the cab of the pick up, (keeping it from bending as much as possible), and the other dragging the well seal across the yard.

With a 10’ static it is not the weight as much as the pipe is wet and slippery. I have some rubber gloves with little bumps on them that grab very well to slick pipe.

With everything laid out in the yard, you can cut the wire ties, splice, and unscrew the pump. Then put the new stuff back in by reversing the process. Just make sure everything is taped and finished before you start back down, because you don’t want to stop for anything. Even have the strap attached to the well seal so you can set the well seal down gently. It is the sudden stops of being dropped a few inches that will break the pipe, so let it down gently.

It is not an easy job and if you break or drop something you can easily lose a finger or get hurt in other ways. Also if you drop it, it may cost more to get someone to fish it out than all of this is worth. You could also not be able to fish it out and lose the well itself. This is why when possible it is worth calling a professional for the larger jobs. However, this is a DYI forum and it can be done this way if needed. Just be careful.

Yeah, you have to be careful pulling sch 80 in one continuous piece, it can/will snap at the joint if it is cold out. Like Valveman said, you can get hurt big time or possibly lose the well. Then what?

I got a call tonight from a guy who dropped 520' of sch 80, with a pump & wire into a 560' well. Looks like a fishing job tomorrow morning.

Safety First, will be first on my replacing the well pump list.
Its been really cold with lows in the single digits, and highs in the 30's and 40's, with ice and snow on the ground. Weather started to warm up the last few days.

Frost line topic

Dug out water line at well head, water line was measured at 32 inches From pitless adapter To ground level.
The pitless adapter is the clamp around the 4.5" PVC pipe type. There's roughly, about 16 inches of exposed well pipe now.
What your recommendation: add more fill dirt material?
or lower the pitiless adapter and water line? How much?
Question: What FROST LINE DEPTH for the north region, do you set the pitless adapter and the water line at?

I like a trench depth of 4-4 1/2' deep, but I have seen water lines at 2' that didn't freeze.

You can certainly put more fill around the well, but I would rather see a new pitless installed and the line buried deeper.

craigpump said:

You can certainly put more fill around the well, but I would rather see a new pitless installed and the line buried deeper.

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Good advice. I will lower the pitless adapter.

LLigetfa said:

I'm not really understanding why the pump needs to be set so low with that much recovery but then I'm not a pumpman. Just seems like a lot of pump, a lot of wire, and a lot of pipe.

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What would be the recommended pump height for a 1 HP 10-15 GPM well pump?

Since the well recovers at 24 GPM, you only need to set the pump a few feet below the pumping level. But if you don’t know the exact pumping level, you need to set the pump back to 220’ like it was, because it is possible the water is coming in at 210’.

If you had a water level gauge like the one in the picture, you could determine the exact pumping level. Without having an air line level gauge in this well previously, I would set it back as low as possible. Setting the pump as low as possible also keeps the bottom of the well from filling with sand.

Nice well water depth setup ... (looks like a new well), and clean job work to boot.
Made some Jigs (fabricated tools), but lacking one more tool to get started.

thanks all for your assistance and your patience.

Notice that my airline gauge reads 9 PSI, which means I have 20.7’ of water above my pump. But when I pump it hard the airline gauge drops to 1 PSI, which is only 2.31’ of water above my pump. This is how I know my pipe cannot be shortened as my pump cannot be raised higher in the well.

Well is almost 20 years old. Removed fake rock for picture.

Pump Specs Decisions?

I'm finding hard to decide on the configuration of pumps and and their specs.

Well Casing Questions

How do I go in lowering the pitiless?

Use the old one, you just have to cut the casing where the hole is and couple it together so you don't get surface water into the well.

Done with a couple of the fabricated tools made from scrap metal I found lying around.