looking for well pump advice. Updated!!!!!

[Runs With Scissors]

So there I am, happy as a clam, smiling from ear to ear, so I yell up to have the power turned on and it immediately closes the contacts and the pump fires up...... I put the cover on and I begin putting my tools way....... About half way through gathering my tools, the switch closes and the pump begins cycling again.


I say "Hmmmm.....that's a little odd.....Why did it cycle so quickly?"

So I call out to my wife, and tell her to run all the faucets to release any trapped air in the system.

My thought was that "possibly" some trapped air was causing some sort of "bouncing" effect and the system was being tricked into cycling again.

So she goes and runs each faucet to release the trapped air.

Then I tell her to watch the gauges on the filter system and she reports that

" It's good Honey........ its at 52 psi....nope check that, 51 psi...ahh no it's at 49 psi.....uhhh now its at 46 psi...."

So right then and there, I know we have a leak somewhere. The pump is cycling about every 40 seconds or so. DAMN!!!!!

After checking all the faucets and a quick cursory inspection for a leak in the house, I walk out to the well head and find water leaking in between the casing and the cover.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

OK fellas, now we are in uncharted waters for sure!!!!!!

I pop the cap off and find what appears to be some sort of bar across the top and a pipe with a hole in the center and water is spraying up from something. I cut the power again and begin searching for the "mystery leak". It takes a few minutes for the leak to slow down so I can kind of see where its leaking from.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

So with eyes on the problem, but a serious lack of knowledge, my mind starts racing through every scenario I can muster.

The well driller was kind enough to very clearly stamp their contact info on a plate and rivet it to the well cap, but no other info is on it.

So I figure that "doo hickey" bar is some sort of holding fixture, so I gently use the end of my pipe wrench to try and " lift it up a scosh".....Well after a lifetime of breaking sh!t, I decide to stop what I am doing and go back to the plumbing supply store and see if they can give me some advice.

The counter guy walks me to the back to talk to Eric, the "well guy"....I explained my situation and what I saw....It kind of went like this....

Paul: You see Eric, I've got this well and on top is a rusty "doo hickey" that is holding what appears to be a pipe that leads down to a "thing-a-ma-bobber"....

Eric....Uh yea....

Paul: Well the "thing-a-ma-bobber" appears to be leaking, but I tried to pry gently on the "doo hickey" however it wont move. I'm told the well is 300 ft. deep so its either the weight of the pump or I see that the other end of the "thing-a-ma-bobber" has a "Fetzer arm". Could the "Fetzer arm" be locking it in place?

After a light hearted chuckle, he takes me into the back room and gives me a quick lesson on what I have and a lesson on "well vocabulary"

 

[Runs With Scissors]

So it appears that my "pit-less adaptor" o-ring is leaking, which is causing my pump to cycle too often.

He tells me that I need to make a ""special tool".

Well although I have no problem making a new tool, I am about 270 miles from my shop..... so he offers to make one for me and takes a piece of pipe off the shelf and with a BFH, he lays it on the floor and puts a beat-down on the end.

Now he says to put the tool down there and unlock my "Fetzer arm" and then just gently lift it up, take a picture, inspect it for cracks and come back he will hook me up with everything I need.

Armed with my new knowledge I head back to try and lift up a well pump and 300 ft of tube/pipe/pump.....

On the drive back, in my head, I am designing the "badest ass" "oil derrick" looking lifting device with my "come along" and 8ft. folding ladder, preparing to do battle with this well........

Here are some pics of my "well pulling" set up (picture my "come along" attached to the top rung).

The "special tool" was squished a little too much and wouldn't fit, so I used a hammer and pounded a 3/8" extension end into it to open it up a little.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Now for the Moment of Truth......Lifting up a heavy a$$ well pump, 300 feet of water and tubing......

After unlocking the "Fetzer arm", and taking 3 deep breaths like I was preparing to break the Mens World record by Deadlifting 500 Kg at the Olympics. I grabbed the "doo hickey" and........

It lifted up smooth as "butter"....It appeared to weigh like 25 pounds.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Now for the bad news......The entire pipe below the "doo- Hickey" and pit-less adaptor was PVC........

I just about sh!t a brick when I saw that.....Now I explain to the old lady that we can't put that back in like that, and that we have to pull it up and cut it off every 10 feet until we get the pump out and replace the PVC with "poly pipe" .......I went to the garage and grabbed the Sawz-All to begin surgically removing the pipe one section at a time...

Here are pics of the PVC tubing.....

 

[Runs With Scissors]

By the Grace of God, I decided to go buy the materials first to make sure they had everything.

My though process was as follows.

If I cut the pipe now, and they don't have the materials, we are Fuc$$d.....No water until the parts come in.

BUT, if I don't cut it now, we can just replace the O-ring and can use it "as is", until the proper parts arrive.

I decide to wait to cut it and go back to town and buy/order the parts.

Off to the supply store to "take it in the shorts".......(no disrespect to them, they have been great actually....it's just a sh!tty situation.....)

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Well I get to the store and tell Eric my sad story........

To my surprise, that "PVC" is some sort of "Magical PVC" called "Drop Tubing" (I think) and he can't remember of ever having heard of anyones pump breaking off and falling into the well from the torque of the pump over time (this is what I had believed from watching Youtube videos)

He said it's good stuff and that he sells a ton of it.

"Happy or Ecstatic " can not begin to explain my feelings at that moment.

So for a $1.70 I put the new O-ring on and put her back together.

I was so happy that I forgot to take any pictures, but here is a pic of my "Victory Lap"

 

[hagrid]

Yay!

 

[CiscoRanger]

Well I get to the store and tell Eric my sad story........

To my surprise, that "PVC" is some sort of "Magical PVC" called "Drop Tubing" (I think) and he can't remember of ever having heard of anyones pump breaking off and falling into the well from the torque of the pump over time (this is what I had believed from watching Youtube videos)

He said it's good stuff and that he sells a ton of it.

"Happy or Ecstatic " can not begin to explain my feelings at that moment.

So for a $1.70 I put the new O-ring on and put her back together.

I was so happy that I forgot to take any pictures, but here is a pic of my "Victory Lap"

View attachment 103790

Congrats, and great job!

 

[GrizBota]

So is it all good to go? Good job.

Myself, I like to hook all the electrical connection wires so that there is a large surface area in contact under the head of the screws, with the hook in such a direction tightening the screw tends to pull the wire under the screw head, sort of like the ground wire, but with a tighter hook.

This provides a better electrical connection that is less likely to work loose or not make a good connection. But I’m not an electrician and one might have done it exactly as you did.

 

[fried1765]

Well I get to the store and tell Eric my sad story........

To my surprise, that "PVC" is some sort of "Magical PVC" called "Drop Tubing" (I think) and he can't remember of ever having heard of anyones pump breaking off and falling into the well from the torque of the pump over time (this is what I had believed from watching Youtube videos)

He said it's good stuff and that he sells a ton of it.

"Happy or Ecstatic " can not begin to explain my feelings at that moment.

So for a $1.70 I put the new O-ring on and put her back together.

I was so happy that I forgot to take any pictures, but here is a pic of my "Victory Lap"

View attachment 103790

Everybody just loves a happy outcome!

 

[fried1765]

Everybody just loves a happy outcome!

You do have a poly rope connected to the pump also?
If not, you still need to pull that pump up to put a line on it.
Then put the pump back down...... with the line, and the black poly pipe!

 

[Runs With Scissors]

You do have a poly rope connected to the pump also?
If not, you still need to pull that pump up to put a line on it.
Then put the pump back down...... with the line, and the black poly pipe!

Fried, there was nothing connected to it so I had basically 2 choices.

1. Pull up a perfectly good running pump by disconnecting 300 feet of "drop tube" that my boy Eric says he has never heard of breaking in the first place.......with my wife and an 8ft. ladder, risking possibly dropping it, or damaging something in the process, in order to connect what amounts to a safety strap ...

OR

2. Let a sleeping bear sleep, and wait until the pump goes bad (which could be tomorrow or 20 years from now) and deal with it then.

I chose #2.

I was not in the mood to poke that bear, and I decided to have a drink, smoke an Acid Blondie and take the W.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

So is it all good to go? Good job.

Thanks, and yes; So far it is good to go.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

One other thing that came from this, is a change in our "shut down" procedure when leaving for home.

I now flip the well pump breaker when leaving.

One of two things happened, and I'm sure I will never actually know which one.

1. The O-ring popped some time up to 3 weeks ago and that bug selflessly sacrificed itself to stop my pump from cycling every 40 seconds.

or

2. The O-ring popped when I fixed the switch and pressurized the system, and it was simply good fortune that I was there when it happened.

 

[CiscoRanger]

One other thing that came from this, is a change in our "shut down" procedure when leaving for home.

I now flip the well pump breaker when leaving.

One of two things happened, and I'm sure I will never actually know which one.

1. The O-ring popped some time up to 3 weeks ago and that bug selflessly(or luckily) sacrificed itself to stop my pump from cycling every 40 seconds.

or

2. The O-ring popped when I fixed the switch and pressurized the system, and it was simply good fortune that I was there when it happened.

I'm voting for the bug. The hero we needed, not the one we deserved...

 

[fried1765]

Fried, there was nothing connected to it so I had basically 2 choices.

1. Pull up a perfectly good running pump by disconnecting 300 feet of "drop tube" that my boy Eric says he has never heard of breaking in the first place.......with my wife and an 8ft. ladder, risking possibly dropping it, or damaging something in the process, in order to connect what amounts to a safety strap ...

OR

2. Let a sleeping bear sleep, and wait until the pump goes bad (which could be tomorrow or 20 years from now) and deal with it then.

I chose #2.

I was not in the mood to poke that bear, and I decided to have a drink, smoke an Acid Blondie and take the W.

That makes total sense.
Just be prepared to fix it correctly, when it does need to come all the way up.

 

[trial and error]

Well done, my parents oldest well, has the "drop tubing" and it's been there for 30 years, they are in 20' sections and I only know this becuase they had the pump pulled when lightning hit the well casing and that was 15-20 years ago they put the same pipe back. That was a actual well driller so if they are using it and putting it back it must be good

 

[dirtydeed]

Everybody just loves a happy outcome!

Everybody just loves a happy outcome ending! There, fixed it for ya.