Water Well pump removal ideas

[Furu]

I have a pump and drop pipe in a well that I want to pull. Of course I could hire it out and may have to. There are several reasons and one huge reason (unstated) that I want to avoid that approach.
I have in the past lifted the pump and drop pipe a little (a couple of ft or so) for routine mx at the well head.
This time I want to pull it entirely.

There is no safety cable attached to the pump.
The drop pipe is 2 inch threaded Schedule 120 PVC 1120 pipe.
The pump is a 3 phase 460/480 volt motor on a 50 gpm pump.
Guessing on the weight of the motor and pump but maybe 30-40 lbs or so
The 280 ft drop pipe - a little over 300 lbs plus 14 brass couplings at a pound or so
Weight of water in pipe since there are check valves is in the ballpark of 380 lbs
Bottom line I am not going to hand pull 700 to 750 lbs of drop pipe from this well.

With the drill casing being about 2 ft above grade I figure each lift will be about 24 ft to the next coupling.

A tripod that is 24-26 ft tall or a boom of some nature (2 beam) are ideas I have but managing the lift of the structure into position for the tripod or the boom have issues of concern. However the biggest concern, not being a structural engineer, is stoutness of the structure. I don't need it to collapse under the weight and injure a human nor do I need it to drop pipe and pumps in the well. I also don't want to over engineer it so that the weight of the structure makes the lift of the structure impossible either.

Any ideas would be appreciated on a lifting design for this.

 

[jyoutz]

The well service people have trucks with booms set up to do this quickly, efficiently, and safely. And the charge to just pull a pump isn’t terrible. Why are you wanting to invent something where there’s an easy solution?

 

[Furu]

The well service people have trucks with booms set up to do this quickly, efficiently, and safely. And the charge to just pull a pump isn’t terrible. Why are you wanting to invent something where there’s an easy solution?

First and Second sentence address that. Don't know the cost in your area but here it is not cheap at all.

 

[jyoutz]

First and Second sentence address that. Don't know the cost in your area but here it is not cheap at all.

I had my 700’ deep well pipe and pump replaced a few years ago. Most of the cost was for the new pump and the pulling of pump/pipe was only about five hundred dollars. If you drop the pump and pipe down the shaft, you’ll discover how expensive this can be.

 

[Skagit]

I've used a telehandler before, took two people though. You need a threaded lifting adapter so you can lift the pipe and a piece of slotted steel plate to hold the sections up at the coupler while you disconnect them and re-rig your lift. I've heard of well pump pullers similar to a tripod setup that you can rent but I've never actually seen one.

 

[Furu]

I've used a telehandler before, took two people though. You need a threaded lifting adapter so you can lift the pipe and a piece of slotted steel plate to hold the sections up at the coupler while you disconnect them and re-rig your lift. I've heard of well pump pullers similar to a tripod setup that you can rent but I've never actually seen one.

The telehandler is an idea I had not thought of, but I do not know what the capabilities of them are and if they sway enough that it might create an issue of the drop pipe hitting (not bumping but hitting) the casing as it is lifted. I have the other items that you mention from previous jobs.

 

[Topzide]

You could set up scaffolding. A single buck stacked above the pipe length might work well. Walk boards on either side and pull pipe between them. They handle that amount of weight. Just throwing it out there.

 

[JJT]

A few months ago I paid $2150 to replace my 1hp pump, set at 200'. Money well spent.... The last time I pulled a pump I was 35, at 60 it's a no go for me. $2150 included a new pressure tank and pressure switch.

If you do it yourself, make sure you have plenty of help. I've seen people do this with a FEL, many, many 8' lifts.

 

[herm0016]

a tripod may work, I would add several braces across the legs on 2 sides and think about what happens when it falls on its side, or make it well anchored or guyed out. make sure to have room for the pully and hook at the top. If you are in a place with oil wells, you can usually get 2 7/8 pipe surplus pretty cheap in 30 foot lengths. your top shive is your most likely failure point. a proper lifting shive will probably cost you a few hundred. no open hooks on anything, only cast and rated eyes from good sources, etc. remember that the hook on the pully is supporting twice the load of the line. so you want a pully that is rated well more than twice the weight you expect to pull.
i bet that pump weighs double what you think.
we call your slotted plate a C plate.
what are you using to power this, a winch on a truck or something?

13 years in the oil industry, crane training to 60 ton, rigging certificates in Australia and USA and have run 1000s or 10s of 1000s of miles of steel cable in and out of oil wells all over the earth with hydraulic winches.

scaffolding is not a terrible idea. don't skimp on your lifting hardware, get real stuff that is rated, not whatever is hanging at ace or home depot. their cable clamps and all that stuff are total junk and not sized correctly.

I can imagine some reasons that i also have for not having someone else do the work, but maybe find a sketch contractor that will not tell anyone. haha. its going to cost more to build this proper than it will cost to have someone else do it, though you will have a rig then as well.

 

[Furu]

I have available a hydraulic winch 20K, three different electric winches 8K, 12K, 16K, and a small 13.5K PTO logging winch . Not certain which I think is the best choice but will be using a safety backup in any case. As to weight, I want it to handle at least 3K which is double the max strain I expect. Of course that is not shock load strain but I better not have that or I have screwed up big time by then. Oil field pipe would be nice, but not around here. I have thought of using 3 inch sched 40 steel pipe (which I have) or maybe 2 inch pipe , or 2x2x0.25 square tube; probably way over strength but concerned about under engineering it thus this post for ideas.
When is cost not a concern?? however I have had a real problem with the drill/pump companies in this area and their ethics.

 

[ChuckT]

Is the well string in a casing? (Should be.) It is possible to use tall "farm" jacks to lift the entire string and pump, 2' at a time with 2 jacks but you'll - need to have a large pipe wrench or clamp of some sort to tighten on the string (yes this works _much_ better with metal pipe!) to keep it from falling back down into the casing. And you're best to recruit several (foolish) friends and a case of beer, or two for the job. Don't forget to have other pipe wrenches to dis-assemble the string as you go. Oh, yeah AND you'll need to remove the well house roof before you start.
I vote for a well driller and their derrick.
Sign me "been there, done that" & know better now.

 

[bdhsfz6]

The company that services my well uses a machine like this to pull the pump from my 530' well:

You may be able to rent one locally.

 

[workinonit]

If you drop it the pulling charge will seem miniscule.

 

[Valveman]

I have available a hydraulic winch 20K, three different electric winches 8K, 12K, 16K, and a small 13.5K PTO logging winch . Not certain which I think is the best choice but will be using a safety backup in any case. As to weight, I want it to handle at least 3K which is double the max strain I expect. Of course that is not shock load strain but I better not have that or I have screwed up big time by then. Oil field pipe would be nice, but not around here. I have thought of using 3 inch sched 40 steel pipe (which I have) or maybe 2 inch pipe , or 2x2x0.25 square tube; probably way over strength but concerned about under engineering it thus this post for ideas.
When is cost not a concern?? however I have had a real problem with the drill/pump companies in this area and their ethics.

As an old well driller and pump man myself, I am ashamed of most people in the pump business these days. In my days there where professionals who knew what they were doing, tried to install the best systems, wanted them to be affordable, and to last a long time. These days no one knows anything about pumps. They just want to put in the most expensive system they can talk you into, stuff it in as fast as they can, and won't return to warranty the crap they put in. So, I feel your pain.

However, if you think the local pump guys are pricks now, ask them to fish out the pump you dropped and they will be real "dhjsadhoyho dkja;fhah's". Make sure you don't drop it. So called safety rope or cable is not a good idea, as it can come lose and stick your pump in the well. Pull from the pipe couplings only. The Upsydazy shown is a safe way to pull if you can find one to rent. Tripods need to be strong and are still scary. Might be best to rent a big back or trackhoe with 25' boom. Don't use the trackhoe to pull, just as a stand. Mount a wench to the hoe so you can lift up straight above the well. Plate and bell or pipe elevators are best. But I have pulled pumps like that with only a couple of short nylon lifting straps with hoops on each end.

Making sure you have everything right before reinstalling the pump as you don't want to have to do it all over again. When you get the pump back to working, adding a Cycle Stop Valve can make it last long enough you won't have to worry about it again.

 

[JM7500]

The tripod will work fine for vertical loads. Brace the feet at the ground so the legs do not splay out. A chain fall or electric hoist mounted at the top of the tripod can pull up vertically. I would use components rated at a Working Load Limit of a minimum of twice your estimated weight. If the hoist is outside the foot print of the tripod, horizontal loads must be accounted or tripod will come down (angles and/or distance are a factor). A sufficiently stout boom pole mounted on a tractor can provide a rigging point above the well.

 

[Valveman]

With a snatch block hanging below the tripod and the casing being 2' above ground you will need close to a 30' of tripod.

 

[OldMcDonald]

I have available a hydraulic winch 20K, three different electric winches 8K, 12K, 16K, and a small 13.5K PTO logging winch . Not certain which I think is the best choice but will be using a safety backup in any case. As to weight, I want it to handle at least 3K which is double the max strain I expect. Of course that is not shock load strain but I better not have that or I have screwed up big time by then. Oil field pipe would be nice, but not around here. I have thought of using 3 inch sched 40 steel pipe (which I have) or maybe 2 inch pipe , or 2x2x0.25 square tube; probably way over strength but concerned about under engineering it thus this post for ideas.
When is cost not a concern?? however I have had a real problem with the drill/pump companies in this area and their ethics.

It is about 40 years since I had to lift pipes and the pump from a well in Australia and I lifted the lot with a Sylvester. These things can move anything that the chain can hold.

Sylvester, coal mining jacking | Science Museum Group Collection shows a photo of what one is and I still have it. Used it a few times since I moved here in July last year.

The short chain with the hook is used to anchor the Sylvester (whatever it is anchored to must be heavier than the load to be moved) and a long chain is needed to be fixed to the object to be moved with the last link of the chain inserted into the oval shaped hole in the metal block - known as an Elliott block. I know who Sylvester was, but I do not know who Elliott was.

The load is moved one inch at a time, in your case and mine in Australia it has to be moved vertically, and when the end of the bar is reached it is necessary to pin the pulling chain through the hole at the left of the photo which has a piece of string through it. The pin is missing in the example shown. There was 210 feet of pipe down the well.

I had previously moved a Fordson Major tractor about 20 feet up a vertical cliff with the same Sylvester. I know, I should not have driven it where I could not reverse or turn, but I was very young and inexperienced then.

Hire somebody with the proper gear to do the job. You could kill yourself trying to do it. Money is then not a concern.

 

[bcp]

You don't have to use a tripod taller than your pipe sections, but the taller it is, the less resetting of your pulling clamps.

My pump is only about 70 feet down, on 1 1/4 pipe, so it is much lighter system than deeper pumps. I used a 12 ft tripod, heavy wood and bolt pipe clamps for pulling and holding, and a hand cable winch.

One piece flexible plastic pipe replaced the galvanized. The whole new assembly was laid out on the ground, then lowered into place by hand.

Bruce

 

[Egon]

It can be done and has been done many times.

You have to design a derick ( numerous methods) , select the winch cable and attachment tools, figure out how you lay the pipe down, figure out how to hold the Down hole string in place when couplings are broken out, and lastly devise a safety cable that will hold the pipe if the winch cable breaks. ( a metal plate with a hole large enough to pass over the couplings and with an offset chain attachment point that will grab the tubing if things go wrong. Don’t forget the rain suit!

 

[jyoutz]

With a snatch block hanging below the tripod and the casing being 2' above ground you will need close to a 30' of tripod.

In other words, something similar to the booms on the well service trucks.