Pe-pipe a 2 in well.

[J_J]

My 60 year old well pipe I believe has rusted through. It went from clear water to sand in water to almost no water. I believe the sand has leaked into the casing, and stopped up the bottom of the well, and not allowing the water to fill the pipe as I try to pump. Has anyone ever re-piped a well? I have heard that if the muck is cleaned out, and a PVC casing is installed, you can recover the well. What say you.

The well is about 80 ft deep. To drill a new well around here would be about $1200.

 

[TheGoose]

Very little can be done to a 2" well. Probably going to have to drill a new one.

 

[xrsrfn]

I once witnessed a well driller fix my Grandfathers jet pump by opening the top on the T that goes down to foot valve and stuck in the barrel of a .22 cal rifle and shot down to the foot valve to clean out debris it worked for a while after. He lived in Sebring at the time.

 

[Egon]

What type of pump? Downhole, jet pump or?

Running a small diameter hose down the tubing and water flushing may get the pipe cleaned out if there is enough volume and pressure from the pump you are using?

 

[SandburRanch]

That old well kind of reminds me of an old man with arteries that are 90 percent clogged. They have served their purpose and it's time for a new one.

 

[Leejohn]

If you can get it done for $1200.00 I would jump on that.

 

[Western]

If you can get it done for $1200.00 I would jump on that.

That is what I was thinking too!

Maybe drill the same hole in 4" if the casing can be pulled. Might also be a good time to go a few feet deeper too.

 

[J_J]

Although the well is about 80 ft, the water level in the well was at about 10 ft, and a 20 ft, 1 in drop pipe with ft valve was used.

 

[Egon]

Drop a weight down the tubing to see how deep the well is now. If you put some kitchen grease on the bottom of the weight it may bring up some debris from the bottom of the well bore. If it does it may verify your original thoughts.

It is also possible to drop a plug down the casing and pressure test at regular intervals to check the integrity of the casing.

End result other than the weight money will be spent without any gain.

It may be wise to follow the others advice and drill a new well.

 

[Western]

Is it possible on a well that shallow to pull the pump up say 3-5 feet and see if the sand clears?? Just a thought.

 

[zzvyb6]

There are some YouTube videos I watched where they cleaned out a well using an air hose and a portable compressor. Drop a nozzle down it and see if the sand + water will blow up and out.

J.J. you realize we expect you to come up with a hydraulic solution for this, don't you? At 20 ft, can you rent a portable drill or even pound down a new well pipe and point? I'd like to try to pound a new 2" well for my water pumping windmill...

 

[TheGoose]

The old casing has a hole in the steel pipe, there is no fixing. There are a few things you can do to nurse it along but it needs to be replaced with a new well.

 

[justwater]

not sure where you are located in Jax, but i am fairly familiar with wells in the area. you definitely have a hole in your casing. (steel) "rock" wells in your area are driven until the steel pipe is set into first rock, then the rock is drilled out.. no screens, no nothing.. casing to rock, then open hole through rock. the natural ground pressure then pushes the water from the rock up into the casing to whatever the water level is.

i wont say the well is "unfixable", because its not impossible. but.. if the well is stopped up completely with sand and doesnt even produce water anymore.. that makes things much tougher as it has apparently been pumping sand for some time and should have been addressed long before now.

with that said, 1200$ for a new well is a steal (if its a competent driller).. and i would say anyone pushing another steel well isnt very competent. whats the definition of insanity??? 60 yrs ago they made good steel, nowadays you'd be lucky to get 10-15 years out of another steel well. .. get someone with a good rotary rig to drill you a pvc well and you wont ever have this problem again. good luck!

 

[J_J]

This is sort of what I am thinking, Reline the 2 in casing with 1 1/2 PVC pipe with inside fittings. The bottom of the PVC would have a ring around the outside bottom of the PVC to seal off any more sand getting into the well. Then pour hyd cement in between the 2 in casing, and the 1 1/2 PVC. Then sending down an air hose and a water hose to flush out the sand. Would that not bring the old well back to almost new status? Has anyone ever done this or heard of anyone doing this.

If this should work, I expect the water to come up the PVC to about the 10 ft level. I was pumping about 12 GPM's out of the well, and maybe that capability will return after everything is finished. As I said before, there was a 1 in drop pipe with a foot valve, pumping with a 3/4 HP pump.

If I only had an underwater camera, I could see where, and how far down the rusted out section is.

 

[The Dougster]

Your plan might work JJ but the problem you will have is getting enough air downhole to lift the sand up and out.. no doubt you'll need some kind of material to mix with the water to help lift the sand out... in rotary drilling they use a drilling mud for that purpose. They sell a polymer to serve the same purpose when drilling with air... Check with a drillers supply company. Good luck ..

 

[Egon]

Yes that method will work J_J.

The well bore should be cleaned out first so the liner can be run.

Calculate the amount of cement required to fill the casing between the original pipe and the new poly pipe. That will let you know when enough cement has been used.

Does the original pipe have any perforations at the bottom ??

Measure down to the level of sand in the original casing. That may tell you where the casing starts having holes??