Well Retrieval Tool FAQs-3

Q&A on who to call for help removing something dropped into a well

Who Can I Call to Help?

Who do I call to retrieve whatever is blocking the pipe?

My father lives in Will County Illinois he has a 200 foot well, something is blocking it at 100 feet who do I call to retrieve whatever is blocking the pipe? 2023-01-14 by tom

Reply:

@tom,

Best bet is a well driller nearby. Talk with the well company to ask, in advance, if they're willing to try retrieving the "something" or at least to send down a well bore inspection camera so that you can figure out what's going on and how best to retrieve it.

A quick web search for "well driller in Will County Illinois" will find at least 4 well drillers nearby.

 

Do you provide professional training and guidance to borehole service providers

Greetings,
I would like to forward my interest in the borehole industry having worked in this area for five years. I am based in Kenya in Africa where I have been operating as borehole service provider. My interest in the industry is fishing of fallen pipes and pumps which of late has been quite a challenge.

The tools we use for fishing here include the spear and pipe traps. I recently read the info on your website and got interested on the various tools you advertise for use.

My question would thus be if your company would be interested in providing professional training and guidance to borehole service providers here in Kenya which would be a great marketing opportunity for your company also.

Thank you and am looking forward to your response. Regards Francis Muchina. 2021-02-04 by Francis

Reply:

Francis

I'm sorry that we are not able to provide on-site Personal or group Training On borehole Installation and equipment.

InspectAPedia.com provides building and environmental diagnostic and repair information.

In order to absolutely assure our readers that we write and report without bias we do not sell any products nor services, nor do we have any business or financial relationships that could create such conflicts of interest.

 

Question: what if I can't afford to hire someone to pull out stuff dropped into the well

What if the home owner does not have the money? they need it to live and the well service person charges $200.00 just to show up? (Sept 5, 2015) avid flyer

Reply:

Ask the well company if they can offer financial relief for the needy, or ask for assistance from localmaidmsocieties, or shop for another well service company.

Waiting and leaving junk in the well involves risk that ranges from very low ( a single fallen rock sitting at the bottom of the well bore) to significant (loose debris items that can damage the pump or foot valve).

 

Question: Water Quantity & Air Bubble Problems in a well bore set in clay

I had a well drilled on my property approx. 19 years ago and a 1-1/2hp Gould pump was installed at the same time, there was no model number or gpm listed on the well log. The well was drilled at 280 feet and the pump was set at 273 ft.

The well log states there is no perforation to the pipe. It also states the drill went through sand and clay, sand and clay and sand and clay.

Do you know how the well could be getting water when there is no perforation and it is set in clay? I wondered if it could be coming in from the bottom of the well some how, but I'm not sure.

At the time I had this well drilled and pump installed, shortly after I had went through a super hard divorce, through this transition of hard times of my life, the well had set idle for approximately 9 years and was never used in those years.

Then I brought power in and powered up the well, it seemed to work fairly good as far as I can remember, but the well had no pressure tank or anything at that time.

I had a faucet plumbed out of the ground that I turned the pump on to fill jugs and watering cans as I wasn't living on the property at the time, I just had plants I had to keep watered, and I would only turn the pump on when I needed it and then turned it off.

This you might consider somewhat like cycling, but it wasn't rapid as there was time left when the pump was turned off and on.

Not sure when the time spans were, but after a couple years, the pump became stalled or over a short period of time and surging power through the motor, it started to work again. This time it worked fine all the way up until a year ago.

Towards the last 4-5 years of operation of the well, it seemed to be doing what I would call aquanating or the water was mixing with microscopic bubbles and it would look cloudy when you put it in a bucket.

After sitting for some time, it would clear up and the bubbles would dissipate. This usually happened in the very hot and drier season, but before that it would always have low build up for the recovery of pressure for shut off on pressure switch.

I never really was concerned about it because I have 2 large bladder pressure tanks and I figured it just took a long time to build them back up to kick off as that's what their supposed to do to make less turn on and offs with the motor.

But this last year, watering in the hot season, trying to keep the lawn from drying out and the plants from dying, it just quit pumping.

I noticed out of the hose I was losing pressure, so I went to check the pressure gauge and it was already past the point where it was supposed to kick on.

I did your normal diagnostics and checked everything, I even went the extra 9 miles and bought another control box; which made no difference.

I put a stethoscope on the well casing, and it sounds like the motor is running smoothly, I know its not stalled because when it did stall, it was drawing a lot of power and it would blow the circuit breaker.

This acts as if the motor is actually running like normal, it doesn't pop the reset in the control box or any breakers so I don't believe the motor is stalled, I believe its just motoring and not pumping water.

I know this could be a number of problems like the built in check valve for the well pump could be bad, I could have something wrong with the discharge piping out of the well; its PVC, or maybe the pump is just wore out.

The one problem I kinda thought to myself is that when the well was put in, there were very few people living in my area, since then there has been literally hundreds of homes and developments that have been put in a little ways up the road.

I was wondering if each one of them had a well drilled, and each one drilled their well deeper than mine, could it be lowering my aqua level, lowering the water from my well?

Or in the worse case scenario, the well has just become a dry hole. Common sense tells me that with the age of the pump, its time is up and its time to replace it! Some pumps last a long time, some go real quick and others go bad years down the road, I'm sure you know the scenarios.

I feel mine is worn out, the motor is just turning freely but not turning the impellers or pumping water, I don't know.

I know no matter what, the pump is going to have to be pulled.

I was also curious where I could buy a tool or the tool that reaches down inside the well casing and hooks the elbow that goes through the casing to ground?

This elbow is not reachable by hand, and it is solely supporting the pipe, the pump, etc. Is there something that goes into the internal part of the pipe to pull it up from there?

I need some kind of tool that will grab the pipe and pull it up so you can cut off each section.

Not like the metal pipe that you can unscrew each section and hook a cable into an eye coupler, there is nothing to hook to with a PVC pipe. You pull it up, cut off a section, pull it up and cut off another section and so on.

I also noticed on Google they have a machine that sits on top of the well casing, it has 3 small air tires; I believe one of the tires has power, and they come into a Y and it holds the pipe between the tires and draws the pipe out of the well. I haven't been able to find this machine or tool anywhere for sale or for rent. I have no idea where to find it.

I have checked around my area and there isn't anyone with anything to pull up the well pipe and pumps.

Any information you can give me for pulling up the pipe and pump would be deeply appreciated!

There is one more thing I would like to ask, my pump is set 13 feet above the bottom of the drilling of the well. I was curious when I set the new pump, I would like to set it as close to the bottom as possible.

Would it be safe to say I could set it 5 feet or closer to the bottom of the well?? Thanks a lot for your time and thanks for reading this, I greatly appreciate it! Sorry this got so long, its hard to try to explain something like this in only a few sentences! - (Jan 30, 2016) Everett said:

Reply:

I'm a bit overwhelmed but I think the bottom line question is about how to pull out a well pipe and pump.

Typically the well service company uses a tripod to support equipment including a winch or more often the well drilling rig on the back of a truck is used to winch up the well pipe and pump from the well bottom.

Additional hardware, including a tripod and clamps, can be used to clamp the well pipe at intervals to permit separation into lengths (needed with steel well piping), repairs, replacement of sections or valves, and to avoid dropping the whole shebang back down into the well bore.

 

Question: Fix a Shallow well blocked by a piece of metal

We have a ten foot deep wall for irrigation that suddenly stopped pumping water. There is a blockage at about four feet.

We recently got a scope and looked down the 1 1/2" galvanized pipe and saw a piece of metal lodged in the pipe. We have no idea what it is or how to get it out. Unfortunately my father built a wall around the pump and well with a bedroom above it.

There does not seem to be a casing around the central shaft.

Can you tell us what the metal might be and how to remove it. I asked someone if we could use a long drill to try to drill through it but we have no clue how big the metal object is or how it even got in the pipe because it is a sealed system. Thanks. (May 17, 2016) Anne

Reply:

Anne:

Whatever is in the well at this point was probably part of the system since a large chunk of metal wouldn't normally have a way to enter on its own: check for missing pieces of well cap, pitless adapter, pipe fittings, a pump motor itself, a snifter valve, or even a well sleeve liner previously installed to repair a damaged casing.

Contact well drillers in your area to see if they can come by with an assortment of pipe grabbers that might pull out the missing part; a scope can then inspect the condition of the casing.

I don't think the situation you describe is amenable to drilling-through (a step that is taken in some cases in the oil fields).

 

Amateur plumber replacing foot valve dropped stuff in the well; how to fix damaged well casing section?

Was curious if my cause for concern was accurate, recently we had a non professional plumber replace foot valve on our 2 line jet pump, not with my approval, and it ended up worse then i had feared. He ended up dropping the entire well piping (both lines) into the bottom of well knocking off a good bit of casing around top.

We ended up having to fish it out in pieces, and in pieces i mean he replaced a bunch of piping in two lines that didnt make sense, he claimed the foot valve was not damaged after hitting bottom of well and being toppled by piping, and apparently there was a few pieces left behind and gadgets used previously in attempt that also fell were all in bottom of well.

I looked down with a set of lights and couldnt believe all that had been dropped and left. Where the casing was knocked off, there is a weird black moss like growing.

I am worried about the condition of inside of well if all those pieces could cause a problem to well trying to suck water or pull water?

I am worried about the condition of water purity, with all that sitting in the bottom of our well in water, from black stuff growing from missing casing? - by private email from A.W. 2018-01-31

Reply:

I can't accurately assess your well by e-text, but from what you describe it sounds as if possibly the casing is damaged - permitting ground water or surface water (or dirt) to enter the well would be unsanitary.

There are well sleeves that can repair such damage (after you've fished out the scrap that has dropped into the well.

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