Well Pipe Grabbers & Fishing Tools for Retrieving Stuff you Dropped Into the Well

Oops honey, I dropped the pump!

Reply: How Do Well Drillers & Well Plumbers Retrieve Pipes, Pumps, Tools dropped into a Drilled Well Casing

Dropping stuff into a well, or worse, a person or animal falling into a well is a problem as old as mankind and wells. [See Luke 14:5 and Matthew 12:11.]

And I know about this "Honey I dropped the Pump" problem too, and haven't added a full article on retrieving stuff from water wells at InspectAPedia because of lack of photos of the array of in-well-stuff grabbing tools, and also because I don't think most homeowners will have much luck retrieving stuff that has fallen into their well on their own.

First off, it sounds like a horrible problem when a well pipe breaks and we drop stuff into the well. But don't panic. You have to figure that you're not the first people to have such bad luck - and it happens most often to well drillers not homeowners.

Our photos just above and in more detail below show an old galvanized iron well pipe being pulled out of the steel casing at a Minnesota home.

[Click to see a larger detailed version of any image at InspectAPedia] . You can see the clamp being used to secure the well pipe at the top of the casing while the well driller removes the upper length of well pipe that has just been lifted.

Our second photo below illustrates the pipe grabber clamp used to grab the well pipe to keep it from falling back into the well during a pause in lifting to allow other tasks.

The well drillers/plumbers I've worked with, including this one, tell me that once they've had a few bad experiences the are scrupulously careful to avoid a repeat of breaking a well line or dropping the whole shebang down into the well - say while trying to pull things out of the well in the first place, or during reinstallation of a pump and piping.

But sometimes bad luck, or a mistake, or a bad fitting or section of pipe can cause a length of pipe plus well pump, foot valve, what-have-you to fall back down in the well.

Because it does happen, just about every well driller and most plumbers who work on wells have a collection of grabbing devices, some of them home made, that can be lowered into the well to grapple around and grab on to the upper end of what now sits deep down in the well casing. It may take a few trials, but eventually they get stuff out by that method.

When the length of pipe and pump is pretty long, the weight can be considerable, more than you could pull out with a rope or cable.

In that case the rigger brings in a truck or a portable winch system that includes a powered well pipe pulling mechanism that can handle the weight.

As the well pipes are lifted out of the well, the driller or plumber may run the pipe through a clamping device that is larger than the diameter of the well casing - that prevents dropping it all back down in the well.

Certainly that device is used when, during the well pipe and pump pulling process, the operator has to stop to remove vertical lengths of well piping. Otherwise we'd have many feet of pipe sticking up in the air - creating another problem.

As a length of well pipe rises out of the casing, leaving the winch assembly attached to the top of the pipe, the operator will stop the winch, tighten a clamp around the well pipe a few inches above the top of the well casing, gently, using the winch, lower the pipe back down so that the clamp rests on top of the well casing - to "test" that the clamp is secure.

Then, trusting the clamp, the upper length of well piping is removed, the winch pulling connection is made to the newly exposed top of well piping just above the clamp, and the process continues.

I Would Call a Well Driller for Help Getting Stuff out of the Well

You can infer from all of this, that in your case the bottom line is you'll need to call your local well driller/well installer who should have the winch equipment as well as a clamping system to both grab and retrieve the top of the broken well piping as well as to pull it out without further catastrophes.

Or if it falls back in again, the well driller or plumber will be in charge of getting the pipe and pump back out for you themselves.

Types of Home Made & Ready-Made Well Pipe Grabbers for Picking Up Lost Pipes or Other Stuff in Wells or Holes

Concepts useful to understand when fishing stuff out of a water well:

There are just a few basic types of pipe or junk grabbers used to pull stuff out of oil or gas or water wells:

• Augers are drill-type devices designed to retrieve drill components from a borehole by drilling into a verical (dropped) pipe or by wrapping around it.
• Grappling hooks are sometimes used to try to hook onto tools, or other non-pipe-shaped items that have fallen into a well.
• Magnets or junk magnets, are sometimes used to retrieve smaller metal objects that have fallen into a well; it's doubtful that a magnet could pull a steel well pipe however. In the oil and gas industry junk magnets are run into a well ahead of a diamond drilling tool in order to remove metal junk that can damage the drilling bit.
• Overshoots or Overshots are fishing devices that fit over the exterior of the well pipe and then grab onto the well pipe exterior to enable lifting the pipe.
  
  Logan Oil Tools calls these "external catch" devices. [12] The overshot may be a metal mesh device, or a spiral device, one or more round or oval loops, or similar devices that grab on to the pipe exterior. The overshot was invented by Bowen in 1935.
• Reamers: are devices used to ream out collapsed well casings in the oil and gas industry; [11] and those clever folks also use an impression block to figure out the shape of whatever it is that has fallen into the well if they don't already know. [12]
• Spears or releasing spears for well fishing are fishing devices that are inserted into the interior bore of a well pipe and then grab onto the interior sides of the pipe.
  
  Logan Oil Tools calls devices of this sort "internal catch" devices.[12] Releasing spears include design features that can when appropriate release the "caught" pipe or component. Spearing tools are used to retrieve piping from a well when it cannot be grasped with an external catch tool.
• Taps or Taper Taps are conical-shaped threaded devices used to retrieve pipes or tubing from a borehole by turning the tap into the open end of a pipe or tube dropped into the bore.
• See WELL FISH TOOL & CAMERA SOURCES at the end of this article for manufacturers of well retrieval tools, well pipe retrievers, well pump retrievers, specialty well repair tools, and for patented designs that suggest home made well pipe retrieval tools.
• See WELL FISH TOOL DESIGNS & PATENTS for examples of patented well fishing tools and well pipe grabbers and their designs.

Any tool you make or buy to fish out something dropped into a water well is going to be of one of these classes.

Other pipe grappling tools or terms for them used in the oil and gas industry include specialty tools that can help guide even a do-it-yourself effort that may work at least in more shallow water wells:

• Basket Grapple
  
  an alternative to grappling hooks, are used to retrieve small, irregular shaped debris from a well.
• Basket types, other
  
  Core-type junk baskets retrieve junk from the bottom of a well by literally drilling a hole into the debris so that it can be removed.
  
  Boot baskets are used in oil and gas drilling to catch debris below the bit that are too heavy to be circulated out of the bore hole during the drilling procedure.
  
  Jet junk baskets are used to retrieve "stubborn" debris from the bottom of a well by pumping fluid through jets to lift debris into the basket.
• Cameras, Well-Bore Inspection -
  
  a well bore inspection camera can be lowered into the well to give a better understanding of exactly where your dropped obstruction lies and how to grapple-it.
  
  Well bore inspection cameras can give a down view or side view or both simultaneously to identify and help retrieve obstructions, as well as to inspect the condition of the well bore and well casing.
  
  We list well inspection camera types and sources at the end of this article. You may be able to rent rather than buy a well bore or downwell camera.
  
  Also see SEWER / SEPTIC PIPE CAMERAS like the Rigid SeeSnake shown here.
  
  Watch out: if you use a general-purpose rented sewer line camera to inspect your well bore you are going to contaminate the well with sewage bacteria: you'll need to shock / sanitize the well afterwards.
  
  See also: WELL CHLORINATION & DISINFECTION
• Die Collars -
  
  used to retrieve a lost well pipe, the die collar is a coupling lowered over the lost pipe; the gas or oil version may not be easily workable for a plastic water well pipe; see our "double bite metal loop" pipe retriever discussed below.
• Free-Point Indicator -
  
  used to locate where a pipe is stuck in the well, not for retrieval
• Grinders:
  
  in the oil and gas industry a "junk mill" is sent into the well to try to grind up smaller junk that has fallen into the well. The Junk mill works with a boot basket to retrieve the ground up stuff - if it works. This probably won't help with water well troubles.[11]
• Impression blocks -
  
  used to find the position of and condition of the top of a pipe, junk, or fish that is obstructing a well bore hole.
• Spears -
  
  are expanding devices inserted into the interior of the lost pipe. Pulling on a line attached to the spear (along with mechanical design of the spear) or turning it expand the spear inside the lost pipe.
• Spiral Grapples -
  
  helical grapples lowered over the lost well pipe end, using twisting torque or friction to grab on to and lift the pipe.
• Jars or bumper tools 
  
  are designed to impact stuck pipes, spears or other components stuck in a well by hydraulically jarring the stuck component upwards or downwards.
• Junk Mill Bits -
  
  also referred to as bladed junk mills, cement mills, taper mills, pilot mills, and similar but more heavy-duty conebuster mills, are used in the oil and gas industry to literally drill-through plugs, packers, cement, or stuff dropped into a well
• Wall hooks -
  
  used to center the lost pipe in the well so that it can be grabbed by another device. A home made "wall hook" is sometimes fabricated out of funnel of appropriate size, pushed over the lost pipe by a rigid pipe length.

List of Fishing Tools to Retrieve Stuff from Drilled Steel Casing or Other Water Wells

• Store bought or home made single or double bite metal loop well pipe retriever:
  
  Some well pipes can be successfully retrieved by fabricating a flexible pair of metal rings with squared or sharp edges connected and hinged to a rod that is in turn connected to the bottom of a working pipe long enough to reach down to the top of your well pipe in the well. When the pair of metal rings slip over the exposed upper end of the well pipe, push the assembly a few feet further down over the pipe.
  
  If you've got your design right (test it above ground first) when you pull up on the assembly the rings will hinge to an angle that will "bite" onto the vertical pipe in the well and allow you to pull the assembly back out.
  
  A rope with a large sharp edged "washer" 
  
  or any other round object that can be dropped over the well pipe can do this same job. Some technicians call this assembly a cam cleat but more often that's a nautical device for halyards and one that doesn't work in this application.
  
  A home-made "corkscrew"
  
  that increases in diameter towards its upper end, affixed to the end of a rigid pipe can also be pushed into the interior (or with some grapplers the outside) of the pipe in the well, turned until it grabs the pipe. I'm not sure this method will be strong enough to lift many feet of pipe in the well.
  
  Home made well pipe tap:
  
  using an internal pipe tap sized to fit into the interior of the well pipe lost in the well;
  
  Wire loop well pipe retriever:
  
  Some of the home-made approaches to lowering a metal or wire loop over the well pipe incorporate an upside-down metal funnel that can be used to help center your grabber over the upper end of the pipe in the well. We like these methods.
• Auger retrievers,
  
  including continuous flight auger retrievers or hollow stem auger retrievers.
• Box Tap / Die Collar,
  
  used to retrieve tubular fish tools that can't be rotated. This is a special type of overshoot used to connect to the top of tubing or piing. See Overshoots below. Produced by Schlaumberger and others.
• Casing Backoff Tools 
  
  are used to replace or remove worn damaged sections of (un-cemented) well casings. Produced by Schlumberger and perhaps others.
• Casing Swage 
  
  is a tapered tool used to restore dented or collapsed well casings to approximate its original shape. Note that these tools will not repair a casing that has been broken or corroded through. Well sleeves or casing section replacement is needed in those cases. Speaking strictly this is a casing repair tool not a well retrieval / fishing tool.
• EasyReach™ 
  
  is one of a series of grabbing devices that can retrieve rocks or brick sized objects that fall into a well or hole.
  
  I'm doubtful this tool is able to grab a round well pipe (the maximum length is about six feet and the end looks like suction cups) but the company may have tool ends that can be adapted for that purpose.
  
  EasyReach™ claims it can pick up anything from a dime to a brick. The device is sold by General Pipe Cleaners, Tel: 800-245-6200, website: drainbrain.com/specialties/easyreach.html

• Elevators: Well pipe grapplers, well pipe elevators, or well pipe grabbers
  
  that will grab onto plastic pipe or iron pipe down inside of a well casing are sometimes home made based on designs such as the items listed above. Shown above are a pair of (green) well pipe elevators, and below, a pair (red) casing lifters provided by Hole Products.
  
  The Hole Products company explains that standard duty SD pipe elevators are used for lifting threaded or coupled pipe: the lifter slides against the bottom side of a pipe coupling, while the company's HD pipe elevators are used for well casing installation, setting well screens and pulling pump columns.

Hole Products, www.holeproducts.com. Hole Products Minnesota, 205 16th St. NE Suite A Little Falls, MN 56345 Tel: 320.616.0701 or Hole Products International: 001- 888-465-1569

• Expanding rubber plug pipe retriever:
  
  a home-made stack of rubber plugs placed over a threaded rod can, if your well pipe is not too deep in the well, be pushed into the top end of the pipe in the well.
  
  The down-end of your threaded rod is locked onto a washer and nut and rubber plug just small enough to force into the upper end of the pipe in the well.
  
  If you can stab that plug into the well pipe you then tighten the upper end of the treaded rod (a nut and washer will do) until you've expanded the rubber plug enough to grab onto and lift the in-well pipe.
• Free Point Tools for retrieving well pipe.
  
  Freepoint tools are used in the oil and gas industry as a method to retrieve pipes stuck in a well.
  
  Pipes in oil and gas drilling become stuck in wells differently from what happens in a drilled water-well or borehole well, but some of the tools developed for the oil and gas industry may also benefit the water well drilling and well retrival tool industry.
  
  Well pipes that fall into a water well borehole may become mechanically stuck, or corrosion in some cases may cause separation of metal well pipe sections or the dropping of a pump and pipe section down into the well. On occasion, a section of steel well casing itself may corrode and fall into the well as may a poorly-installed well casing repair sleeve.
  
  Freepoint tools work at the location between a stuck well pipe and the section of pipe that is free or not-jammed.

  Traditional Free Point Tools

  The traditional freepoint tool is an electromechanical tool designed to measure the amount of torque or stretch of a given length of tubing, drill pipe, or casing. The traditional freepoint tool uses either bow springs or magnets to anchor itself inside the pipe.
  
  After obtaining an estimate of the free point by using the pipe stretch estimate technique, the traditional freepoint tool is run in the hole to 1000 feet above the estimated stuck point. The tool is anchored in place. Stretch and or torque is then applied to the pipe.

  This allows the pipe recovery engineer to obtain a baseline reading of the free pipe. This will give him a starting point to compare his later freepoint readings to.
  
  The tool is then run roughly 500 feet past the estimated stuck point. Stretch and torque are applied, and readings are taken. If the tool indicates that the pipe is stuck at that point the tool is pulled uphole and readings are taken again.
  
  By applying the bracketing technique, the pipe recovery engineer is quickly able to identify the exact point that the pipe is free.

  Halliburton Free Point Tool

  The Halliburton Freepoint Tool is based around the magnetorestrictive property of steel. This principle states that when torque or stretch is applied to free pipe, the magnetization will change. Stuck pipe will have no change in magnetization. There is a magnet on the bottom of the tool that creates a small magnetic field.
  
  There are four co-planar orthogonal multi-axis high sensitivity magnetometers located above the magnet. The magnetometers measure the change in the magnetization of the pipe. The pipe is set at neutral weight, then the tool is run downhole logging the entire pipe string. Once it is at the bottom of the string, torque or stretch is applied to the pipe.
  
  The tool is then pulled uphole logging the entire string. The tool will detect differences in the magnetization of the pipe, thereby indicating free and stuck sections of pipe. - Wikipedia, retrieved 2016/05/31, original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_recovery_operations

• Hooking onto existing fittings on the well pipe 
  
  in the well: if the length of pipe that fell into the well includes couplings or a pitless adapter fitting, often any small grappling hook and line can grab onto the edge of that protrusion and pull the assembly out of the well.
  
  Pull slowly and smoothly and as soon as you can mechanically grab the end of the lost pipe as it emerges from the well, do so. The pipe tongs shown below, provided by Hole Products (cited below) are used to grip pipe for hoisting; this tool will automatically release the pipe when tension is released on the lift line.

• Hydraulic Fishing Jars
  
  are tools lowered into a well that grasp onto the stuck pipe, fish, or component to permit freeing a stuck component by jarring it upwards or in some applications downwards or in either direction. (Schlumberger) Fishing jars are also referred to as fishing accelerators.
  
  Similar to well fishing jars are bumber stubs used to loosen and retrieve stuck well spears or overshots.
• Magnets for use in a well bore:
  
  Hole Products and other well service companies produce powerful magnets that can be lowered into a well to retrieve tools or metal pieces of irregular shape that have fallen into a well and that can't be grabbed by other tools shown here.
  
  Shown below, a well magnet fishing tool set provided by Hole Products Company whose contact information is given below in this article. Depending on the magnet size these devices can lift 100 to 400 pounds. The largest magnet shown below is 5 1/2" in diameter so may fit inside a 6" well casing.

• Mini grappling hooks 
  
  to retrieve a fallen-in well pipe are sometimes fabricated using a heavy duty triple-barb fish-hook.
  
  I'm a little nervous about this approach because if the attempt fails and you leave the hook and a section of line in the well you've added to the mess that needs to be pulled out of the well.
• Mousetrap well pipe retrievers
• Overshot mesh well pipe or item retrievers for fishing stuff out of a well:
  
  the most effective tools we know about for pulling lost well pipes out of a drilled well are various versions of overshots. Overshots, an "overshoot" type tool, are a bit easier to get over the outside of a well pipe than spear type tools are to get into the well pipe, unless the upper end of the pipe is near the top of the well.
  
  Overshots are used in the oil and gas well drilling business[11] as well as water well drilling to retrieve pipes fallen into the well.
• Overshots 
  
  is a generic term that might be used to describe a braided metal sleeve (the "basket") or a spiral grapple.
  
  Some supplies use the term "recovery bell" for overshots. The overshot is a cylindrical or conical shaped (bell shaped) device lowered over the upper end of a pipe to be retrieved from a well. Some companies (Schlumberger) produce a releasing overshot or overshots used for jarring or stuck material backoff operations.
  
  The overshot is lowered over the end of the pipe in the well. If there is enough friction around the object the braided sleeve will contract and grab the object when the line is pulled up - like that braided rush "chinese finger trap" trick we played with as kids.
  
  The overshot is attached to the end of a drilling rod or in the water well industry to the end of a section of well piping that is lowerd into the bore hole.
  
  Some overshots include hardened self-cutting threads that will grab onto the upper end of a well pipe that has been dropped into the well borehole, thus allowing the pipe to be retrieved.


• Pin Tap / Screw-In Sub taps
  
   are used to retrieve a tubular fishing tool or pipe from a well when it is cannot be rotated.
  
  Basically this is similar to a "screw extractor" that is reverse-threaded to be turned into a seized bolt, screw, or in this case pipe or fishing tubular tool that cannot be turned or rotated in its normal direction. Produced by Schlumberger and perhaps others. Also see Taper Tap.
• PVC Well Casing Elevators:
  
  a special clamp-on elevator tool is required to lift a PVC casing or casing liner without breaking it. The tool shown below is provided by Hole Products whose contact information is given below in this article.

• PVC glue-on well pipe retrieval:
  
  some report success by lowering a new section of PVC pipe down into the well onto the lower end of which has been cemented (and dried) a coupling that will just fit over the exposed top of the plastic well pipe that is already in the well.
  
  With fresh glue inside the mating end of the coupling the retrieving well pipe section is pressed down onto the exposed top of the pipe that is already in the well. Wait for the glue to dry and try pulling out the whole assembly. If the broken-off plastic pipe is below water level, or badly damaged, this approach may have poor chances of success.

• Recovery bell well retrieval tools:
  
  see "Overshots" described above.
• Releasing spear well retrieval tools:
  
  a releasing spear is a well pipe or tubing retrieval tool that includes an internal catch that retrieves pipes or tubing from a well bore. The releasing spear is lowered into the well where it "spears" the interior of the pipe to be retrieved. Bowen® Itco is a producer of releasing spears.
• Small portable winches for lifting well pipes 
  
  can be site-fabricated using an automobile engine puller - something you can usually rent from a rental center

• Taps or Taper Taps,
  
  (shown above) are hardened steel tapered coarse-spiral-threaded taps that are turned into the open end of a pipe to retrieve it from a well.
  
  Taper taps are described as rotary taper taps (most-commonly used for conventional retrievals) and coring taper taps used for wireline coring operations. Also see Pin Taps.
  
  Taper Taps are produced by Produced by Schlumberger (shown above), Hole Products, and perhaps others. Hole Products also supply sonic taper taps sued to retrieve lost sonic tooling. Contact information for these companies is given below. Similar tools include packer milling and retrieving tools designed to drill through plugs in a well bore.

• Washover shoes,
  
  (shown above) strictly speaking are not retrieval tools but rather devices that are used to free pipe that has been stuck or lodged in a well bore due to fallen debris or other obstructions.
  
  The device slips over the well pipe and is rotated to cut away debris or obstructions. Provided by Schlumberger and perhaps others.

Sources of Well Retrieval & Well Fishing Tools & Equipment & Well Inspection Cameras

[Click to enlarge any image]

Shown here: Dapalco's patented Fetch well pipe retrieval tool. This is a pipe spear type retrieval tool. Contact information is given below.

Watch out: when buying or fabricating a tool to pull a dropped well pipe or something else out of a well, be careful not to drop your new tool into the well alongside what's already in there. Test your device above ground first and also be sure it's strong enough and long enough to do the job.

Watch out: also that you do not jam the item you are trying to retrieve. For example, using a grappling hook to try to fish out a well pump from the well bottom risks jamming the whole assembly inside the well.

Note that the primary producers of well retrieval and fishing tools are companies serving oil and gas drilling industry companies. However many of these also serve the water well drilling industry too.

• Check with your local well driller
  
   as those folks will have more experience, retrieval tools, and probably safer procedures than a normal property owner. The savings in time and money by hiring a professional may be more than you first guess.
• Bowen Itco, owned by NOV since 2000, produces well fishing tools, devices, equipment including the Bowen™ Itco-Type Releasing Spear . The company's website provides no street address but includes a contact page, Website: http://www.nov.com/bowen/default.aspx
• Dapalco, 1208 N. Jerrick Rd. Belle Plaine, KS 67013 USA, Dapalco produces the Fetch well pipe retrieving tool. Website: http://www.dapalco.net/ or www.thefetch.net Tel: 866-397-7347 Email: aprinter@sktc.net
  
  This pipe fishing tool uses a jaw with two tips and a center slot. One leg of the jaw slips into the upper end of a cut-off pipe inside the well and jaw teeth grip the pipe wall to permit lifting it. Lifting capacity: 250 lbs. U.S. Patent No. 7,665,785
• Hawkins, Jay W., and Robert S. Evans, USES OF THE BOREHOLE CAMERA IN HYDROLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS RELATED TO COAL MINING [PDF] e 2004 National Meeting of the American Society of Mining and
  
  Reclamation and The 25th West Virginia Surface Mine drainage Task Force, April 18-24, 2004. Published by ASMR, 3134 Montavesta Rd., Lexington, KY 40502. retrieved 2018/08/17, original source: https://www.asmr.us/Portals/0/Documents/Conference-Proceedings/2004/0847-Hawkins.pdf
  
  Excerpt: Abstract. Use of a borehole camera in a hydrologic investigation, can yield information that may not be otherwise obtainable.
  
  The camera permits confirmation ... ground water inflow zones, fracture accentuation..., and other features.
  
  A borehole camera also permits viewing of well bore features that otherwise may be unknown to exist, such as the conditions of the well bore, casing, and pumping system, historic water levels indicated by staining or corrosion, presence or absence of bacterial growths, existence of other organisms, the presence of foreign objects, and influx of gases.
• Newton, Paul A., and Daniel J. Phillippi. "Column pipe catch tool." U.S. Patent 7,665,785, issued February 23, 2010.
  Patent excerpt:
  
  A catch tool for retrieval of a well column pipe having a pipe wall, the catch tool incorporating a fork having a pair of spaced tines; and a pair of clamping pivot arms connected operatively to the fork, the clamping arms being adapted for, upon the receipt by the tines of the pipe wall, grasping the pipe wall;
  
  the clamping arms having proximal and distal ends, the arms being adapted for pivoting movements between first and second positions, the arms' distal ends being displaced away from each other a distance less than the pipe wall's thickness dimension while in the first position, and being carried by the pipe wall to their second positions.

• Gotco Corp., 11410 Spring Cypress Rd., Tomball TX 77377 USA, Tel: 1-800-OVERSHOT, produces the Gotco Grapple Releasing Spear. Except from the company's website:
  The Gotco Grapple Releasing Spear is an internal catch fishing tool designed to retrieve tubular members from the well bore.
• Hole Products, www.holeproducts.com. Hole Products Minnesota, 205 16th St. NE Suite A, Little Falls, MN 56345 Tel: 320.616.0701 or Hole Products International: 001- 888-465-1569
  
  The Hole Products company produces a large range of well equipment and pipe handling tules including pipe elevators, casing lifters, pipe tongs, lift rings, pvc casing elevators, self-locking swivel hooks, petol chain tongs and other devices. Hole Products is a U.S. company with offices in California, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri and Jew Jersey, and Wisconsin, also selling internationally. [Permission for image use posted via email 2016/05/31]

• Schlumberger Fishing Tools and Services, 3750 Briarpark Dr., WG-3 Level-2, Houston TX 77042, produces a wide range of oil and gas drilling tools and equipment and opeates world-wide. North American Contact: Schlumberger Technology Corporation 300 Schlumberger Dr. Sugar Land, Texas 77478 USA , USA Website: http://www.slb.com/ [Permission for image use posted via SLB contact page, 2016/05/31]
• Stuckey's Specialty Tools, Fishing Tools & Specialized Equipment, 2511 Lauder Road, Houston, Texas 77039, E-Mail: stusptl@yahoo.com Website: http://www.stuckeyspecialtytools.com/ producing an Itco type releasing spear

DHV (downhole video) Well-Bore Inspection Camera Systems

Above: well bore camera in use, photo from GeoVista cited just below.

• GeoVista borehole cameras for well inspection, GeoVista, Unit 10, Cae Ffwt Business Park, Glan Conwy, Conwy, LL28 5SP United Kingdom Tel: 01492 573399 Email: geovista@geovista.co.uk Website: http://geovista.co.uk/wellbore-cameras/
  Excerpt:
  
  High quality, flexibility and reliability offer loggers and drillers alike a new dimension in inspecting wellbores. Geovista supply downhole cameras to allow you to see what is happening in your well.
  
  We have designed, manufactured and supplied cameras that have proven invaluable to users worldwide. Innovative systems allow for high speed data transmission, real time video and still photo capture, user controlled lens focusing, video compression, optical and lighting technology, CCD sensors and image processing.
• EV Cam - Units 3-5, Energy Development Centre, Aberdeen Energy Park, Claymore Dr, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen Scotland AB23 8GD U.K. Website: http://www.evcam.com/
  Also see Optis cameras below.
  
  EvCam provides a variety of downwell and well bore inspection cameras that can help identify well obstructions and dropped objects to combine with a wellbore fish tool to retrieve dropped materials from a well.
  Excerpt:
  The Basis Electric Line Standard platform provides reliable, high-quality video and images in challenging environments. The bi-directional transmission system provides the user full control of the camera functions, such as lighting levels, image resolution, and frame rate, in real-time, optimising image quality in a wide range of operating environments.
  
  The modularity of the system allows sideview and downview cameras to be run in combination or standalone. The sideview camera is fitted with dedicated LED lights and has a wide range of focal lengths to ensure the highest quality images are acquired for in-depth inspection. Rotation of the sideview camera is controlled via a motor providing 360° coverage of the pipe wall.
• ExPro, world wide supplier of downhole video camera services and well bore inspection equipment. Website: www.exprogroup.com
  
  Expro International Group (Global HQ), 3rd Floor, 14-16 Cross St., Reading RG1 1SN, Tel (24-hours): +44 1224 22 57 00
  
  North America ExPro contact: Expro Americas, LLC, 738 Highway 6 South 1000, Houstan TX 77079 USA T: +1 713 463 9776
• GeoVISION™ Borehole Well Camera System Website: www.geovision.org also nee Marks Products, now Allegheny Instruments Website: http://www.alleghenyinstruments.com/index.html
  
  Manufacturer of GeoVISIONTM Borehole Video Systems, Specializing in portable borehole video systems featuring six interchangeable video cameras including pan and tilt, dual view and our ¾-inch (20 mm) diameter Nano camera.
  
  Inspection of water wells, oil wells, mines, caves, tanks, pipes, shafts, caissons, large and small voids.
  
  Contact Sales: Allegheny Instruments, Inc. Attn: Jeff Hoffer PO Box 122 E. Burke, VT 05832 USA Tel: (800) 255-1353 USA Canada (802) 626-5302 Email: Jeff.Hoffer@AlleghenyInstruments.com
• Laval Underground Surveys: Cameras include R-Cam portable water well camera, SC-166 borehole camera, DC5150 Deep Well Camera, Tel: 559-251-1396 Website: http://www.lavalunderground.com/
• Omega Well Intervention: Omega Downhole Memory Camera,Omega Well Intervention Ltd Omega House Kirkhill Road Kirkhill Industrial Estate Dyce Aberdeen AB21 0GQ U.K. Contact: +44(0)1224 772744 or email: sales@omega-intervention.com Website: http://www.omega-intervention.com/
  
  OMEGA DOWNHOLE MEMORY CAMERA SPECIFICATIONS [PDF] retrieved 2018/08/17, original source: http://www.omega-intervention.com/images/Downhole-Memory-Camera-Slider/Downhole-Memory-Camera.pdf
• Optis downhole HD video from EvCam for high pressure and high temperate environments
  
  OPTIS DOWNHOLE CAMERA PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS [PDF] . Website: www.evcam.com, many locations, world-wide. Also see EvCam above.
  
  Main Office Units 3-5, Energy Development Centre, Aberdeen Energy Park, Claymore Dr, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen AB23 8GD
  
  CANADA REGION EV 890, 736-8th Av SW Calgary, Alberta T2P 1H4 T: +1-(403)-263-6144 (24 hrs)
  
  USA - CALIFORNIA 2894 Bunsen Ave. Unit L Ventura CA 93003 USA C: +1-(805)-302-3447 gregg.linville@evcam.com
  
  Excerpt from OPTIS Electric Line HD Product Specifications [PDF]
  Optis™ Electric Line HD is a step change in downhole video technology providing colour, 25 frames per second video, on mono-conductor cables. Colour images provide a new level of detail particularly when inspecting corrosion or mechanical damage.
• SEWER / SEPTIC PIPE CAMERAS - well bore inspection cameras and "downhole" video cameras.
  
  Below - Well-Vu underwater camera system
  
  
• Well-Vu Camera 500 ft. well bore camera with fisheye camera, rent-or-buy Well-Vu, underwater viewing systems [Photo above], Website: www.wellvu.com
  
  Contact: JP Zernov, 1521 Northern Pacific Road, Brainerd, MN 56401 USA or Sales: Ray Roerick 1-406-853-7867, Website listing dealers: http://www.wellvu.com/wellvu-dealers.html
• CONTACT US to submit photos and product names for additional well pipe or part retrieval tools - to assist other readers.

Well Retrieval Tool Designs & Patents

We moved this mateial to a separate article: WELL FISH TOOL DESIGNS & PATENTS

...

Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2023-08-11 by Everett Black - can you sell me a tapered tap spear for water well fishing out a pipe?

i need a steel tapperd tap spear for water well for fishing out pipe size 1'' and 1'' 1/4

This reader's Q&A were originally posted at HOW TO CONTACT InspectApedia.com 

On 2023-08-11 by InspectApedia Publisher

@Everett Black,

To protect reader trust that our information is without bias or conflict of interest, InspectApedia does not sell anything: no products, no services. So we can't provide the well fishing tool that you asked about.

But at

WELL RETRIEVAL TOOLS (you are on that page)
you will find suppliers of well retrieval tools as well as designs for making your own.

Please take a look at the page and post any further questions, requests, or suggestions that you might have.

Thanks.

On 2020-09-15 by Otengo malcon - how can we find or make an inexpensive well retrieval tool for use in Uganda?

I don't have comment to you because is my first time to see some of fishing tools and the quality are good but my humble request is how can a pump machine like me who can't afford to get or buy can manage to have it.

Secondly in upcountry like lira in Uganda can afford to those tools for the beneficary of water user or community. Thanks

On 2020-09-16 - by (mod) - funding help for water supply in Uganda

Otengo

You're quite right that the first business in providing water from a deep well is to drill the well - that's not something that a person can do; it requires drilling equipment;

The Water Project may be able to help with funding

See https://thewaterproject.org/wells_for_uganda

On 2020-07-16 by Joe - how do I get out old piping from a well used by a windmill?

We found an old well on our property we could see old boards 12 feet down. A well driller came out with a pressurized line, blew the boards out, but was only able to get down another 10 feet. He told me earlier that this would bust up rocks so I was wondering if it could be old piping from the windmill that used to run the old pump. If so how do I get it out?

Oh ya the wells about 70 ft deep.

I was trying to check the static water level thru the little vent screw on the top of the well casing with a 4 OZ lead fishing weight . It got stuck and then it came untied.
I'm sure the lead weight needs to come out Any suggestions?

On 2020-09-12 - by (mod) -

Ick, retrieving a lead, therefore not-magnetic, weight in the well can't be done with a magnet on a string; you're left with small grappling hooks or claw grabbers as described in this article series; Running a camera down the well to actually see the lead weight might be helpful.

On 2020-07-08 by Ruben - how do I grab pump wires dropped in a well

How to grab wires from 3 phase well pump. Wires are only down 10 ft but in way of grabbing pipe.

On 2020-07-08 - by (mod) -

When your wires are only 10 ft down I would try a grappling hook on the end of a pole

On 2020-04-01 by EJim - I dropped a key chain into a 4" steel casing monitoring well y

Hello,

I dropped a key chain into a 4" steel casing monitoring well yesterday and i am trying to find ways on how to retrieve it. I have tried fishing hooks with no luck, any ideas?

On 2020-04-03 - by (mod) -

EJ

If the keychain is steel, not nickel, you ought to be able to pull it out with a magnet, perhaps a powerful but small Alnico magnet on a strong line (so as not to lose the magnet in the well too)

On 2020-06-22 by Paul - I made a tool that will pull a key chain or anything else out of a water or oil well

@EJim,key chain how deep well under water ? You can rig check valve type suction use heavy duty vacuum suck it in release vacuum on pvc check closes you got chain.

Century Foundation Company that posted before we are one in the same. If interested in seeing this tool it is for sale call number or email centuryfoundationcompany@gmail.com

I have a tool I made in my machine shop that will go get ANYTHING in a water well or oil well no difference not like the stuff shown here. Drop a pipe wrench in the hole I will have it back in 5 minuets guarantee. 93sixsevenone 8 one three two 5

It will go any distance bring back anything. It will retrieve and bring it back in about 10 minutes. There is only one of theses tools in the world and I made it. I can make one for any size Id pipe. If you need one contact me. Century Foundation Company magnolia Texas is on net.

On 2019-01-30 by Andy - used an auger to pull out a pump I dropped into a deep well

Hello. I have recently pulled the pump that is in our deep well system and bought a replacement. I attempted to install the new pump and all was goin well until I got to ab 200 ft down with pump and the pipe((its 440 ft to the bottom of the casing and top of the water is ab 200 ft)) and it happened so fast- I couldn't grab it or anything-- IT FELL!!!

Well- I spent days pondering on how in the world I could get it out and finally - I got a 250 ft auger and joined it with another auger. I winched it up and got the pipe and tied icecycle knot and tied it off.

The wire had fell with it so instead of pulling all of it back up and checking the pump- I just connected it to 220 v breaker to see if i could hear or feel the vibrations-- so I would know that it wasn't damaged or broken... longer story short.... it did vibrate the top of the pipe that I had knot tied to and so I connected 3 more (20 foot long ea) 1 in pipes.

And got it where I thought it was in water ab 240 ft and when I connected it to the 220 breaker this time--- there was no vibration or any noise so --- I had to hoist it back up---

finally got to the bottom and the water pump wasn't at the end of the pipe.... the wires had somehow been severed and I'm not sure how or why it happened but I need advise on tools that I could use or make to use to grab onto the piece of pipe and pump that is still sitting at the bottom of our deep well.

I've tried auger and I get a hold on it but b4 I make it out of the water with it it's getting stuck or either falls off the end of the auger... any suggestions r welcomed. I really need another opinion on this-

On 2019-01-31 - by (mod) - when the professionals drop a pump into the well ...

Andy,

What the other pro's do - and they've all dropped a pump at one time or another - is try a series of various grabber hooks such as those shown in the article above;

When that fails I'd try running a camera down into the well bottom to see the position of the pump and to help hook it back up.

I have seen that well pump retrieval jobs that have been videotaped for ad purposes conspicuously omit any photo of exactly what the company used to grab the fallen pump. It's perhaps protecting their turf, but not particularly generous. It's the old "don't ask me, hire me instead" that is sometimes fair but not always justified.

When you lower a well cam you can see if there is a rope or pipe that's likely to be able to be grabbed by one of the retrieval tools we illustrate; you basically have to match the tool to the space available, to what's in the well, and to the position of the fallen materials.

An augur that you tried works just when you can send it into an opening like the end of a pipe. Some grappling hooks can snag a rope or wire or larger ones even the pump upper end itself.

Aside from the dropped well pump or pipe tools shown in our article above, I've read that some well pump retrieval projects had success by trying a piton or crevice clamp (mountaineering equipment) or even a simple small grappling hook that snagged a dropped well rope.

Keep in mind that your retrieval cable or pipes have to be strong enough to lift ALL of the weight involved: pump, pipes, wire + some strength to pull and wiggle through snags.

Question: lost well pipe retrieval tool itself into the well

(May 31, 2016) Bill said: [paraphrasing]

I lost a section of pipe and a tool in my well trying to pull out what was dropped in by a previous well company. The pull line broke. Can I just leave it there?

Reply:

Ugh, Bill, I hate when that happens. I speculate that what you snagged were remains of someone's previous attempt to sound the depth of the bottom of the well. Feel better, they, too, lost their weight and hook before you came along.

I don't much like the idea of leaving debris in a well, though it may have no effect until fishing line fouls a foot valve or bits enter a pump through a well screen.

When retrieving stuff dropped into a well it's important to use a line strong enough that you don't easily break it while fishing up fallen items.

Steve: my comments and opinion above to Bill pertain to your well fishing too. But also we'd prefer not to leave lead items in the well. I'm not sure how much two small lead weights might contribute to detectable lead in your water supply: that would depend on water chemistry, its corrosivity, the formation of a lead oxide coating on the weights themselves, and how much water movement occurs in the well.

My guess is that it'd be better to retrieve the lost weights, hook, bobber, fishing line and other debris from the well.

Leaving them until they clog the pump or foot valve might result in loss of water supply at an inconvenient time (say during Thanksgiving when you have many guests but suddenly there is no water to drink nor to flush a toilet), and pulling the pump is perhaps more costly than another attempt to fish out the fallen stuff in the well.

Question: dropped wedding ring into the well

June 6, 2016) Shawn said:
I dropped my wedding ring down my well in my back yard the opening is about 6 inches across and I'm not sure how deep it is.. how can I get it out. Please help... =-O

Reply:

Oh hell.

It's probably possible to retrieve the ring, though it'll be some trouble. Check with your well driller to see what small-object retrieval tools they have on hand. There are two approaches:

1. a mechanical "grabber" that picks up objects from the bottom of the well

2. With the pump and piping out of the way and depending on well depth, your well service company might be able to use a 2-line jet large venturi vacuuming approach to see if they can pick up and pump well bottom debris through a screen to catch your ring. This is the most likely approach if someone local is willing to set it up for you. Some well drillers offer this service under "well cleaning" procedures and may use a compressed air source rather than a 2-line water jet system.

3. a jet-venturi system used in oil drilling rigs and possibly some well operations can also retrieve small objects but I'd be careful about using this approach as if the bottom of your well has inches thick sediment we don't want to risk pushing the ring deeper into the sediment.

It may be necessary to pull the well piping and pump (if it's a submersible unit) to get those components out of the way.

Question: cost of pipe grappling tools

(June 16, 2016) Tina said:
How much does one of the grappler pipe holders cost to buy out rigjt?

Reply:

Fair question, Tina but prices are all over the place depending on the particular pipe grabber tool and its appilcation, from $10. to $1000 or more. The "Fetch" pipe spear described in the article above retails for about $500. U.S.

Question: cliton formation well slip tooth stuck 1,700 feet down. Cheapest way to remove?

(July 25, 2016) Greg myers said:
Have a 40 year old cliton formation well has 3" tubing as casing and a slip tooth from an 1 1/2 well head and is stuck 1,700 ft down what would be the cheapest way to remove it. Trying to plug the well and need to get to bottom around 4,000 ft and theirs a hole in the 3" pipe any ideas or will I have to shoot it off above the slip and run tubing in and swallow the 3" with a cutter and cut it off

Reply:

Greg,

Please help me out by explaining what is a "cliton formation" well. Are you referring to a Clinton sandstone formation water well?

Other readers: Mr. Myers reference to a "slip tooth" probably refers to an anchoring mechanism for a well tool that allows for movement in directions other than straight vertical.

Greg:

The most expert deep well drillers in the world come from the oil and gas fields. One of their approaches for tool jams such as the one you describe, if a grabbing tool can't remove the fallen object, is to drill through it.

If you're abandoning a well by filling it with concrete, if you can pour concrete past the broken tool you may be able to leave it in place.

Question: top threads broke off when pulling a pipe out of the well; what tool can I use to pull the pipe?

(Aug 14, 2016) George said:
I got an old shallow well and my inner pipe is a inch and a quarter inside the case and the top three threads broke off when was trying to pull it out what kind of tool do I need to get that inner pipe out and where can I find it

Reply:

While I like a pipe spear for the situation you describe, most of the well pipe grabbers described in the article above or a home-made version of one of them ought to work; to save time and trouble give your local well drilling contarctor a call as they probably have several of these tools at hand plus the lift or winch needed.

...

Continue reading at WELL FISH TOOL DESIGNS & PATENTS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see WELL PIPE GRABBER FAQs - where we answer reader questions about fishing dropped stuff back up out of a well,

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• WELL CASING LEAK REPAIRS
• OIL TANK RETRIEVAL TOOLS

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WELL RETRIEVAL TOOLS at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

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