Are submersible well pumps rebuildable?

[rwhite]

Helping a friend work on his well tonight and found he has a multitude of issues:

I think 1st his pressure switch plugged and the pump ran until it overloaded and shut off but did not kick off the breaker. Must have some type of thermal protecttion. Anyway that was 3 months ago apparently and since then he has just cut the power to well waited a while and turned it back on and it would work. Yesterday it finally gave up the ghost and I'm thinking he finally burned up the pump and it needs to be pulled. Can these be rebuilt?

On another issue is his pressure tank. He has 2 wells so we ran a hose from the good well to a T at the pressure tank. We could hear the water filling the hot water heater and house pipes and the guage ran up to 40psi. The pressure tank has 38psi of air in it but no water would go into the tank and fill it. We removed the elbow off the bottom of the tank and it looks as if the bladder has collapsed. I had never seen this before. Only issue I have ever experienced was a hole in bladder and the tank would fill with water. Anyone ever seen this.

 

[semipro]

I'm not nearly an expert on this but I'll offer what I know.

I've seen probably 10 well pumps, including a few out in my junk pile that must have been in my well at one time. All are sealed units and appear to be pressed together.

I'm not sure they're all this way but the one's I've seen have a separate motor and pump with the pump mounted above the motor. In other words you could replace the motor separately. Of course that may not make sense give that you have to spend quite a bit of time and/or money to get the pump pulled from the well.

RE: the tank
I suspect you're confused about how the tank works. Pressure tanks are real simple. If the bladder has 38 PSI it would get pushed down to the bottom of the tank. The bladder inflates from the top down. Water fills in from below. What makes you think no water is going into the tank?

WRT to the teed connection. If the check (foot) valve in one of the pumps was bad, one pump could just be pushing water into the other well. I don't think that's what's going on though.

 

[rwhite]

I'm not nearly an expert on this but I'll offer what I know.

I've seen probably 10 well pumps, including a few out in my junk pile that must have been in my well at one time. All are sealed units and appear to be pressed together.

I'm not sure they're all this way but the one's I've seen have a separate motor and pump with the pump mounted above the motor. In other words you could replace the motor separately. Of course that may not make sense give that you have to spend quite a bit of time and/or money to get the pump pulled from the well.

RE: the tank
I suspect you're confused about how the tank works. Pressure tanks are real simple. If the bladder has 38 PSI it would get pushed down to the bottom of the tank. The bladder inflates from the top down. Water fills in from below. What makes you think no water is going into the tank?

WRT to the teed connection. If the check (foot) valve in one of the pumps was bad, one pump could just be pushing water into the other well. I don't think that's what's going on though.

As far as pulling the pump I think that we can do that ourselves. I have an a-frame (derrick) that we can rig a winch to. According to water resources the pump is at 80ft.

Tank: Maybe I am confused. I always thought the tank held the air and the bladder held the water. Kinda like a balloon that connected to the water inlet that get filled to pressure.

As far as whether its filling or not when we ran the line from the other well to the T (which is a foot away and connected to the tank) the water pressure ran up to 40psi and shut the other well off but we could shake the tank and there was nothing in there.

 

[homebrewz]

A good pump is built to be in the well about 30 to 40 years. For the time and effort involved in pulling the pump, I would just replace it.

 

[Fifelaker]

You don't need an a frame or a derrick. 3 people 1 pipe wrench 1 to pull the pipe 1 to walk the pipe out away from the well and 1 on the pipe wrench to keep the pvc from falling back in the hole if someone lets go or the stand pipe slips.

 

[rwhite]

You don't need an a frame or a derrick. 3 people 1 pipe wrench 1 to pull the pipe 1 to walk the pipe out away from the well and 1 on the pipe wrench to keep the pvc from falling back in the hole if someone lets go or the stand pipe slips.

And we haven't pulled the well cap yet. Well is not that old (maybe 15 years) so I'm hoping they left the rope there as well.

 

[Fifelaker]

Any of the well I've played with have a drop pipe from the pitless adapter down to the pump. should be no rope.

 

[semipro]

I'm not nearly an expert on this but I'll offer what I know.

I've seen probably 10 well pumps, including a few out in my junk pile that must have been in my well at one time. All are sealed units and appear to be pressed together.

I'm not sure they're all this way but the one's I've seen have a separate motor and pump with the pump mounted above the motor. In other words you could replace the motor separately. Of course that may not make sense give that you have to spend quite a bit of time and/or money to get the pump pulled from the well.

RE: the tank
I suspect you're confused about how the tank works. Pressure tanks are real simple. If the bladder has 38 PSI it would get pushed down to the bottom of the tank. The bladder inflates from the top down. Water fills in from below. What makes you think no water is going into the tank?

WRT to the teed connection. If the check (foot) valve in one of the pumps was bad, one pump could just be pushing water into the other well. I don't think that's what's going on though.

As far as pulling the pump I think that we can do that ourselves. I have an a-frame (derrick) that we can rig a winch to. According to water resources the pump is at 80ft.

Tank: Maybe I am confused. I always thought the tank held the air and the bladder held the water. Kinda like a balloon that connected to the water inlet that get filled to pressure.

As far as whether its filling or not when we ran the line from the other well to the T (which is a foot away and connected to the tank) the water pressure ran up to 40psi and shut the other well off but we could shake the tank and there was nothing in there.

I think it was me that was confused. Sorry about that. Not even my disclaimer of not being an expert covers that goof.
I believe you are right and now I'm just going to sit back, read the rest of the responses, and learn something.
There's a cutaway view of a tank here if anyone is interested. http://www.abcplumbing.com/waterwellquestions/pressuretankquestions.html