Well Submersible Pump Replacement DIY

[semipro]

I thought I'd share how my son and I replaced our submersible well pump/motor. The well is about 500 ft. deep and the pump is set at 440 ft. We built a tripod out of 24 ft. long soccer goal rectangular tubing to support a pulley. A cable from a winch was run through the pulley and used to lift the well pipe. The winch was attached to our tractor for support. We used a standard prusik knot in some climbing webbing to grip the pipe for lifting/lowering. We lifted one section at a time, disassembled the pipe and moved on. Other than the replacement pump/motor the primary expense for us was the (orange) pipe clamp which was a life saver. We reused the 20ft. long threaded PVC pipe with new stainless steel couplers. Many of the original galvanized couplers were very corroded.

It took about 12 hours to do and was fairly exhausting but it was worth it in the end.

I would do it again but would use a pipe lift rather than the webbing with prusik.

Edit: more details at another forum here if interested.

 

[peakbagger]

Looks like a fun project.

I installed my 320 foot deep pump years ago solo. I have a continuous plastic pipe on my well so there is a rig that looks like a trailer wheel that mounts to the casing that is used to guide the well string down the hole. The biggest hassle is finding a straight run of real estate to lay out the well string as 320 feet is a long distance. The other difficult thing is getting the string lined up with the pitless adaptor. I did it with brute strength but expect next time I would rig a tripod.

 

[semipro]

I had hoped to go to continuous poly drop pipe but the tensile strength of it was inadequate to support the pump and 440 ft. of pipe.

I forgot to mention also that before I pulled the pump I sent a camera down to inspect the casing and borehole as I could hear water falling into the well. I wanted to make sure that that the point where the water was entering was below the casing and not at the casing borehole interface or through a perforation i the casing pipe.. I was able to confirm that though I was not able to get far enough down to see where the water was actually entering. Still shots of the casing and borehole below.

 

[johneh]

They are some deep wells make my 120 footer a cake walk
Takes less than an hour to replace the pump by hand over a pipe wheel
set on the casing

 

[Highbeam]

They are some deep wells make my 120 footer a cake walk
Takes less than an hour to replace the pump by hand over a pipe wheel
set on the casing

120’ is nothing. Just pull it up hand over hand.

 

[johneh]

120’ is nothing. Just pull it up hand over hand.

Using a pipe wheel lets you just walk away with the pipe connector in your hand .
it comes up easy just like a hot knife through butter
You don't have to haul up on a slippery wet poly pipe

 

[sloeffle]

@semipro - I read your thread over at Terry Love's forum. Can you explain to me what the purpose of putting a shroud around the pump does ? I saw this post explaining how to do it but I'm not sure on what purpose it provides.

I replaced my pump last year that had been in the ground since 1974 and it does not have a pitless adapter. From what I can gather the pump just sits on the bottom of the well. Luckily it was only 140 feet long and I was able to pull it by hand with some help of my daughter.

 

[semipro]

Can you explain to me what the purpose of putting a shroud around the pump does ? I saw this post explaining how to do it but I'm not sure on what purpose it provides.

The shroud forces water to first pass by the pump motor before it enters the pump inlet, effectively maximizing motor cooling. Since the pump is located above the motor its possible that water entering the pump inlet is coming from above the pump, bypassing the motor, especially in a fractured bedrock rather than sand aquifer.

 

[semipro]

From what I can gather the pump just sits on the bottom of the well.

Generally, the pump is set at least 10 ft. above the well bottom to prevent it from passing a lot of sediment.
I can't imagine that it would be too hard to add a pitless adapter to and existing well.

 

[sloeffle]

Generally, the pump is set at least 10 ft. above the well bottom to prevent it from passing a lot of sediment.
I can't imagine that it would be too hard to add a pitless adapter to and existing well.

Hmmmm, it might be possible. The well casing sticks about 2 feet above the cement in the well pit. The well is actually inside of a 10 ft x 6 ft pit about 6 - 7 feet in the ground. We only use well water for livestock. I thought about just filling it in and calling it good when the well motor went bad last year but we about doubled our water bill the month it was down. Cattle drink a lot of water.