Replacing our well pump

[Lizza]

Our well pump burned out. It is something we can do ourselves? It is down 160 ft? Too big of a job, has anyone done it themselves? Thanks for any pointers!!

[crafty2002]

If you have plastic pipe, this is one of the simplest jobs a homeowner can do to save big bucks. A new pump doesn't cost that much if you buy it at the right place but a pump man will make an easy hundred bucks from you just for going to get it. And then they rob you for two hours work and that is working slow.
I grew up drilling wells and could pull a pump and replace it in a couple of hours with a helper needed only to carry the well head away from the well for me when I was maybe 13 or 14 years old.
If you will pm me I will give you my phone number and you can call me and I will explain it to you step by step and it isn't really that much to explain.
As long as one person is strong enough to pull the pipe out of the well, (maybe a 40 or 50 lb pull to start with at 160 feet and it gets lighter as it comes out)
you can do a 5-700 dollar job for $200 in a couple of hours.

Dennis

[comfortablynumb]

yep its as easy as that.
while you have it out replace the check valve with a new one and make sure your clamps are new and tight.

and dont forget that redundant rope tied to the pump.... just in case.

its an easy job, the hard part is finding 4 or 6 extra hands to help.

[deere-cat]

Morningstar, replacing a well pump is easy – IF things go smooth. Just like with any job, if you run into problems it may be wise to get a professional involved. They have more experience, and the proper tools to handle certain situations that you might not ever dream of. I just had my well pump replaced a couple of weeks ago, and I decided to have a well company do it, considering the risk involved. I also didn't have access to the well head wrench I needed to loosen the seal on the water line. It's a long steel rod with a slotted end on it that engages a clamp where the water line exits the casing. I have a 4-inch steel casing, 120 feet deep, with a 4-inch pump, with a high mineral content in our water. Bad combination. If the casing was an inch larger than my pump, it would have been much easier. We pulled up the pump, only to have it get stuck at a depth of 80 feet, which is right where the water level is. The minerals built up around the inside of the steel casing at that level, and there wasn’t enough clearance between the pump and the casing to get the pump out. So, there we were with my bad pump stuck in the casing at a useless depth of 80 feet, with nothing but a 1-inch schedule 80 PVC pipe between it and the surface. If we pulled harder, the pipe could have broken at a coupling, rendering the well useless, and possibly requiring digging a new well.

Anyway, this is where the experience of the well company came into play. They had a special clamp they put on the pipe, so if it broke loose the pump wouldn’t just fall down the casing. Then they put some special acid pellets down the casing, on top of the pump. The acid is designed for use in potable wells. I had to pour a 5-gallon bucket of water down the casing twice a day for three days, and allow the acid time to dissolve the corrosion. Fortunately, my nearest neighbor is only ¼ mile down the road, so I had a source of water for flushing toilets, watering my chickens, and everything else you can imagine. On the third day, they came back, and we pulled the pump out successfully. Then we tried to install a replacement 4-inch pump, but it would not go down past that area in the casing. Fortunately, it didn’t get stuck, and we pulled it back up and installed a high capacity 3-inch Grundfos pump. Very high quality, but a little more expensive than the 4-inch.

Yes, it cost me a couple of hundred dollars extra to have the well company do it, but if I had lost the pump in the casing, I might have needed a new well dug. That would have been thousands of dollars I don’t have.

If you decide to do the job yourself, consider some of these questions –
1. What size is your casing?
2. Do you know the size of your pump?
3. Is the casing steel or PVC, and how old is it?
4. What is the outlet pipe made of, PVC or poly?
5. Do you have an auxiliary pull rope or cable on your pump?
6. Do you have a high mineral content in your water?

I don’t mean to scare you; I just don’t want you to get into a big jam trying to save a couple hundred dollars. Whatever you decide, I wish you luck!

[FrankTheTank]

A check valve allows the water to only flow in one direction, correct? I thought that could be installed above ground by the pressure tank? Mine is getting to the point where it could go out @ anytime. The pump has been down there since 1990, but hasn't had hard use. My well is only 60ft, however (right by a river).

[Lizza]

Thank you so much for your help! My husband and BIL are heading down to the well today to pull it out. Fingers crossed!

[Ramblin Wreck]

Good luck, and it's not that complicated of a task. You'll have to put some "umph" into it to pull the pipe/pump out and maybe a little more to loosen any connections you want to save. Good luck.

[Jan in CO]

Man alive, if this was something a person could do themselves, it does save a ton of money. Just woke up to no water ourselves two weeks ago. Turned out to be the wiring between the pump and pressure tank. The old wires were pieces all spliced together, and had shorted out along the way. That alone cost almost five hundred to have the well company do. They said IF it had been the pump, it would have been $1000 more, so they do sock it to you. Hubby is NOT able to do this type of work himself, wouldn't have the slightest idea where to begin, so we had no choice. Sure made a dent in the savings, tho. Jan in Co

[Kmac15]

When our pump went out about 3 years ago I just knew we were going to have to call a professional, then my DH said the sweetest words to me "if I take it apart I know I can put it back together" so we took it apart and went to Lowe's. No problems..one of the things we look for to decide if it is a DIY job is if they sell the parts at Lowes we can most likely do it.

[clovis]

How do you know the pump is bad?

How has the job gone?

If the well doesn't have a rope attached to it, make sure they install one while it is out. Make sure you buy the BEST rope available. They will need more than 160 feet. This will allow you to tie the rope, so if the pipe breaks, you wont lose the pump in the bottom of the well. Can you imagine having to pay someone to have to extract a pump from the bottom of a well? Or to have to drill a new well, at 160 feet? Spend the money on good rope!!!!

I have helped pull a 60 foot well three times. The first time, we almost lost the pump due to a broken pipe!!!!

It has been my experience not to cut corners or save a few cents while doing well work.

Hope the job goes well for you, no pun intended.

Clove

[travlnusa]

I paid a guy to replace mine three weeks ago. It was Sunday evening, and I had to be on a plane Monday afternoon. Not knowing what I would be getting myself into, I made the call

Now that I know what is down there, I know I could have done it. It was a good learning curve for me.

Our pump sits at 170'.

[Lizza]

The guys just got back from the hardware store with some pulleys. It's going ok, they hope to have it up before this evening.

We know it's the pump because before we bought the place 5 yrs ago we had the well tested (gpm, not running dry, ect). He said the pump was working but we are going to have to replace it eventually. Well, it took 5 yrs for it to go out. We replaced the pressure tank about 2yrs ago and we replaced the wiring in the pump house (relay's and contactors) this week when we were having problems. When it was still working the guys went down to the well and the pump was making horrible noises all the way up to the surface. We figured we were going to have to replace it then. It took a few days, then decided to die last night.

My sister and I hand watered everything (big garden and flowers) this morning, hauling water by hand. Goodness I hope we don't have to do that tomorrow! It took us a couple of hours and was pretty back breaking. Guys are busy with the well though, so that left the ladies and kids to haul water. Luckily we put in a 1200 gallon rain water tank off of our large shop/barn building last year. We also have about 30 gallons of drinking water on hand. Plus we have our handy sawdust toilets. Although we are just filling up the back of the toilet with our rain water for now and sawdust for pee only.

We still have to haul water by hand down to the 90 meat chickens in the field (they are drinking about 6 gallons a day right now). Luckily though before it went out yesterday we filled up the layer hens, pigs, and goats water. They will need water though in a day or two. So I'm still crossing my fingers we can get our water going by tomorrow at the latest.

[Lizza]

They have 80ft out. Just thought I'd post a pic. My husband is the cute redhead on the left. My sister's husband is on the right. We all live together on one piece of property.

[Janis Sauncy]

Unfortunately, this happened to me last winter. Being a single parent with three kids and NO WATER really sucks. I had to hire the work done; it involved a "boom truck" and since the work was done while I was at work I don't know how much time was involved. The bill came to just over $1200.00 and I'm still paying on it. Luckily, the guy was willing to accept payments; otherwise, we'd still be hauling water in gallon milk jugs from the neighbors.

Good luck.

Oh, and when I received the bill it wasn't broken down into parts and labor. I have no idea how much the pump itself cost me and how much of that bill was in labor. Since he was doing me a "favor" by letting me make payments, I didn't feel like I was in a position to question it too much.

Oh, well.

Janis

[Lizza]

At 10:30 last night we got water! Yeah! The old pump said that it was installed in April 1982. They had 147 ft. of metal pipe to pull up and they replaced that with pvc when they dropped the new well. Everything is working great!

[fishhead]

147 feet of metal pipe must have weight a bunch!

My farm well has only about 50' but it's 3" galvanized (plus a 100+ pound 5 hp pump) and there is no way I'd tackle that job.

What did they use to pull the pump and pipe?

[Lizza]

Originally Posted by fishhead

147 feet of metal pipe must have weight a bunch!

My farm well has only about 50' but it's 3" galvanized (plus a 100+ pound 5 hp pump) and there is no way I'd tackle that job.

What did they use to pull the pump and pipe?

They rigged up some sort of pulley system. Basically what's in the picture, I'd have to ask them for more detail, they designed and built it themselves from stuff we had here and some hardware store items. They both said their arms are really sore today!