Pulling well pump

Danger_Ranger

Danger_Ranger

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2008
Location
Star NC
So I'm pretty sure I need to replace my well pump. Problem is, it's white PVC instead of the black water line. The well is almost 500' deep. I called the guy who installed it 20 years ago and he said it would be at least $2,500 to $3,000 to pull out the old pump and install a new pump, wire, and pressure tank. I really can't afford that right now, so I'm thinking of doing it myself. I've pulled a pump with the black plastic water line before, and it wasn't too bad. However, I've never pulled one with PVC pipe before. From a little bit of google research, they make clamps that clamp onto the pipe to help with pulling the pipe, as well to keep it from falling back into the well. My plan is to use a skid steer to pull the pipe up and take it apart at the couplings as I go. But I'm not sure what to use to attach it to the pipe and to make sure it doesn't slip and fall back in. I plan to replace the PVC with the black water line when I put the new pump back in. Does anyone have any experience or helpful advice? Or maybe recommend someone that can do it and not charge me an arm and a leg?
 
We just did this a month or two ago at a rental property. We pulled by hand and just used a pipe wrench to hold the pipe when we weren't pulling. There was also a rope tied to the well pump incase the pipe broke, we tied up the slack every time we stopped pulling.

Duane
 
Bicycle innertube or motorcycle tube formed into a loop one for the skidsteer to pull up on and one for the brake or hold when you let your boom down on skidsteer. old red rubber air hose with a cable run through it works too. Clamp a stout 10-12 foot 6"X6" to your forks or bucket to get more stroke. 500' well pump will probably be 400-450' lots of stroking with just 8' at A time. Pulled a 750' pump in about 20 min. this way.
 
I'm actually 2 nights into building a pump puller for the plumber I do digging for, come try it out

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I plan to do away with the PVC and go back with 160 psi black water line. That way it will be much easier to pull it back out if I ever have to again.
 
I'm pretty sure the guy that installed it said he used couplings. So I'll probably have to saw it off where the couplings are. I had no idea this stuff was so expensive, and the well being almost 500' deep doesn't help any. Trying to source materials now. I'm probably gonna try and get the same pump that's in there now, which is a Franklin electric 3/4 hp. It's been in there for 20 years so it's been a pretty good one. I would like to go back with new wiring too but I didn't realize a 500' roll of wire is around $600, according to the Lowe's website. But I'm gonna try and get everything from a supply house instead of Lowe's.
 
Danger_Ranger said:
Does anyone have any experience or helpful advice? Or maybe recommend someone that can do it and not charge me an arm and a leg?
Click to expand...
Helped a bud in Oak Ridge 30 years ago pull 750' of PVC... even in the VERY HOT SUMMER weather it was somewhat "brittle".
Pulling it in the winter, I'd go have a a few dozen bodies on hand... it won't take that many physically, but will allow for many hands to keep it exiting the case in a nice slow arc and back to ground without kinking/snapping...
 
Caver Dave said:
Helped a bud in Oak Ridge 30 years ago pull 750' of PVC... even in the VERY HOT SUMMER weather it was somewhat "brittle".
Pulling it in the winter, I'd go have a a few dozen bodies on hand... it won't take that many physically, but will allow for many hands to keep it exiting the case in a nice slow arc and back to ground without kinking/snapping...
Click to expand...
Egzackary
 
I'm gonna get as many people over to help as I can. Being I'm trying to get it done this Monday, it might be a challenge to find people that are able to come.
 
Apparently you're supposed to add bleach into the hole before sealing it back up. Well guys were just here at my place.
 
We pulled ours years ago. Galvanized 1" line. What a pain. We had to use a chain fall and a pipe wrench to pull it up 6' at a time. Then we'd take a Sawzall and cut it. Looking back now it's amazing we were able to do it. I think it was somewhere in the 300'+ range. I didn't think it was that deep. Once we cut the pipe we'd take a pair of those vice grips with a chain to hold it in place. WTH but it worked.

Went back with Sch 80 PVC with threaded ends. To drop it in we got the tallest step ladder we had (12'-ish) and created a big arc to keep it from kinking. We had to lay it out all the way around the house. That was a lovely two day job.
 
We used a skid steer with the forks on it, tied a prusic knot around the pipe and the other around the forks. Picked it up as high as the skid steer would go, clamped the pipe with that vice grip tool thing to hold it in place while we slid the rope back down as the forks lowered down, then repeat. It worked pretty good until we got to a coupling where the pipe was connected. At first I was going to cut it at every coupling, but I decided not to just in case the pipe slipped and we would have something to grab onto hopefully before it fell back into the well. We tried to raise the forks all the way up at one point where it had a pretty good arch and tied my mini skid to the pipe and pull it out. That didn't work, it kept breaking at the couplings, which would scare the shit out of me thinking it was going to fall back into the well. It was 1" schedule 80 with threaded ends on it.
 
Futbalfantic said:
Apparently you're supposed to add bleach into the hole before sealing it back up. Well guys were just here at my place.
Click to expand...
Had a loss in pressure in the house. Filter was good. Pump constantly ran. Flipped off the power and the pressure tank would drain. Turned back on and the pressure would come up to ~20psi.

Well guy (not the same as a plumber, who knew) pulled the pump and it ended up being the coupling from the black roll pipe to the gal fitting into the pump had rusted away. Replaced and reinstalled within a few hours.
 
The old pump had a piece of 4" PVC over it. Quick YouTube search said it's to help keep the motor cooler. I asked a plumber buddy about it and he said he's never seen one done that way before. Asked the guy I bought the new pump from, he's done a lot of well pump installs and such and he said he's never used one. So I didn't put it on the new pump.
 

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