been pumping sand

[carogator]

and pump quit. Duh! got new pump, 4" submersible and pulled old pump from well.
dropped weight into well and hit water at 37 ft. Hit bottom of well?at 52 ft. Was
supposed to be a 120 ft. well. pickup point on pump was at 48ft. and 4". What are
some suggestions that I should consider? Thanks for any ideas.

 

[LLigetfa]

The same thing happened to me more than once. I had to get the well driller back to flush out the well. They pumped 2000 gallons into the well, shoving some of the mud back where it came from and percolated much of it out the top. Then they tossed in a bit of stone and called it done.

I did manage to unlock the rotor but the pump was never the same since. I used the old pump to wash out a lot of the mud that came up again and developed the well which was something the driller never did.

So, is all 120 feet casing through mud or is there a rock bore at the bottom?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[carogator]

have not seen any mud. When the well was first drilled, i saw the small gravel that fell off his truck
when he left. all small rocks that are about the size of the screen holes on the pump.
have no idea really how deep other than what was charged for. Is maybe a screen installed at
bottom of casing or just a shallow well at 52 ft. Maybe well filled in with stone? Will get to driller after
the holiday and ask for a diagram of what well is supposed to be. Would you put new pump back
where old one was?

 

[LLigetfa]

I would not put in the new pump until the reason the well filled up with mud is resolved. In my case the problem was that the well was never properly developed and so pumping to much too fast did it in. Since I managed to unlock the rotor on my old pump, I used it to develop the well, running a lot of sand through it in the process.

You might have to get the driller to use a mud pump to clear the well.

 

[Masterpumpman]

What ever the cause of the well filling up must be rectified. I suspect that where you live the water comes through slots or a well screen at the lower part of the well. I recommend pulling the pump and clean (or have cleaned) by dropping an air line in the well and working it back to the origional depth. Then blow the well with air until it is reasonably clear of debris or sand. Blowing a well is like blowing through a straw in a glass of water, water and everything in the glass blows out. With air you redevelope the well and remove anything that has filled the well in. It's the best method to clean and redevelope a well. Be sure that the well driller has a cap on the bottom of the well to prevent damage to the well. No cap on the bottom can sometimes destroy a well when blowing with air. Using air can at the check for the pumping level, recovery time and static water level at the same time. NOTE: Be carefull when blowing a well with air because it's going to blow water and debris from the casing and can be messy!

 

[LLigetfa]

Just shoving an air hose down the well is low tech and while it does work to blow crud out, my driller warned me not to do it. That said, there are air powered jet pumps that use air pressure up into a long venturi much like a jet pump uses water in a venturi. It essentially vacuums out the mud.

The first time I got mud in my well, the driller washed it out for me and didn't bill me any extra. The second time I called him he estimated $1000 to do it but then was too busy to come do the job.

Part of developing a well could involve reversing the flow to put back some of the coarse material into the cavities and to shake up the fines so that they can be pumped out. Developing a well is a process of slowly increasing the draw so as to wash out the fines while leaving the coarse material in place to act as a natural gradient filter.

 

[LLigetfa]

Here is some light reading on well development.

http://140.194.76.129/publications/eng-manuals/em1110-1-4000/c-6.pdf

 

[carogator]

Thanks for all the help and ideas, got it going again. static level is 40' 6", and pickup point is
47'6". finally pumped clear enough to hook back up. supplying two families. will run dry if
allowed to run unchecked from open discharge line. working for now.

 

[LLigetfa]

7 feet of reserve in a 4" casing is not ideal. You really need to get back that 68 feet of well so that the pump can be set lower. You also need to develop the well so it produces more. Having to pump through 68 feet of mud in 4" of casing will slow down the volume and is likely to raise the mud level up to the pump again.

Before I developed my well, pumping it unchecked was raising the mud level. Raising the pump was not the solution and the well recovery was less than the pump's GPM and would run out of water. After I developed the well, I could set the pump right on the bottom, let it pump unchecked, and the well was recovering as fast as I could pump it and it was running clear. I now have 32 feet of reserve in a 6" casing.