Old well. Can someone please help me!!

[B.E. DuBose]

I have a well in my yard. It is very old and has been out of service for quite sometime. I wanted to get it working again. It is a 3" casing with a packer jet assembly. I loosend the flange bolts from the casing and tried to pull it up by hand and it would not budge. I hooked a chain to it and tried to pull it up with the rear bucket on a small backhoe without success. Be advised at this point I was not even sure what I was dealing with. So I started turning the 1.5" drop pipe counter clockwise. I pulled up approx. 42' of drop pipe only to find there was a coupling on the end. I realized then what I had done, I had left the packer jet down in the well. I think I can drop the pipe back in the well and screw it back on the packer jet. Any suggestions on how I can get the jet unstuck from the well casing? Do they make anything you can pour in the well to loosen up the leather seal? If so what is it? Could someone please talk me through this. Thank you so much!! Brian

 

[Speedbump]

Hi Brian,

Do go back with the pipe and carefully screw it back together if you can. Then keep turning clockwise to break the leathers loose that are on the packer jet. The hardest part of pulling a jet is getting it to move up initially. Once up a few inches, you can keep going up and down which slowly wears out the leathers. Don't get me wrong. They don't come out easily.

If you do get it out, I recommend going back in with a three inch submersible. They are expensive, but if the well is 30 + years old, the casing is probably getting real thin in areas of surface water and once a hole appears, your packer jet won't work anymore. The sub will. If you want a price on a 3" sub, let me know.

bob...

 

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[B.E. DuBose]

Thanks alot for the information Bob. I remember when I first tried to pull it, I did try to turn it clockwise with a 24" pipe wrench with no success. Maybe I will break out the 36" and see if that will do it. Do you have any advice on what to use to try to pull it (i.e. engine hoist, come along,) ? I also was wondering once I get the pipe screwed back into the packer jet, would it help any if I maybe poured some cooking oil or something in the casing would that help loosen the leather. If not cooking oil, what would you suggest? Do you know of anything that might shrink leather that would be safe for the well. Be advised I am not using this well for drinking water, only irrigation. Thanks again for your help and let me know if I owe you anything for your advice. Also, please give me some specs on that 3" sub. (i.e. Cost,GPM vs. Pessure chart, who makes it, etc.) I will probably purchase one from you if I can get this dang jet out of my well.

 

[Speedbump]

You should be able to turn the jet with a 24" wrench. You may have to put a 5' piece of 2" pipe over the handle, but it will turn. Keep in mind, F&W made a spring dog jet that had a compressible rubber on it instead of leathers. It was compressed by turning the droppipe counterclockwise when it was installed. Then when pulling it back (supposedly) it would loosen when the pipe was turned clockwise. Great idea in theory. The engineer that designed this didn't account for the mineral build up that would no doubt lock those threads hopelessly in place. So if you have one and it should happen to work, don't turn it too far or the spring dog will come off.

A pump hoist with a walking beam to beat one up and down is the preferred method. Since you don't have one of those in your yard, you should get something that will lift at least 5 ton. Working it up and down is the best way to wear out leathers or rubber. It's a tedious job sometimes, but with enough expended energy, it will come out.



bob...