Poly pipe in sand

[Maneevan]

Can poly pipe 1 1/4th inch be pulled up through a 6 inch well 60 feet deep filled with sand without breaking? It is actually two pipes with a deep well foot valve connecting them at the bottom.

 

[Valveman]

The "two pipes" means there is an ejector at the bottom. The ejector will be sealed to the casing with leather rings. It would be hard to pull out those two pipes even if the well was not full of sand. I would try to blow or wash the sand out of the well before trying to pull the pipe. But poly is pretty strong and will stretch a bunch before breaking. Most likely the fittings to the ejector will break before the pipe does.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[LLigetfa]

The ejector will be sealed to the casing with leather rings.

OP said it is a 6 inch casing so it won't be a packer.

How deep is the jet set?

 

[Valveman]

OP said it is a 6 inch casing so it won't be a packer.

How deep is the jet set?

Thanks. My brain cell count drops daily. Lol. Still might lose the ejector down the hole with that much sand on it.

 

[Reach4]

1, How far down is the sand?
2. How far down is the water level?

 

[Maneevan]

1, How far down is the sand?
2. How far down is the water level?

The sand is 12 feet below the casing head and the water is 32 feet down.......the sand is moderately coarse and not compacted.

 

[Reach4]

Sand higher than the water -- wow. An air lift pump to lift the sand out is out of the question. A big engine driven air compressor blowing the sand up and out is the deal.

So that would imply you don't have casing all of the way down. And that a stratum in the uncased area is delivering sand. I think you would want to get a 4 inch pvc well liner installed as part of your rehab.

And certainly you will want to get the casing extended above ground, and a pitless adapter installed. One of the two pipes may be usable as a conduit for the wires for your new submersible pump.

I guess you could ask the difference in price for the rehab vs making a new well with full-length PVC casing with fine slots at the right places and the right gravel to help block sand . Rehab will probably be cheaper, but ask.

 

[Maneevan]

OP said it is a 6 inch casing so it won't be a packer.

How deep is the jet set?

I think the jet is at 32 feet ........that is how far down a stringed steel nut goes in the larger pipe as well as the smaller pipe, before the string goes slack. I pulled it all out by hand when I was a younger man in the 1980s but I do not remember how long the pipes were.....I think 30 something feet. I dropped it back down ...hooked the pump back up and it pulled a little stream of water up and out the ground level discharge hose continuously. But I did not use the well for quite a while...only now and then. And now it has the sand and I want to just seal it and have a driller relocate a new well. But I need to close the old well...and I am a do it yourself kind of guy and have thoughts of jacking out the old poly pipes. Those pipes feel and cut like new pipes (I had to cut a 1 inch piece off the top). I see data indicating new top line poly pipes have 800 plus pounds tensil strength for pulling vertically so yes poly pipes are strong probably even if old. I think I will let the driller do it however....I am 74 years old now.

 

[Valveman]

In most states to properly plug an old well, you must pull as much of the pump, pipe, and casing as possible. A trimmy pipe is used to pump cement or grout from bottom to top, then the trimmy is pulled.

 

[LLigetfa]

In most states to properly plug an old well, you must pull as much of the pump, pipe, and casing as possible.

Unless the pump end goes beyond the casing, the whole works should come out as one when you pull the casing unless the grout needs to be pumped in while the casing is being pulled.

 

[LLigetfa]

Where I work, the 6 inch steel well casing broke underground causing surface water (and sand/gravel) to enter the well. The driller punched in a new well right beside the old one but did not pull the old casing which goes down more than 100 feet.

I don't know if the old casing broke above or below the pitless. They have yet to daylight the old pitless to reroute the pipe to the new well.