Doug Romonovich
New Member
Hey what's going on everyone. (Skip to the end to get to the problem)
As the title says, my pump ended up going out and it was stuck in mud which made it a big pain in the ass. A little background.
Bought the house 9 years ago when i was on mid tour leave from Afghanistan. Was a HUD house but I got a good deal on it. House and well where built in the late 80's. Have not had any real issues with it besides a few minor things.
1. 2 or 3 years after I bought the pressure tank went out. Inside the tank was a mess from the popped bladder (after looking at my well log I believe it was the original pressure tank that was installed in the house). I think I flush things down my toilet that look cleaner than what was in it. Replaced with a new bigger pressure tank, T, relief valve, and pressure switch.
2. The house came with a rain soft system that I was have repaired every few months. I believe it was a late 80's early 90's system. After the final visit and over 300 bill the rainsoft guy said he couldn't get a broken cog in it and it was time to update the system. The system had 2 large cylinders connected together with a connection to my drain and a bin for salt. I ripped that system out and put in 3 big blue filters with sediment, iron sulfur magnanese reduction, and gac filters. All was fine.
3. Water heater went out and that was a simple replacement. Seemed like a lot of rust particles in the bottom of the tank. This was an 80's RO Smith heater I believe.
When I got the house it was used regularly and i had 2 roommates so all was good just chalked it up to owning a home. Roomates moved away and I kind of wandered around aimlessly for a while kind of letting the house sit. Well a series of unfortunate events led to my mom and grandmother staying at my house while her house gets rebuilt by insurance which leads to the current situation.
About 2 months after they moved in the well pump went out. After a trip to harbor freight, home depot, and a pump overnight from Amazon I got to work.
I built my T handle with 1 inch pipe to pull the pitman adapter got it pulled apart and tugged like hell and nothing. Got my flashlight and re examined and seen a poly rope that fell down in the pipe. Got a fish stick and fished it out. Seems it shrunk or got cut but was to short. Got a pull strap hooked it to the winch that I screwed to wood on an a frame ladder and hit the winch with an impact. Stressful but with good tension on the winch I jerked at the t bar and got it unstuck from the mud/silt. It came up rather easy I was shocked.
I replaced the pump 1 1/4 black pipe electric etc. And lowered it back down. Before I installed the pitman adapter inlet the pump run for about an hour and the water cleared up. Took some measurements dropped the pump to 60 ft and finished the install. Poured a gallon of bleach down the well and ran the garden hoses for about 2 hours.
Now I get waves of mud that clog my filters. When I go to clean them I hook a hose to the pressure tank fitting and spray out the housings. The water will come out murky but normally clear by the time I am finished (10-20 minutes). I have called several plumbers and off rough diagnosis our counties wells are the worste in the state and I need a good water filtration system or I need to sleeve my pump or buy this or buy that. To me this seemed like a band aid.
Talking to an old army buddy he told me to check with a well driller. I did that and got the phone diagnosis of a failed grout joint but I needed my well log and he was at least 2 weeks out. No biggie he had great reviews. Got the well log emailed it over and waited over a month. Sent a reminder email and he said he was busy and doesn't service my area (I literally gave him over a month without hounding or anything).
So now I am going to call around tomorrow to a few other well drillers. But at least I learned how to read a well log.
Summary:
6 inch casing in a 125' well. Pump was stuck in mud or silt at 90'. Raised well to 60' and still get random spurts of gunk clogging my filters.
What are my options?
Can I clean it out with a DIY lift pump or trash pump?
Can I sleeve it with 5" pvc and something like a jaswell seal?
I am very good at fixing things with proper directions but is this a thing I need a professional to do?
I am on a some what limited budget after my fourth deployment I spent 2 years at Walter Reed for a brain injury which ultimately led to me being permanently medically retired.
Thank you for reading and I appreciate the time you take to respond (if you do haha). I attached a picture of my well log to help paint a picture.
As the title says, my pump ended up going out and it was stuck in mud which made it a big pain in the ass. A little background.
Bought the house 9 years ago when i was on mid tour leave from Afghanistan. Was a HUD house but I got a good deal on it. House and well where built in the late 80's. Have not had any real issues with it besides a few minor things.
1. 2 or 3 years after I bought the pressure tank went out. Inside the tank was a mess from the popped bladder (after looking at my well log I believe it was the original pressure tank that was installed in the house). I think I flush things down my toilet that look cleaner than what was in it. Replaced with a new bigger pressure tank, T, relief valve, and pressure switch.
2. The house came with a rain soft system that I was have repaired every few months. I believe it was a late 80's early 90's system. After the final visit and over 300 bill the rainsoft guy said he couldn't get a broken cog in it and it was time to update the system. The system had 2 large cylinders connected together with a connection to my drain and a bin for salt. I ripped that system out and put in 3 big blue filters with sediment, iron sulfur magnanese reduction, and gac filters. All was fine.
3. Water heater went out and that was a simple replacement. Seemed like a lot of rust particles in the bottom of the tank. This was an 80's RO Smith heater I believe.
When I got the house it was used regularly and i had 2 roommates so all was good just chalked it up to owning a home. Roomates moved away and I kind of wandered around aimlessly for a while kind of letting the house sit. Well a series of unfortunate events led to my mom and grandmother staying at my house while her house gets rebuilt by insurance which leads to the current situation.
About 2 months after they moved in the well pump went out. After a trip to harbor freight, home depot, and a pump overnight from Amazon I got to work.
I built my T handle with 1 inch pipe to pull the pitman adapter got it pulled apart and tugged like hell and nothing. Got my flashlight and re examined and seen a poly rope that fell down in the pipe. Got a fish stick and fished it out. Seems it shrunk or got cut but was to short. Got a pull strap hooked it to the winch that I screwed to wood on an a frame ladder and hit the winch with an impact. Stressful but with good tension on the winch I jerked at the t bar and got it unstuck from the mud/silt. It came up rather easy I was shocked.
I replaced the pump 1 1/4 black pipe electric etc. And lowered it back down. Before I installed the pitman adapter inlet the pump run for about an hour and the water cleared up. Took some measurements dropped the pump to 60 ft and finished the install. Poured a gallon of bleach down the well and ran the garden hoses for about 2 hours.
Now I get waves of mud that clog my filters. When I go to clean them I hook a hose to the pressure tank fitting and spray out the housings. The water will come out murky but normally clear by the time I am finished (10-20 minutes). I have called several plumbers and off rough diagnosis our counties wells are the worste in the state and I need a good water filtration system or I need to sleeve my pump or buy this or buy that. To me this seemed like a band aid.
Talking to an old army buddy he told me to check with a well driller. I did that and got the phone diagnosis of a failed grout joint but I needed my well log and he was at least 2 weeks out. No biggie he had great reviews. Got the well log emailed it over and waited over a month. Sent a reminder email and he said he was busy and doesn't service my area (I literally gave him over a month without hounding or anything).
So now I am going to call around tomorrow to a few other well drillers. But at least I learned how to read a well log.
Summary:
6 inch casing in a 125' well. Pump was stuck in mud or silt at 90'. Raised well to 60' and still get random spurts of gunk clogging my filters.
What are my options?
Can I clean it out with a DIY lift pump or trash pump?
Can I sleeve it with 5" pvc and something like a jaswell seal?
I am very good at fixing things with proper directions but is this a thing I need a professional to do?
I am on a some what limited budget after my fourth deployment I spent 2 years at Walter Reed for a brain injury which ultimately led to me being permanently medically retired.
Thank you for reading and I appreciate the time you take to respond (if you do haha). I attached a picture of my well log to help paint a picture.
