A602 Rebuild Project

[tst]

Thanks guys, will keep pickin at it

[tst]

My 602 has been spinning since last fall and survived moving winter and big winds, so next I am going to revive and old well on my place to get it ready to get the mill on a tower and pumping again, my place use to be a old Turkey Farm with 1000"s of turkeys, so I was always told the old well for this was 500 " deep ??, who knows ? so started cleaning it up , pull the old pump parts and see what is down the well pipe
it was set in the ground about 4 ft then had 4 rows of block on top of a 4 ft poured foundation and a 1/2 concrete and wood top, from what I could figure this well was done in the 20's well was working about 40 years back
all the blocks were falling apart from old age so just pulled them loose with the hoe to make room, pulled the pressure tank out, it is 6 ft tall
giving it a break to clear out as it was home to 1000's of yellow jackets so they are not happy with my decision to do this
next is to pull the 5 ft tall Gould piston pump out and see how deep the pipe goes ? , lots of fun soon

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

Nice progress Tim. Wish I could be there to give you a hand.More than likely it's going to be galvanized pipe down in the well, pulling that will be a real TREAT.

[tst]

The yellow jackets thinned out some, they are more interested in the snakes than me right now and ganging up on the snakes, I picked up the pump as it was just sitting there, not bolted down or anything to hold it
well casing appears to be 7-8" and a singe 2/1/2 or 3" galv pipe going down, it is heavy the backhoe told me when I picked up on the pump, at least the well casing looks good
so on to pulling up the pipe, oh boy !

[Windcatcher530 Dan]

They make a pipe clamp that fits over the pipe and sits on top of the well casing allowing you to pull up on the pipe but won't let it drop down. Windy will know more about it I've only seen it on video.

[tst]

seen pics of them, was going to use a bearing splitter to hold it, at least the backhoe will do all the lifting

[mtblah]

Tim , its nothing except sweat , blood , tears and money , but it is turning out to be a real treasure for the family and another hundred years , congratulations on the years of hard work and dedication .

[windybob]

I seriously doubt a pumpjack like that would pull water from 4-500 ft water depth. Static water level is what you go by, regardless of well depth. Old rusty pipe can come in two easily. Use holders, and whatever else you can to keep from dropping it in case something comes apart. Sometimes the jetrod is the only thing holding the pipe string up.

[Ron Stauffer]

That looks like a piston type pump as you called it. They could go to 350’ but you will only know for sure when you pull the last stick. Modern day regs in most states don’t allow pit setups because of the high probability of contamination. Your high static water level could be from ground water getting in to the well. Wells hold water as well as giving it up. Break pipe above the coupler, a coupler being larger than the pipe can be your failsafe. The installed systems with forethought have a 2 or 3’ lead pipe under the hand pump, pump jack or piston so you don’t have the monstrosity 21’ above you when servicing. The monstrosities mostly have female threads and are rusted frozen so it is a chore to separate as you have no coupler for a failsafe.

Pipe and casing are sized by ID. A very common casing size is 6” ID / 6 5/8” OD. 6” casing is normally sch 40 or slightly over 250 wall. If you have 7 or 8 casing it is usually 188 wall. The drop pipe is good sized as visually it is close to half the ID diameter of the casing. 2” drop pipe is a little under 100#/21’ stick with 2 3/8 OD. 2 1/2 drop pipe weighs approx 130#/stick with 2 7/8 OD.

I will admit to using a stinger boom on a loader before I had a pump hoist truck to pull pipe. Using a backhoe or a loader to pull pipe adds an element of risk because they go up in an arc instead of straight up. Ideally the pipe should be raised in the center of the casing so it doesn’t drag and catch. Attached are different pipe handling tools. Using the blue hook as a reference and going clockwise they are: first is called a slip – the slot width is just slightly larger than pipe OD. Plate is 1/2”, it and the pipe coupler are your failsafe. second are pipe vises to sit on the well casing and use the pipe weight to keep jaws tight. They hold as long as you aren’t breaking pipe and turning the pipe that the jaws are holding. They hold 1” to 2” pipe. third is is called a rancher or cowboy pipe dog it is for pulling 1.25 to 2” drop pipe. Be aware these will slide down pipe when there is no tension, twist the pipe or bump the lifting ring on a tower girt. Depending on pipe size they go on a certain way to grip pipe correctly. fourth are real pipe elevators with locking pins. They are pipe size specific and this style I use mostly with PVC and submersibles. Load rated elevators similar to oil field have a much higher weight rating. I have these in 2, 2.5 and 3. Real elevators you use in pairs, one is on the pipe being hoisted and the other is sitting on the well head with coupler above holding the pipe down the well. The blue hook is not only an index for the pic but also an example of a swivel hook. When breaking or tightening pipe, it will swivel versus building up tension like a rubber band.

20250715_170419.jpg

2” and bigger pipe, I use 36” wrenches with a 4’ cheater backing the coupler wrench and a 3’ on the loosening wrench. Working wrenches in the pit will give you an understanding of another reason to extend the casing above grade.

Your pipe is bigger than 2”, it is out of the realm of well pipe vise and cowboy dog. This is not a well to cut your teeth on. There is more danger and risk in pulling pipe than setting windmills.

If you get the down hole stuff removed, the balance of the process would be: production test the well, weld casing extension to get 18” above grade, and backfill yellow jacket and snake habitat to grade. I am assuming that no submersible pump is going back down? Your easiest way to production test would be a sub on poly pipe with gen powering. I once bailed 330’ of water out of a well to find it produced 1 gal in 5 mins but yet static was back up to 30’ in two days so take nothing for granted.

Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO

[tst]

Thanks for all the tips Ron, that is a help, tomorrow is the day i am attacking this, I have a hunk of steel plate I was going to notch when I know the size of the pipe, I can see its 2-3" pipe, I have a 3 and 4 " pipe wrench, I am putting a mill over this well in the end, I did plan on extending the casing, here in NY we get winter so plan on having it in a small room of some sort so I can insulate to prevent freezing, so some of the hole will get filled up for sure with some fresh concrete for a floor, I can remember this well running 35-40 years back, that pump sounded like 100 ft bull frog when it made a stroke and you could here it a mile away, there was several hundred feet of old 1/2 " Galv pipe buried in many directions for this for outlets, I am amazed that they did all they as a lot of rock here, pretty sure it was all done by hand back then, It also had a valve in the pipes you turned with a 4 ft tall "T" wrench to change the direction of the water to send it to the pipe you wanted
I do not plan on saving 100 year old pipe so have the saws all to just cut it off as it is pulled up and held at the couplers
I know it is heavy as the loader of the back hoe is rated for 4500 lbs and when I pulled it a couple feet to look could feel the weight on it, I was kinda hoping the foot valve was rotted away so there would be no water in the pipe to pull with it
about 10 years back I pulled a friends well up with a sub pump on it with the loader, , took 2 hours as the pipe was cast 180 ft deep with a 100 year old tree hanging over it and could only do 10 ft at a time
I live on one of the highest spots around and the well for my house is another 50 ft higher than this, water has always been a few feet from the top when I had to open it, never had a lack of water here
Had thought about testing it once I get the pipe out
Thanks for the advise Tim