Well pump pulling

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CleRob

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Clinton, WA
Can you pull a 3/4 HP deep well pump that is 160' down by hand? Or is that too much weight? I've never pulled one before but I have watched a lot of youtube videos that show guys doing it. If not, any suggestions on an easy way to pull the darn thing? It's 25 years old and still going but I doubt it'll be going too much longer. Any help is appreciated.
 
If it is hung on plastic pipe it will weigh about 200#. But it will be a little buoyant and feel lighter until it comes up above the water level. Low water level it will be heavier than a high water level. If is is steel pipe you will need a good hoist that is 22' tall or taller. Take it loose at the well head and try to lift it. If you can you can pull it all the way. Black poly pipe can be just pulled out an drug across the yard. White PVC pipe will bend and come out in one piece, but don't bend it too much, especially at the threaded connections or it will break. Don't do anything that would break the pipe and don't drop it down the well or the fishing job could be much more expensive than having someone just come pull it for you. You can also have someone pull it and lay it on the ground, as with the right pipe it is easy to put the new pump back in yourself.
 
My wife and I pulled one that was down 130 feet, but it was on 160 psi flexible plastic, but I was a lot younger then! Unless you have some good equipment and experience you maybe should have a well service person do it. I have done a few normal set ups with pitless adapters, but our home well has a seal that I'm unfamiliar with, (see thread below) I may have to call help for that.
 
I have pulled several submersible well pumps in my younger years, usually with a helper. A pump will weigh in the vicinity of 25 lbs. The Pitless adapter and pipe standoffs will weigh a few pounds and the poly pipe + 10/3G pump cable will weigh about 0.64 lbs per ft. Therefore, at 160 ft., the whole thing will weigh roughly 130 lbs. As noted previously, you won't be lifting the full 130 lbs because of the buoyancy of the water. As you pull the pipe and lay it on the ground, you will be lifting less and less pipe as the pump comes up.
If you can get a hold of a roller guide (it clamps on the top of the well casing and has a roller guide on top), you could pull the pump yourself. It is a wet slimy job. You may need to install new pump cable or new standoffs with a new pump, depending on what you find when you pull the original. You will also need a new splice kit for the cable, with shrink tubes
 
my sons well was 250 down and we pulled it by hand. slimey is the word. its hard to hold on to but definately pullable. we wiped off the slime as we pulled it up which made putting it back down easier. We had no idea it was going to be that deep but once you start you cant stop. We used rolls of electric tape to secure the wire to the poly where it had seperated
 
The ones that I'm most familiar with look like this, and you screw a 1" pipe into the top for pulling. The last one I inPitless adapter.jpgstalled I had a pipe about 7 feet long, flattened the end that wasn't threaded, and put a ring through a hole. This stays in the casing all the time, if I need to pull it just remove cap, flip the ring up and put a bar through the ring and pop the pitless out.
 
Well, I had a well company come out and pull it. There was 160 feet of galvanized pipe and it was pretty heavy. He pulled it with a portable pump puller. The pitless adapter receiver was pretty far down so I had to jump in and help him using the FEL on my Kubota tractor to help hold the pipe while we lined the adapter up with the receiver and were able to get things done. No one could have pulled this pump by hand as that galvanized pipe is super heavy.
 
Well, I had a well company come out and pull it. There was 160 feet of galvanized pipe and it was pretty heavy. He pulled it with a portable pump puller. The pitless adapter receiver was pretty far down so I had to jump in and help him using the FEL on my Kubota tractor to help hold the pipe while we lined the adapter up with the receiver and were able to get things done. No one could have pulled this pump by hand as that galvanized pipe is super heavy.
The whole thing was galvanized pipe??? That's crazy
 
The whole thing was galvanized pipe??? That's crazy
I guess galvanized pipe is pretty common from 25 or more years ago. We reinstalled with PVC pipe and even that is pretty heavy, even without water in the pipes. I have lots of pieces of 8 or 10 foot galvanized pipe to take to recycle. I moved it all and, believe me, it's heavy.
 

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