It figures doesn't it. Paid off our farm in January. Been nice not having a mortgage payment for the past months. We've always known our well was vintage. It's a 2" driven well with a shallow well pump that lives in a small shed next to the house. Well is under the shed. Since it's Michigan and it gets cold here, we have heat tapes for the winter and run a "pump house heater" next to the pump all winter long.

Wife called me Tuesday night while I was driving to my part time EMS job. Told me we had water problems, no water pressure and when she checked the pump shed the pump was running and water was spraying from a hole in the suction line. Took a quick look at it when I got home Wednesday morning, looked like an easy fix, replace an 8" long section of 1" poly pipe. Got some pipe while I was in town Wednesday and put it together when I got home last night. Couldn't get a prime. finally got my neighbor to come over who used to work for one of the local well companies. Tried manually priming it with a pitcher pump, no luck. Figured we must be sucking air somewhere on the suction side.

Spent about an hour hand digging through a hole in the floor of the shed the area arounf the well pipe. Found the threads rusted off at the first joint about 15" under ground. No way to repair it, I thought for a couple minutes about cutting off the pipe a few inches lower and re-threading it but there is no way to swing a pipe die without removing the shed and digging out around the pipe first. So I'm going to have to pull the well pipe. Not a ton of fun anytime but it's in a small shed and the floor is half rotted. Going to put some timers across and try my farm jack with a chain. I'm hoping the chain can get a bite on the pipe. Pipe slips would be nice but no one I know has one and they are a couple hundred bucks and a week to order from a well equipment supply house. then hopefully I can drive a new point and pipe easily back down the same hole as there is only enough room overhead for my post driver.

At least it's not winter and zero outside. Wife probably has the worst job hauling water for our livestock from the neighbors.

Looking forward to a shower the joys of home ownership right?

Okay, there's my bitch.....NO RUNNING WATER!

I take it you don't have those water tanks on high to hold you for at least a couple of days?

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I take it you don't have those water tanks on high to hold you for at least a couple of days?

Single home residential wells generally don't do that, especially when the water table is 5" down. So the answer is no, no storage tank.

Is renting a potable water tank possible and affordable?

Why couldn't you use one of the rubber boot clamp on for a temporary fix??

https://www.lowes.com/pl/Flexi...-Plumbing/4294820991

Or one of the PVC couplers?

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Homew...40-Coupling/50160525

You could use a scaffold pipe clamp on the end of the pipe to allow a chain to grab the pipe without slipping off.

Immediate water crisis quelled. Ran garden hose from the neighbors and connected it to our outside faucet (backflow preventer installed) so we now have water at the faucets temporarily.

Lost Round 1 with pulling the pipe, got my jack system all set up and pulled the pipe apart about 24" further down. Digging down to that that point for Round 2 tomorrow. Looks like the person who drove this well didn't use Schedule 40 pipe and couplers. Not real optimistic that I can pull the current point but going to make one more try. If not, I'll be spending the weekend driving a new point in a new location.

If you are going to replace the point, why don't you just leave the old stuff there and start with a new point and pipe? If room permits, drive new point and pipe next to old one and route new suction line to pump.

quote:

Originally posted by hvyhawler:
If you are going to replace the point, why don't you just leave the old stuff there and start with a new point and pipe? If room permits, drive new point and pipe next to old one and route new suction line to pump.

Looking more and more like that will be the case. If I can pull the old one, it will be far easier to drive the new one down the same bore hole. If not, I'll be doing exactly as you said.

I went to my local tool rental place. Rented a jackhammer with an attachment made to drive pipe. I got a cap, stub piece of pipe, and a coupler, put them together, screwed onto the end of the pipe so you wouldn't pound directly on the coupler. Had Son turn pipe while driving it down to keep joints tights. worked slicker than, well, you know.

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
Immediate water crisis quelled. Ran garden hose from the neighbors and connected it to our outside faucet (backflow preventer installed) so we now have water at the faucets temporarily.

That's good. Thank god for decent neighbors.
Now, the question is: will they let you use their showers?

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
Immediate water crisis quelled. Ran garden hose from the neighbors and connected it to our outside faucet (backflow preventer installed) so we now have water at the faucets temporarily.

Makes living in our area worth it doesnt it.On a side note you could always go get the tanker to water the goats and call it training. LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

That's good. Thank god for decent neighbors.
Now, the question is: will they let you use their showers?

Shower works as well. Toilet flushes without refilling the tank. We'll take laundy over to my son's house if we need to do some but it's pretty much like hooking up an RV, water system works normally.

quote:

Originally posted by triggertreat:

Makes living in our area worth it doesnt it.On a side note you could always go get the tanker to water the goats and call it training. LOL

Yes it does, we are pretty fortunate here. And even Brutus (our Duece and a Half tanker) would get stuck trying to get out back as wet as it's been.

Old pipe is not coming out. Removing the roof from my shed right now and tomorrow my neighbor is bringing a mini excavator over to drive a new pipe with. Well is currently 33', more than I want to try and hand drive.

Really blessed to have great neighbors.

It is nice to have good neighbors. I recently found myself needing help. It's unusual for me to be in a helpless circumstance, but I was definitely in trouble. Someone came along and bailed me out. Interestingly, I noted it's harder to be served than it is to serve others. I suppose it is a pride thing but in an unhealthful way. To serve and be served. I think that is the true nature of humanity refined.

Glad you are getting it resolved.

Final Update:

New well point and pipe down. Pump evidently didn't like running dry/sucking air so new well pump installed. Connected, up and running off our own well after about 2.5 weeks.

Going to have to rebuild pump house as we had to remove the roof to install the new point and pipe. Floor was rotted along with a section of wall so might as well make it all good as new.

With materials and machine time, I'll probably have about $1,500 in the well. Still more materials to buy to fix the shed. Oh and I damaged my water softener in the process so I have to get that repaired as well.

Still blessed to have great neighbors and a very patient wife. And problems that money can fix which means they really aren't problems.

I'm late to the party, but I have always lifted well pipe out with a pair of pipe wrenches and a jack.

One at the base of the pipe to prevent it from slipping and the other being pushed up by a bumper jack.

Our home was just rebuilt after a fire. We were just starting to have problems with our well and had enough money left over to have a new one put in.

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:
Well is currently 33', more than I want to try and hand drive.

We definitely don't "hand drive" in this part of AZ. Our deep pump is ~500 ft deep.
 

Water problems are a huge pain. Had those years ago, myself. I am still on a well. Thought mine was going dry 3 years ago. I called my original well driller. I have known him for many many years. My well was drilled over 40 years ago. I measured from the top of the well case to water level. I have more water now than after first drilled. Had a hole in a pipe coming in.
Glad you got it solved. Hope it lasts for a long time.