Submersible Pump - Stuck in the Well - 3 Ways it can Happen!

[@JRPittman]

Hers a few more great ways to seize a pump in the well: 1- use standard hardware store clamps when hanging the pump on roll pipe instead of all stainless (including the bolt). The nickel plated bolt rusts out, the clamp comes open, the pump blows off the pipe, and the clamps fall on the top of the pump and jam it into submission. 2- someone decides a safety rope is a great idea, but uses that blue and white hollow braid stuff from a hardware store and doesn’t use an eye bolt or other attachment under the well seal. They run it up through the vent hole and tie a knot. Couple of years later the rope that is not UV stabilized has been in the sun long enough to disintegrate and fall down and wrap around the top of the pump jamming it in place. 3- some intelligent person installs a 5hp with an inline silicon bronze check valve about 20’ above the pump. Our acidic water eats the stem of the check over time and the plunger gets loose and seals against the discharge side of the check housing with the pump running. Owner doesn’t find out until the next day because it happens over night. Pump has run long enough to heat the pipe, blow the pipe loose from the check, and further heats the water until the casing melts and the pump can’t be pulled. Yup, new well, pump, and motor. 4- back when submersibles first came on the market one of the old drillers started using them. He did not leave any room between the pump and the bottom of the well. He let it down until the unit rested on bottom. That quarter teaspoon of sediment every year or so that normally falls to the bottom of the well accumulated around the bottom of the motor. Always had to use a compressor to start loosening the sediment before the pump would come loose. Every one of them had about 6-8” of the bottom of the motor shiny as new no matter how much rust or whatever covered the rest. Oh, by the way, his pumps usually only lasted a few years before the motor burned out from over heating because it didn’t have water coming up around it to keep it cool.

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

Good lord all horror stories I have seen also just hard to get them all on video 🤣

[@flyingfarm1]

Homeowners successfully repair their own wells all the time. It is not rocket science. The equipment and the way it is set up is pretty simple and well documented. All of the parts are available at the local home centers. If the problem is above ground you can replace every component for far less than the cost of having a water well company just show up. If the problem is the pump or downpipe there are all kinds of creative do it yourself ways to pull it out of the well.

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

I guess you just don't get it, doing it yourself is not a good idea. There are so many ways to install well pumps and tanks incorrectly. I never recommend anyone trying to pull their own pump from the well. They can be down anywhere from 50' to 500' depending on where you live and water table. If you fail and break something, get it hung up or drop it down in the well. If that happens you have some really expensive problems and even a professional will have a hard time fixing it. Those home centers only sell Chinese garbage products, unreliable and will cost way more in the end. Using a reputable local company is your best option, you get it done correctly and with warranty!

[@paulmaxwell8851]

@@ClearWaterPumpWell Clear Water guys, you deal with the stupidest of the stupid. But as Williams says, for the most part this is not rocket science. There are established procedures for the removal and replacement of a well pump, and KZbin has made it even easier for the homeowner. I'm talking about homeowners who actually know how to work with their hands and use tools, not gamers or office clerks. I've installed about ten pumps over the years, for myself and friends. My first as a teenager. Every job a success, and in my experience even those hardware store pumps last at least twelve years. I do appreciate quality, though, and a Goulds or Grundfos is hard to beat. My own well has a 1.5hp Grundfos; expensive but likely to last a very long time.

[@affordablesolutions8516]

@@ClearWaterPumpWell "reputable local, correctly, warranty" LOL! You sound just like every other trade out there trying to scare homeowners.. "careful of chinese knockoffs"... its hilarious......I am a contractor of over 20 years, I do things that people just like you say I can't. "You can't do electrical, you can't do plumbing, you can't do HVAC... and I do it anyway. Now I just bought a property with my first well and septic... Guess what! Im doing it myself to save 1000s!! What you are catering to is people who can't mow their own grass and barely can pump their own gas. You can buy any parts at any big box, amazon/ebay.. and YES they are of quality good enough to fit the money spent.. hmm lets see, $10 for a capacitor at amazon, with 60000 positive reviews, and connect 2 wires or $10,000.00 from you and fixed 30 minutes later. Yeah, no thanks.. Im not paying for your kids college education. You wanna make it sound like its rocket science but its not. Paul is right, you work with stupid of stupid or the lazy. And this is from a contractor of over 20 years telling people this.. I agree with you 100%, that going into this blindly will lead to problems, but don't try to tell people they are basically stupid and you aren't. With the right amount of research, and education anyone here can fix whatever they need, should it be plumbing, electrical, roofing, siding, doors, windows, concrete, you think it and it applies... Just stop with the salesman techniques... Ps.. even your videos help people like me.. Im in middle of troubleshooting my pump as it went out and I learned alot of no/no's.. As much education that im learning with testing/troubleshooting I will eventually add this service to my already growing list...

[@sonjalewis3047]

Watch out for the creative "I can do it a new & better way." It's so useful and exciting when the inventiveness works--but it's better to leave that to minor things where a bad outcome won't cripple you or your bank account. Or, it's a crisis and the old fixes aren't working. The worst approach? "How hard can this be?" or "just figure it out as you go." My brother installed his submersible in his shallow, sandy well by carefully learning about it first, not taking short cuts, and doing that annoying regular maintenance.

[@AmosMosesJr]

Seems like an easy job. You guys should come up north.

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

Haha I try to tell everyone that but we have so many wells around here I'm glad it's easy.

[@christopherizuchukwu7113]

@@ClearWaterPumpWell pls help me my pump got burnt to the pvc down the well and is stucked can I use force on it,like using a vehicle to pull the pump rope to free the stuck down there and pull it out ..pls advice me..

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

@@christopherizuchukwu7113 do you mean the pump overheated and the casing has closed around it? Depends on how far down, what type of drop pipe, size of the pump and if it still runs. Let me know all the details and I can advise further.

[@rabidfarmer9765]

that is why they charge double when you work on it first. ahahaha!!

[@ainslieadventures1166]

So we made the mistake of dropping the well seal down in there. We are completely stuck. How do you get it unstuck and get the seal out??

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

Depending on how far down the pump is you will hit so many joints in the well casing. If you can get it to come up a bit and start going easy up and down until it's moving. You may only get stuck at a joint again. What ever you do don't pull very hard and get it locked. You can usually go down a few feet quickly to free up the well seal flange then come back up slowly. It will take a few tries to get it moving but you should start coming up.

[@lazmartin1463]

I just made this same stupid mistake today. I think the bolts dropped and got the pump stuck. I'll follow the advice below.

[@delavalmilker]

Interesting video. And thanks for posting it! I'm a farmer in Nebraska, and watching your videos I notice the well heads are above ground. So you must be in the south where it doesn't freeze. Up north here, we have to have pit-less adapters that go below the frost line. Also the wells are deep. 250' or more is not uncommon. Definitely NOT a job for amateurs! Also, the water is very hard. And most of the aquifers up here are fine sand. So the sand points at the bottom are very fine mesh. Together with the hard water, they tend to accumulate mineral deposits, gradually lowering the inflow into the well. Any advice on keeping this from happening? I do have to say that submersible well pumps have really improved well reliability, over what we had in the "old days" fifty years ago. I'm talking the old sucker rod wells. With a Monitor pump jack banging away on the well head. Especially on a string of "wood rods" (as my dad called them) going down 250 feet. Then one would break, and you'd have to pull the entire well casing out. Ten foot sections of 3" threaded galvanized pipe. To get to the broken wood rod. And then the seals would give out at the bottom on the cylinder end. Or the check valve would go kerfluey. Definitely lots of well grief in those days!

[@charlesshuart422]

I have an old 4" steel pitless that we had the pump replaced on about 30 years ago by our local well driller repair man. The pump is getting weak so I opened up the top. The repairman, no longer with us, was nice enough to leave an extension pipe to the top of the casing for an easy pull later on except... It rusted off at the threads, I took hold and lifted out an 8 foot steel pipe with nothing left where it had been threaded in. Is there a way to hook around the steel inlet with a cable and not have the pump slip down the well casing. Are there tools available or any other ideas you've used in the past for this kind of situation. We use the well seasonally and I don't want to have a 120 foot well drilled right now, to replace the old one. Any constructive ideas would be welcome.

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

Yes there are tools for catching the pitiless adapter. I'm not familiar with them as down south we don't use 5" wells with frost proof designs. All our plumbing and connections are above ground and maybe only covered for winter. I would definitely recommend being extremely careful with trying work on yourself and make sure you have good help.

[@charlesshuart422]

@@ClearWaterPumpWell Thanks for the quick response! I'll look up the tools online. It's only on a 20ft drop pipe to the pump because of the nearly artesian situation at about 12 feet below grade. The water comes in as fast as it can be pumped out. And I'll be sure to have two extra helpers if I tackle it myself. Thanks for the help!

[@christopherizuchukwu7113]

My pump is stucked and I believed it burnt the pvc pipe down there and can't pull it up,so is it advice able to tie the rope on a vehicle to drag it and will it damage the well if done so?

[@timschannel910]

That's why you use a pvc well seal that one solid piece.

[@timmartin8987]

Dirty Harry said it best “A man has to know his limitations”

[@michaelareturnsmg]

Got told today that my PVC pipe on my well shrunk and they can't pull my pump up to replace it. They said the only way to get it out is with a crane so I'm pretty thrilled at that cost.

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

Usually that's caused by a pump overheating and running for a few days. The pvc gets hot enough to melt around the pump and clamp it in, it usually wont come out. I would not recommend pulling any harder than with a jack the well can be ruined. if the pipe and wire can be removed at the pump then you can install another one right above it and save the well. I had this happen recently with one and was able to save it. So good luck its a hell of a problem!

[@billyanderson321]

That’s a baby. Did a 1400ft with 6” pipe with a 125hp submersible today lol. I’m waiting on the day I get to fish one out

[@troyc4841]

Nevermind. I'll do it myself. Yes I did drop the wellseal down the well. It only fell 5 feet though and I retreived it with a tool I made. Anyways I wouldn't have messed with it if my well guy didn't try to tell me I had a 180 ft well. He couldn't get the submersible out of the 4" iron well casing that had been down there 30 years and somehow sold me a shallow well above ground pump that's struggling to make 20psi. I don't know how he's pulling water past the submersible. I was out of town and my wife handled the business end. I opened the well and with a nut on a string I hit water at 30 feet. My well guy put a coupler for the new pump 1" above the well seal. There wasn't room to just loosen it and lift it up. I was careful as can be but did loose that plate. I got it back and put it all back together as it was. Well guy said he could make me a new shallow well for $5000. No permits necessary. I think I might call someone who can get the old submersible out because at this point I can't even use a deep well jet pump.

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

@@troyc4841 Nevermind? Did you ask for help and I did respond? That's a heck of a story but nothing out the ordinary as some companies don't do difficult work and only want to "Sell" something else!

[@rocarroll1533]

Been a pump technician for over 50 years,never use rope,we allways use stainless braided cable. People service thier own pumps every where and most farmers do have some common sense and generally do pretty well Remember its easy to criticise and we all make mistakes

[@mattsdrillingforfood7624]

Another one that’s common around here for a pump to get stuck is when there is a safety rope or a cable attached to the pump it rust or rots our and falls on top of the pump I know lots of people use them and it’s probably fine for them but not to common around here because of that reason they are more hassle then they are worth

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

Yeah for sure man I find that worst case you may lose a wire or the pipe but you rarely if ever lose both and if you do there's still a chance to retrieve the pump. Or worst case if you have plenty of room in the casing just leave it and put another on top. Thanks for the comment take care. Casey

[@akshaybodake6278]

If wire rope is fallen over pump... we can retrive the pump... i can do it...

[@brettymike]

Loved that bit at about 3:20 :-D :-D....and 6:08 :-D

[@jburmister9090]

Anyone have a hard time getting the well to go back down in the hole after replacement? I replaced the wire because it shorted out. Tried lowering it back down in the hole and it will only go down about half way. It pulled up fine. I have no clue what could be preventing it from going back down in the hole….

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

If you made a repair past or in the wire guard then this is thd problem. The pump can't get any wider than it already is or it will hang on the casing or joints.

[@jburmister9090]

It is not hanging up on the wire. The well is 130ft deep. Do the well casings usually extrude to the bottom of the well or a few feet off bottom?It’s getting hung up around 80ft. When it bottoms out it feels like a thud on the bottom of the pump. Thanks for the fast response

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

@@jburmister9090 Oh you meant halfway down the well. No some wells especially around here can be a multi sized casing like a 4x2". In other words they did 4" Casing to 80' for the pump and 2" casing total depth of the well. Depending on your water table and drawdown you should not need thd pump more than 10-20' below the water table. You don't want to put the pump on the adapter as it can restrict or close off flow from well. Good luck solving the problem hope this helps.

[@jburmister9090]

I ended up rotating the pump a few times and adjusting the placement of the centering brackets. It eventually went down. I now have plenty of flow for my geo heat pump and starting/running current is back to normal. Thanks for your help

[@kevec]

Have a pump stuck in the bottom of a brand new well. Somehow the schedule 80 pipe at the very top of the well broke off right at the metal elbow and when they tried pulling the broken pipe up to reattach it the next piece below it broke. They are saying that a shard of the original pvc is wedged good and not letting the pump up? We are talking a piece maybe 3/4” long by 1/2” at most. Does that sound possible?

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

If it's a 4" well and a 4" pump yes it can. But they should be able with finese go down and up slowly to gain ground by not wedging it. It can be pulled up if it's not too bad off.

[@kevec]

@@ClearWaterPumpWell it does not seem to be going down at all and when they pull up it goes up just as much as the stretch in the pvc but does not really move. I’m worried the well caved in and it is stuck in earth. I can’t see why it would not move up or down with just a tiny piece of PVC stuck. I’m just praying I did not throw $12k down a hole to get no water.

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

@@kevec If it won't come up it must go down. They pulled too hard and wedged it. If it's Ridgid pvc you should be able to beat down a bit and try to free it up. Then get it moving and work it out. If not use steel rods to dislodge pump if not too far down, how deep is pump hanging?

[@donatusokore1428]

@@kevec am asking if there is any chemical to pour inside the well in order to free the sumo?

[@kevec]

@@ClearWaterPumpWell the pump is at 470ft and they sent another pipe down to blow it out and it only made it down to 420ft. Could there be 50ft of sediment that came up the well and lodged it? They are still working on it.

[@flash4eva123]

I've a 200mtr well in Ireland. Is possible to drive the pump down into water reserve, loss the pump but keep the bore hole? It's not coming up.

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

That is very risky, try pushing down first and get it moving up and down until it comes out.

[@safwanawwal3344]

Hi, the problem is i flushed the well yet the pump is still stuck, and I discovered that the well is clogged with roots. Is there a diy tool to unclog the well?

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

If you have roots in the well you have a bigger problem that is not normal. You casing must be cracked or below ground to get roots growing into it. Get a local well contactor to fix it properly, I don't recommend diy repair in this case.

[@eamonnmurphy5385]

I have a pump stuck at 24m/deep with 6m of sand till 18m/deep in then it's clear to the top. Any ideas how I can get the 6m of sand out of the way so I can get my pump out?

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

You can try air lifting the sand out fun a 1/2 pvc line next to pump with a big air compressor. If it's big enough it should blow out the sand like in the video. Literally the 3rd situation in video is the problem you are having.

[@drob5664]

Yea we see these DIY caused problems all the time here in Florida.

[@timschannel910]

Blue glue, rain, and shine.

[@sempertard]

We don't get to see the super secret patented snag-o-matic retrieval tool?? Bummer :)

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

It was 100' of pvc pipe to knock the pump down to get free. Then I gently pulled pump up to not get metal pieces to dig in again. If it starts getting stuck again I drop it fast a few feet to reset the pieces. It's a two steps forward and one step back deal but eventually after it will make it to the top. If you just force it up by Jacking on it, then it will never come out. Edit: Oh wait it was this video, that was a loop of cable on the end of a pipe. When it was pushed down to the pump or wire and pipe we pulled it to tighten the loop. Then we pulled the pump out by catching just one of the 3 wires of the pump almost 100' down the well. Thanks for the comment and watching, Casey

[@sempertard]

@@ClearWaterPumpWell You just caught one wire? Wow, lucky. Thank you sir!

[@happygolucky9166]

I live in the Eastern Shore Maryland area ran into the same problem. I'm not sure who to call.

[@ololadeoladepo9562]

I have a similar issue, was told that it is Mica that caused the pump to stuck in the well. The well is 90m and I don't know what to do?

[@bobbyatman273]

a man would never ride over his well pipes

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

It's really funny you say that little over a year later not too long ago I had to go back and fix it again. The daughter broke it last time, this time her boyfriend ran it over with a big jacked up truck! Luckily not as bad as before but I told her to build a 8' tall fence around it or else!

[@coreytran7415]

The boyfriend and the faughter are meant for each other. What a foolish bunch. But hey it makes you money

[@hitechborewellworks860]

Super

[@timschannel910]

Pvc 90 at the top, like that, is dangerous.

[@arnoldromppai5395]

a car ran into my well. it totaled the car, but the well had no damage at all. well the aluminum cap cracked, 8 inch x 3.8 inch steel wall pipe down into solid bbed roack at 72 feet, kind of hard to move or damage, well is 117 feet deep, after the steel pipe its rock wall to the bottom with a opening in the bed rock at 117 but i had them drill an extra 8 feet past for a sump, no plastic junk is allowed in a well

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

Steel casings corrode down here because of water from 3' and on and warmer climate. There are some older steel wells around but they are a huge problem because of this. We don't have wells that drill into bedrock, you can drill 3000' or more and still be in sands and clays. Don't put down on something just because it's done differently, there is always a reason not just because it's cheaper! Wells around here are sometimes only 100' apart in communities in rural areas. You could have a thousand in a square mile.

[@REVNUMANEWBERN]

What's with all the beating & jamming the PVC???? Be my luck it would break

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

The pump and pipe was clogged with iron, so was hitting it to help shock it loose. I didn't hit it hard enough to break it and even if it did it wouldn't be hard to fix.

[@richardrose9943]

Never trust anyone who bad mouths everyone else

[@danielely7437]

This guy isnt totally wrong, but homeowners should take the time to educate themselves before attempting anything.

[@ClearWaterPumpWell]

Yea one was a freak accident involving a vehicle, the other was a professional plumber that should not have worked on it and the other was a homeowner who messed up.

[@affordablesolutions8516]

@@ClearWaterPumpWell no... A professional plumber wouldn't have done that... An ignorant one yeah, but professional isn't ignorant of what they are working on. Even the average handyman and yes homeowner can fix these things. They can pull pumps ,they can fix lines, they can troubleshoot the control box. All it takes is a little research. Hundreds of videos including yours are detailed so homeowners, contractors, Handyman can tackle these projects either for themselves or others. Amazon and big box stores have all the materials needed and yes they have warranties, and last just as long or have "cost/value" as the overpriced "professional" ones. If they don't want the cheaper ones they can buy the better ones just like any professional. Nothing you can do about running it over, this is no less than stupidity on the homeowners by not blocking it with some sort of wall/baricade. They deserved the bill on this one, especially if they did it twice.

[@josephvillatoro4215]

well, these were booboos, it can happen to anyone. there is lots to learn from other people's mistake, that is why I love watching videos like this, so I don't make those mistakes. the one thing hard to understand, was the plumber trying to fix the leak, that was rather funny and astronomically stupid. lol

[@timschannel910]

That pvc casing is way too high .

[@danz8039]

down to the Chinese people loL

[@bryancarosi2386]

I laughed hard at that and the Just Look At It refrence

[@timschannel910]

I hate black roll pipe.