Residential Water Well Sabotage! Someone intentionally tried to Ruin this Well! I try to save it.

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#wellwater #plumbing #wellpump #submersiblewaterpump #pressuretank #pressureswitch #plumber #tradesman #homesteadadvice #plumbing #well

[@Dagreenberg68]

Less than two minutes into this video I already like this guy

[@jenko701]

All his videos are addictive .

[@jimmysmith9957]

Its always nice to see someone willing to take a shot at the difficult jobs no one else want to attempt.

[@mitchelloates9406]

When you first dropped that grappling hook down the well, and I heard that clank, like it was hitting stone or concrete, my heart sank. I was like "Don't tell me they were so hateful that they dumped large rocks or concrete down that well to permanently plug it up, just so no one else could ever use it". To me, that's a level of vandalism that should warrant jail time, plus forcing them to pay for drilling a new well for the owner. That's just a level of meanness that I don't have the words to describe. That's almost on a level with what the Romans did to some of their enemies back during the times of the Roman Empire. If they conquered an enemy and didn't keep the land for themselves, to keep their enemies from recovering and living on that land again, they would "salt the earth" so that the land was worthless for growing crops, and literally poison the wells so the water was unfit for human consumption and livestock.

[@h2omechanic]

You & me both!

[@justiningram2380]

Big air compressor blow it out that is what I have done several times with my company

[@Natsumidragneelkim]

​​@@h2omechanic I would tell him to fill up the old well and drill a new will at the top of the driveway and then run the pipe to the house and electric to the pump

[@askemehe5087]

@@h2omechanic try pouring some Phosphoric acid and trisodium phosphate down the hole - something to chemically dissolve the concrete. I know the phosphoric acid shouldn't be toxic.

[@bigjay875]

Jail time is to simple for this destructive act! The clowns could have poisoned people doing this dumb stuff I call for the return of the cat of 9 tails! Everyone for the rest of these miserable clowns lives will see the scars if they take off they're shirt and know that these scared focks are really big pieces of crap and not want to be associated with these degenerate clowns

[@OuryLN]

Sunday sun comes shining down on me!

[@mikeiver]

Appears that they just didn't try to ruin the well but were quite successful at the endeavor.

[@Motorizeify]

I know you were disappointed. I was too, but I also feel you gave it all you could, given the risks your advice to the gentleman was spot on. Thanks for showing us what you do to clean a well. I'm about to go down that same road with my own foreclosed property purchase. Your techniques will help me, thank you.

[@kennethjones3337]

Time is money. You hit solid rock or cement. Customer does service work judging by his truck. Punch new well. Do water test. Your a good man attempting to save the day. Enjoy your videos keep it up.

[@darrelsartin4355]

On much shorter pipes, I've had good luck with a shop vacuum to capture lighter stuff. If it's steel, perhaps a fishing magnet would be of use.

[@freak3dot]

I came here to comment this. I wonder if a shop vac would take out the grit as well.

[@evanr.neilsond.c.7589]

Thanks so much for sharing this video. First for your willingness to try to help this man, but also for being willing to show that even the best of intentions don't always give us the results we want. Even still, this was a learning experience for all of us watching. Thanks again!

[@scottwheeler2494]

I had a wildfire burn my property including the well head. Melted the plastic casing off. I tapconned a cover over the top till I got the property cleaned up. When I finally got someone out there to fish the pump off the bottom it was a real problem. The top of the well had fell down and was wedged in the casing. It was a 200 ft well with the burned off top of the well pipe at about the 120 ft level. Ten feet above the water level. Damn. Thankfully my driller was determined. He had been fishing dozens of these burned out wells since it was a huge fire… 1700 homes burned. Hundreds of wells were damaged. He had about dozen different tools. Finally he was able to grasp the brass fittings that had been on top of the well and burned into it. Grabbing the old pipe was easy after that. Pulled up the brand new pump that I just installed a month before the fire, added some pipe and replaced all the above ground equipment. He saved me tens of thousands plus many months waiting until his drilling rig was available. So I would tell you to not give up… there are many different tools available including the pipe spears that you can try. Maybe it was being from Texas - he had all kinds of fishing gear inspired by the oil drillers. They drop drill stem weighing a million pounds and ten thousand feet deap and rescue the well.

[@h2omechanic]

I had a hay barn do the same thing to a well that was beside it. Melted into a black glob. We had to fish out the pump as well. Nightmare situations!. As for this Vid, I believe it's solid concrete down the hole

[@BamberFirefighter]

I had a similar experience with a well attempt recovery after the homeowner ran over his well snapping off the pitless adapter. The well filled with sand and gravel that packed the submersible pump and locked it into the casing that was 4 inch PvC. The pump would move down when pushed but would not come up. The pump was suspended on 1 inch poly pipe. I was able to luckily separate the poly pipe from the top of the pump and push the pump down into the screen that was at a depth of 120 feet. Static water was at 30 feet. Luckily the wires at the old pump came apart at the splicing at the pump. After replacing the pitless adapter we installed a new 1hp F&W pump and were able to provide 20 gpm back into the residence. Spending a whole day and wondering if it was really worth it.

[@mochouinard]

Just a future idea... Some kind of rod with a tiny hole in the middle, that hold a inflatable rubber and a tiny tube that goes up to fill that rubber with. So you could try to reach under it and put air and pull it up.

[@Matt-pu4of]

Thank you for your willingness to help the owner out. Good video. You may want to get a 250 CFM air compressor and blow the debris out. The clanking sounds like they dropped rocks down there.

[@andrewgilbreath1331]

Well man as a like minded small hvac business owner, sometimes we can't win them all. Like you I'll try to jump in and save folks some money and I have come home empty handed a few times, I will say though that those customers like that usually end up being life long customers and even some of them really good friends.

[@garyholt9573]

Definitely more cost-effective and money ahead to just drill a new well.👍

[@yogidemis8513]

Note to self: If buying properly or not home with well water check the well to make sure it's in working order before deciding to buy.

[@pastorcarl5703]

Another informative video. Outstanding! God Bless!

[@pquodling]

I visited friends in New England once, they had an old-style well ( you know - 4ft wide hole, drop down a bucket) - it dried up, so it became the farm dumping spot. Branches, etc - when they had kids, they dumped dirt diapers down there. if it got smelly they added some dirt. Eventually, it was getting full, so they figured a lot of what was in there, was flammable - they poured in some gasoline, and set fire to it, hoping it would burn down. Unfortunately, the diapers et al. had created big pockets of methane, so when the embers got far enough down, there would be mini-explosions, sending all sorts of S..t flying...

[@dstevens7614]

I was in the water industry for over 30 yrs and I used a mirror to light up things. The mirror was on plywood and the cover folded back over to protect it. Worked great!!!

[@cntyguy226]

Thanks for the videos, well done and really educational!

[@billhamilton2366]

Compressed air can also loosen and remove sediment and debris on the bottom of a well also. My kind neighbour failed to maintain their septic system and of course contaminated my dug well. Dept of health came around and inspected their property, shut them down and made an order to have a new dug well installed elsewhere on my property. She was not pleased but she was also cheap.

[@Daluke61]

Thought this was going to have a happy ending. Oh WELL, can't win 'em all.

[@karlschwab6437]

A very interesting story on things that can go "sideways",so to speak

[@flyhigh5056]

this type of sabotage happened a lot after the GFC in 2008.

[@emtparamedic2000]

This is a well someone “closed” for good reason like non payment of services/drilling. Glad you walked away cuz that job is sketchy to say the least.

[@derekfester6084]

If a rig could get over that hole, I would run 1' steel pipe and try blowing air, and if that didn't work, circulating mud while trying to push it through the blockage. Here in CA a new well costs so much that we have had to do stuff like that and its still 1/3 of the cost of a new well in many cases

[@duffyd4907]

You're a good man! Always give it a shot!

[@CarlGerlach]

That’s too bad. I applaud you for trying. Some people, previous owners, suck. Assuming it was them.

[@user-gv7wv5sr6b]

How about a hydro AC. Basically a giant shop vac. It can have small hose attached and you can use a power washer which is usually on the unit

[@northwoodsguy1538]

Bummer.🙁 Nice try helping the guy out.👍

[@rayclark8920]

Thanks for sharing

[@joshjones3408]

I made a little contraption in about ten minutes for this kinda stuff....out of a set of post hole diggers I took the handles off an .....well I can't say every thing that's the secret sauce...but it works fantastic....

[@kiweekeith]

Looking at what has been found, that looks like bits of Concrete and Rocks .... No Chance .... Thanks for your Great vidclips .... Best to All from ChCh, New Zealand

[@safffff1000]

Croc Crete expertly removes concrete from drains and pipes by fighting the problem at its core. It attacks concrete by breaking it down to its base element. Have you ever seen this stuf?

[@briandecoteau3]

Heavy duty magnet

[@buckshot4428]

Our neighbor's house was forclosed. I had thought about buying it and did a home inspection, but there were too many issues. Prior to the inspection I turned on the faucet for the kitchen sink and it was stopped up. Someone else bought the house and they found cement inside the drain and many other issues.

[@TennesseeEcoman]

That angle is Childs Play in the mountains. 😅

[@gregmeadors9624]

My parents have had several wells drilled in Oregon during the last 50 years on different properties. The driller ALWAYS used heavy 6 inch diameter steel casing. Why would anyone put in a pvc casing? That seems crazy.

[@jfbeam]

Because it's cheap and works just fine. (same reason almost all plumbing is PVC these days.)

[@robmurphy806]

​@@jfbeamBut it doesn't work fine? Maybe if you can just set it in and grout it. But if you gotta drive it you need steel. And up my way you always gotta drive it.

[@shanechostetler9997]

That’s the way cheapskates do things!

[@shanechostetler9997]

The trash is the broken supply pipe.

[@scottfoster2487]

I wonder if some sticks of 1/2 inch steel pipe with a a grapple points,they would have to be floating and could be droped down next to the cammera to go in side the pipe and use the pvc pipe to pull some of the debris out with the pump.

[@nickmyrvold1343]

People don't really understand how their wells are connected and how bad trash in a well can actually be.

[@williamnixon3994]

The people who trashed it didn't care in the first place

[@Matt-pu4of]

I'm not sure if you need schedule 80 for a well that deep. The PVC looks like a very thin wall.

[@wmurphy5351]

I'm new to this channel and have been really enjoying your content. My question here is how did they drill this well in the first place?

[@wdxwm300]

That was a very good try and knowing you cant win them all and not knowing what was down there the well was certainly sabotaged Some people are just mean doing things like this

[@kennardjohnson7875]

Interesting pulling rig but hey it works

[@okiedoke6373]

Same thing happened to my buddies will for some reason 2K senior something gave up in it and we couldn't pull the pump he ended up spending the money to get a new well drilled and then we just bought a off-the-shelf pump from Tractor Supply and it's full of iron which turns to rust so now is complete water system smells like iron oxide basically smells like a sewage

[@joecummings1260]

I retrieved a 13 stage Gould line shaft pump out of a 400 foot deep 12 inch casing by fabricating a tube to fit over the pump with some little pieces of leaf spring welded inside to act as barbs.Then I dropped it hard and it jammed over the outside of the pump

[@chadcatania4939]

taper tap or overshot might be worth a shot. i work on commercial pumps, mainly turbines all day, everyday. Might be worth trying to see if you can get 1/2" or 3/4" pipe past I.t and blow some air down. might free something up downhole and get some water moving. never a good day when you have to go fishing in the water well world.

[@jasonharper2601]

the hook sounds like they put rocks or concrete down the well

[@user-or1uu7yt9n]

It kind of looked like chunks of broken well casing but who knows ?

[@mazdarx7887]

It's not just the debris the threw in the well, did they throw poison or other chemicals in there too

[@jakebrakebill]

nice way to end it " oh well "

[@Foothillpump]

A better tool for retrieving a pump is to use a 3 foot section of pipe 2.5 - 4 inch diameter, cut some tabs in the side then push the top of the tabs in. This way the tool slides over the drop pipe using your pump hoist and grabs the outside of the pump pipe. Then just pull it up.

[@danimalbigtree]

I am still watching the video, but I would think to try a shop vac or 2 with a non collapsible flex hose down the well. If you could grab on to each chunk of trash and bring it back up. You could then hopefully expose enough of the pipe to get it hooked.

[@Pippy626]

They blocked it a few feet and then put bags of cement is my guess. The homeowner seems handy why doesn’t he get 30 ft of the drill extensions with set key and a concrete drill bit and see if he can drill a small whole through might be 200$ in extensions but still cheaper then a well or dig a 30 ft deep ramp and cut it

[@hartsfire5706]

one the vary first dropped that grappling hook down the well it sounds like concrete to me. i feel you did the best you can do it is time to punch a new hole. like you say there is no safe way to get a rig set up to try and drill it out with out blowing it out the side. this is a awesome video.

[@williams4645]

The “trash” was pieces of plastic pipe

[@LeadfootPTM]

Washover bit, junk basket and a power swivel

[@safffff1000]

I've seen cable drill rigs small enough to fit in that area. Could you smash the obstruction and clean out that well?

[@sprint48219]

if he's dropping a 500 pound rod on it and it's not break and I'm not quite sure what you would be dropping on it that would break it

[@kingtut5923]

Love your last comment Oh well

[@oneanon]

What is your opinion in this well rig. I live in Florida everything out here is sandy. ( Sunmoy HF300D water drilling rig )

[@PaintmanJohn]

Win some, Lose some. But you LEARNED some too. Do you have a grabbing tool that could grab hold of the smaller pieces of rock in the casing? Similar to a mechanic's tool for picking up dropped nuts and bolts ?

[@needsaride15126]

I wonder how that situation turned out in the end?

[@1scott1423]

What size pump do you run on the deck engine? Do you have specs/ part numbers for it?

[@davidblair4699]

Air Lots of air Set 1 1/4 hydrill tubing directly on bottom and let it blow

[@OHlookSHINYthing]

Hubby is a retired plumber. He said a tenant once trashed the plumbing by dumping gravel down the toilet. What a mess! Another time they put the camera down the line and found nails and other things that don't have ANY reason to be in a sewer line. I guess I just don't understand the mindset of someone who would do that kind of thing.

[@harescrambled]

People are terrible sometimes. They could easily have contaminated the aquifer and rendered it unusable for everyone. Disgusting!

[@throttlebottle5906]

maybe they did and it's not been discovered yet! hopefully no, but a new well and/or surrounding areas will find out soon enough I guess. I'd for sure have the water tested there and surrounding areas for a long ways.

[@Stevesbe]

Sometimes?? Seems like all the time these days

[@johnschneider3082]

Like the man said “you don’t know what you don’t know “. Who’s responsible for this damage,why who ever did this,did they do this? Some people are just despicable, and while it may not be (Christian like) one can only hope that they will be judged accordingly,for their actions.🙏 At any rate thanks for your attempt at saving this well, and sharing it with us.

[@carolinasavage7350]

You are amesome man

[@wmjohnson7063]

Have big magnet sound like steel.

[@randywilson6869]

It would b nice to have an old spud rig small one

[@sean900fps]

hey could you use a vacuum truck like the electric pole guys use ? they use vacuum truck to dig the pole hole .... 🥃

[@Mr.Cockney]

I am afraid that I am a complete layman but, what about re-drilling the bore again and extracting the material that causes the blockage in small pieces? Or is that it is cheaper to drill a new well ?

[@Cragified]

The old casing, wire, rope, pump, and whatever is in the hole makes that a more costly endeavor then just drilling a new bore 20ft over.

[@RobertKohut]

Oh 'well', can't win them all... 🙂

[@bekkiebeans6004]

Question, could the liner not be pulled up and out? Then replaced?

[@h2omechanic]

The casing, no. It's locked in tight

[@jackmclane1826]

It probably wouldn't have helped here, but I started with magnet fishing.. A strong magnet on a rope. And then a grappler like the carnival grappler games. And if it is grit, a strong shop vac. But to be honest: The spear sounded like impacting concrete on the video. Not sure if that was true to reality.

[@nancyporter6800]

I saw a well driller one time took a mirror and shined down the well where a flash light wouldn't show you any thing

[@dangerrangerlstc]

So i know this is months later, but im just wondering why after trying to punch the well, you didn't send the camera back down to confirm if they'd concreted the pump in? Maybe the video evidence could have been used in the prosecution of the former tenants?

[@Cragified]

Pointless. You can't prove they did it.

[@bubbabubba2013]

Since it was bought at foreclosure i wonder if it was sold "as is, where is".

[@mysterybryan358]

You could get a rig on that no problem

[@bobpatrick7152]

at least you gave it a good try......

[@davidcottle6099]

can we get an update on this one. did he use you or do you know if he drilled another well?

[@h2omechanic]

No word as of yet. Probably waiting on funds or found a driller that's cheaper or one who'd try to drill out the well. Wasn't worth the risk to me.

[@lucyr8711]

Stop being so nice to people. You make the rest of us feel bad 😅

[@newield76]

We all watched hoping it could be saved, Good afford. The people who did the well in may have had a lot to putdown it. So a water sample to know if worth drilling any where near it.

[@user-ut6ji8my2h]

I weould think that a post hole auger on pipe would work the best.

[@user-bp6yw1ge8d]

Is there a follow up on this vid

[@kaboom4679]

That is just heinous . Worked on a few wells in my life , and it is hard enough work without some POS deliberately sabotaging one . Hateful don't hardly describe it .

[@54tony379]

well services here they bring what they need if your willing too pay

[@nyyt854tufc]

Somebody made sure you can't fix it

[@fishwithsj]

Some days you get the bear. Some days the bear gets you.

[@donwimberley4772]

They poured ready mix in the casing....

[@tsclly2377]

Your guy should have poured in a gallon or two of Muriatic Acid in the well first it have it clear any type of portland cement from the plastic case.. ad had it sit two days before you came.. but I'd bet that there is a lot of soil in that well below that few bags of concrete.... Yup, drill a new one after making a flat base to access it (the new well site).

[@raymondless1036]

Fishing in a well takes patience and time. But can easily done without any issues and good fun too

[@randymack1782]

my wifes mom refinanced farm without telling anyone, then suddenly died, no one was able to get to be executor, and bank refused to accept payment from anyone other than original person on loan, they returned checks, so 50+ gallons of used oil was dumped down well before family left homestead, all lost for $35k the place was in family 200 years, big farm, so yes well permanently contaminated

[@Foothillpump]

Grab some 1" galv drop pipe get it down past the clog if you can and use a towable air compressor to blow the stuff out..

[@waynehelsel3949]

Just get an piece of equipment in and fix the road in , then bring on a rig

[@safffff1000]

Cleaning concrete out of a completely filled 6ft pipe from a pumper truck. This was done with 20,000 p.s.i at 20 G.P.M. Actual cleaning time was 11 minutes & 24 seconds. from youtube video called, Pipe Cleaning At Laplace Equipment

[@johnhalchishick7094]

Well cap broken fell down the well ?.

[@72chargerse72]

so a thought.. have the guy get some gravel and make you a levelish pad, redrill 2 ft beside then he can use the gravel somewhere else

[@carportchronicles1943]

For random debris, I wonder of a shop vac hooked up to a very long 1-inch tube would work. The idea would be to use the suction to grapple small object and allow you to bring them to the surface. Obviously, in this case, that wouldn't work, but if someone was to drop miscellaneous debris that might work.

[@thebarecave6256]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/emW9pa2eYphsd9k

[@trevorstevenson4772]

Yup. Vac truck every time!

[@richavic4520]

All I could think of is to drive the debris through the case, and hope the length of the debris filters and eventually seals the base of the well. Considering the screened interval that's left, and placement of the pump within it along with maybe a lower volume pump could save some level of production. I'm writing this just after you said heavy piece of drill rod. Oh, yeah. Subbed

[@billhamilton2366]

I'm very surprised you don't have an auger that is sized to fit the ID of the steel and PVC casings . Most home owners have no clue about how their well water and pump system works. When I was 12 I was installing and removing our pump system at our summer cottage. Winter is a bitch in Canada. But I didn't have one of those mickey mouse bladder tanks. I had a 60 Imperial gallon pressure vessel which was filled about 1/3 of the way up and drained from the bottom and built a head of air pressure above the water in the tank with a sight glass indicating the level of water. The cottage was purchased in 1954 (pump was there.) and the Goulds pump is in my garage and is in perfect working order. I prefer a tiled shallow well, but if you must drill I prefer a casing as large as I can get.