Oil and Water Separator

Discussion, maintenance, and repair of a oil and water separator.

[@regwarkentin1411]

Thanks for the video Zach. I'm now retired from a lifetime of of oilfield work and believe that understanding the most basic mechanical functions at a production site provided a solid basis for the instrument engineering work I did later in my career. I still find the basics more enlightening and interesting in terms of old school function then specifying modern instruments.

[@TheZachLife]

I agree I've had some experience with HMI/PlC stuff thats cool but the old completely mechanical or valveless stuff is pretty awesome engineering.

[@cratecruncher6687]

It's amazing the stuff I learn on KZbin. Next time I'm traveling through Far West Texas I'll stop and service a tank farm or two. Gotta pay it forward. Thanks.

[@TheZachLife]

haha

[@walter2990]

My family has several old oil wells in OK and TX, and watching your videos has clarified many issues that they've had with the wells. Thanks for the education and clarification about the issues they've experienced.

[@TheZachLife]

Awesome, Thanks.

[@snydedon9636]

@@TheZachLife I just found your channel a few days ago and I’m enjoying the content. Just one question, did you ever meet Jed from the Beverley hillbillies? Have a good day.

[@sartorst3376]

Having been around oil field equipment all my life and wondered what it all does I have found this interesting. Thank you for spending the time. I remember back in the day at night falling asleep to the hit and miss engines that ran the pump jacks

[@dennisrcole]

I worked in the oilfields in High School `1965 & '66 , I worked for Rice Engineering (Salt Water Disposal) "Cedar Tanks" mostly in Yokum County TX and around Midland/Odesa area , I lived in Hobbs NM , I just found your channel , and I am finding your content interesting and bring back memories

[@davidmunro1469]

Thank you for sharing. A person would never imagine how this was done unless they saw It and had an explanation.

[@sethpotter9592]

I love your terminology. Doohickey goes into this thingamajig.

[@Pamudder]

Your videos have great clear explanations of how these pieces of equipment work.

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks.

[@Deepakshrikhandesir]

Hi Zach 🇺🇲. Your's all videos are amezing... watching on TV... You have great Family oil's field,..... Grapes your Opportunity.. to show the world that you are from genuine Oil Refinery Producer family.. like as me.. we are , we have food oil from Sun Flowers Fields, India known for Sun flower, soya, coconut, nuts, almond, rise bran etc.,...fileld producer Farmers from India. .. 🇮🇳🇺🇲❤🇮🇳

[@WaylandTwistonDavies]

I admire your lifestyle Zach!

[@osuoiler3605]

Good video of how a free water knockout works! I used to plumb these in as a summer job during college. They really weren't common here in Oklahoma until around 2000, when local operators started drilling wells with very high saltwater production. Prior to that everyone used a gun barrel or heater treater. Appreciate the oilfield vids!

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks.

[@sarabhabib1003]

I am stepping out for gas.

[@Rocketman88002]

I love your videos Zach and there's nothing like the smell of fresh oil out in the fields around those pump jacks. New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas are full of the structures I see here in your vids. I like being around the refineries too and in Artesia New Mexico you go to sleep and wake up to the smell of money if you live close enough to one. Keep the videos coming Zach. There is more than meets the eye in oil country! We had an ole boy who welded in the Permian basin for different people. He told me about the engines they called hotheads. Interesting man to listen to. My friends roughnecked, kicked pipe and just about everything there was to do back in the 70's around a rig.

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks. I agree.

[@mikeconner3748]

Put in a bunch of wells in the Artesia area late 70's and 80's, most in the Dagger Draw area and Milnesand.

[@dajoway]

Zack your very good at at what you do! Thanks for your great videos !

[@randyfox4611]

When I was in my teens and early twenties I worked on drilling rigs both on and off shore. I worked out of McAllen texas for a year and traveled all through the Rio grand valley all the way to Laredo. All we ever thought about was drilling holes. I never ever even one time knew what happened to the well after it was drilled. Your channel is so interesting cause now I finally 45 years later see what it takes to produce the actual oil. I would see those tanks and pumps and never knew what was going on. Thanks for being a teacher. And by the way ...if you could take a compliment from an old man ...I would like to say that you are a REAL hand. I know that you know what I mean when I say that. Pass a safe day and cheers from Tennessee!

[@thedopplereffect00]

I'm amazed how this is all mechanical. I used to program industrial controls and I would have totally over engineered this.

[@TexasScout]

If I’m not mistaken your trunnion is a Kim Ray 25TOB and the valve is a 212 SOA. I’ve sold Kim Rey since 1986

[@NUTTER8291]

THAT SUX BIG BALLS !! RESPECT TO EVERY ONE THAT HELPED and everyone was ok!! on a plus note that's probably the longest journey that Forden has done in a long time !! Lol You can GUARANTEE that unit will STILL be there in 10 years time !! Coz farmers NEVER throw ANYTHING out !! Lol

[@br-fh5fc]

Enjoy your channel. I am just down the road from you. Funny how this part of the country is so recognizable.

[@daveschuetrum576]

Interesting stuff...As a young man I was stationed in the AF at Shreveport La. back in the early 80s. Oil lines and wells everywhere. I used to ride those lines and always wondered to this day how it all worked. Way back then I was Weather Observer at Barksdale AFB.

[@bantenglewat9799]

I think I found a great channel keep it up bro

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks. Thats the plan.

[@dontuno]

Thanks Zach, a most informative video. I spent 30 plus years in the valve industry and during that time supplied various oil and gas valves to onshore wells around the UK. Just love your enthusiasm and practical knowledge.

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks.

[@kek9004]

Great job on the videos i work in the oilfield in Canada 🇨🇦 i do the same things as u everyday

[@georgearnold488]

Did oil tool hot shot hauling for a few years so I find these videos fascinating and informative. Thank you!

[@TheZachLife]

Thank you.

[@theohlinsguy4649]

The spring in the oil dump valves looks just like the auto/motorcycle suspension springs I work with every day

[@michaelcerkez3895]

Zach, first time watcher. I'm a machinist and been working around machines all my life. You do a great job explaining your wells and such. Keep the videos coming. 73

[@JensSchraeder]

Love your channel. Greetings from Canada. Up here we have to use heat to separate the gas and oil. Basically its a firetube that runs inside the separator.

[@TheZachLife]

That seemed to be more common in the old days. I guess they figured out they can get away with out heating it. Also around here we don't make any gas to fire them with anyway.

[@rosewhite---]

@@TheZachLife It's curious you don't have any gas - so what happened to it all as all gas, oil and coal are organic matter buried during The Flood 4,370 years ago. Has all the methane migrated up and way through loose soils?

[@antisocialtube6159]

Love these videos so interesting, love the history behind the machines

[@demartin5366]

Another awesome video, Zach. I learn something everytime I watch these, you do such a great job explaining the whole process. Keep these oil field videos coming, always a pleasure.

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks. Thats the plan.

[@stevensaxon8888]

@@TheZachLife what is the smoke coming from in the background just behind the tanks?

[@i5sproductions]

zach, new subber here, been loving your content! Keep doing what you're doing man!!

[@hg2.]

Can't wait to watch the series! Sounds great.

[@buffhooper7417]

Many thanks. What a treat to have this explained.

[@stephransley4371]

This is such an education thanks, absolutely fascinating.

[@kh40yr]

Boost regulated fuel regulator,,like in the race car,,basically, But 7-11 Super Big Gulp sized Nasa fuel regulator, lol. Thanks Zachariah, a year later. Very cool. Hope 2024 prospers for you, with a little hep from the Big Man Upstairs!. Relatives in KY and SC. Mom grew tobacco with her siblings, Gramps had a couple wells that barely made enough to keep the lights on, but they made due.

[@johnstanley8091]

Thanks for all of your input bro and that was very educational

[@zulucharlie5244]

That was extremely interesting. Thank you for posting.

[@ripstephenhawking8787]

Being from Mississippi, we didn't have what you'd call "oil fields," compared to Texas or Oklahoma!! But there are still plenty of wells dotted all over hell and creation. Most often you'll find a well working and can't see or hear any other wells nearby... not only because... we aren't dead ass flat, we have hollers and hills.... but often just because the oil doesn't often hit like that around home. Now when I was a little boy, my daddy often took me to work with him. He was a heavy equipment operator and a mechanic. By the time I was 5 I'd sit on his lap and pull levers in the D9G for hours while he relaxed and often drank a few beers while giving me pointers and reaching what I couldn't smoothly. I had two of every Tonka ever made and needless to see I was a machinery FANATIC... If it had a motor, it was good shit in my book... And one of my strongest and best memories of growing up in 'Sip... was finding these random oil wells and hiking into wherever hell and creation, to watch them work. The best part of those memories and what sticks with me strongest, is that deliciously sweet smell the wells made. I'm telling you Zack, no lie! .... I could 9 out of 10, smell the well long before seeing or hearing it and I'd literally follow my nose till I found it. Much to the irritation of my dad or anyone else who happened to be blessed with the privilege of "supervising, " me... I'd just take off after a well like a hound on a coon. My poor dad climbed hill and Dale after me while I hunted the well. He would brag a little about my ability, and usually say he don't know why the damn boy won't sniff up just the oil! (Preferably on our land of course!) Hahaha I was a wild child, couldn't be stopped. I'd bother you crazy with begging and bouncing around! So much so that saying, "Ok fine let's go!" Was often a relief even if it was a hike. Hell I even climbed a cliff once around 4 years old, sniffing a well while we were camping on the river. By the time my folks found me and saw where I was the panic was at code red. My dad couldn't come up so talked me down off it... I was at least a good 50 feet up what must've been a 200 foot cliff. I wanted my well fix like a crack whore wants your wallet. I love ❤ every single one of your videos. You rock that Texas, George Jones hair like a champ too. I don't often see the types of pumps I most often found in Mississippi though, and I've been all over the country except the north east coast because who needs Yankees or their dirt? And I have rarely seen pumping units like the ones I'd find in the middle of nowhere. Most pumps are BORING in comparison, and they don't smell as good either! See these Mississippi wilderness wells had ENGINES! Either running off casing gas or a big tank of diesel depending on what the well made.... I'm talking like multi cylinder turbo charged engines, not a tookalook pop pop hit n miss, but a smoking, screaming, engine and the huge counter weights shaped like kidneys going around and around and the head bobbing like my ex wife, God, it truly was an addiction for a little boy like me. Just to watch her work and breathe deeply listening to the sweet sweet racket till pap said alright boy, now we're leaving now I mean it. Thanks Zach for letting me reminisce with all the videos you make. -Rex Jennings, is my name. And yes, I have some damn fine musical talent in my family. shame Waylon isn't with us anymore. My family's huge, Waylon was a Texas boy like you. God bless you buddy. Keep up the good work.

[@TheZachLife]

Pretty awesome. Thanks for watching.

[@marty0715yt]

I appreciate you showing us what and why.

[@mohammedsalahbenabdelhamid5793]

Interesting in what you show in this video because I work in oilfield with separators and tanks and I like your Chanel, good informations thank you man

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks for watching.

[@MrEric_API]

Great video. Love to see the low tech. setups. Less equipment is always a better idea of it can work. Trunion dump valve and a vessel side pressure regulator is a about as simple as it gets with an automated system. I'm sitting here talking to the screen. It's the regulator. The fod mystery is always restraining. Time to consider having a basket strainer upstream of the separator. Perhaps a check valve betwixt the h20 AST and the separator, I couldn't see one. I see a ball valve on each end of the h20 transfer line. Keep up the great videos!!!

[@TheZachLife]

I watch your video on the separator and was amazed at the complexity in comparison to what I'm used to dealing with. Ive considered a strainer in the upside of the oil dump valves but it just doesn't happen all that often. We used to run check valves on the water legs but have had two instances where the flapper wears through the rod its supported on and gets turned sideways in the check body and plugs up the line. I decided to fixed that problem so I made all of them into brass scrap. haha.

[@MrEric_API]

@@TheZachLife yes, a typical horizontal three phase separator is complicated and expensive to maintain. They are only needed on larger volume wells. Not any good reason to use them for low gas flow wells, unless the oil was high in paraffin or a high bitumen content.

[@fredygump5578]

This valve is just an enormous version of the "functional element" on a Red Jacket submersible pump common at gas stations. The functional element is used to release some line pressure when the pump turns off, and when the pump runs it allows flow through a venturi, which creates suction that can be used to prime a siphon line between tanks.

[@stovebolt448]

Thanks for the video Zach always interesting, learning something new every video.

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks

[@biggdogg285]

I just found your channel and subscribed. You are on to some interesting stuff! Thanks for sharing and doing what you do.

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks. Hope you enjoy.

[@timmer9lives]

Great video. I’ve learned a lot a no out oil wells.

[@garretr4488]

Loving these well videos!

[@TheZachLife]

Great thanks.

[@BlitzedBuddha]

New to oil field doing roustabout and relief pumping, really appreciate these videos. I enjoy the job want to learn the work. Definitely subscribing

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks.

[@mirellafalso6112]

Great video series!

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks.

[@terrydavis8451]

Awesome look into the life my friend.

[@TheZachLife]

haha hey there.

[@sosuzguy]

Enjoyed your valve servicing video

[@garrisonkarr9445]

WOW !! ... terrific explanation and video... keep 'em comin' !!

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks Thats the plan.

[@GrafRucola]

From listening to car people I know that having oil pressure is a good thing :D

[@TheZachLife]

Hahaha This it true.

[@wilfredluttmer15]

You always have water and production tanks tied together Top an bottom. In case of error. Small transfer pump or whatever. Never loose your production!

[@docr8197]

If you place the water tank input line at the top of the tank, then the diameter of the riser pipe will determine the amount of head pressure. Once full that value will remain the same reguardless of how full the tank is, eliminating any variable in the water side pressure value.

[@TheZachLife]

You are probably correct.

[@WyoWellTester]

I’ve never seen a low pressure separator pretty cool

[@Poppi2006]

I’m late to the party and am enjoying the exposure to something totally new to me. After watching the removal and installation of the many bolts on your equipment, you should invest in a cordless impact wrench. As I work my way through your videos, I’ll probably discover the reason. I’m guessing that being in a possible combustible environment would be a good reason. Stay safe.

[@OstrichWrestler]

Perhaps a stethoscope considering how much he diagnoses things through sound 🩺

[@wilco3588]

That's an interesting valve I guess it uses the static pressure coming out of the separator to keep the valve seated tightly and it has to overcome the static pressure plus the pressure you set with the adjustable spring kind of a fail safe.

[@Lucky4wd4840]

Rebuilt many Kimray PR, BP, Separator and Heater Treater Dump Valves

[@kc033056]

2 in one day awesome!! Very interesting.

[@TheZachLife]

Haha

[@hallgrimurkhallgrimsson1200]

I was not expecting a spring that big :o

[@picklerick3923]

great videos man

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks.

[@seantbr2019]

Awesome video

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks.

[@yukon4511]

Excellent!

[@TheZachLife]

We usually don't have any problems.

[@CraigArndt]

So interesting!

[@johncarlson7955]

I just subscribed, a friend shared ,,, great videos!

[@TheZachLife]

Welcome aboard!

[@mikeconner3748]

I'm pumping 63 wells here in Howard County, that country behind you looks familiar.

[@wooly5081]

Well explained mate.

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks

[@mannymayer9250]

Just found this. Liked the terminology “doohickey”. Just like I use, doodad, whatchamcallit and others. I’m curious what the steam or smoke was in the background of the water separator?

[@houstonfirefox]

Same here, I was wondering the same thing

[@TheZachLife]

So someone dumped a pickup load of pallets out there a year or so ago and I had set them on fire to get rid of them.

[@allistairneil8968]

Excellent T shirt, sir!

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks

[@geraldwegener8376]

If anyone is interested in the Kentucky and Tennessee area I have 30 years experience and excellent insights.

[@rockyandcarlos]

Put you a dab of grease on the swivel connectors on the water dump. They can get rusted and break at the worst possible times as it always goes.

[@boone7777777777]

I subscribed for the shirts alone

[@arnoldmilavilkin3506]

Good video

[@DeminicusSCA]

great vids Zach , live it , get a lepel mic so you can look all around like us okes like to do

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks, I need to.

[@angusandleigh]

...grease up the threads on that threaded pressure adjustment rod...it will keep water from seeping into the spring housing over time.

[@TheZachLife]

Not a bad idea.

[@crystalsheep1434]

Good job

[@chrisstaylor8377]

Interesting ,I would have thought that they might have a use for the salt water as it might contain other minerals

[@ooglek]

Thanks for the videos! Man, I wanna build you some solar powered webcams and monitoring systems with a cellular or RF backhaul so you can monitor all this stuff remotely!!!

[@TheZachLife]

Haha I've got some friends that have used the cellular trail cams and likes them.

[@ooglek]

@@TheZachLife You could go even farther! Get a cell modem, connect it to your own wifi device and create a wifi network at the site. Now you can add stuff like a Wyze Cam ($25), a whole slew of sensors (liquid level sensors, temperature sensors, etc) connected to a raspberry pi that connects to wifi, then build a web dashboard with all of your sites and what the acceptable levels should be. Now, as long as the data is flowing in, you know you don't have to visit the site! Find a new failure type? Add another sensor or three. There might even be some inline flow sensors that can see how much liquid is moving out from each well, or reporting on your water-to-oil ratio as an indicator of a well issue. The whole IOT world really opens things up to remote monitoring of equipment in the field. Then again, if you enjoy driving around and checking on things, I don't want to take that from you! I'm just a fan of such things so I can be lazy most of the time. 🙂

[@SF-ku2hp]

Little different than shallows wells in Pa. Most of the ones I see there is a drum about the size of a 55 gallon drum oil floats up top goes down a 2 inch pipe to the storage tank and water goes into a small pond next to the well. Use to put oil in the ponds as kids and light it up not much else to do growing up middle of nowhere young and dumb then.

[@outrun7455]

Goofy ass T shirt dawg love it 😂

[@TheZachLife]

Hahaha

[@ride4life199]

Badass video

[@mikerhodes3563]

Noticed the contents of the bed of your truck-seems like all pumpers shop at the same store -“This and That” meets all your oil field management needs-we had giant tool boxes offshore-the worst job was to empty them and clean with a steam cleaner tools and all -all in all i guess it weighed over a thousand pounds-had to use a crane to load it

[@TheZachLife]

Haha I've got it if I can find it.

[@Dmreeves1]

How do the wells know when to turn on? Here in Illinois I drive by and the wells are not on then the next day they are running.

[@brandenkemp550]

Hey Awesome video. Question could this work with a Vac truck on the inlet side of the oil water separator or would it need to constant flow like you have with your well pumps?

[@TheWittyGeek]

Why not use something like a wye strainer to prevent junk from clogging up the valve?

[@keithaldridge8780]

Howdy Zach 😂😂🍺

[@BryanTorok]

That is very interesting and actually simpler than I might have imagined. I imagined the separator to be larger and more complicated. Does the water get further treatment and used for anything or just pumped back into the ground? Does that go down the same well or a different well drilled for that purpose? How do you keep that waste water from contaminating the drinkable ground water or from just mixing with more oil and being pumped back to the surface? Lastly, at about 16:05 to 17:45 there looks to be some light gray smoke coming from behind the separator. What is the smoke coming from?

[@JohnH0130]

Saltwater/wastewater is pumped down a separate well, which can be one drilled expressly for that purpose, or could be an old played-out well repurposed for saltwater disposal. Generally the only 'treatment' it gets is the separator. A heater treater is necessary in some wells because the water and oil become emulsified and will not readily separate at normal temperature. Heating it breaks the emulsion. And I too am curious about that smoke/mist/whatever. At about 1:15, he's showing that inlet end of the separator, and no mist is visible then.

[@nickdyess581]

Thanks for the video, I haul frac sand in west Texas, and I'm always curious about the other side of things which I don't know much about. What do they do with the water that is separated? Is it pretty nasty, or can it be used for something else?

[@TheZachLife]

Its injected back into the ground.

[@raitshots]

👍

[@thomasfx3190]

Hey Zach, I stared watching you a few months back and really enjoy your videos! About your water separator, I noticed that it’s just bare steel, does it not make sense to paint gear like that to keep it from rusting a hole or bursting along a seam? Or is that just a thing that never happens in 100 years?

[@edhamilton8572]

Thanks Zach I’ve always wanted to know how that process worked. I noticed what looked like smoke coming out the back of the separator while you were turning the oil pressure valve off, was that just oil or water mist escaping from a pressure relief valve or something else?

[@TheZachLife]

It was a pile of pallets some one threw out in the county road that i set on fire to get rid of.

[@jimbob1427]

Cool video , but u could have a much smaller machine with a hammer attachment

[@robertsutton3001]

You could always skim the oil out the water tank

[@clifearls9330]

Would it be simpler to have an inverted siphon with a vent at the top to hold your head pressure? No moving parts, nothing to break, only as expensive as a few joints of pipe. The only thing would be the lightning rod sticking up in the air.

[@TheZachLife]

So I have though about this and have seen something like that thats tried to been uses on very low volume leases but it doesn't work very well. The problem is that the oil when its depressurized through the valve it turns into a oil gas foam a lot like a shaken up coke and with a column of "foam" won't build much pressure because the density is low. Also the inflow of oil to the separator ofter comes in waves and will flush the oil column out with the gas foam.

[@johndeeremanjc]

Wouldnt it be better to plumb your water dump line to the top of the water tank. Either at the top or the side at the top so that your pressure needed to dump water is always the same due to the hydrostatic being the same because all you would be dealing with is a 2" column of fluid vs a fluctuating tank level since its plumbed into the bottom of the tank?

[@TheZachLife]

Some people do .The problem is you can not let the water "fall" though the air in the tank as it has high iron content and it will make iron oxide and cause all type of trouble plugging stuff up.

[@steveloomis4086]

Watching your video on the Oklahoma Jack. Wondering if you are located around Covington OK. I know there used to be several rod operated lifts between Garber and Covington. I live close by.

[@ThumperKJFK]

😊👍👍👍😄

[@perrinpartee557]

This is great. Where is the playlist for these videos? Thanks for the content!

[@TheZachLife]

Thanks. I think you can find it on my channel page. I need to link it in the videos and always forget.

[@perrinpartee557]

@@TheZachLife I found it!

[@williamjager7289]

YOU ARE RELATIVELY YOUNG...HOW DID YOU LEARN ALL THESE THINGS ? LUV YOUR VIDEOS!

[@TheZachLife]

Haha Its the only thing I've ever done.

[@mikeconner3748]

@@TheZachLife When you own the wells you learn out of necessity. Well done Sir!

[@robertsutton3001]

So it was swamping but luckily not enough gas to be flaring

[@topiasr628]

These are super interesting videos. These old pumps really are incredible mechanical machines! What was smoking in the background of a couple shots? Example was 16:02

[@TheZachLife]

Some one dumped a pickup load of pallets out there and I was burning them.

[@Gromitdog1]

Are these your wells or just maintain them? How productive are they? How do you rate productivity of a well, quantity, quality, uptime rate?

[@TheZachLife]

They are mine. It depends, I'm actually working on a video about this.