Well problem, day 3

Progress on the well, but not done yet.  Curt wasn't able to come over to help until after 6 pm.  That worked out well as Wyatt was home from work and able to help too.

Rather than lowering the pipe in order to cut the pump off it and then the pipe in pieces, I wanted to try lifting the pipe out of the well.  I repositioned the tractor's bucket so both the top and bottom of the bucket touched the pipe.  Then I really wrapped the chain around the pipe both at the top and bottom of the bucket. 

Curt added a rope higher up the pipe.  This rope would be used to pull the pump upright/backwards if it began to tip towards the power lines.  We also had the come-along still attached to the pipe to prevent any slippage down through the chains.

Wyatt then operated the tractor.  Curt held the rope.  I watched the pipe come out of the metal casing, then the concrete casing and then helped guide it out of the shed.

The pipe and pump were pretty stable.  I held the bottom of the pipe to prevent it from tipping sideways.  Even so with the chain at the top and bottom the sideways tipping only could go so far.  And that made lowering the pump to the ground tricky as the best way was to the side.

Wyatt positioned the bucket close to the ground and then with a tilt so that the pipe and pump were closer to the ground.  Well away from the power lines Curt released the rope.  He then removed the come-along.  Then we worked on removing the chains.  And with a short drop the pump and pipe were on the ground.

Ta-da!

I could see the problem.  There was a visible hole in one pipe where it had rusted through.  Maybe there were even more holes under the rusty gunk.

With the pipes no good I decided to also not save the pump.  Besides it looked to be a nightmare to remove the pipes from the pumps due to the rust.  And in the future if I ever wanted to remove the pipes or pump, having the pump on top makes the job difficult.

Hopefully Kyle, my well and pump guy, will come tomorrow with new pipe and a submersible pump.

I was able to measure the well's depth. The static water level is 8 and 1/2 ft deep.    The metal casing is 19 ft 8 inches deep.  The concrete casing is 10 feet deep.  I guess that when they first had a well they hand dug it to the 10 ft level and then placed the concrete rings in the ground.  Later they realized they needed a deeper and more modern well and were able to pay a well driller to push a casing into the ground.

I found out what the third pipe was for... it had a small "hook" on the bottom and fit into the faucet handle and was used to open and close it.  Why?  That it don't know.  I'll ask Kyle.

The now 'empty' pump house.