Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

This is an old well on my place I purchased about a year ago that I'd like to get going again. I attempted to pull the sucker rod to check it all out but I found that the rod was broken down inside the well. I pulled up a piece of the rod...I'll post pictures. It looks like the well is a larger diameter than the liner that the sucker rod is in but I'm not positive. I don't know much about wells/windmills/pumps so that's why I'm here! After reading some of the topics and posts, there is a wealth of knowledge here so I look forward to getting some education and direction.

Thanks,

Josh

What I would do first, is take a mirror and reflect the sun down the well and see what you have. If you see a bunch of tree roots, don't be surprised. If you see water, fine. If you see the top of the jetrod fine. That tree could be a major issue. We keep a mirror on the truck just for such things. Beats the heck out of a flashlight.

Thanks for the tip. I have looked down into the well and see water. I have placed a 1 1/2” pvc pipe inside down about 10’-12’ or so. It seems clear down that far anyway.

Sounds like a good start, but one step at a time , it will be rather slow. When you put the pipe down, is that the distance it went then hit an obstruction? If you 'fish' it around, does it go farther down? With the rotted wood rod, You wiil likely need to make some kind of an 'overshot' tool to hopefully snag onto what's left. I would not hope to grab onto the wood part of the rod, I would probably make a tool long enough to overshot the rod down to the next joint, which would be metal, mabe a stronger grabbing point. You can figure that all the wood will be very weak. We can get into a possible construction of the tool later. I think it best to figure out where the top of what's left in the well actually is. you can glue a cap on the pvc to touchdown on the top of the old rod in the well, to get an acurate measurment.

Your side view pic of the top of the well casing is almost good enough to say that this a traditional setup of a 5 or 6" well casing with 2" drop pipe and wood rod. Those 2 pieces of plate under the T support the drop pipe on the casing top. If that is the type setup it is, the water in the drop pipe could just mean that there was water when it quit pumping and the pipe has no leaks and one of the checks in the pump is holding. That T is a very old style so it could be a very old setup. There were some older setups with large cylinders on 2" pipe that you could not pull all the rod out without pulling pipe. The wood rod was uniform 21' sticks that you pulled with the pipe and rod same as current 1.25 pipe & 7/16 rod.

Since you have no idea why it was no longer being used ? Or the condition of the pipe, rod & cylinder?

If it is a traditional style setup, I would screw a 6 or 12" long 2" nipple in to the top of the T with a 2" cap on it (known as a pull collar). Using some very secure method attach to the pull collar, pick up the drop pipe string using a loader or tripod with come along high enough to determine if there is water in the well. Those plates under the T will be loose when you pick up so need to keep them up to the T so you can see or measure to the water inside the casing. If you have water in the well, there is no indication of what the production could be. Unused wells can have significant static water depth even with very low yield. This would be when you would have a 2 line pump hoist rig pull the pipe out and clean and production test the well with a bailer. 2" pipe weighs 84# per stick so pulling all the pipe and cleaning the well falls out of the DIY realm.

Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO

Thanks Ron. Very informative.

I looked at the pics again and picked up something I missed the first time. There appears to be in the lower level concrete at grade the end of a barrel? Not sure why but could be a dug well under or a well that had a pit and was filled around? Just be careful of that. Never saw anything like that and don't know what to make of it since it is mostly covered by the other concrete. Be careful around it

Don't want to sound like doom & gloom but we haven't seen a good resurrection rate on old abandoned wells. They are usually abandoned for a reason and then there is the other factors of falling aquifer levels and mineralization on steel cased wells. Good luck!

That sure in nice river aggregate in that lower concrete

Ron

Josh,

Contact Mark Welch in Benbrook, Tx and he can guide you to a local well company in your area. Mark is a licensed pump installer/windmiller and works with some well guys.

https://second-wind-windmill-services.business.site/