I need some help, and I'm hoping the all-knowing OB can provide it.

I have a well out at my house that I believe is 450' deep. I just had my pump get burned out as it was sitting 10' deep in silt- so I am thinking that the well needs to be cleaned out. Here's the rub- my dad had this well drilled about 35-40 years ago and it has a 6" metal casing. Is this even a viable option?

When we pulled the pump out of the ground it appears that there was about 10-15' of water above it. Is that enough coverage for the pump?

I am in the NW San Antonio area. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'd call a slickline company. They'd be able to do it for sure. A slickline truck could come, run in with a bailer, and bail out your 10' of silt pretty darn quickly. Depending on how many runs it takes them, you might be able to get it done for a grand or two.

Edit: Can't really comment on the water height above the pump. Was it sitting at the bottom of your well, or was it set higher up?

[This message has been edited by Georgia_Ag (edited 3/7/2013 12:23p).]

Thanks for the info GeorgiaAg- now I just need to find someone who has a slickline rig...and isn't working in the EagleFord so I can actually get them out there.

Regarding the depth of the well: I really don't know exactly how deep it is. my father had it drilled about 35-40 years ago, and we've had a house fire since he passed making the likelihood of finding any kind of record minuscule at best.

I have some calls in to well drillers here in the SA area and am currently waiting on call backs, but one company said that they were concerned that the casing wouldn't hold up to a cleanout. I REALLY don't want to re-case the bloody thing, but if it needs it...I guess I'll be selling plasma and maybe fathering a firstborn to sell.

If you have that much silt for a well that young I would be concerned you have a screen failure, in which case you are in trouble. I've never heard of anyone recasing a well!?? Well casing is essentially cemented in and if you attempt to remove could cause the well to cave in. We had our irrigation well jetted to clean out some sand and build up on the casing but that is expensive. You could try raising your bowl but depending on how much water you use could have significant draw down and start sucking air which will burn out your motor…

I agree with the above post. You shouldn't have silt or sand in the well to that degree. If you do, and its an older well with PVC screen, its probably shot. See if its salvageable and if so, go with stainless next time and youll be good to go.

Someone worried that steel casing wouldn't stand up to a cleanout? Horse manure. Hundreds of thousands of wells in the Panhandle disagree.

If the well is that old and deep, I'd suspect the "perforation" is torch cuts in the steel casing. I'd bet you could bail it out, maybe chemically treat to remove rust/scale/algae and be fine.

quote:

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I just had my pump get burned out as it was sitting 10' deep in silt

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What concerns me about this is that is a lot! especially if it is "silt" wells should be screened or slotted in water sands. Thats what is leading me to believe there is a hole in the casing somewhere. I would prolly have the well company come out and drop a camera down the hole all the way to the bottom. It usually costs us about $1000 to do it on one of our 10" irrigation wells thats 300 ft deep. It can tell you if there is true damage to the casing somewhere

Steel casing can and does rust out in the trinity nw of san antonio from time to time. I have seen video logs of wells where it has happened on camp bullis. Not at all surprised if drillers are worried about possible failure under jetting if you have that much silt. Running a video or caliper log might tell you real quick if you have a screen or casing failure before you spend too much more trying to clean it out.

[This message has been edited by txags92 (edited 3/7/2013 8:11p).]

[This message has been edited by txags92 (edited 3/7/2013 10:26p).]

JB, it may be possible to have the well "blown" with air to circulate out the sludge and see if it begins to flow clean water. A water well drilling/service company can certainly handle the job and will know what to do.

Depending how far gone the corrosion is, you should be able to jet the wells out, bare minimum bailing the well out. But if the casing is still good, jettng the well out, brushing the casing, and using a acid (I can't remember the name) to clean the casing, the well will be like new.

I would offer you the contact info for my brother but he's up in the panhandle an that's would be very expensive.

AgySkeet - are you from the Lubbock area? The "jetting" of the wells was an idea that my uncle and father modified and, as far as we know, they were the first ones to use to clean out old water wells. As far as we can tell, they also coined the term "jetting". My brother runs the business and they still do it. But we've always wonder how far out its been used. The Mennonites around Seminole stole the idea an now everyone "Jetts" wells out. Damn Mennonites.

No I was born and raised in the rice country of Wharton County. We didnt buy river water and irrigate everything with groundwater so I've been around big water wells for a while. I remember the word jetting from back in the early '90s. When I worked for a groundwater district in grad school they would take logs from jetting new wells to determine pumping capacity. Jetting of wells has really increased in oil/gas production for well drilling. Last couple of locations i visited they were using jetting pumps to make the drilling mud.

For as long as I can remember and that is a long time, after drilling a water well most drillers run a "jet" string of 1" or so pipe down into the well (either roll pipe or pvc) hook to an air compressor 160cfm or better and turn the air on. May have to move the jet string up and down to get the well to unload and then lower the string slowly to the bottom and it will clean the well out and when the water cleans up which it should you should be ready to put a pump and go. Any water well company should be able to do this for you and for not too much money.
We have pumped water for rig and stock tanks like this for years.