Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

The first well we drilled on the property only showed small amounts of water (2-3 GPM) so we abandoned that well at 140 feet and moved to another spot. Of course, when my wife saw a windmill for sale, she immediately said we could install it over that well. It was the hardest job I have tackled during our 37 years on the property. We broke the windmill in half; transported it to the property and proceeded to reassemble the lower half onto the upper. Everything went great and for the past 30 years the mill has performed well. BUT............ as a novice who had just moved from the city, we DID NOT case the well.

Fast forward 30 years. The well stopped producing about 2 months ago. Pulled the rod and plunger and changed the cups. Nothing!! And after 2 more tough pulls the rod/plunger is stuck 6-8 inched above the lower check valve. My best thought is that the granite, through which the well was drilled, has built up an iron-filled sludge that is holding the plunger tight. Before I call the guys with the crane, I am wondering if you think I could case the well after the 2" pipe and 3/8" rod is pulled.

I appreciate your experience and thoughts. Sadly, there are few windmills and fewer "windmill gurus" in my area of Southern California.

New leathers may well indeed fit tight, and if they catch on something will tough to pull. What size is the well bore? How deep is the static water level? How deep is the well drilled?

The only experience I have with non cased wells, is driving sandpoints. Although we have re-cased wells that had a bad or rusted casing, using pvc smaller than the inside of the existiing casing.

If you can get your pipe and rods out, you might recase it. But if your rods and plunger is stuck inside your 2" water pipe, then pull the entire pipestring and see what's binding up on your plunger.

I'm just thinking at the moment. I may be wrong on the situation.

Thanks Bob. The well bore is 6 inches; 140 feet deep; not sure of the static water level as the pipe is always full to the top.
I have decided that I have to pull the pipe string and plunger so we can see what is going on in the well.

Im curious where you place the 2" x 20' pipes after they are pulled. It would seem to need a 60 foot crane to take the pipes out of the 40 foot tower structure. Appreciate your experience on that.

After the bore is empty, I thought I would case the well with PVC pipe and surround the case pipe with pea gravel to filter the water in the future. When I reinstall the pipe string, is galvanized steel still the pipe of choice and is 3/8 inch steel jet rod the materials you use on today's pump installations? Thanks for your thoughts.

This is where it gets tricky. A 6 inch bore may take a 5 inch sch 40 or sch 80 pvc pipe, but how much room for gravel is probably not much. Another issue is where should the perforations be? You can buy perforated pvc well pipe, but i don't know where you would put it, other than the last 3 or 4 joints and hope for the best. The bottom of the wellpipe should probably be open also. I am NOT a well driller, nor do I know where the water table is in your area. I would check with anyone that has any experience with wells and water tables in your area.

Steel galvanized pipe comes in 21 ft joints. So does steel galvanized jetrod ( sucker rod) We use the 7/16 size, 3/8 is outdated around here. PVC comes in 20 ft, not 21 , at least here. You can rig a pulley system, or use a chain hoist to lift pipes out of the well. Use pipe dogs, pipe clamps, clevises or anything that holds pipe and holds pipe good. You need to have someone help that knows whats going on with pulling wells, don't try it yourself. If you drop a string of pipe down the well, you are most likely screwed at that point. Pull and separate pipes one at a time, and depending on the tower height and configuration, and pull them up into (and / or) out of the top part of the tower. Once they are separated, you can maybe lift and angle them out the lower part of the tower.

These are general instances of well pulling. Yours IS different. We do this all the time, in this part of the country. Every part of the country is different. Know what you are getting into, before diving in head first.

Thomas , take heed from the guys who have been there done that , they know this stuff !

Thanks Guys for sharing your experience and thoughts. I was never going to try and pull the pipe string but wanted to have the knowledge before I hire the folks with the crane. My local guys work pretty exclusively on electric pumps as there are not many working windmills in the area. I might post again when the bore hole is free of pipe and rod.

Just to throw this out here, the monitoring wells like they put around gas stations for looking for pollution are usually 4 inch casing, depending on your states code, closed cell pvc sewer pipe might be legal, that is what most monitoring wells use. You will have to set up a slitting saw to perforate it but you could get a smaller casing and use a small cylinder. I have seen wells that had a rock hang out and block a 5 inch casing so they can squeek a 4 inch down for a pump jack or windmill. They do have small submersibles for 4 inch but they often don't go very deep. I drill all 12 inch or bigger holes so I get lots of gravel pack as its mostly sugar sand here, where you buy your gravel, you need to make sure they understand it is for well pack so you need to figure out what people local use for your formation type and get the same thing. When setting the casing you will need to flood the well and hoist it up straight and let gravel trickle down, dumping it will push the casing and give you a crooked bore and then your will have a problem with your cylinder sticking. You need to hoist it up while flooded to keep it straight, also, when going down, make sure your glue is fresh and short screws that do not go all the way through is always good insurance. Most localities make it a rule that you cap the bottom of the casing but people seldom do but I wouldn't want to advise you to break code.

I missed this post from awhile back and am curious how you made out?

Casing a well could be considered optional in certain formations and also dependent on your state's water well requirements. Formations of good sandstone or granite in a borehole wouldnt require casing for structural reasons. Perforated casings wont eliminate sediment getting in to a well.

If you find you have sediment buildup, it can be cleaned with a bailer and a pump hoist rig. If you havent figured out already, pulling and stacking 2" pipe in a tower doesnt make sense and taking side girts and X braces off to tail pipe out doesnt do it either. When you need to do service work on the well itself, it is easiest to just lay the mill and tower out of the way.

If you found that the well is no longer producing, there are water well fracing equipment that can be utilized. Fracing can be done in sandstone and granite. The casing has to be removed but you have none. Basics are a drop pipe with an inflatable bladder is inserted in the well to the water bearing zone. High pressure lower volume water is done first followed by higher volume lower pressure water. Theory is the first opens up the water bearing seams and the second flushes it. It takes specialized equipment to do this. Of course, you could search on youtube for the redneck dry ice method...

Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO

I'm embarrassed to report that the well was, in fact, cased with 4" PVC. The cylinder was set in 1989 and the following 33 years have erased all memory of that installation. In 1989 the static water level was 25 feet and after pulling the rod and 2" pipe, the pump contractor sounded the static level at 95 feet. The 6" bore hole is 141 feet deep. The cylinder was set at 126 feet.

Ron ended his note with a comment about "redneck dry ice" fracking. I have looked at a couple of YouTube videos, but have yet to see one that indicates success. The drought in the west is no secret so I am not optimistic that we will see heavy rains in the near future.

Any comments from the group on dry ice fracking would be appreciated.