Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Water Well Derrick / Windmill Tower

Busted lift pipe again, on my irrigation pump,....damn thing took off the end of a finger last Sunday AM,
Link: http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/11145821/Vet_Medicine#Post11145821

The LOW, built on the fly, provisional setup I've been using to pull that pump just wasn't going to cut it, in terms of dealing with current challenge. A proper tower is going to be needed.
So, last Sunday evening......

Materials hauled in, and gear laid out for an early start


Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday were pretty short, in terms of this project, ...I was helping neighbors with kidding, and spent a lot of time lining out new lift pipe couplings, and vetting this dumb, shortened finger. Got in good afternoon shifts in CRAZY wind,...




Got busy enough that I just quit taking pictures, the two "sides" were superimposed on one another, and than the gantry used to lift spread em' to a finished 8.5*. Transverse and base all welded off ( enough to hold it together.) Thursday just vanished in a storm of fussy details. This (currently) 22" tower will be "finished" where it stands, prior to lifting it onto a 8' High structural steel well house. My Neighbor brought his bigger machine over Thursday evening, and in a howling Sonora Chihuahua gale we used the forks on his and my smaller machine to tote it out, and jockey it upright. It was carried to the pad on the bigger machine's forks.




TBC

Just finished hanging a nice old Aluminum bodied 1 Ton Coffing Chain Fall







There's a few lift pipe and sucker rod handling tools to noodle out , and than craft up,....and I'll be ready to pull this problem plagued system, and fix it for once and for all,....something the "engineer" that built it has thus far failed to do.

Once this tower gets some more reinforcement ( Transverse bracing ), and is lifted another 8 feet, I'll be able to pull either the 1" string downhole sucker rod solar pump, or the conventional 1 1/4" 220VAC Gruenfos. Getting the tower RIGHT, and hell for stout is all about later coming in with a home built rotary table, and using old school mud rotary, and Kelly bar technique to deepen (4"below the existing 6"), service, re screen and rejuvenate this very good well. Gota do this myself,....bringing in a well service company is cost prohibitive, and saving to buy some Aloe Vera plants, I have to pinch every penny.

Well that's pretty spiffy!

Bob, one side / minor objective here is to see a sign out in my lane reading, CAUTION FRACKING IN PROGRESS.
We're than going to put a smoke generator up, and play LOUD rig noises,...a small gearmotor will turn a mocked up kelly, and we'll flare the thing occasionally.
That should keep some of my "greeny" neighbors wondering.

Kidding aside,....I've lucked onto a small cache of schedule 10 3" fire main ( 3" being the OD). The stuff sings like Freya's sword,....GOOD and pretty old American ASTM spec.
Welds and cuts beautifully, and is PLENTY strong enough for the light work I want to do,...4" is the minimum that I'll consider dropping below the existing bottom, and with any luck I may well be able to get away with 5".

We're hinging it, so's to be able to lower it out of the way should bringing in a pump rig or a service rig be required.

GTC

Nice!

Looks quite a bit stouter than my pressed out, galvanized windmill tower...

Barry, there's a pretty interesting old character over my way that pretty much grew up in the windmill well game, his grandson now running the pump service company, while he tinkers, and hangs out on his fine little ranch. He's been a GREAT mentor and coach, and we have an awful lotta' fun noodling out problems and inventing stuff.
We were just discussing the lighter gauge towers, and how it's a fairly risky proposition to use em' for pulling a heavier string. Absolute BASTIDS to climb and try and sit on, too.

Today's quorum decided that 8' will be the height of the base
"Box / Well House,....yielding a 30' (above grade) finished installation. I've got an old Garwood winch off my duece and a half, and am looking at converting it into a little rotary table, so's to deepen my existing bore hole, and put in a new screen.
Old stock tank for a mud tank,a half decent swivel, and off to the races.

GTC

My friend, you continually impress me with your knowledge and skills!

Ed

And with only 9.5 fingers.

What are you irrigating? I don't recognize those trees.

One more question, what are you going to use to set the nacelle?

We can't tell you.

You'd have to drive out west to find the answer.

Wish that I was physically able to help you. I do have a little experience with water wells. I also used to be quite good at fetching things. miles

The bodily excrement hits the turbine today.
See, I've had ongoing problem's with Simple Pump's lift pipe.
Started off with their original sched 80 1" ....9' sticks glued coupler one end. The damn things failed,...I'll not go into the gory details,...So, at some expense (and after a fishing episode induced by a failed glue joint,) that lift pipe string was replaced with SP's latest greatest "Formed Bell End" sched 120. Repeated repairs to THOSE joints have been required.

This AM, the entire string is hanging in the hole suspended from 5/16" fiberglass sucker rod, a joint having not only failed and induced downhole leakage, but rather SEPARATED entirely. Failure of one of the epoxy / methacrylate bonded joints in that S-rod spell catastrphe,...e.g. another fishing episode.

Spent yesterday building tools to GENTLY clamp that fiberglas Vicegrip Chain Tongs, Delrin, Plastic Welder, Mechanic's wire,....etc. I'll get a few photos later.
Worked over the swivel on the Coffing Fall, and cobbled up a 13 Lb. headache ball. Will have an aux single block, and another 4 part block to hold things during a breakout that I STILL have not quite got planned, and one that's going to pretty much happen in progress,....tool and tackle wise. It IS nice having the shop right across the yard, in that respect.

I'm not doing anything'till I get at least 1/2 a pot of coffee under my belt.

GTC

Friend's have a variety of pickers, manlifts, pole trucks and cranes.
I'm hoping to have my homebuilt spooled up out of light enough components to be able to ass. the thing topside.
Won't be running a conventional setup, should have titled thread "Water Well Drrick / Wind GENERATOR Tower.\.
The "Flange" topside is 1/2 of one of center of one of those big old Sat TV antennas, and it's companion flange is sitting in the shop, awaiting a swivel mounted 90 * spur gear drive. The drives horiz shaft will carry a smallish turbine, and via a helical flex couplings, the vert. pillow block supported shaft will drive down to just above roof level of the well house. If the right C.V. setup can be figured out, the shaft will parallel right along one of the tower legs, clear of the well service tackle. At lower level suitable gearing will be driving scavenged / salvaged Leese Neville 24VDC Piggyback Alternators off Mil. Vehicles,.....more zots to dump into the LCB bank. I've got lots of aluminum tubing in stock,....the whole generator drive system will be built with the emphasis on LIGHT.


GTC

You better mean it, I'm the kind of guy that'll show up on your doorstep with a tree identification guide and a Labrador Retriever.

Hum, centering that shaft through your tower legs would be a bit of a bugger, especially if you can just weld pillow block perches on one of the legs and run parallel to the leg tube with minimal shimming. The angles don't seem too severe for off the shelf universal joints, are they? I love this stuff thanks for sharing.

What are you using for a gearbox, something from Surplus Center?

This sucks!

Vertical is relative, and going straight down center would trash the well's servicability ease
The shafts WILL hug / parallel one of the legs,....no U joints, HELICAL SHAFT COUPLERS are WAY better for this kinda application.

A gearbox will be scavenged from some CNC machine going off to scrap.
Unbelievable just how frequently that occurs.

GTC

Apples?

Well, taking the time to sort out the problem and have the right clamping and dogging gear ducks in a row sure made the actual task of pulling this pump a breeze.

Once it warmed, I stayed with it, and the entire stunt went pretty fast. Stopped and shot thes pics at Lift pipe #8, the bottom of which hangs @ about 74 feet.
The next two pics are what I found there



Yesterday a really nice old set of foundry tongs gave their life to the cause, and became a dog for the sucker rods, which worked FLAWLESSLY, today. Kinda' rough lookin, but the reinforced Delrin was "firm yet gentle".



UPS dropped off 30 Merchant couplings a while ago, they're soaking in strong "Purple Power" degreaser overnight, and will be welded into double lengths, allowing me to chitcan the bell ends, and thread all of the string with male ends,...OALs should come out just about right.

GTC

Little long stringy looking ones.

Lousy flavor