Plumbers-point removal

crikker · #1 09-24-2010, 05:21 PM

Here I am on a bass site asking a plumbing question. Has anyone here removed a well point? Mine is plugging up. It's in my basement. I'm going to try tomorrow and I'll take any advice. I'm planning on using a hi-lift jack and wrap chain around the pipe and bring it up. When I get it high enough, I'll secure the pipe and sawzall a section off then bring more up, etc. I was going to try to make a lift off of the floor joists but there isn't a good section above to lift off of.

bassteban · #2 09-24-2010, 05:43 PM

If there's ANY chance of explosive sewage, please video

Bob Lee (QSC) · #3 09-25-2010, 11:25 AM

I helped my dad do that in our basement back when I was maybe around 10.

IIRC, we used an automotive bottle jack on the horizontal pipe right next to the elbow. The jack had a large notched cradle at the top so the pipe didn't slip off. We lifted it up to the jack's limits, lowered the jack and put blocks underneath, and then jacked it up more. When the pipe got up high enough we removed a vertical section and threaded the elbow onto the end of the next one. The basement floor was cement, so it was a very firm surface to push against.

The point was around 15 feet down, or so. It took several hours to pull up. But there was less friction the further up it went. It seemed alomst immovable at first.

Driving the new point down involved using the jack to push against the joists above.

The high-lift jack and wrap chain sounds like a superior technique.

crikker · #4 09-26-2010, 08:15 AM

Bob Lee, do you remember if the bottle jack cradle was a home mader or store bought? The hi-lift was a fail. Between two of us, we couldn't keep the top from tipping forward. I didn't want the bottom to kick out and rip up our legs. I couldn't get straight enough over the pipe. Back to the drawing board. I'm thinking of rigging a com-a-long off the joists and try that way. Set a steel rod across a couple 2x4s then support those with 4x4s.

Bob Lee (QSC) · #5 09-27-2010, 10:34 AM

The cradle on the top of the jack was built-in, and actually similar to what you find on most floor jacks. It was a pretty large, heavy duty jack. This was some 40 years ago, and I don't know where or if you can still find one like that one.

Maybe you might consider using two jacks, one on each side, and attach the chain to a steel bar bridged across the tops. Then either extend them simultaneously or alternating little by little.

If you use a comalong hoist off the joists, I'd suggest that you use at least four or five joists to distribute the load, and if possible brace them against the floor as well with some floor jacks.

crikker · #6 10-13-2010, 07:49 PM

Update.

Used the comealong off of the joists supported by 4x4s. Worked very well. Slow at hell at first but as the point came up, it went faster. Took longer to re-rig everything than to pull the 5 feet up everytime. The point was 28' total counting the point (3 ft). Went in good except the last five feet and that was hard to drive in but it went. Need to rebuild the pump and I'm back in business.