Water Bore

Who can give me some clues about a bore that has ceased working. The pump runs and while getting on in years, if its spinning and being primed, should be pulling water?

I got in the well (2.4 metres deep) with the pump half way down on a platform, and disconnected a coupling to check the non-return valve situated just above the casing. Undoing this coupling was very difficult as the pick-up pipe was turning too. I had put a rope around the pipe below the coupling in the expectation that the pump would be supporting the weight of the pipe, but this is obviously not the case. When it was finally disconnected, the pick-up pipe would not move, other than around, should I have been able to pull it up even slightly? I put a tape down the casing and hit water at around 3.6 metres.

I am right in thinking that the pick-up pipe is bogged with fines or mud? What is the design of the lower part of the pick-up pipe usually, is it a series of slots in the pipe? Should it be sitting in dirt or in a cavity of some sort?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks
Chris

Chris

It sounds like your well is silting up and if the pickup is sitting in the silt it wont suck water.

G'day Chris,
Bazza is right on the money, and I've attached a drawing of a simple remedy that we use here.

Thanks Bazza and Noel, you are confirming what I suspect to be the case.

Noel's diagram shows how it should be down there, but I am not keen on getting someone in to reconstruct the entire thing unless there is no alternative.

Would running water down the casing or the pick-up pipe clear it, or would real pressure be needed? Even if it did work, would this be only a short term fix and a waste of tap water?

I had a small spear in sand when I lived in Townsville. To unsilt the spear I borrowed a flapper valve pump. It was a piece of 3'' gal pipe about a metre long. A rope was tied to the 'top' end to lower and retrieve. On the 'bottom' of the pipe was a hinged flapper piece of tin/leather that swung back into the pipe when it hit the silt. The pipe was raised and lowered several times so that silt entered the pipe but could not escape because of the flapper vale only swings one way - up. The pipe is then raised emptied and repeated as often as necessary to remove the silt. Tedious but effective and cheap.