Ok as a blender operator for Halliburton for 9 years. You need to remove that sight glass from the suction line. No matter the size it will always suck air. Which is hard on your valves and fluid end because of cavitation. (Look up videos on high pressure pump cavitation)
To H2o . Your fracking machine is a super piece of kit, your problem of water level in the discharge pipe can be very easily solved. Separate it from the suction line. Have 2 separate connections at bottom of the tank, 1feeds fracking equipment 1 is water level indicator. Regards Trevor Whalley.
Would’ve been nice to see what you achieved fracking what it was at and then what you achieved when you got done fracking how it helped. GPM 😊 thanks for sharing.
Hey just my 2c here. To stop the air getting sucked in via the site tube, remove it from the suction pipe and add a new fitting to the tank at least a few inches away from the suction. I would also carry a flat hose to connect to the drain tap and so when the tank is filling back up you could turn the drain on and put it easy on the ground or my be have a return pipe on the 2nd truck and it can refill it. But I will state that it sounded like the customer like the job, well done.
You're family should be proud of your work ethic. All is not lost. I just had a full day's work of tree trimming with a professional arborist with a 6 man crew. 2 boys about 18 on spring break were leaning and being taught by the professionals.
I love them! Cheaper than a Leatherman!!! Plus it's plastic handles, I can strip out Hot wires & never get shocked. And I have a good grasp on the handle, won't drop them. But the truth is, I've owned 10+ knives...lost them all 😆
I am a DIY who in my younger days had some experience in helping to pull well pumps from the a couple of hand pumps (65 and 80 foot wells) with the rod down the center of galvanized iron pipe with the pump at the bottom with a check valve, a replacement jet well pump with 2 galvanized iron pipes (2 pipe vises, hog gallows, block and tackle, pope wrenches) - two different sizes of pipe to jets with two black plastic lines and I know one submersible pump. The home i grew up in had first the hand pump then the jet with iron, then the jet with plastic and then the submersible from 1948 to about 1980. My dad was in industrial maintenance and we did our own repairs and installs and a lot of free work for neighbors and worked with him from about 6 years old. We wired more than a few homes and buildings and could pass electrical inspections. I have watched about 10 of your videos and will say this, you have great work ethic and care and knowledge on how to do it so it does not have to be done again within the life expectancy of the job, Kudos. I particularly liked the one because our well at home was about 70 feet, we had it drilled about 1947. somewhere about 1948 it was just not producing enough water. Remember we did not have running water, a hand pump so we were not hitting it hard. The local well driller Dan Yengst drilled the well, came back and drilled deeper and could not get much water so he fracked it, although i am sure it was not called that at the time. He put dynamite down the well and set it off, i remember 3 sticks at a time and i know it was at least 4 times because we had to go out in the shed when he did it. I imagine that is not legal now and i am sure he did not have a blaster's license. A second deeper well was drilled in the late 1980's. I look for places i can learn and your videos are great. If i were looking for a driller or well installer, you would be in the top of the list. I have one place i would be concerned, i would personally tape the clamps before taping the wires to them, I am more into electricity and would have concerns about the clamp rubbing the wire however making sure the wire is opposite the clamp screws would make me less concerned. Best to you.
In the mid80s I worked on a frac crew in NW Oklahoma doing oil well fracking. When you have 15,000-30,000 horsepower throttle up it’s amazing to hear. We were working 10,000-15,000 feet deep & 5,000-15,000 psi, it was interesting. Hard work & good pay, I enjoyed it.
You are so right about trade schools. I've been to both a local community college and a trade school. From my experience, trade schools helps you get a job a LOT faster than college and you can get certified usually under two years. Most of the time, during your first year or two in college, you're taking mostly courses that you just finished back in high school. Once you finish your first year or two in college, then you start taking courses for your major. Also, like you said at the end of the video, plumbers, electricians, and other skilled trades are going to be in huge demand in the near future.
That's a very nice pump and wire puller...I just replaced a 1 horse pump and 4 wire cable on 239 feet of the 1-1/4" black vinyl pipe...at that length, the new flat cable was almost as heavy as the new 45 pound pump. Never worked on anything involving a well before, so being the dummy, I did it all myself by hand...and being inside a wellhouse with no 'roof' access, I was lucky that pipe was flexible enough to bend a little... And after I did all that couple weeks ago...Jan-Feb 2023...then today...2-24-2023 I just found your channel and plenty of info... The place I bought the new pump and cable said they knew that area quite well...it's a hard rock ground...near an old volcano...yeah, like 2 miles...I'm actually on the old slope of it...I still don't know how deep the drilled well hole is...but at 239 pump depth...likely some more feet down.. No info anywhere of any kind...
Just an idea for your sight glass for the water level. Remove it from the suction line and make it a stand-alone sight glass on the side of the tank itself, drill two holes in the tank one at the top and one at the bottom, and plumb those with 90% elbows one end threaded that goes into the tank with rubber seals and a nut on the inside, the other end with a compression fitting, use a clear piece of acrylic tube in between the two 90% elbows and attached to the compression ends. Problem solved, you have just made yourself an Archinedie's water level it will not only tell you the exact water level in the tank, but also when the water truck is level on the ground. lol Easy Peasy lemon squeezy!
cant agree more about the trades comments. Glad I became an electrician 25 years ago when I was young. Now Im watching you work on wells trying to learn how to fix mine. Thanks for the videos.
So true,I have the same issue in Australia.No one is coming through,but they are still dying and retiring,and the young folk coming through just dont want to do the hard yards.I’m 53 and when I was learning,I learned and got licensed in,water,gas,roofing,stormwater,sewer,,mechanical,ie heating and cooling.Now the apprentices,usually dont have a clue to be able to the lot,generally they branch out and only do maybe 2 practises at best,thus there is a huge hole in the other areas of plumbing
So glad I found your channel! Very informative and interesting. I’m in upstate NY in Rensselaer County. My well was installed in 1985, is 286 feet deep and provides 55 gallon a minute at the time of drilling. I’ve learned so much from your videos from the handful I’ve watched. Preparing to binge watch! Thanks so much!
I ran frac pumps in the rockies years ago, usually broke around 6 thousand pounds of pressure and then hit gears while throttling up when in 5 seconds were pushing a huge rate of fluids and then sand and an hour later and a few frac tanks of water it was over. Rig down and off to the next well.
I did the same in the Four Corners region in the 70's, 4 to 8-10 1200 to 1600 Hp pumps, yea about 6000psi, we'd usually run for 2-3 hours or more per stage. Western Company!
Here in our area all the old timers will take a 1/4 stick of dynamite and send it down to the bottom of the well. Especially if its in rock. Then touch the lead wires to the truck battery💥. Wait about 10 sec then every body get you umbrella. No noise except when shaft of water shoot up about 50’ into the air. Works excellent and very entertaining too.
Sure glad to have seen in a previous video that you've since put a cover over that PTO shaft. That damn thing will tear your leg off in the blink of an eye!!!
If thats your dad, thats awesome. Love your knowledge and sharing it with us. Much respect. I know you guys work hard to gain your skills and time is money, so putting it up for free like this is very very respectable. Much love.
I was reading an article recently, where they discussed using dynamite to frack wells. I'm not sure why they stopped, but it seems like a solid concept.
Just bought my first house last year and I’m on a well. I’ve never had a well before and your videos have taught me so much. I’m intrigued, really interested in everything that goes into it.
That pump was from F. E. Myers in Ashland, Ohio. I worked there THREE times (69 - 73 - 79). I should have stayed and retired from there, but I had a lot of Gypsy in me I guess. Art from Ohio
I totally agree. Learning a trade has made life for me financially a breeze for the most part. Commercial/Industrial electrician for 33 years last 20 specializing in fire alarm systems. I make a ton of money and love my job.
Really impressed with your rig and all of you all interacting well together and with the customer. I’m sure your encouragement gave him some piece of mind. Great to hear how willing you are to help people. I’m in Az and with new wells going in they seem to suck someone else dry. Just subbed. Thanks
Man this guy is so informative and very good at explaining all the procedures being implemented at this job. I'm going to like and subscribe. If he's in Tennessee I'm a hire him to dig my well.
love your videos they are so relaxing to watch. You should put a multi tap on the sediment trap that way instead of collecting water in that small black tank you can reconnect the hose from the bigger water truck to refill so that the overflow issue wouldn't be a problem. With that much pressure it wouldn't be an issue pushing the water back in to the bigger tank
This was so helpful! This process is planned to be used in our community to increase water flow at one of the wells. I had never heard of this process before, but sounds like those making the decision to use it in our case may prove to be on the right track! You did a great job of explaining. Very interesting. Thanks for the valuable service that you provide and for encouraging others to consider a the trades!
The site window/tube for the tank should have a Restricter disc placed on the top. This will make it harder for the water to get drawn in to the tank since it will be held by back the air pressure lowering. You could also place the restricter at the bottom. The good thing with the restricter disc is you can re-adjust it. If it's too small the level will be too high during pumping and if it's too low it's too big. The pump is pulling in the water from the site window. The main problem is you have the window's lower port too close to the pickup. You could extend the lower port with a pipe so it goes to the other side of the tank. Or pickup the water further away.
I’m a machinist and have been one for 25 years. My daughter drives semi’s for a living and my son just graduated as a materials engineer. I am hands on , my daughter has made driving skills and my son is the smart one. I need to stop closing vocational schools and technical colleges. It’s crazy.
It's great to watch people who know what they are doing and doing it so well together. One question: do you ever blow out the well to clear the debris?
Very informative videos, on all things wells. Thank you . At the end you talked about teaching and helping get more into the trade. Besides just helping the well owners understanding what goes into a good well. Maybe think about a basic training class to put out there. Look at what this guy runs...Electric Pro Academy. please keep up the videos.
Loved the video and smashed the like button too. Thought it was really interesting and great explanation as to what to expect and why. Not many folks are interested in saying this. Anyway new subscriber here in the UK 🇬🇧. Don’t worry I won’t be needing to call you for any technical expertise.not unless our National water supplier goes dry (which would require the lakes in the Lake District to go dry!) plus all of our other various reservoirs in between. All the best for your future adventures. Phil, from Bolton, NW 🇬🇧
Frac’ing a water well is *very* different than an oil well. Oil wells are much higher pressures, depths, and casing sizes. Also oil well fracturing uses proppant (sand) injected under very high pressure pressure, so that when the pressure is relieved, the water returns,, it the sand is left behind in the fractures so that oil/gas has a path to the well bore.
Love your videos! I couldn't see the exact exposure of that spinning shaft (Drive Line?), below where you were sitting but I felt super nervous for you sitting so close to it without some guard installed. Anything from Expanded metal to a solid box would protect you. I'm from farm country and un-guarded spinning shafts have killed so many people that it makes me worried. Just my genuine concern for your safety. Keep up the great videos
Second that, any loose pant leg or shirt sleeve gets in it and if you are lucky it will rip your leg or arm off before can blink, otherwise you get flailed to death.
That is also my comment. Love these videos but that spinning shaft has me anxious. It reminds me of an episode of 'I Survived' where a maintenance man stepped onto a oil well pump jack to look something over and stepped where a protective guard was supposed to be.
You are one sharp young man. Love all your gadgets and equipment. One last thing but when you're taping the wire to the pipe are you using electrician's tape because there is a difference between chepoe tape and the good stuff. Greta video. Glad I found your channel.
Your Right! No Tradesmen, I get calls from a friend of friend of friend to come-out and do some handyman work. Simple stuff, Leaky Faucets, Toilet keeps running, and my favorite is slow water after a freeze where sediment clogs the valves and I need to replace rubber gaskets and or Builder Grade Valves (Cheap Plastic) or the frozen pipe leak. I stock up with PVC CPC Metal Fitting and length of pipes in the summer. I always have misc. plumbing parts, elec. switches, fittings etc. to get person going. Old Bike Tube and Electrical can keep you going until you can get to the store. Usually, the Chain Store sellout because the Journeyman hit it hard went winter comes around. Even the local hardware jackes the price and has limited items. Hey have every called a Rotorsewer cleaner, In my case they wanted $1000 to snake my main sewer up front.
Enjoying your videos! We have some property over in Bland County where we'll be looking for a well in a few years...looks a little far for you folks, though! But, thanks for the education!
Great vid as usual, I just wish you guys would fit a wire safety cage around that gearbox output shaft.....Like the truck though, nice bit of kit you made there
For the sight tube, put another one or two next to that one. They don't need to be transparent as long as they are the same diameter of the sight tube and connected together like manifolds.
What are you using for a proppant ? If you're supposedly fracking a vertical zone of rock that IS THE SOURCE of the water , the proppant(s) will wedge themselves into the fractures in the rock and KEEP THEM OPEN .
Unlike fracking for oil/gas, they don't use a proppant for fracking a water well. Literally all they are trying to achieve is clearing / opening existing fissures in the rock using water pressure.
Seeing it done right with your knowledge and sharing it . Much respect. I know you guys work hard to gain your skills and time is money, so putting it up for free like this is very very respectable. Watching the safety efficiency that means a Good Team . I would call you if needed. #1 Did 1st drillers ,paper work from Local government . #3 did you need also paper work . like Showing licenses . #3 How di you get trained for this Military?
Just a comment - I noticed when you were running that fracking machine there was a rotating shaft right behind you leg - if for some reason that shaft got a hold of you pants leg it's gonna tear your leg off - I think putting a cage over that opening would eliminate that possibility
Greetings from Christchurch, New Zealand ..... Just love watching your super interesting vidclips .... Just would love to See the Results and watch the Water Flow .... :-) :-) :-) Another observation .... The 'Sightglass' on the tank ..... The Bottom connection is just Too Close to the Suction Line. The Sightglass should be on the Opposite Side, as Far Away as physically possible.... Keep up the good works .... Best to You and Yours from ChCh, NZ
Yeah I think it's pretty obvious. That sight tube should not be connected to the discharge hose it should be a separate connection near the bottom of the tank. Clearly, it will draw down like a siphon. Great content 👌
I appreciate all the great information! We operate 5 wells on our farm and ranch here in Montana and several either need work or to be replaced. This information is invaluable. We have been in drought for several years and relying on wells has kept the cattle side of our operation going. The quotes around here for just drilling, no material, is $85 a foot. Really hoping at least 2 of 3 wells that need work can be improved and not replaced. What do you think about that drilling cost?
Use a wood 2x2 probe in water tanks to read water levels and remove site tube,you can put notches on the wood probes for water use. Inege probe,cement pump units use that method.
Think of it as a high pressure toilet plungers 🪠. It creates a seal & then forces water against a blockage in the vein. It blows out all the natural sediment plugged in the water veins. (It doesn't crack rock) it flushes the veins out.
At my place they did that. The packer got stuck at 50-60 feet, they could not pull it, it did not move at all. So they tried to drill trough it and it ddi not work. So they had to make a new well, all for the price of fracking. The next Christmas, the employee did not have a very big Christmas party. But now everything is just fine. And they inspect the well with a camera every time now. Since it is a very expensive of equipment, my property is worth more...
the sight tube shoudnt be at the oulet of the tank, if u drain it u are lowering the presure at he base so it doesnt matter how big is the sight tube it will always take air.
The sight tube problem is that it is plumbed into the pump line to the well, if you plumbed the sight tube so that the bottom was back into the tank and not the pump line the pump would not suck it down through the venturi effect, in the same vein or thought you also want the bottom of the sight far from the line that goes to the pump so that it has as little suction on it as possible for the most accurate reading.
3:27 I'm not understanding something what is the average water level for a 400 foot well? Also when when you say 400 foot well do you mean how far is been drilled? Have you done a 700 foot well? What would be the water level of that one?
Like the way you operate would you know who would do hydrofracking here in Texas I live in Baytown Texas and cannot find anything my water well is very slow producing 4” 280’ deep well anything would help trying to save our well instead of drilling a new one tks.
on your sight post move it to the side of tank so operator can see it and use separate ports away from discharge that way it cannot suck air when only pump input is getting water from bottom of tank the chance of air getting in is negated JMHO PS use a bypass so you can have your back flow remote dumped with a hose.