Residential Water Well Sabotage! Someone intentionally tried to Ruin this Well! I try to save it. 

Truly the unspoken heros we didnt know we needed! Thank you good sir for your impeccable service to the community.

Less than two minutes into this video I already like this guy

Its always nice to see someone willing to take a shot at the difficult jobs no one else want to attempt.

Appears that they just didn't try to ruin the well but were quite successful at the endeavor.

I’m in New England, I bought a foreclosure in Ct, beautiful house, 3 car garage, 5 bedroom, etc, BUT the foreclosured owner was apparently pissed, so the first thing we saw was a one year old Ford F 350, backed into the garage, severing 2 support beams in the garage holding up 3 stories, then after a well inspection it was determined that the well was full of all kinds of rocks, bricks, wood, etc, 400 ft well. So we bought the house, immediately supported the busted garage beams, pulled his truck out, boarded up the house and had a new well drilled, 426’ 13 gal p min, I brought my camper, dogs and guns there. We did a septic tank inspection and apparently he was to stupid to sabotage that, thank god. Afterwards we found out the guy was sent to prison. For other things, lol

I had a wildfire burn my property including the well head. Melted the plastic casing off. I tapconned a cover over the top till I got the property cleaned up. When I finally got someone out there to fish the pump off the bottom it was a real problem. The top of the well had fell down and was wedged in the casing. It was a 200 ft well with the burned off top of the well pipe at about the 120 ft level. Ten feet above the water level. Damn. Thankfully my driller was determined. He had been fishing dozens of these burned out wells since it was a huge fire… 1700 homes burned. Hundreds of wells were damaged. He had about dozen different tools. Finally he was able to grasp the brass fittings that had been on top of the well and burned into it. Grabbing the old pipe was easy after that. Pulled up the brand new pump that I just installed a month before the fire, added some pipe and replaced all the above ground equipment. He saved me tens of thousands plus many months waiting until his drilling rig was available. So I would tell you to not give up… there are many different tools available including the pipe spears that you can try. Maybe it was being from Texas - he had all kinds of fishing gear inspired by the oil drillers. They drop drill stem weighing a million pounds and ten thousand feet deap and rescue the well.

I know you were disappointed. I was too, but I also feel you gave it all you could, given the risks your advice to the gentleman was spot on. Thanks for showing us what you do to clean a well. I'm about to go down that same road with my own foreclosed property purchase. Your techniques will help me, thank you.

We had a vaguely similar thing done to us about thirty years ago. We had evicted somebody and they came back to do various kinds of sabotage. One of the problems we had after they left was that I couldn't clear the shower drain with a snake. I had noticed a mirror was missing when we entered the unit. I just thought they stole it, Eventually I connected the missing mirror with the weird clog. I used a wet dry vacuum to suck out the water in the trap and up came the mirror in bits. I learned later that they were seeking vengeance on us because we had thrown their stuff away, but we hadn't thrown it away, we had just taken their stuff out of their unit and stored it. I always kept the tenant's stuff they left behind way longer than I was required to. 30 years later when we sold the apartment building I could still see evidence of the damage they had done to their unit.

When you first dropped that grappling hook down the well, and I heard that clank, like it was hitting stone or concrete, my heart sank. I was like "Don't tell me they were so hateful that they dumped large rocks or concrete down that well to permanently plug it up, just so no one else could ever use it". To me, that's a level of vandalism that should warrant jail time, plus forcing them to pay for drilling a new well for the owner. That's just a level of meanness that I don't have the words to describe. That's almost on a level with what the Romans did to some of their enemies back during the times of the Roman Empire. If they conquered an enemy and didn't keep the land for themselves, to keep their enemies from recovering and living on that land again, they would "salt the earth" so that the land was worthless for growing crops, and literally poison the wells so the water was unfit for human consumption and livestock.

I was in the water industry for over 30 yrs and I used a mirror to light up things. The mirror was on plywood and the cover folded back over to protect it. Worked great!!!

On much shorter pipes, I've had good luck with a shop vacuum to capture lighter stuff. If it's steel, perhaps a fishing magnet would be of use.

I had a similar experience with a well attempt recovery after the homeowner ran over his well snapping off the pitless adapter. The well filled with sand and gravel that packed the submersible pump and locked it into the casing that was 4 inch PvC. The pump would move down when pushed but would not come up. The pump was suspended on 1 inch poly pipe. I was able to luckily separate the poly pipe from the top of the pump and push the pump down into the screen that was at a depth of 120 feet. Static water was at 30 feet. Luckily the wires at the old pump came apart at the splicing at the pump. After replacing the pitless adapter we installed a new 1hp F&W pump and were able to provide 20 gpm back into the residence. Spending a whole day and wondering if it was really worth it.

Note to self: If buying properly or not home with well water check the well to make sure it's in working order before deciding to buy.

Just a future idea... Some kind of rod with a tiny hole in the middle, that hold a inflatable rubber and a tiny tube that goes up to fill that rubber with. So you could try to reach under it and put air and pull it up.

Thanks so much for sharing this video. First for your willingness to try to help this man, but also for being willing to show that even the best of intentions don't always give us the results we want. Even still, this was a learning experience for all of us watching. Thanks again!

Time is money. You hit solid rock or cement. Customer does service work judging by his truck. Punch new well. Do water test. Your a good man attempting to save the day. Enjoy your videos keep it up.

Thank you for your willingness to help the owner out. Good video. You may want to get a 250 CFM air compressor and blow the debris out. The clanking sounds like they dropped rocks down there.

If a rig could get over that hole, I would run 1' steel pipe and try blowing air, and if that didn't work, circulating mud while trying to push it through the blockage. Here in CA a new well costs so much that we have had to do stuff like that and its still 1/3 of the cost of a new well in many cases

You need to make a clam like a posthole digger with two cables, one to lift and one to close the clam. It needs to fit the pipe snugly then be able to close and lift. good luck.

Yup he’s definitely a solid guy, it’s refreshing. I’ve been watching several of his videos, and he always tries to do the right thing..

This is a well someone “closed” for good reason like non payment of services/drilling. Glad you walked away cuz that job is sketchy to say the least.

Definitely more cost-effective and money ahead to just drill a new well.👍

Compressed air can also loosen and remove sediment and debris on the bottom of a well also. My kind neighbour failed to maintain their septic system and of course contaminated my dug well. Dept of health came around and inspected their property, shut them down and made an order to have a new dug well installed elsewhere on my property. She was not pleased but she was also cheap.

I retrieved a 13 stage Gould line shaft pump out of a 400 foot deep 12 inch casing by fabricating a tube to fit over the pump with some little pieces of leaf spring welded inside to act as barbs.Then I dropped it hard and it jammed over the outside of the pump

A very interesting story on things that can go "sideways",so to speak

I made a little contraption in about ten minutes for this kinda stuff....out of a set of post hole diggers I took the handles off an .....well I can't say every thing that's the secret sauce...but it works fantastic....

You feeling and thinking of this Job is like myself and customers vehicles that couldn't be fixed at other shops and I was last hope before giving up to by another vehicle. I know your feeling and it is tough when giving everything to save a person

taper tap or overshot might be worth a shot. i work on commercial pumps, mainly turbines all day, everyday. Might be worth trying to see if you can get 1/2" or 3/4" pipe past I.t and blow some air down. might free something up downhole and get some water moving. never a good day when you have to go fishing in the water well world.

Call the law. If damage to the aquifer is traced to that well and was unreported. Your new best friend ( not ) is the EPA.

Heavy duty magnet

Croc Crete expertly removes concrete from drains and pipes by fighting the problem at its core. It attacks concrete by breaking it down to its base element. Have you ever seen this stuf?

Wondering if you used a plumb Bob with duck tape (sticky side out) to get the tape to stick to the trash. Then pull the trash up, out of your way. That would make retrieving the pvc pipe for the pump, more easier.

I'm not sure if you need schedule 80 for a well that deep. The PVC looks like a very thin wall.

Not there to see it, but could you have used a grapple to get some of those rocks/trash off the top, or maybe a vacuum? I have had luck with long hose and a shop vac pulling pieces out of a whole with a vacuum. Also the grapple idea was because you had the camera to use as a guide.

Bumps and holes are par for some of those "back woods" dirt roads. The gravel road from the highway to my grand parent's farm in Missouri wasn't too bad, but some of the lesser traveled dirt roads my grandfather would take my sister and myself with the car, were probably best traveled with an old John Deere "hand fly-wheel" start tractor! ;)

That’s too bad. I applaud you for trying. Some people, previous owners, suck. Assuming it was them.

this type of sabotage happened a lot after the GFC in 2008.

Another informative video. Outstanding! God Bless!

one the vary first dropped that grappling hook down the well it sounds like concrete to me. i feel you did the best you can do it is time to punch a new hole. like you say there is no safe way to get a rig set up to try and drill it out with out blowing it out the side. this is a awesome video.

Thought this was going to have a happy ending. Oh WELL, can't win 'em all.

Bummer.🙁 Nice try helping the guy out.👍

Looking at what has been found, that looks like bits of Concrete and Rocks .... No Chance .... Thanks for your Great vidclips .... Best to All from ChCh, New Zealand

the hook sounds like they put rocks or concrete down the well

People are terrible sometimes. They could easily have contaminated the aquifer and rendered it unusable for everyone. Disgusting!

I wonder if some sticks of 1/2 inch steel pipe with a a grapple points,they would have to be floating and could be droped down next to the cammera to go in side the pipe and use the pvc pipe to pull some of the debris out with the pump.

Thanks for the videos, well done and really educational!

what do you do if gasoline or some other chemical was dumped down there. If you drill a new well the ground water is already contaimanted. I would def have a whole lab test done on the water after drilling a new well. I dont mess around with water quaity.

People don't really understand how their wells are connected and how bad trash in a well can actually be.

How about a hydro AC. Basically a giant shop vac. It can have small hose attached and you can use a power washer which is usually on the unit

40 years ago saw the front of a drilling rig propped up 4 or 5 feet on timbers in - of all places - Queens, NYC! They were deepening an existing well for Jamaica Water Company. Have no idea if they still exist or have switched over to NYC water.

My neighbors who were decent people lost the house they bought because of wells Fargo B.S.several years back they paid for years .Anyways when the last day came he came over said he was leaving house and garage open I could have anything that was leftover .well I went inside and they had a beautifull ream colered carpeted staircase they laid cherry Popsicles each stairtread to melt .left the water running didn't flush toilets etc.

You're a good man! Always give it a shot!

They blocked it a few feet and then put bags of cement is my guess. The homeowner seems handy why doesn’t he get 30 ft of the drill extensions with set key and a concrete drill bit and see if he can drill a small whole through might be 200$ in extensions but still cheaper then a well or dig a 30 ft deep ramp and cut it

My parents have had several wells drilled in Oregon during the last 50 years on different properties. The driller ALWAYS used heavy 6 inch diameter steel casing. Why would anyone put in a pvc casing? That seems crazy.

I built my own drill bit to drill a well

more curious then anything , but if the plug is only at 30' couldn't you take a mini excavator dig out around it (yes makes mess and pain) get down to the 30' and cut the case off where you could clean the clog then put a stick of new casing on?

Like the man said “you don’t know what you don’t know “. Who’s responsible for this damage,why who ever did this,did they do this? Some people are just despicable, and while it may not be (Christian like) one can only hope that they will be judged accordingly,for their actions.🙏 At any rate thanks for your attempt at saving this well, and sharing it with us.

Thanks for sharing

So i know this is months later, but im just wondering why after trying to punch the well, you didn't send the camera back down to confirm if they'd concreted the pump in? Maybe the video evidence could have been used in the prosecution of the former tenants?

It's not just the debris the threw in the well, did they throw poison or other chemicals in there too

Sunday sun comes shining down on me!

Just get an piece of equipment in and fix the road in , then bring on a rig

If they could prove who did it I'd think the state would be interested. I'm sure it would be really hard to prove though.

I am still watching the video, but I would think to try a shop vac or 2 with a non collapsible flex hose down the well. If you could grab on to each chunk of trash and bring it back up. You could then hopefully expose enough of the pipe to get it hooked.

That angle is Childs Play in the mountains. 😅

I mite not fully understand the concept but I wonder why you did not fill the pipe with water to the top if it stays drill another if the water goes down then figure out what the next step is

It kind of looked like chunks of broken well casing but who knows ?

Our neighbor's house was forclosed. I had thought about buying it and did a home inspection, but there were too many issues. Prior to the inspection I turned on the faucet for the kitchen sink and it was stopped up. Someone else bought the house and they found cement inside the drain and many other issues.

Is there no way to grab that casing and slowly pull it up without breaking it? Remove the grouting first or as it comes up?

Have you ever thought of using a wire spring like plumbers use to clear drains? Narrow at one end and spirals out to 5 or 6 inches? Spin it at the debris and try to catch it in the coils of the spring to then pull it up?

I was thinking a 30 foot dig with a long arm excavator would cost less than drilling a new well. Was that not an option?

I'm new to this channel and have been really enjoying your content. My question here is how did they drill this well in the first place?

A better tool for retrieving a pump is to use a 3 foot section of pipe 2.5 - 4 inch diameter, cut some tabs in the side then push the top of the tabs in. This way the tool slides over the drop pipe using your pump hoist and grabs the outside of the pump pipe. Then just pull it up.

Almost sounds like maybe a Vacuum trailer or truck could suck the debris out of the well. The County just rebuilt part (1.6 miles from the 1930's) of our road that failed and they used a trailer mounted vacuum & tank and pressure washer to finite locate the phone cables before they dug the cross culverts out. Just a thought for all.

Your guy should have poured in a gallon or two of Muriatic Acid in the well first it have it clear any type of portland cement from the plastic case.. ad had it sit two days before you came.. but I'd bet that there is a lot of soil in that well below that few bags of concrete.... Yup, drill a new one after making a flat base to access it (the new well site).

Another concern would be if they put any food wastes down there to junk up the well. Well replacement seems like a wise choice.

Use a Cable Tool. That's what PaP and I always used for all of anything well related. You must be running a rotary drilling rig.

Same thing happened to my buddies will for some reason 2K senior something gave up in it and we couldn't pull the pump he ended up spending the money to get a new well drilled and then we just bought a off-the-shelf pump from Tractor Supply and it's full of iron which turns to rust so now is complete water system smells like iron oxide basically smells like a sewage

The “trash” was pieces of plastic pipe

Some win some loose..thats life!!

You need a pigtail/corkscrew adapter or one time we made a big easy out and screwed it in the pipe and lifted the pump up

Cleaning concrete out of a completely filled 6ft pipe from a pumper truck. This was done with 20,000 p.s.i at 20 G.P.M. Actual cleaning time was 11 minutes & 24 seconds. from youtube video called, Pipe Cleaning At Laplace Equipment

I'm assuming it's impossible to get a vac truck to suck from that far down

It probably wouldn't have helped here, but I started with magnet fishing.. A strong magnet on a rope. And then a grappler like the carnival grappler games. And if it is grit, a strong shop vac. But to be honest: The spear sounded like impacting concrete on the video. Not sure if that was true to reality.

we had a well that was vandalized. bunch of rocks and bricks had been thrown in before we bought the property. it was full of rocks and bricks. had to drill a new well

Air Lots of air Set 1 1/4 hydrill tubing directly on bottom and let it blow

Have big magnet sound like steel.

I'd worry if the people poisoned the well.

Win some, Lose some. But you LEARNED some too. Do you have a grabbing tool that could grab hold of the smaller pieces of rock in the casing? Similar to a mechanic's tool for picking up dropped nuts and bolts ?

Do you ever use a vacuum truck to get silt out of wells?

Grab some 1" galv drop pipe get it down past the clog if you can and use a towable air compressor to blow the stuff out..

Oh 'well', can't win them all... 🙂

Hydrostatic baler might work

Fishing in a well takes patience and time. But can easily done without any issues and good fun too

nice way to end it " oh well "

We all watched hoping it could be saved, Good afford. The people who did the well in may have had a lot to putdown it. So a water sample to know if worth drilling any where near it.

at least you gave it a good try......

Why not mount the smeal on your truck? Isn’t it a pain pulling the trailer all the time?

Love your last comment Oh well

Hubby is a retired plumber. He said a tenant once trashed the plumbing by dumping gravel down the toilet. What a mess! Another time they put the camera down the line and found nails and other things that don't have ANY reason to be in a sewer line. I guess I just don't understand the mindset of someone who would do that kind of thing.