WorldWide Drilling Resource

Where Did All that Electricity Go? by Ray Roerick Sales Manager, Well-Vu, Inc. Many a pump repair person has experienced at least part of this. You get the service call a cus- tomer’s pump is not working after a storm came through. You already know the lightning took out the pump, or at least the control box. So you check it out, determine the pump is bad, and pull it. Sure enough, on the side of the motor, about halfway down, is the telltale little black hole with a blue ring around it. You replace the pump, and a few days later the call comes, “You screwed up my well. Now we are getting sand.” Then comes the usual threats of you needing to put in a new well for FREE, their brother is the largest attorney in the state, and on it goes. You can explain all you want, but the bottom line is, more than likely the elec- tricity that went out the motor also went directly out the side of the casing. Now here is how you prove it. Pull the pump back out, measure the depth of the pitless, add the total length of drop pipe, and add the length of the pump to the middle of the motor. Now go down with your video camera to that depth, and there in plain view, is the same black hole with blue ring around it. The first time I saw this was like a smack in the head, think- ing this is really logical, but without a camera it would be speculation or pro- fessional guess at best. Next, to show the customer it was the problem, I left the camera in the well, put the pump back into the static about ten feet, and pumped the well over the side of the casing while watching the video monitor. Within seconds of turning on the pump, the video camera showed small particles of silt and sand flowing out of the hole and going up into the pump intake. Not my fault, but definitely found the problem. This simple camera once again came in handy to help communicate what I knew and needed to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt to the customer to maintain good relations and help resolve a problem. Ray Ray Roerick may be contacted via e-mail to michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com [after the 2016 Best in the West Drill and Blast Conference] We had several individuals who came by the booth and said what a good publication the WWDR Team puts out. Also, when they go to the mines and look around, they see the magazines and can tell the ones that get read and the ones that just get thrown to the side. Troy Cunningham WWDR Vice President 61 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® JUNE 2016