So, is hooking up to municipal water still not an option? Here you are, a year later, with similar problems and you'd have been "one and done" with the municipal hookup.

I hate to get too personal, but during the pandemic I completely wiped out my savings, just to stay alive. I had about 8 months of buying food on credit cards, and got pretty darn close to maxing them all out, too!

Now things are starting to improve, but I'm still upside down on my bills. And I have a new $70,000 in debt.

Long story short, I never had $3000+ to spend on anything that wasn't absolutely critical.

I bought this house almost 20 years ago, and the well pump that was here lasted until 2021! I honestly thought that I wouldn't have to worry about the pump again until around 2040.

Maybe look for another plumber. It will cost you a bit, but, it will get fixed right, and it will be done right. Covid was hard on many. Hopefully, things will improve.

This is the top of the well:

I'm trying to take it off so that I can see what's going on underneath, and possibly replace the pump (I bought a new one just in case, $600 :-/ )

The nut in the center-left of the pic spins almost freely (easily with pliers, but not by hand), but doesn't come out. I'm not sure if it's broken?

But then, the one at the bottom of the pic won't budge at all! I worried that I was gonna break my wrench. Considering that it was out 1 1/2 years ago it shouldn't be THAT rusted, should it?

Is there anything I should know about these, other than lefty-loosey righty-tighty? If not, I guess I'll spray with WD-40 tomorrow and hope for the best. I haven't tried the other two until I consulted with you all, for fear that I could be breaking them! And then I'd REALLY be SOL! :-O

ALSO!

I don't know if you can see in this pic, but the top part that I'm trying to take off appears to be split down the middle:

Is that normal, or does it need to be replaced?

Good news, I think!

I got the pump out (by hand, and I would not recommend that), and upon inspecting the wires I found a break! I don't know if you'll be able to tell from the pic, but the black wire looks completely broken.

New questions:

1. Can I just cut and splice the wire? Wire nut with silicone, or solder and heat shrink? Or do I have to replace the whole 200' of wire?

2. After I fix or replace the wire, how do I test the pump before putting it back in? If it's still not working then I just don't have it in me to pull it out again by hand :-O

Cut the wire and repair with the heat shrink type butt connector I linked to in the previous post. They are available at most larger hardware stores.

Use nylon zip ties every 6 feet to keep the wires secured to the pipe. You don't have to pull them super tight, just tight enough to keep them from slipping. You don't want the wires rubbing against the casing every time the motor starts. Use a torque arrester if you can.

Put the pump in something deep enough to keep it in water and power it up. You only need to run it for a second, but they don't like being run dry for any time at all.

Upon further inspection, I found a second area that was rubbed bare! It wasn't broken yet, but not far from it. I looked closely and didn't see any other breaks.

You can see in the previous pic how the wire was kind of kinked up a little at the break? The other one was the same way. I hate to say it, but I think that the plumber that put in the new pump for me did a bad job by leaving several kinks like that and not protecting them :-/

Either way, they're fixed now! I also added several more spacers and two additional torque arresters like @Jake The Wonderdog suggested (there was one already at the pump and the line was 200', so I added one at 75' and another at 150').

My back is a little tired from doing 200 squats pulling the dang thing out, but I've learned a lot this weekend and I'm feeling pretty good about myself :-) Thanks for all the help!!

All of the details like a torque arrester, inspecting the wires, zip tying the wires to the pipe, using the proper wire connectors, etc. are important. They prevent trouble later on - and nobody wants to pull a pump more than needed.

Good for you though that you got it done and know what's involved.

Clean up that mess at the top of your well - the wires and the pipe. Put it back better than you found it.

I deleted this post per @cat_ky's suggestion

Jason, you will get more help with that, if you copy that post and put it right on this one, and delete the other one.

As I put my well pump back together, it struck me that this maze looks a little... excessive:

It was like that when I bought the place, so it was done at least 18 years ago.

I don't love the idea of having 10 points of failure here, and I honestly can't imagine why it was done this way.

Any suggestions for an easy redo?

@cat_ky, most forums would have preferred for it to be a second topic! LOL Thanks for the tip :-)