Tool to grab/retain Romex in 4" well down pipe

[Leaky88]

Looking for ideals or a tool I can grab Romex and pull to well head. Romeo is 212ft down. I have 400 Ft of 1/4" steel cable that I can attach tool to and lower it. Any ideals or advice would be most appreciated.

Thanks Leaky

 

[malibu101]

My interpretation- There is a piece of romex 212' down in a well casing and you're trying to grab it? ?
If so; Why?

In any case- romex (NM cable) is not appropriate anywhere in or feeding a well.

 

[Leaky88]

Don't know the exact specs of wire. It was put in by a well installer, I'm sure it's correct. If not, I'll make sure correct cable is used on new installation. Matters not right now.
Well pump is attached to end of this cable I'm trying to grab. If I can grab it, I'm confident I can pull pump up.

 

[Dagny]

was it dropped ? It probably isn't all the way down. what about the pipe?

 

[quattro_sinko]

Is there a water line attached to the pump still? After shearing off the head of a well while plowing, I was faced with the same challenge. I used 1/4" coated cable with a home-made hook to snag it (luckily between the electrical supply line and the water line.) I dropped my set up down and rotated the line until I felt something. I hooked between the two and the hook caught where the lines were taped (yes, taped) together. I ended up having to use my truck to get the line up. Put a new connection on the head plate and was back in business.
It took a while "fishing" to get the feel of things, there were many times I thought I had it, but realized after pulling 50' or so of cable up that there was nothing on.

FWIW, I'll post up a picture of the hook that worked, along with some of the others that didn't.

Patience and persistence are the key. Good luck.

 

[malibu101]

Now we understand.

Often there are a few anti-torque rings along the length of the pipe/cable run to the pump that you might be lucky enough to hook onto/around.
Like quattro sinko said; Do you know if there is there anything to grab using a literal hook or lasso? May take many tries, like fishing wires blindly through walls.

I'm an all in do-it-yourself and save money even if it requires some new tools that pay for themselves guy for anything I need to do, but, sometimes you need a knowledgeable pro. I'm sure you're not the first time this has happened.
Maybe time to **** it up and call a local well driller. ??

 

[Dagny]

I think you will have to pull the pump up part way to get it.unless they left a lot of extra wire.

 

[Dagny]

the wire should be no where near the bottom

 

[quattro_sinko]

Well drillers laughed and said they would drop a new pump and line, and hope it didn't get snagged on the old one. That, or drill a new well. I was trying to see if I could adapt an old cable puller, or make something similar but had no success. Here is a picture of 3 of the hooks I made to snag mine.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=705295&stc=1&d=1511060858
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=705296&stc=1&d=1511060858
The first two (from the left) were busts. The one on the right is the one that snagged it. It hads curved shaft, and a sort of open bell-shaped mouth that tapered to about a 1 1/8" wide "J". I thought this would grab the water line at an anti torque ring. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw how it had caught, much less that the tape didn't break when hauling it out with the truck. I had securely fastened (with bracing) a pipe clamp across the top of the well head for the cable to run on. I was afraid that the steel well casing would sever the cable otherwise.

Sorry about the rotated photos. Posting pictures here is harder than getting the line out was for me.

 

[slip knot]

If you lost 200+ ft of romex down the well pipe it should be easy enough to grab. but getting that wad of **** outta the pipe at not be so easy. pump wire is relatively stiff so it probably didn't go all the way to the bottom in a pile but getting it back out without wadding it up could be an issue.

 

[CTyankee]

Maybe you can jury-rig a set rat trap or small leg trap to a line, lower it down and hope you get lucky???...

 

[samss]

Maybe a crazy idea...
IF you used 20ft sticks of 3/4” pvc and attached a drain auger to it. You would have to spread/modify the auger to make it more of a funnel shape. As you’re feeding the pvc down you would twist it and hopefully grab onto the wire. Instead of gluing the pvc sticks together, just use a couple of sheet metal screws or drill it and use a nut and bolt.

 

[samss]

//https://www.homedepot.com/p/T-240-Tool-Set-12128/100348304
Like this

 

[Leaky88]

Thanks everyone for thoughts and ideas thus far, please keep them coming.
I inherited this mess from last guy on property. As best as I can determine he tried to use unknown number of sections of polyerethene 1-1/4". I was lucky to get ahold of top piece and was making progress until a coupling with screw clamps gave way at 90ft. Until this project I thought poly was done in in continuous piece. Oh well. I'm no here near the 12K well digger wants for new well..onward.

 

[gregpack]

Carzy idea-How about a coil spring of some sort? Figure out how to attach to something solid you can twist when it reaches the wire (maybe emt conduit with a cable ran through it. Once it gets tangled on the spring winch it out

 

[stercorarius]

If it's either that or 13k it might not be a bad idea to buy a $50 security camera and a 500' roll of cat5 and attach it to the steel cable so you can see what you're dealing with.