Need advice on well pumps

Called up a well digger today. Says he'll have about 40 or so water well pump motors. If they're the ones I'm thinking of, they're either 4" or 6" in diameter, in the 2 HP to 5 HP range, submersible pumps. They're about 4 feet in length and weigh like 25 to 50 pounds or so. The pump and motor are incased in 304 stainless. You can see some typical specs at http://completewatersystems.com/wp-c...11/04/7310.pdf There's also probably around 3 feet of wiring attached. Haven't seen them yet though.

He's already got a guy buying from him at $5 ea (or so he says). I offered the same and he said come on out. He's got about 10-20 he said right now, but only 4-5 will fit in my Honda Accord.

I understand they're a right royal pain to get into though.

So, my question is, do you all think I can still make money buying them at $5 each?

I tore apart one like that last year. No, I wouldn't give $5 for it. You might break even but that be about it. If I remember right, the stainless was magnetic so I couldn't get stainless steel price for that piece. There was quite a bit that went as #1 iron. To me, it just wasn't worth it.

A trick I learned on magnetic stainless is heating it. Some say an oxy-acetylene rig will do it at about 800 degrees C or so. A kiln going to 1000 degrees C is better (and easier if you have access to one). I don't have access to either one right now though :( Don't go too hot though, stainless melts around 1500 degrees C. This should bring the stainless back to a non-magnetic state.

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Originally Posted by waredu

A trick I learned on magnetic stainless is heating it. Some say an oxy-acetylene rig will do it at about 800 degrees C or so. A kiln going to 1000 degrees C is better (and easier if you have access to one). I don't have access to either one right now though :( Don't go too hot though, stainless melts around 1500 degrees C. This should bring the stainless back to a non-magnetic state.

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Yes but you would have more tied up in fuel costs to run a torch for this operation then what you could recoup in scrap value.

Didn't think about that. When I did it in the past (25+ years ago), I used the school's kiln. It was a physics experiment. We were doing different things with magnetism and for some reason I remembered this one. I did have to look up the temperatures though - my memory isn't that good.

I have about a dozen pumps & motors myself, and can probably get more later, they are just nuisance to the installer. I tore 6 down this winter when it was to bad to do anything else. When I got to the motors, I see there is like, an epoxy sealing the copper in the field part of the motors. Is there a secret to removing the copper, or do you guys just sell them as is, and possibly after running through a shredder or something, they separate the metals..??

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Originally Posted by waredu

A trick I learned on magnetic stainless is heating it. Some say an oxy-acetylene rig will do it at about 800 degrees C or so. A kiln going to 1000 degrees C is better (and easier if you have access to one). I don't have access to either one right now though :( Don't go too hot though, stainless melts around 1500 degrees C. This should bring the stainless back to a non-magnetic state.

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Oh dear. Now I can imagine hordes of people wasting money heating ferritic stainless steel to high temperatures somehow believing that the metal composition will change and suddenly convert from iron into 12%+ of nickel, thereby making the stainless non magnetic.

If anyone is tempted to try this, get a lump of iron, heat it as hot as you can, and then see how much of it changes to nickel. Just don't tell anyone, because this is a secret and it is what all scrap yards do in their Area 52 that is designated off limits to non-authorised personel.

PS They also convert lead into gold at the same facility.

Laugh if you want - but 304 stainless will become non-magnetic when heated. Learn your metal properties. And while iron will not magically change to nickel - try heating an AlNiCo magnet and watch it lose magnetism. You might want to do a search on Curie temperature.

However, the amount spent on gas for heating the metal to a high enough temperature makes this a losing proposition.

You might want to lose your arrogant sarcastic attitude. Just saying.

Heating something up to its Curie Temperature changes it from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic. My dad was a high school science teacher and I couldn't remember the terms and had to look them up but I remember us heating stuff up to change the magnetic properties. There was also something about it being reversible but we never went into how it happened.

waredu

If you re-read my post you will notice that I did not say you were wrong. What I said was that when people read this thread in years to come some of them will get the wrong end of the stick (as a result of their inexperience with metal in general). It would be easy for a scrap metal newbie to get it into their head that they could make extra money by converting ferritic steel into austenitic steel by heating it up, when we all know that is not possible.

In terms of learning my metal properties, I look forward to reading your future posts as my metal knowledge is very basic.

I have scrapped a bunch of submersible well pumps. Seperate the motors from the actual pump section first. Don't even bother trying to break down the motor to get the copper out. All the ones I have seen had windings encased in epoxy to make them waterproof. My yard gives .25c per pound and those dang motors are heavy!

The upper pump section is usually full of plastic impellers mounted on a stainless steel shaft with stainless discs seperating the impellers. Usually you can unscrew the top fitting where the pipe threads into with a big pipe wrench and simply pull out the whole impeller stack. If the top/bottom wont unscrew just cut a few slits in the case and it will come out.

The really old pumps sometimes have bronze impellers in them! Those are a goldmine but very rare from what i've seen.

Its also nice if you can get the wiring that went down the well too! usually a few hundred feet of 10/2 or 10/3 solid core copper wire.

I love submersible well pumps!

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Originally Posted by G_P

I love submersible well pumps!

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I "inherited" some old submersible pumps when I bought an old homestead. Have 2 old heavy Gould ones dated to 1992, 4 old smaller ones Utilitech and such. Are these worth trying to break down (do they have valuable individual parts) or are they worth more just sending to the yard as they are? Also have an old rusty Sears water pump.

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Originally Posted by newbiebutlearningfast

I "inherited" some old submersible pumps when I bought an old homestead. Have 2 old heavy Gould ones dated to 1992, 4 old smaller ones Utilitech and such. Are these worth trying to break down (do they have valuable individual parts) or are they worth more just sending to the yard as they are? Also have an old rusty Sears water pump.

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Just sell as-is with motor scrap

Hello, G_P. Bubba from SC here. Thanks for help on broken pumps. Have been racking my brain and knuckles on getting the motors apart. WIll do as you say and focus on the top. THANKS!