Math issues - Amount of water in a 1½ inch pipe

[jw]

I'm no good at math. I'm trying to determine the amount of water in a

1½" (one and one half inch) galvanized steel pipe, per foot. My reason for this is because I'm trying to calculate the water weight in a well pipe. Here's the issue. My well has 300 feet of pipe going to the submersible pump. I found the weight of the actual pipe, per foot. Also the weight of the pump, as well as the wire.

One foot of 1.5" diameter schedule 40 galvanized pipe weighs 2.72 pounds. The pump is about 25 lbs. The wire weighs about 21 lbs per 100 feet.

So far I have

300 x 2.72 = 816 lbs for the pipe 300 feet of wire is 63 lbs plus 25 lbs for the pump

That totals 904 lbs.

There are a few other small parts such as the fittings, foot valve (if there is one), etc. But I know the pump is actually set at 292 feet, so I can knock off a few pounds for that, but these small parts will add a little. Also, this pump is 40 years old, so it may weight a little more than the new ones. Either way, I can assume this whole thing weighs around 900lbs.

However, there is water in the pipes and that is likely a significant amount of weight added. My problem occurs here. How the heck does a person calculate the amount (or weight) of the water in one foot of

1.5" pipe? (Or in 10 feet or 100 feet)?

I found online that the weight of one gallon of water is approximately

8.35 lb. Now I only need to figure out how to determine the amount of water in the pipe.....

Any math experts out there?

(I hope it's not over 100 lbs, because my tractor loader cant handle over 1000 lbs of lifting weight).

thanks

[mike]

volume is pi*(radius squared)* length. for 300 feet I get 6358 cubic inches > 27.6 gallons > 230 pounds. Somebody should check my math, 'cause I'm senile.

You could always pump out the water.

[bob haller]

take a one foot piece of 1.5 inch pipe of any type, seal one end, fill with water. pour into old empty milk jug, do repeatedly till your happy with answer.....

things to ponder once you pull up pipe weight will go down no doubt pipe will have to be cut apart as you go. sell scrap pipe at metal recyclers. around here its with about 12 bucks per hundred, so you have over a 100 bucks of scrap:)

the pipe is 300 feet long, is that well depth or total length of pipe from pump including surface run? if surface that makes it far easier:)

replace schedule 40 with roll of poly pipe, that will cut costs, non corosive and lightweight.

what are you doing for water during project?

[Han]

A problem much easier solved with metric measurements. Reminder. google does calculations for you. Google knows conversions.

1. What is the inside diameter of the pipe? Say it is 1 inch, or 2.54 cm.
2. The length is 300 feet or 300*30 cm, or 9000 cm (a foot is actually a little over 30 cm, 30.48 cm, so you can redo the math).
3. Volume of pipe is 2.54*(pi)*9000 or 71,816.8081 cm^3 or 72,000 cm^3
4. 1 cm^3 weighs 1 gram
5. water in pipe weighs 72,000 gram, or 72 kg
6. 1 kg= 2.2 lbs Final: Water in pipe weighs about 158.4 lbs

(Sorry ...) Major variable is the actual inside diameter.

[Han]

Han wrote in news:Xns9F984D62258B3ikkezelf@207.246.207.168:

Sorry, need to use pi*r squared not 2r*pi (2.54/2)squared*pi*9000=~45000 grams

45 kg=100.32 lbs

Better?

[Evan]

LOL...

Call someone who knows what they are doing to help you and who has the right equipment to actually grip the pipe while pulling it up...

You are going to have to cut the pipe every 10-15 feet depending on how high you can lift the bucket on your tractor/loader and it is going to break your balls to attempt doing this "project" yourself...

However, it is your well and your tractor/loader, if you want to screw up both of them that is up to you but when you lose your grip on the pipe as you try to redneck this job it will be really expensive to have a well company come in and extract the broken piece from the bottom of the well after you drop it down there than it would have been for them to pull the pipe and pump and replace it all for you...

~~ Evan

[jw]

That will work too....

I know it had to be cut apart or unscrewed. I like the $100 for scrap. The pump alone is going to cost $600 or more depending on which one I get. Then the pipe and possibly wire, and whatever fittings and stuff are needed.

Yep, it will get lighter as it comes up and is cut apart.... Just hope my tractor can handle the initial pull. It sounds like I'm

150lbs over the lifting capability, and I know what the tractor can handle from lifting round bales of hay. But maybe a few hydraulic jacks can help the initial lift.

That's the plan.

I will be hauling it on 55gal barrels from a neighbor. But I have livestock too, and they use a lot of water. The plan is to pump the water for the livestock out of a spring fed creek which is on the neighbors land, but only a about 50 feet away. (He said I could). I still have to rent or borrow some sort of pump for that.

My well pump is still pumping, but it cuts out every few minutes now. It took 4 hours to fill the stock tanks yesterday (about 550 gallons).

Major pain in the ass....

[jw]

That sounds about right, just from guessing.... I'm senile too :(

Not really, there is a foot valve or built in one way valve, and since the pump is under water, it wont come out as air.

[bob haller]

I would prepare for a new well, the water table may have dropped, the well may be collapsing, etc etc.

once you start pulling what water you have is over....

i would at least talk to pros in advance.

say you begin pulling on a sunday by monday morning you realize its a lost cause..... and your well is now totally out of serviceL(

so you call some local drillers who are all tied up on other jobs for over a week:(

thats called a bad day:(

[jw]

I already called a well company. When I heard their estimate of $4000 (which will likely be $5000 or more), I'll do it myself. I'm not worried about the tractor loader. It wont break, it just wont lift if the weight it too much. I know I have to cut the pipe, that's what my sawsall is for. I intend to rent a clamping device that prevents the pipe from dropping in the well. That's the tool I have not yet found.

That well company's estimate is charging $1200 for a pump I can get for around $600, and $900 for the wire, which I can get for $470 (if I need it), and they said they will NOT reuse wire. On top of that, they said that to get their truck in there, I will have to cut down several trees. I dont have to cut any trees to get my tractor in there, other then taking off a few small low branches. But that's because they refuse to come in from the rear but driving thru some pasture and crop field. They insist they have to come in from the driveway. My tractor can come in from anywhere.

I'd be happy to pay someone to just come and pull the pipes. But not when they're trying to rob me at gunpoint. Even a friend of mine who is an electrician and has worked with that company, told me to avoid them. The problem is that they are a monoply around here. There was a really old man who used to do it, and was fair. In fact he's the guy who installed the current pump 40 years ago. His son still has all the equipment but dont want to do the work. I already asked him about renting the machinery, but he said no. And why the hell would I be stupid enough to spend $900 to replace the wire, when it's likely still good. But that's just a sign of the times, waste waste waste... (because companies like that dont want to get their hands dirty using something that;s not brand new and wrapped in plastic).

The way I see it, these days you either DIY, or you get robbed. I just put rear brakes on my pickup. Cost $94. That was new shoes, drums turned, new spring kit, and both rear emergency brake cables (which were stuck, and probably caused the excessive wear). I know a guy who just had his rear shoes replaced by a dealer. Cost $672, and they only changed the shoes, no springs or e-brake cables. Drums might have been turned or maybe not. The only parts listed was the shoes on his bill, and they were almost $100, the rest was labor.

[Frank]

Assuming 1.5 is id, then calculation is right.

[trader4]

I agree this isn't rocket science and given that you have a tractor to do the pulling, well within the capability of the DIY job. And as you've figured out, you'll save a lot of money. As long as you use some common sense, it should go fine. Key thing as you;ve already figured out is to make sure you don't lose the pipe down the well. I can think of several ways to do that.

Some folks in this group are alarmists and for some reason just think that many jobs like this require a professional, probably because they don't have much experience in fixing things themselves.

=A0I

Again, I agree. You can save a huge amount doing routine brake work yourself. But some would tell you you're gonna die if you dare touch them.

One of the major brake/auto repair chains is running a radio ad here in the NYC area. The ad says to come to them for your brake work, tell them how much you want to spend, and they will work within your budget to do the work. That one strikes me as particularly odd. Like if a guy comes in and says he only has $125 to spend on a job that should cost $400, what are they gonna do on a job where safety is at risk? I guess they won't compromise safety, but there are other half-assed ways to save money too that will come back to cost you more in the end.

[krw]

You're correct but note that the water in the pipe below the well level doesn't count.

Isn't that what the pump is for? ;-)

[krw]

I guess it wasn't that much easier. Even "Senile" Mike got it right the first time using imperial units. ;-)

[dpb]

...

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[rlz]

According to my ACE Pocket Reference guidebook, "Weight of Water in a Pipe" is formulated as: Pounds Water =3D Pipe Length feet x (Pipe diameter inches(squared)) x

0.34

So based on that formula, Pipe Length feet =3D 300 (Pipe diameter inches (squared)) =3D 1.5 squared =3D 2.25

so the formula =3D 300 x 2.25 x 0.34 =3D 229.5 pounds

Robin

[DD_BobK]

CY-

Recheck your calc...... looks like you're off by 12x.

~230lbs is the right answer

[krw]

Simple formula for a cylinder X constant (weight per unit water).

...and this disagrees with what I said, how? You still have to subtract the weight of the water in the submerged pipe.

[Tony Miklos]

Wow! I had mine replaced not long ago (about 600' down, new 1.5hp goulds pump, old wire and pipe) for a grand total of $1324.66 including tax.

I missed the beginning of the thread, what size is your pump?

[DerbyDad03]

I don't know squat about well pumps, so don't slap me too hard for this question:

Instead of renting/borrowing a pump for the creek, why can't you use the pump that you are going to use in the well to pump the livestock water from the creek?

Once you have the old still-sort-of working pump out of the well, swap it for the new one at the creek while you install the new one in the well.

What don't I know?