Well, Well, Well

The person that is usually in charge of checking our irrigation wells just went on vacation.  So for the next couple of weeks I'm going to be checking all of our wells.  We have several different types of well engines, and motors and they are all over the place.  Below are some examples of our natural gas well engines.  All the engines we use are all big block Chevy's that have been modified to run on natural gas.   These engines pull the water from the well and they also generate three phase electricity.  The electricity is used to power the center pivot sprinkler systems.  It will take an entire blog post to explain sprinklers so you'll have to stay tuned. 

Below are some examples of electric well motors.  The electric motors run on three phase electricity.  There are two ways to get three phase electricity; 1. Have three phase ran to the location of your well (this can get EXPENSIVE) 2. Setup what a RotoPhase to generate three phase out of standard electricity.

Every morning I go out and check each well to verify it is up and running.  I also check the well engines to verify that they have the correct amount of motor oil, check the water pressure on the water coming up from the well and I check that the drip oil is dripping at the correct rate.  Drip oil is oil that is "dripped" down the well shaft and it keeps the well shaft lubricated.

There are times when I pull up that the wells are not running.  That's when the troubleshooting starts.  Most of the time the wells have been shut down by the safety switches on the Sprinklers.  The sprinkler systems are wired to shut down if they get out of alignment.  There a lot of other things that can cause these well motors to shut down. So every time I pull up to a well that isn't running I know its going to be an adventure.

I had a person ask me how much work it was to run irrigation on our fields. I told her all the things we have to do to keep them running.  She said that it sounded like it was as much work as having kids.  To which I replied -That makes me not want to have kids...  Just kidding Mom... Stop freaking out...

-All's Well Checker Ryan