Brandt Well and Pump

04/24/2026

PART 1:

How does the wire rope connect to the drill string? Here is an example from a 10" well that was drilled to a depth of 500'.

In this case, a 3/4" diameter wire rope (steel drilling cable) is passed through a conventional Prosser rope socket. The socket must first be unscrewed from the drill string. On smaller wells, we use Burns open-side sockets that have a slot in the side to allow access to the connection without breaking the tools apart.

The wire rope is passed through the socket and into a swivel, which is a steel cylinder with a tapered internal bore. The top is shaped like an inverted "U" and forms something like an elongated bell. The bore begins at the top of the "U" only slightly smaller than the rope diameter, and tapers to nearly the diameter of the swivel at the bottom.

Wire rope for cable-tool drilling is wound "left-lay" to impart clockwise spin to the drill string, so that tool joints will not be loosened during percussion. The center of the cable has a h**p core to reduce internal friction, and wear and tear.

Once through the swivel, the main strands of the wire rope are unwound to approximately four-fifths the length of the swivel with a flat screwdriver. The h**p core is trimmed so that it enters only the top one-fifth of the swivel. Then the individual strands are unwound to about three-fifths the length of the swivel with electric pliers, and cleaned with alcohol or acetone.

The resulting bird nest (or fan) will be difficult to pull back into the swivel. Strike it squarely with a hammer until only 1/16" of the wires protrude from the bottom. This should take five or ten solid blows. Use a tapered pin to gently push the strands outward and to form a slight hollow down the center of the assembly. Finally, wrap and tie a strip of wet cotton fabric tightly against the top of the swivel.

The swivel will be filled with a molten babbitt material such as tin plumbing solder, which does not contain lead and is approved for drinking water. To facilitate this, invert the swivel and clamp it securely.

TO BE CONTINUED...

04/24/2026

PART 2: ...CONTINUED:

Protection must be worn to shield eyes, face, hands and arms, and feet. If molten babbitt contacts water, it will violently splatter. Some may even flow through the swivel and pass the cotton wrapping. Spillage can fall into shoes and pockets.

Prepare an appropriate amount of babbitt in a ladle and heat it until dross floats to the top. It is plenty hot when solder can be easily and rapidly fed into the ladle. Slightly heat the bitter end of the swivel until it just begins to reject a spritz of water. Take care not to dry the cotton. Steadily pour the molten babbitt into the inverted swivel until it is nearly full. Carefully tap the swivel to settle the material into all voids. Top off the swivel to a slight dome. Allow the material to cool slowly (do not quench).

Once cool, the cotton strip will be removed and saved for future use. Trim away any babbitt spillage with a knife so that the dome of the swivel will make clean contact with its seat in the socket. The swivel is then retracted back into the rope socket. Ensure that it spins freely (swivels) inside the socket. Reassemble the drill string.

The hardened babbitt material makes it impossible for the cable strands to collapse enough to pull out of the swivel. I am a 3rd generation driller with 41 years on cable-tool rigs. From 4" wells on a 22W to 16" wells on a 24L, I've never once seen a cable pull out of a swivel. Weakness usually occurs where the cable wears thin just inside the neck of the socket. Cable failures are usually caused by the swivel seizing inside the socket and leading to the cable twisting or coiling apart, or from some sort of erroneous procedure.

07/09/2025

$1,945.00 includes the following:

EMERGENCY PUMP REPLACEMENT PRICE (standard residential equipment)

• 1 HP 20 GPM Stainless Steel Submersible Pump (Franklin with 5-year Warranty*)
• 40/60 PSI HD Pressure Switch (Merrill)
• 1-1/4" MxF Brass Check Valve at Surface (Flomatic with 5-yr. Wty.)
• 3/4" Brass Pressure Relief Safety Valve
• Sub. Wire Splice Kit, Electric Wire Support Tape (Certified No Lead)
• 4" X 1-1/4" Well Seal (Simmons)
• 1-1/4" Galvanized Steel Cross with 1-1/4" X 3/4" Bushing
• 1/2" X 5-1/2" Galv. Steel Ni**le
• Weatherproof Outlet Box with Stainless Steel Blank Cover
• 1-1/4" SCH 80 PVC Ni**le Water Outlet
• 1-1/4" PVC MIP Service Plug
• Basic PVC Fittings and Piping, and Basic Electrical Fittings and Conduit Necessary for Completion to Code Requirements

ADDITIONAL COSTS:

• $1.71/FT #12-2 w/gr Submersible Service Wire (Jacketed) (New Wire Required for Wty.)
• $5.15/FT 1-1/4" Galv. Steel Pump Drop Pipe (NSF Certified) (As Needed, Usually 21', to Replace Worn/Damaged Sections Below the Water Line)
• $110.40/EA Additional Check Valves if Pump is Deeper than 105'
• $1,385.61 Outdoor Well Bladder Tank (Challenger with 5-yr. Wty.)
• $1,324.01 Indoor Well Bladder Tank (Flexcon with 5-yr. Wty.)

OPTIONS and UPGRADES:

• $400.00 1-1/2 HP Pump (up to 25 GPM) for Depths Over 95' or for Greater Performance
• $0 1 HP 15 GPM Pump for Depths Over 95'
• -$170.00 1/2 HP 10 GPM Pump for Depths Under 55' and Systems with Smaller Tanks and No Irrigation Needs
• $328.20 304 Stainless Steel 20 FT 1-1/4" SCH 40 Pump Drop Pipe BELOW Water Level
• $79.93 Sacrificial Anode Kit for Pump for Corrosive Water Conditions (Franklin)

• OTHER COSTS MAY APPLY FOR SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

* Extended warranty is only available from a , and requires close adherence to all codes and all procedures outlined in the Franklin AIM manual.

PLEASE PROTECT YOURSELF AND ONLY HIRE A LICENSED WATER WELL CONTRACTOR. ONLY A FL STATE WATER WELL CONTRACTOR IS AUTHORIZED TO PERFORM WELL REPAIRS AND IS ACCOUNTABLE TO LICENSURE LAWS.

water

07/05/2025

Picked up a new tool while attending the Florida Ground Water Association annual tradeshow.

06/26/2025

Time for some upgrades out at the farm. M&B Dairy reclaims all of their wastewater and then applies it to their hayfields via pumps and center-pivots.

This 12" well and 150HP line-shaft turbine are only used during drought periods to pump fresh groundwater for irrigation. Although there is a 10" foot-valve below the pump bowl assembly, we are fitting the well discharge piping with a high-hazzard RPZ backflow preventer. To protect the RPZ from contact with corrosive wastewater, a Flomatic 8" stainless steel check valve was installed.

M&B produces over a million single-serve juice, water, and milk packages a day. Brandt Well and Pump (George Brandt Well Drilling) and M&B Dairy (M&B Products) have an affiliation spanning three generations. We are honored that M&B chooses to rely on our service.

06/09/2025

06/09/2025

10/04/2024

Fall in old Florida means the air is heavy with the smell of blooming annuals, and we are only a dry cold-front away from the disruption and end of daily thunderstorms born of the Gulf and Atlantic seabreezes.

10/02/2024

IN WITH THE NEW. If your PWS system requires an ASME Code tank, please give us a call. Stay tuned for a future post that details how the new high-efficiency VFD pumping technology can save substantial costs on a new tank, and also prolong the life of your investment. The new high-efficiency VFD pump package also increases flexibility, operates the new variable speed chlorine pumps for more accurate dosing, a reduces wear and maintenance on the entire system.

10/02/2024

This 2,056-gallon ASME Code tank is lined with NSF 61 approved Tnemec HS epoxy. Because it is replacing twin tanks totaling 1,000 gallons (750 gallons wetted), we installed some internal piping to slightly increase the baffling efficiency of the single tank design to keep it like-for-like. The new tank is currently set up for 40% air over water (hydropneumatic), which equates to almost 10% more compensated contact time for the chlorine.

We also installed a series of check valves and a drilled horizontal pipe along the bottom of the tank. This allows for back-flushing the tank to clean the bottom of accumulated oxidized iron that settles out internally.