You did a great job explaining motor/pump speed and explaining the differential between forces on rod up versus rod down!! Excellent video!! Thank You!! Glad you got some time with your family - I know you work hard a lot of the time!!
This video was aimed at me. When I commented about the balance, I didn't think about the weight of the column of fluid in the well. Glad you did this video. It made me think about more than just the rods, pump, and small block Chevy...
You aren't the usual pumper roust-about hand I see in my area. You have a great understanding of the engineering that goes on around that pumping unit.
This answered a lot of questions I always had. I work at a lot of irrigation well filter stations and am often near oil fields and always was curious on out them.
Zac sorry about f150 trans. My 05 f150 5.4 cratered at 195000 miles with no warning signs. Ford rebuilt 3yr 30M warranty installed by Ford house $7500 good.luck on your transmission.
Another great video, Zach! Love that strokes per minute formula, absolute brilliance. Have you thought about publishing a pumpers oil field guide? You have some excellent, resourceful ideas that are essential to anyone working in oil well service. So good to see your well service videos back and running. Thanks for all your efforts in putting these together....much appreciated, Duane in the Illinois Basin.
Found this channel a few months back and pretty much binged watched all your videos.... I'm from Georgia and you remind me of a couple of my friends.... Could you do a Zach lore video talking bout how you got into oil and stuff about the old days with your granddad idk that would be cool....🤘💯
I am from Kansas and I relief pump, and one of the lease has two air-actuated pumping units.. They use a big air cylinder with air pressure to help pull up the fluid... I was told that they use them in Texas because of how deep they are... First time that I had seen them...
That's a lot like a cable operated elevator then, the counterweight is somewhere between the empty and fully loaded cab weight for efficiency throughout the range of loads on the motor. Great point on calculating the difference between two sheaves as well.
This is a very informative video, keep up the work. I worked in Snyder and Odessa in 2012 for BakerHughes as a truck/equipment mechanic. I never have worked in production but it is very interesting to say the least. You do a great job of explaining things.
I used the way you calculate the size of pulley needed for many years. I always wanted to pump shallow wells, but the ones I pumped were about 6600 feet deep. The pumpjacks were 320’s to 640’s.
Brilliant video and explanation how these well work. Maybe if you had an old analogue kWh meter with a disc, that could show reverse usage when the motor overspeeds on the down stroke.
I have seen the old school mechanical electric meters run backwards during the free fall part of the stroke ,the well was perfectly counterbalanced but was pounding fluid. 2 steps forward, 1step back.
So it's lifting 1600 feet of oil at whatever the diameter of the pipe is 30 inches at a time not including the pump mechanisms. I'm guessing the table for fresh water is close which brings me to a question I just thought of regarding oil/water that's being drawn. If oil is lighter than water and it's sitting in the ground whether porous rock or whatever then wouldn't the well point be pulling either oil from the top of the reservoir or just water if it were below the line of separation? In other words, how's a mix coming up if the well point is set in a fixed elevation and the reservoir is just a pocket? Hopefully I got my question across and great seeing a notification as I could listen to you talk about paint drying.
I would like to do a video about this. Most of the formations around here are very wet and need to be thought of like a lake full of pea gravel with a thin layer of oil on top of the water. The well will be perforated at the top of the formation where the log show a high concentration of oil. If you were to perforate into the lower part of the formation you would only get water. With the oil layer being so thin you simply get a mixture oil and water. Also the movement of more water can bring more oil with it.
@@TheZachLife I really appreciate your time in answering my question. The Google, not so much. I would definitely be interested in that subject too as long as you cover it.
I wish you had done a comparison to liquid amount by rpm to see if the energy difference is worth the loss in production. Or if there is much of a loss in production.
Very good info! If you were to go and add another few hundred pounds to that counterweight would that save you a bit more energy or is there a zone where adding weight stops benefits and just adds more stress to the structure/bushings? Assuming having a 50/50 split would negate energy savings since the rods weight couldn't drive it through the oil without motor assistance it makes me wonder what the "perfect" weight/speed would be for that well. Definitely makes your job a bit more involved than just drilling a well and plopping any old setup on it. This is very interesting stuff and I appreciate you dropping knowledge for us.
This is a good explanation of how this works. I like to imagine if you tried to show dynamometer cards and explain that with rod dynamics on deeper holes.
Hi Zach hey thanks for the video, always informative, but the same thought keeps going through my mind on every stroke I see $5.19 cent a gallon for regular here in eastern Oregon, and going up.😋 but it's only money, which we aint got. Anyway, it is socially embarrassing not having chrome valve covers on that small block Chevy.😁 Thanks again for the video, see ya next one.😊
Don't know I'd you have ever checked into using VFDs, especially with single phase power. They will pay off pretty quick in electric consumption and equipment ware, both down hole and surface. I have them on many wells and injection plants too.
If you ever use a gas operated well rather than electric, you'd think that balance was more important. Ideally you are only pulling up the weight of the fluid and 1/3 the weight of the rod. Also Jerkline well sets needed to be balanced so that the single engine was only pulling one well up at a time, or at least the entire system was in balance. as one goes up, one (or more) is going down. The constant torque available from a 3 phase synchronous motor makes life a lot easier. Those weights were adjustable for a reason on the older units. Also a synchronous motor will not act like a generator (alternator) and put power back into the line.
I would never have thought of the counter weight and stroke of a unit in comparison to fluid pounding and electrical usage, BUT now you’ve explained it I’m totally confused about something I’ll never use, in saying that now you’ve slowed the stroke giving fluid time to refill the pump chamber thus using the pump to pump fluid and not pound air thus totally utilising the pumps efficiency... I think 🤔
Hi Zach, Love watching your shows.... Is it possible to restart an old 40+ year old abandoned well? I read where they refill with oil over time. Can these wells be stimulated to produce again?
Welcome back!! It’s hard going weeks at a time when we’re so used to having a video every week like clock work. The first thing I noticed was what I would call a spring hair cut. How about a little update on how the Peterbilt performed? Thanks Kc
The pumping unit looked much happier the way you left it! Great demonstration on the sheave change and its influence on the efficiency of the unit. Do you ever have an application to use adjustable sheaves? I'm guessing the amount of change necessary to make a difference would be too course for adjustable sheaves.
So, is it fair to say that the target for balancing is about halfway between offsetting the weight of just the rods, and offsetting the weight of the rods plus a full column of fluid?
But in reality, the fluid is not being emptied in the whole column, only 1 stroke of fluid at a time so, not that much weight difference between up and down?? Or am I missing something?
Is there possibly a way to setup a lube system to keep these maintained easier? I used to work in a forge, they had lube systems on the presses. Or would something like that be too cost prohibited?
When you're sending that power back to the utility, doesn't it get out of phase? I recall utility companies charging a power factor correction to large users who do that since they have to correct for it down steam.
Nice a box full of dollars 💸 in the back ground of your man cave,lolol so 2300 pounds of rod and oil /water mix lol old job thanks I’ll look back and edit this in post thanks BigAl California
I'd watch videos of you pumping grease.. Been taking care of a family member for 6 years now. Before that I worked outdoors. Talk about cabin fever. Just tagging along is fun.
How much of your fluid is water compared to oil. On secondary recovery moving the salt water makes it heavier but it's mostly about the length of the stroke. Yours looks about 3ft on video. Is your tubing 2 3/8 or 2 7/8. We have mostly shallow wells around here some as shallow as 300ft. If you make lots of water it's harder to move.
You might have to ask yourself, I mean if you think the pump is "perfectly balanced," why then does it not run on a 9v battery? You would think you might wonder "hey, what is all this crazy horsepower for?" Maybe.... Excellent video, thanks for sharing!
It's hard for me to believe that a slug of oil, even 1600 feet down and under 800 lbs of pressure weighs any more than that same slug of oil at normal pressure. Maybe a tiny bit more. Liquids can't be compressed. But I accept your real-world experience! Man, the bearing atop the samson post gets a crapload of wear!
@@caseymitchell5477 But that does not change. I understand and accept that the rod and a 1600 foot long column of rod and oil could weigh bigly, but they weigh that all the time. Heck, the rod is under 800# of pressure as well. Does 20 feet of rod weigh any more when its under pressure versus when its at STP = ground level, 1 atmosphere = 15 psi. Ans: No.
@@alanpecherer5705 depends on what is causing the pressure, a BPR valve you set at the surface, or gas pushing up from below. A bunch of gas entrained in the fluid coming up the tubing would make it weigh a little less.
@@caseymitchell5477 I can believe that. But the weight variance in a column of oil (stroke length) * (casing diameter) compared to 1600 feet of rod and oil would be microscopic.
A sheave? You reminded me of my grandfather who *never* said pulley. In Spanish and Galician pulley is "polea" and sheave is "roldana" although both words are perfectly interchangeable, but it is the first time that I hear them exchanged in English, I had never stopped to think that obviously it could also be done, I have to remember it to sound more interesting in future comments.
A couple of months ago I knew nothing about the oil industry and cared even less, now I am fascinated thanks to your videos. Keep it up.
Hahaha thanks for watching.
Your a damn genius Zach. How about running for President my boy Go Zach 💪💪💪💪
Hahaha thanks.
Lufkin Mark ll
Now that's a big pumping unit!
One of my favorite channels on RUclips.
That’s still my favorite unit on your lease it’s got character 🤣 I love it the exhaust pipes make it even more awesome
Hahaha
Hello Zach
Tuber here thank you for another great video showing a day in your oilfield life.
YES!!!!! You are back in the field
Hahaha yep.
Good to see you again!
you were straight on point with this, Cheers from Calgary Canada(again)
best RUclipsr
You did a great job explaining motor/pump speed and explaining the differential between forces on rod up versus rod down!! Excellent video!! Thank You!! Glad you got some time with your family - I know you work hard a lot of the time!!
Thanks.
Cross multiply and divide. One of my favorite real life equations, great video!
Love the exhaust on that oil well
Great video Zach. I'll be watching for the series. Thanks for bringing us along.
I never thought id be so enthralled with what you do. After watching your videos for a bit, I feel like our jobs are so similar.
Pumpjack with the engine on it is freaking awesome! You should turn that into your logo.
Hahaha I might.
Another WELL done video. Keep on stroke'n!
Good to see you again! Keep ‘em pumpin
This video was aimed at me. When I commented about the balance, I didn't think about the weight of the column of fluid in the well. Glad you did this video. It made me think about more than just the rods, pump, and small block Chevy...
Would love to see a facility tour where these wells produce to
Great video. It all makes sense. Thanks
Think this is the cleanest I've ever seen you. When the video started I was a little confused if it was you or a twin.
Hahaha
Can’t get enough! Keep’em coming buddy.
Thanks.
You aren't the usual pumper roust-about hand I see in my area. You have a great understanding of the engineering that goes on around that pumping unit.
Thanks.
I love all the T-shirts in the different videos.
I
You explain things in ways it's easy for me to comprehend. Thanks
This answered a lot of questions I always had. I work at a lot of irrigation well filter stations and am often near oil fields and always was curious on out them.
Another informative video. Thanks for sharing.
The moral of the story is not to over think things.
Keep it up. Enjoyed the video
Thanks.
Zac sorry about f150 trans. My 05 f150 5.4 cratered at 195000 miles with no warning signs. Ford rebuilt 3yr 30M warranty installed by Ford house $7500 good.luck on your transmission.
That is interesting Zach. I was just one of those rig rats that stuffed iron in the ground.
Never had anything to do with completion.
You explained over pumping perfectly. The speed you were at was trying to pull more than the rod and casing could produce.
I appreciate the education, thanks for sharing!
Thanks.
Hope you and the woman enjoyed the time off you definitely deserve it. Totally understand getting caught back up great video
We did, thanks.
Another great video, Zach! Love that strokes per minute formula, absolute brilliance. Have you thought about publishing a pumpers oil field guide?
You have some excellent, resourceful ideas that are essential to anyone working in oil well service. So good to see your well service videos back and running. Thanks for all your efforts in putting these together....much appreciated, Duane in the Illinois Basin.
Thanks. I haven't, might be kinda neat.
Great content Zach and you do a great job presenting it.👍
Thanks.
My production-side friends approve of this video.
So multiply the length of pipe by the weight so the engine block while your eating pie gives you total calories. So simple! Cool Tshirt!
Hahaha something like that.
Found this channel a few months back and pretty much binged watched all your videos.... I'm from Georgia and you remind me of a couple of my friends.... Could you do a Zach lore video talking bout how you got into oil and stuff about the old days with your granddad idk that would be cool....🤘💯
Thanks. I plan on it at some point.
I am from Kansas and I relief pump, and one of the lease has two air-actuated pumping units.. They use a big air cylinder with air pressure to help pull up the fluid... I was told that they use them in Texas because of how deep they are... First time that I had seen them...
interesting.
That's a lot like a cable operated elevator then, the counterweight is somewhere between the empty and fully loaded cab weight for efficiency throughout the range of loads on the motor. Great point on calculating the difference between two sheaves as well.
Exactly.
Great video. Thanks
Very interesting that made a lot of sense.
another very interesting video. well done!
Thanks.
You made about efficent as it can be. Pretty smart thinking.
This is a very informative video, keep up the work. I worked in Snyder and Odessa in 2012 for BakerHughes as a truck/equipment mechanic. I never have worked in production but it is very interesting to say the least. You do a great job of explaining things.
Thanks.
I used the way you calculate the size of pulley needed for many years. I always wanted to pump shallow wells, but the ones I pumped were about 6600 feet deep. The pumpjacks were 320’s to 640’s.
Brilliant video and explanation how these well work. Maybe if you had an old analogue kWh meter with a disc, that could show reverse usage when the motor overspeeds on the down stroke.
Thanks. And yes I believe so.
Dude, love your videos
Thanks.
Always a great vid, always(almost) a great Tshirt! Also, another look with the AMP gauge woulda been nice.
According to patch legend, the tube headers give the balance-weight higher performance. lol
Hahaha
Ours up here in Nebraska is around 3200 foot
Couldn't you drill 2 new holes in the beam and move it back on the saddle bearing? Increase the lever arm for the weight and shorten the stroke.
Yeah but thats to simple for me. lol.
I have seen the old school mechanical electric meters run backwards during the free fall part of the stroke ,the well was perfectly counterbalanced but was pounding fluid. 2 steps forward, 1step back.
I've never considered that, that would be interesting to watch.
So it's lifting 1600 feet of oil at whatever the diameter of the pipe is 30 inches at a time not including the pump mechanisms. I'm guessing the table for fresh water is close which brings me to a question I just thought of regarding oil/water that's being drawn. If oil is lighter than water and it's sitting in the ground whether porous rock or whatever then wouldn't the well point be pulling either oil from the top of the reservoir or just water if it were below the line of separation? In other words, how's a mix coming up if the well point is set in a fixed elevation and the reservoir is just a pocket?
Hopefully I got my question across and great seeing a notification as I could listen to you talk about paint drying.
I would like to do a video about this. Most of the formations around here are very wet and need to be thought of like a lake full of pea gravel with a thin layer of oil on top of the water. The well will be perforated at the top of the formation where the log show a high concentration of oil. If you were to perforate into the lower part of the formation you would only get water. With the oil layer being so thin you simply get a mixture oil and water. Also the movement of more water can bring more oil with it.
@@TheZachLife I really appreciate your time in answering my question. The Google, not so much. I would definitely be interested in that subject too as long as you cover it.
Nice haircut!
Hahaha thanks.
I got gages on all my units,, that way I can tell better when I'm having pump, tubing holes ect.. or if there's an unfortunate hole in leadline
I've got a couple. It's not a bad idea.
I wish you had done a comparison to liquid amount by rpm to see if the energy difference is worth the loss in production. Or if there is much of a loss in production.
Another interesting vid!
Thanks.
Very good info! If you were to go and add another few hundred pounds to that counterweight would that save you a bit more energy or is there a zone where adding weight stops benefits and just adds more stress to the structure/bushings? Assuming having a 50/50 split would negate energy savings since the rods weight couldn't drive it through the oil without motor assistance it makes me wonder what the "perfect" weight/speed would be for that well. Definitely makes your job a bit more involved than just drilling a well and plopping any old setup on it. This is very interesting stuff and I appreciate you dropping knowledge for us.
It might but it's going to be very little. Imo its about as good as it will get.
This is a good explanation of how this works. I like to imagine if you tried to show dynamometer cards and explain that with rod dynamics on deeper holes.
I use to shoot oil levels and run dynamometer card on wells for Mobil Oil.👍🏻
Great video.
Great vid!
Thanks.
What is the electric bill?
I'm not sure, I would guess around $200.
Hi Zach hey thanks for the video, always informative, but the same thought keeps going through my mind on every stroke I see $5.19 cent a gallon for regular here in eastern Oregon, and going up.😋 but it's only money, which we aint got. Anyway, it is socially embarrassing not having chrome valve covers on that small block Chevy.😁 Thanks again for the video, see ya next one.😊
Hahaha I thought about that. It needs some valve covers lol.
Don't know I'd you have ever checked into using VFDs, especially with single phase power. They will pay off pretty quick in electric consumption and equipment ware, both down hole and surface.
I have them on many wells and injection plants too.
If you ever use a gas operated well rather than electric, you'd think that balance was more important. Ideally you are only pulling up the weight of the fluid and 1/3 the weight of the rod.
Also Jerkline well sets needed to be balanced so that the single engine was only pulling one well up at a time, or at least the entire system was in balance. as one goes up, one (or more) is going down.
The constant torque available from a 3 phase synchronous motor makes life a lot easier. Those weights were adjustable for a reason on the older units.
Also a synchronous motor will not act like a generator (alternator) and put power back into the line.
I would never have thought of the counter weight and stroke of a unit in comparison to fluid pounding and electrical usage, BUT now you’ve explained it I’m totally confused about something I’ll never use, in saying that now you’ve slowed the stroke giving fluid time to refill the pump chamber thus using the pump to pump fluid and not pound air thus totally utilising the pumps efficiency... I think 🤔
Hahaha that pretty much it. No need to use power pumping nothing.
Hi Zach, Love watching your shows.... Is it possible to restart an old 40+ year old abandoned well? I read where they refill with oil over time. Can these wells be stimulated to produce again?
You sir, have earned your PhD in Pumping
Hahaha
Do you have your own water disposal well? Do you run a water line to a old dead well
Yes
Welcome back!! It’s hard going weeks at a time when we’re so used to having a video every week like clock work. The first thing I noticed was what I would call a spring hair cut. How about a little update on how the Peterbilt performed? Thanks Kc
I'm super pleased with it. I want to get 10k miles or so on it and do a real in-depth review.
The pumping unit looked much happier the way you left it! Great demonstration on the sheave change and its influence on the efficiency of the unit. Do you ever have an application to use adjustable sheaves? I'm guessing the amount of change necessary to make a difference would be too course for adjustable sheaves.
I don't. Like this, it's required one adjustment and will probably be set for a really long time.
@@TheZachLifeThanks for the sheave formula! I never knew that. That’s going to save me a lot of time.
Nice box of $$$ in the background. Ha
Great info. ,I am wondering if the gear boxes are directional as we can run our 3ph motors cw or ssw ?
99% are not directional. I have only seen a couple of really old ones that must go a certain way.
So the rod works like a straw with your finger on it in a cup of liquid
Can you use sour gas from old or dead wells power to power a petrol generator.
We don't typically make enough gas around here to do anything with.
How do you get away with no fence around the pumping unit or belt guards?
So, is it fair to say that the target for balancing is about halfway between offsetting the weight of just the rods, and offsetting the weight of the rods plus a full column of fluid?
Ditto simple math , and right way engineering, nice thanks BigAl California praise Jesus Christ grace amen 🙏
Agreed. Thanks.
But in reality, the fluid is not being emptied in the whole column, only 1 stroke of fluid at a time so, not that much weight difference between up and down?? Or am I missing something?
Do you ever run Ajax motors?
Lower current draw = less electricity cost. How much did production slow? Is the lower power cost vs less product a good or bad thing? Just askin?
Production is about the same.
Is there possibly a way to setup a lube system to keep these maintained easier? I used to work in a forge, they had lube systems on the presses. Or would something like that be too cost prohibited?
I have wondered that. I feel like anything would be cost prohibitive.
When you're sending that power back to the utility, doesn't it get out of phase? I recall utility companies charging a power factor correction to large users who do that since they have to correct for it down steam.
Nice a box full of dollars 💸 in the back ground of your man cave,lolol so 2300 pounds of rod and oil /water mix lol old job thanks I’ll look back and edit this in post thanks BigAl California
I'd watch videos of you pumping grease.. Been taking care of a family member for 6 years now. Before that I worked outdoors. Talk about cabin fever. Just tagging along is fun.
How much of your fluid is water compared to oil. On secondary recovery moving the salt water makes it heavier but it's mostly about the length of the stroke. Yours looks about 3ft on video. Is your tubing 2 3/8 or 2 7/8. We have mostly shallow wells around here some as shallow as 300ft. If you make lots of water it's harder to move.
Its mostly water. I would guess 2-3% oil. 2-3/8.
how long have those pumps been running, they look quite old
This well was drilled in 2009, but i would guess the unit is from the 50's
You might have to ask yourself, I mean if you think the pump is "perfectly balanced," why then does it not run on a 9v battery? You would think you might wonder "hey, what is all this crazy horsepower for?" Maybe....
Excellent video, thanks for sharing!
Hahaha thanks.
you have said it all and have had to say very little
These shirts are fucking pro.
It's hard for me to believe that a slug of oil, even 1600 feet down and under 800 lbs of pressure weighs any more than that same slug of oil at normal pressure. Maybe a tiny bit more. Liquids can't be compressed. But I accept your real-world experience! Man, the bearing atop the samson post gets a crapload of wear!
You have 1600' of that oil above it😉
@@caseymitchell5477 But that does not change. I understand and accept that the rod and a 1600 foot long column of rod and oil could weigh bigly, but they weigh that all the time. Heck, the rod is under 800# of pressure as well. Does 20 feet of rod weigh any more when its under pressure versus when its at STP = ground level, 1 atmosphere = 15 psi. Ans: No.
The density doesn't change, but you are having to lift a 1600' column, that is why it's heavy.
@@alanpecherer5705 depends on what is causing the pressure, a BPR valve you set at the surface, or gas pushing up from below. A bunch of gas entrained in the fluid coming up the tubing would make it weigh a little less.
@@caseymitchell5477 I can believe that. But the weight variance in a column of oil (stroke length) * (casing diameter) compared to 1600 feet of rod and oil would be microscopic.
Stroke wanted X gear ratio = X pulley diameter on gearbox = ÷ by rpm of motor = pulley size needed on motor to achieve strokes per minute.
That pump jack must have 6 or 9 horse torques.
A sheave? You reminded me of my grandfather who *never* said pulley. In Spanish and Galician pulley is "polea" and sheave is "roldana" although both words are perfectly interchangeable, but it is the first time that I hear them exchanged in English, I had never stopped to think that obviously it could also be done, I have to remember it to sound more interesting in future comments.
Thats really interesting. It's funny how that transcends a language.
Off the top of my head, why not bore a second time and like link the jack lift at 180° of cycle.
Or even 6 cylinder bores.
Maybe I'm too dumb.
Synchronous motors are only rated for limited starts per hour. Windings get burnt out.
I didn't understand anything but the box of dollar bills yo.😂
I am totally confused now !