A pump hoist is a device that mounts onto the back of a truck and is used to pull and replace submersible pumps and well pipe. Similar to a large boom truck, the pump hoist consists of a tall tower with a pulley wheel affixed to the very top. The pump hoist also incorporates a large hoist that is mounted in the bed of the truck and has the hoist or winch cable going up and over the top of the tower pulley and down into the well casing. The tall tower allows a well repairman to pull complete lengths of well pipe up and out of the well when servicing the pump.
The typical submersible water-well pump motor is attached to a steel cable that is accessible through the top of the well stand. Once the cover is removed, the pump hoist can be hooked to the cable and the pump can be winched up and out of the well casing. As each section of well pipe is pulled out of the well, it is removed and the pump hoist hook is lowered to re-hook to the next section of pipe. Eventually, all sections of pipe are removed from the well casing and the pump, which is attached to the final section of well pipe, is pulled out of the casing.
Once the needed repairs are completed, the pump is lowered into the well casing and the sections of well pipe are once again reconnected. A series of unhooking the pump hoist and reattaching to the next section of pipe is repeated until the pump is once again positioned at the bottom of the well. The pump hoist is manufactured in multiple sizes to work properly with all sizes of pumps from the household unit to the largest irrigation pumps used in commercial farming applications.
The size or the lifting capacity of the pump hoist determines the size of the truck that the pump is mounted to. The type of hoist used to pull the average household water-well pump is commonly mounted onto the bed of a pickup truck. This allows the operator to be able to maneuver the vehicle around the typical yard to gain access to the water well. Large irrigation well pumps may be the size of a small automobile, so these types of pump hoists are commonly mounted onto very large trucks and equipped with hydraulic outriggers to prevent the trucks from turning over once the large pumps are hoisted out of the ground.