Scott- im a petroleum engineer, and have spent quite a many hours around these things. That is a super tiny pump jack. Pumpjacks are for fluids mainly (water, oil). Some gas will come up as well. Judging from the propane tank i would say that the small motor is powered by propane. The motor will get the weights on the arms to rotate the first time on the upstroke, then on the downstroke the weights and the weight of the rods (as well as any hydrostatic load) will pull it down, cycling the pump.
Money and global warming. And pollution. Bunch of stuff it pumps out. I'm cool with someone having one as a hobby or a curiosity, but we probably shouldn't use them for everything. Look at how sunny this field is!
I've worked on and around many pump jacks over the years, they are used to lift oil/fluids out of hole. They are not used on gas wells and can lose prime if the well changes from oil to gas They are very simple in design and work similar to those old fashioned hand stroked water pumps that people used to have on there wells with the primary difference being the actual pump portion usually being down hole with a pump rod that extends to surface that is connected to the head.
I took care of many leases with old Climax (Arrow) "one-lung" engines 40 years ago in the Fruitvale, Mountain View, Tejon, Maricopa, and Cymric fields around Bakersfield, CA. This is not a Climax, but they're similar and run on the same principals. They are beasts, they last for years if maintained properly, and the price of the parts has become more astronomical for these old machines as the years have gone by. I have a restored model in my parking lot at my office we occasionally fire up on propane. We're restoring an Oilwell model 25 pumping unit for a future marriage. I nearly tore a hand off with the crank handle for the flywheel of one of these engines back in '75 when it backfired and failed to disengage. I still have fingers that don't work right to remind me. I hold no malice to the engines, they are marvels... In some cases there is sufficient casing gas (methane) to run the well all the time. In some cases there is insufficient gas (methane) to run the well at all because the gas has pretty much been tapped out of the formation. In some cases you keep a propane tank next to the unit so that in the event the well is off for some period of time and the casing fills with fluid you have a gas source to fire the unit until it pumps the fluid level down and methane again comes out of the formation through the perforations in the casing; the operator (pumper) changes the well back from propane to methane as soon as possible. The methane is free but the propane is a cost that eats at the bottom line profitability on low volume wells. I had wells south of Arvin, CA that were 10,000 feet deep and they ran on what was then known as a Climax Model 96. Waukesha distributed engine parts for them back in the day and Lufkin, National, Continental Emsco, Oilwell, American, and a host of smaller national and regional manufacturers all made the pumping units. I think Lufkin is the only one of those I've named that's still around. I live about two miles these days from a small oil field that has several of these units and engines still active. If they get a carbon build up in the engine and it stays hot between strokes they'll begin to "blast" and sound like a goose gun going off around the clock. We used to break these clinkers loose with a mix of alcohol and water in a squirt bottle shot into the carburetor; the engine would then blow chunks... Memories
We used to dribble water down the carburetor on the V4 Wisconsin motors on out balers; keep them revved up and all but drown them out with water. The carbon would break loose and blow out of the exhaust. They would carbon up and keep dieseling on when you shut them off and that cured it.
Hi Scott, most likely this is running off the casing gas. We still have these in Kansas. I called a local shop that sells these things because as you are, very interested. The gentlemen at the shop said that I didn't want to pay the price for experimenting for this pump. This was about 3 years ago, I think the price was around $5000 for a used casing gas engine. I hope you can find one cheap!
it's a Fairbanks Morse engine. the line going to motor is natural gas off the casing. propane is backup source. oil and water pumped out thru tubing goes to flow line off of pumping tee to buried line to tank battery across field. lots of these all over southern Illinois. I am second generation oil. my dad worked 50 years in the patch. I have 32 years in it
My grandpa has a oil well on his property. It had a hit and miss engine and the engine ran off the gas the well pumped. Now it has an electric motor cause the engine broke cause it was old, but the well still pumps oil although it pumps more saltwater than oil but he needs it for the gas.
My grandfather had many of these wells when I was growing up as a kid. That tank there is a propane tank for fuel that runs the engine. These were pretty common in areas with no electrical access. After electrical lines were more available many years later, my Grandfather had some of them converters to electric. It all depended on the cost. The oil pipe is underground there running to a large tank. If not close by then it is likely in a more central location being fed by multiple wells....or at one time was. They would try to put these tanks by a main road if possible so tankers could get easy access.
You are right Pa was the birthplace for crude oil. Though I am sure there were other places that had oil seeps. They pumped most all of the wells in PA dry many years ago. Recently the oil co. went back to frac some wells only to find that the wells had filled up again. Many scientists now think that oil is actuality made within the earth. Here in Utah we drill down over 2 miles to hit oil. When it is pumped out is is quite hot.when cooled it will set up harder than roof tar. Best to you Earl
@EarlRausch the place where oil was first deliberately pumped from the ground was over in Poland in Eastern Europe , you can find that online. There were wells in the UK as well which are many many years abandoned , the North sea is the source for oil there now... The oil in the USA came along about 60 years after the oil in Poland and the UK , though the oil in those places was not taken in huge scales like it was in America back then...
the average pump jack in west texas is probably 3-4 times the size, is powered from the electric grid (480V 3 phase), and can pump several thousand barrels of fluid per day. The water, petroleum (hydrocarbons plus solids, and other contaminants) will go to a processing satellite or battery to get separated and ready to sell or put into a pipeline. Pump jacks, gas lift, plunger lift, electronic submersible pumps are just a few of the different kinds of secondary recovery. They all have their uses
I used to see these all the time in the western US on vacations, along I-70 and I-80. I don't see them nearly as often as I used to. I always assumed they were pumping water for irrigation since it's so arid out there.
Nowadays here in West Texas we use Ajax engines, sound like cannons from a distance, newer setups consist of a 2 Cyl Honda or Kohler engine with a control box.
E775, you were stopped on I-64 there, no? Much of southern Illinois is covered with these little pumps (stripper wells?); especially on the eastern side. These wells don't have the daily production that's found in the western US, but they produce for a long time.
It's funny how many times I passed one of those and never thought about how they run. On my next road trip I'm checking it out! "Lets build one". I love it.
I have spent 30 years around the oilfields in Texas and gulf of Mexico. Not enough space on the comment section to explain what all is going on. I will try to when I get to a computer not my phone.
I worked on those for ten years for Halliburton, Sclumberger, and Baker Hughes in the Rockies and West Texas, but there are none in W.Kentucky. I moved to my bugout loc!
It’s oil and natural gas. You called it. It’s so cool to come across someone that is into the same stuff i am. It’s so hard to find people that know what they are lookin at in real life. Anyways, God Bless! Be safe and stay around the good people that you know. I even stay away from the people that know what they are talking about sometimes
I've been in the oilfield for 10yrs. and yes there are units that run off of casing gas, and the propane is a back up. As the gas dies down they will use the propane, but it is all depending on the situation down hole. There is a gas controlled throttle on the unit. Almost everywhere I worked oil, gas and water are extracted but that is in west Texas. Most water is in the zones due to the flood (flooding zones w/water to rinse oil through formations) or frac water.
I'm not an engineer by any means. My dad was, so maybe that's where I get my curiosity. I find anything in mechanics and manufacturing fascinating. I love taking things apart. I also have a strange fascination with power lines, utility poles, substations, and all that. I guess what I'm trying to say is...very cool video! I didn't even know that oil or natural gas could even be drilled in Illinois!
The motor is most definitely running of the gas stored in the tank and the line you are asking about is running down hole to provide pressure to hold open the Subsurface Safety Valve (SSV). This is usually done with instrument air but seeing the age of this jack I would guess there is no air on site. I have seen units that use a modified 460 ford V8, one side of the V running as a 4 cylinder to provide prolusion and the other side of the V running as an air compressor to hold the valve SSV open
See that butane tank? That is the fuel for the engine that you hear running. The oil is pumped into a buried pipeline and then to a battery of storage tanks that may be a quarter of a mile away.
@@yaboileeroy3038 I pumped 22 leases for one year. All wells do not produce enough gas to run the engine. We put about half of them on electricity. That was in 1960, south of Electra Texas.
over here in oz we have pockets where you hit propane/methane first, then drill lower/drop pipe lower and get the crude. we also have coal seam gas ( NOT FRACKING ) where they drill to a coal seam and get salty water full of methane bubble (like soda can style ) and it comes to the surface and goes straight into a tank. at the other end of the tank there is a pipe on top for methane, and one on bottom to take the salt water away. years later they will dig the coal out.
There are much smaller pump jacks than that. When I was working in LA we had several as tall as me that serviced a 1000 ft oil well. Perfect for what you want to do. They were really simple too. just some angle iron with a pillow block, a head and one connector rod coming straight off the back of the center beam.
The propane tank supplies energy the motor beside it, which uses the belts on the sheave of the motor to connect to the sheave on the pump jack. The fact that there's a propane tank present indicates to me that produced gas is not running this well. You can see the sheave on the jack spinning, which cranks the arms on the pump jack and therefore moves the rods up and down, lifting fluid. The well is likely pumping light oil with low sand, gas, and possibly water. If the well produces natural gas, it's not using the gas to run the motor; this would be obvious to point out as you'd see surface casing running to the motor as well as a scrubber in addition to other stuff. There's no production tank visible so I'm guessing that any produced oil or gas and piped underground somewhere. Hope that helps.
Yeah it looks to me like the gas engine is running strictly on cng or propane which would be trucked in twice a year to refill the tank. In Texas most of these run on electric motors now.
Found a small one for water in Kentucky on Ebay. $1500 Shipping cost so much "Road Trip" picked it up myself. Totally fun two weeks driving across country the long way. Had no Idea the Bourbon Highway was so much fun.
That pump jack is probably powered by the propane tank,although if the well makes enough natural gas it could potentially power the hit and miss engine. They have these all over the area in Kansas that I live in. Most have been converted to electric but there are still a few around that use their own gas to run.
Many pump jacks do in fact use casing head gas (methane) to run a one cylinder engine similar to the one in the video. However, there needs to be a small gas / fluid separator near the the system. Think of something shaped like and similar in size to a vertical 5 gal propane tank. The gas comes off the top and fluid falls out in the bottom, similar to a volume tank on an air compressor. I think this pump jack runs off the propane continuously, I can't see a seperator anywhere in the system. Sometimes a pump jack will have a propane tank near by to start the pump jack and then switch to casing head gas after the well start getting oil and gas to surface. That is a large propane tank just to use for startup.
We have these in eastern kentucky. They pump oil into tanks. Theyre not the huge ones but ones that stand about 8ft tall. Theres actually one not far from where i live.
They run off the gas fumes from the well. You ever spray starter fluid into a gas engine and then watch it run for a few seconds on the spray fumes? It's just like that. They do have others though that run on LP gas or electric generators. This one here is running on propane. You could have gotten closer. I mean, Texans aren't always like you see on TV. They're pretty nice generally.
Mike Ayers Yah, we have a wide array of interests and topics just like everyone else does. I know a couple of furry firefighters myself, both professional and volunteers :3
Hey there Scott, yes Grady is correct. That is a small conventional ALS aka Pump Jack being powered by Propane. I am now an ALS Inspector in the Bakken for these units for let's just say "a leader" in the industry internationally. If you enjoy these come on up and you can see some other things to tickle your brain called DynaPumps, Rotaflex, and these pumps so large you have to be in a bucket truck with a lift to work on these. Good times. And yes they can be driven by all forms of energy.
Bud the engine is a fair banks morse engine and its throttle governed thats why it sped up and slowed down notice it did that when the weights of the pumping unit were going up the engine size is a 118 and they flow the gas off the backside of the well to a regulator and into the engine I know because I'm a pumper and the oil is going to a stock tank sitting some where by
+grettagrids Most of the Fairbanks were throttle governed engines. The few true hit and miss that they did make were painted red and not the normal green.
Scott, You can get these for pumping water. Dean Bennett supply Co.(just Google them) sells them. They're basically like the 100 year old ones that bolt onto a traditional cast iron deep well hand pump head. Baker mfg. and Dempster make them. Pricey though, $1,000-$3000!
That is an Arrow engine, running on propane. I spent three years maintaining them. Arrow C-46 likely. It'll rev up when the counterweight comes down, and it loads up when the counterweight goes up.
the propane tank is used to start the engine after it started and oil and water pumped down the well make enough gas to run its self if you looked around you would see a some kind of heater,or a cold water knock out and a set of oil tanks and a water tank if the well makes any water
Thanks! I saw a pipe from the well to the propane tank and was wondering if the pump Jack could take and compress that gas for the tank? I really appreciate your expertise in this area. I would love to have one for a well pump. I have a really small pump jack I plan on doing a video soon off of a dc motor/solar. take care!
funny how only a few of us would stop and take interest in things like this, I got that trait from my grandpa , who would have jumped that fence to see it ,,LOL
Come down to Texas, you would see plenty of these. Heck you could probably learn about it from a rancher or a roustabout. Hubby says you could probably get a good used one for a good price. Btw, yes, IL is very flat until you get closer to KY.
yep, oil, im in illinois, we have those everywhere. it pumps oil to tanks near the road. the tanks are called oil well batteries. the motor runs off propane. some wells have electric motors.
That depends on the reserve, how long the well runs and how mans wells are on the property. There’s some leases with 1 well and 400 million barrels of oil that’ll last for 125 years. There’s other with 5 oil wells and 2 million barrels of oil that’ll last for 9 years. It really depends.
It's a nodding donkey, these things to really fascinate me. These r used for pumping oil and of the ground. Look at the song rock the Caspah there is a massive black one in the back ground. Hope this helped 🙂
Depends on depth of the well. Some run into the millions of dollars. Output can be anywhere from less than a barrel to thousands of barrels a day. I'd assume with this small pumpjack, the well isn't too deep and it wouldn't make much production. Only assuming tho.
hell come to Texas you can have these inside the city limits. matter of fact there is one two houses down from me. but the town I live in is called boomtown cause of the oil boom.
maybe so! I've never seen a pump jack recharge a tank like that without an external compression system. But it may just be grabbing condensate or something. have fun with your pump jack!
I love that you think its cool......good for you. Propane tank to run the engine. No backside gas to run it. Oil/Fluids lead line runs to tanks to separate, and sell. Probably since two flywheels, a fairbanks engine. Cheers.
hello, I am a pumper and out where I work we have a pump jack that makes natural gas that not only runs itself but two other gas engines too. I assume that is what they are doing here. the white tank would be a volume tank if they are running the gas to it. hope that helps.
It looks like planting crops for this farm owner is just his part time job. Pumping black gold out of the ground is where the real money comes from. But who would have thought of the great oil crash of 2020?
That isn`t a hit & miss engine its a throttle governor Like the one I have here . That looks to be a Fairbanks Morse ZC 118 The model is the CU IN of the engine. The one I`m posing by is a ZC 503. The tank battery is most likley far away from this pumping unit so the trucks can pick up the oil by a side road . They can run the engine off the well head gas if the supply is great enough to. Many times they can run both the propane & well head gas to the engine.
Fairbanks Morse has two flywheels. Arrow or Continental has one flywheel. Two values on a Fairbanks one floats, Intake. open no oil. The unit. oil well or Cabot. amount of total fluid. example 1.500x1.500=x42=x10=x.1166= 100% total fluid oil and salt water. pump size square x link of stroke = x strokes per minute = x.1166 total fluid capacity of pump. Starts on propane. when casing head builds casing pressure change to casing head gas. Motor uses 1 cubic feet per hour of natural gas for every horsepower taken to run the unit. has a governor to keep motor from overrunning when less horsepower is needed.
By the sound of it and how it appears to be running it is an older two stroke natural gas engine, maybe an Ajax or a Fairbanks. Hit and miss engines are no longer really used in the oilfield. If you like the idea of owning and older engine like this one check out Arrow Engine company in Texas, they supply new parts for many older model engines for industrial use.
Down here in South Louisiana we have lots of those pumping Oil but I believe they are mostly very old ones? And they are mostly in 1 area. You want to se FLAT!! LOL Come to South LA. Actually it is not all Flat~~some of it is sunken below sea level. LOL
fairbanks morse engine I collect those but the tank is propane to run the engine nothing is pumped into the tank if you take a look at my page you can learn alittle
we had an ajax like that. prime it with gas.turn on propane to get it going long enough to open the casing gas and she runs all through the night. thank you trump for bringing back the oil patch!
that engine is more then likely pumping oil, and the process in pumping oil often has natural gas as a by product. and because of this the engine can run near indefinitely with little to no maintenance. and it probably changed rpm a bit there because of an air bubble in the fuel or something like that. that engine is actually what is called a throttle governed engine more then likely. looks like an Ajax or something similar.
Probably an Arrow engine. They are still making new-builds of the late model fairbanks pattern for industrial purposes such as running well pumps in places without access to the power grid. I don't think this well is using the gas byproduct as its fuel, the propane tank is powering the engine. But it probably is profitable to run anyway or it would have been turned off a long time ago.
some wells make enough gas to power that lil 208 gas motor but if the well is down fora time u have ta use propane to runem fora while till the well pumps down and makes enough gas to run the motor then shut off the propane and yes well powers itself in some cases the well doesnt make enough gas and there isnt any electricity close enough fora electric motor so its yr only option
that thing is running fast... most of them around here in western oklahoma run at much slower RPMs just a real slow thump....thump.....thump....thump...... most around here use natural gas pulled off the well and only power on the up stroke and counterweight carries the crank around... Our natural gas well head we own on our farm, is naturally pressurized not no pump needed...
Scott- im a petroleum engineer, and have spent quite a many hours around these things. That is a super tiny pump jack. Pumpjacks are for fluids mainly (water, oil). Some gas will come up as well. Judging from the propane tank i would say that the small motor is powered by propane. The motor will get the weights on the arms to rotate the first time on the upstroke, then on the downstroke the weights and the weight of the rods (as well as any hydrostatic load) will pull it down, cycling the pump.
This is a barkercreek formation well 114 american pj 46 arrow 1800 ft 75 pct o2 25 pct oil well was drilled in 70s grace #1 very good field
I find these things fascinating. I can't imagine having a machine out in your field, just steadily pumping money out of the ground, 24/7/365.
It’s really nice. It’s crazy to me that everyone isnt doing it. We are fighting wars over it!!
Money and global warming. And pollution. Bunch of stuff it pumps out. I'm cool with someone having one as a hobby or a curiosity, but we probably shouldn't use them for everything. Look at how sunny this field is!
I thought they pumped oil out of the ground
Ive enjoyed watching pumpjacks since i was a kid. I have no clue why they just fascinate me.
I've worked on and around many pump jacks over the years, they are used to lift oil/fluids out of hole. They are not used on gas wells and can lose prime if the well changes from oil to gas They are very simple in design and work similar to those old fashioned hand stroked water pumps that people used to have on there wells with the primary difference being the actual pump portion usually being down hole with a pump rod that extends to surface that is connected to the head.
I took care of many leases with old Climax (Arrow) "one-lung" engines 40 years ago in the Fruitvale, Mountain View, Tejon, Maricopa, and Cymric fields around Bakersfield, CA. This is not a Climax, but they're similar and run on the same principals. They are beasts, they last for years if maintained properly, and the price of the parts has become more astronomical for these old machines as the years have gone by. I have a restored model in my parking lot at my office we occasionally fire up on propane. We're restoring an Oilwell model 25 pumping unit for a future marriage. I nearly tore a hand off with the crank handle for the flywheel of one of these engines back in '75 when it backfired and failed to disengage. I still have fingers that don't work right to remind me. I hold no malice to the engines, they are marvels...
In some cases there is sufficient casing gas (methane) to run the well all the time. In some cases there is insufficient gas (methane) to run the well at all because the gas has pretty much been tapped out of the formation. In some cases you keep a propane tank next to the unit so that in the event the well is off for some period of time and the casing fills with fluid you have a gas source to fire the unit until it pumps the fluid level down and methane again comes out of the formation through the perforations in the casing; the operator (pumper) changes the well back from propane to methane as soon as possible. The methane is free but the propane is a cost that eats at the bottom line profitability on low volume wells.
I had wells south of Arvin, CA that were 10,000 feet deep and they ran on what was then known as a Climax Model 96. Waukesha distributed engine parts for them back in the day and Lufkin, National, Continental Emsco, Oilwell, American, and a host of smaller national and regional manufacturers all made the pumping units. I think Lufkin is the only one of those I've named that's still around. I live about two miles these days from a small oil field that has several of these units and engines still active. If they get a carbon build up in the engine and it stays hot between strokes they'll begin to "blast" and sound like a goose gun going off around the clock. We used to break these clinkers loose with a mix of alcohol and water in a squirt bottle shot into the carburetor; the engine would then blow chunks... Memories
Mysterion h(
We used to dribble water down the carburetor on the V4 Wisconsin motors on out balers; keep them revved up and all but drown them out with water. The carbon would break loose and blow out of the exhaust. They would carbon up and keep dieseling on when you shut them off and that cured it.
Hi Scott, most likely this is running off the casing gas. We still have these in Kansas. I called a local shop that sells these things because as you are, very interested. The gentlemen at the shop said that I didn't want to pay the price for experimenting for this pump. This was about 3 years ago, I think the price was around $5000 for a used casing gas engine. I hope you can find one cheap!
it's a Fairbanks Morse engine. the line going to motor is natural gas off the casing. propane is backup source. oil and water pumped out thru tubing goes to flow line off of pumping tee to buried line to tank battery across field. lots of these all over southern Illinois. I am second generation oil. my dad worked 50 years in the patch. I have 32 years in it
My grandpa has a oil well on his property. It had a hit and miss engine and the engine ran off the gas the well pumped. Now it has an electric motor cause the engine broke cause it was old, but the well still pumps oil although it pumps more saltwater than oil but he needs it for the gas.
My grandfather had many of these wells when I was growing up as a kid. That tank there is a propane tank for fuel that runs the engine. These were pretty common in areas with no electrical access. After electrical lines were more available many years later, my Grandfather had some of them converters to electric. It all depended on the cost.
The oil pipe is underground there running to a large tank. If not close by then it is likely in a more central location being fed by multiple wells....or at one time was. They would try to put these tanks by a main road if possible so tankers could get easy access.
indianaaway Damn join usi oil field trash like they called usins.
You are right Pa was the birthplace for crude oil. Though I am sure there were other places that had oil seeps.
They pumped most all of the wells in PA dry many years ago. Recently the oil co. went back to frac some wells only to find that the wells had filled up again.
Many scientists now think that oil is actuality made within the earth. Here in Utah we drill down over 2 miles to hit oil. When it is pumped out is is quite hot.when cooled it will set up harder than roof tar.
Best to you Earl
@EarlRausch the place where oil was first deliberately pumped from the ground was over in Poland in Eastern Europe , you can find that online.
There were wells in the UK as well which are many many years abandoned , the North sea is the source for oil there now...
The oil in the USA came along about 60 years after the oil in Poland and the UK , though the oil in those places was not taken in huge scales like it was in America back then...
the propane helps to start motor. once you've got it running you open the natural gas valve and turn off the propane. pretty fun to tinker with
fun you say?
the average pump jack in west texas is probably 3-4 times the size, is powered from the electric grid (480V 3 phase), and can pump several thousand barrels of fluid per day. The water, petroleum (hydrocarbons plus solids, and other contaminants) will go to a processing satellite or battery to get separated and ready to sell or put into a pipeline. Pump jacks, gas lift, plunger lift, electronic submersible pumps are just a few of the different kinds of secondary recovery. They all have their uses
I used to see these all the time in the western US on vacations, along I-70 and I-80. I don't see them nearly as often as I used to. I always assumed they were pumping water for irrigation since it's so arid out there.
Nowadays here in West Texas we use Ajax engines, sound like cannons from a distance, newer setups consist of a 2 Cyl Honda or Kohler engine with a control box.
E775, you were stopped on I-64 there, no? Much of southern Illinois is covered with these little pumps (stripper wells?); especially on the eastern side. These wells don't have the daily production that's found in the western US, but they produce for a long time.
It's funny how many times I passed one of those and never thought about how they run. On my next road trip I'm checking it out! "Lets build one". I love it.
Not a miss and miss they used throttle governed Fairbanks Morse Type ZC engine ,this one looks like a 3 hp or a 6 hp .
I have spent 30 years around the oilfields in Texas and gulf of Mexico. Not enough space on the comment section to explain what all is going on. I will try to when I get to a computer not my phone.
Jensen pump jacks one of the U S made best oil or water well jack pumps..
I worked on those for ten years for Halliburton, Sclumberger, and Baker Hughes in the Rockies and West Texas, but there are none in W.Kentucky. I moved to my bugout loc!
It’s oil and natural gas. You called it. It’s so cool to come across someone that is into the same stuff i am. It’s so hard to find people that know what they are lookin at in real life. Anyways, God Bless! Be safe and stay around the good people that you know. I even stay away from the people that know what they are talking about sometimes
I've been in the oilfield for 10yrs. and yes there are units that run off of casing gas, and the propane is a back up. As the gas dies down they will use the propane, but it is all depending on the situation down hole. There is a gas controlled throttle on the unit. Almost everywhere I worked oil, gas and water are extracted but that is in west Texas. Most water is in the zones due to the flood (flooding zones w/water to rinse oil through formations) or frac water.
I'm not an engineer by any means. My dad was, so maybe that's where I get my curiosity. I find anything in mechanics and manufacturing fascinating. I love taking things apart. I also have a strange fascination with power lines, utility poles, substations, and all that. I guess what I'm trying to say is...very cool video! I didn't even know that oil or natural gas could even be drilled in Illinois!
Apoc Alypse all over if you got the money to drll
The motor is most definitely running of the gas stored in the tank and the line you are asking about is running down hole to provide pressure to hold open the Subsurface Safety Valve (SSV). This is usually done with instrument air but seeing the age of this jack I would guess there is no air on site. I have seen units that use a modified 460 ford V8, one side of the V running as a 4 cylinder to provide prolusion and the other side of the V running as an air compressor to hold the valve SSV open
See that butane tank? That is the fuel for the engine that you hear running. The oil is pumped into a buried pipeline and then to a battery of storage tanks that may be a quarter of a mile away.
Nope. Propane for starting, then you switch it over to run off the natural gas from the very well it's pumping.
@@yaboileeroy3038 I pumped 22 leases for one year. All wells do not produce enough gas to run the engine. We put about half of them on electricity. That was in 1960, south of Electra Texas.
over here in oz we have pockets where you hit propane/methane first, then drill lower/drop pipe lower and get the crude. we also have coal seam gas ( NOT FRACKING ) where they drill to a coal seam and get salty water full of methane bubble (like soda can style ) and it comes to the surface and goes straight into a tank. at the other end of the tank there is a pipe on top for methane, and one on bottom to take the salt water away. years later they will dig the coal out.
sweet looking setup.
There are much smaller pump jacks than that. When I was working in LA we had several as tall as me that serviced a 1000 ft oil well. Perfect for what you want to do. They were really simple too. just some angle iron with a pillow block, a head and one connector rod coming straight off the back of the center beam.
The propane tank supplies energy the motor beside it, which uses the belts on the sheave of the motor to connect to the sheave on the pump jack. The fact that there's a propane tank present indicates to me that produced gas is not running this well. You can see the sheave on the jack spinning, which cranks the arms on the pump jack and therefore moves the rods up and down, lifting fluid. The well is likely pumping light oil with low sand, gas, and possibly water. If the well produces natural gas, it's not using the gas to run the motor; this would be obvious to point out as you'd see surface casing running to the motor as well as a scrubber in addition to other stuff. There's no production tank visible so I'm guessing that any produced oil or gas and piped underground somewhere. Hope that helps.
Yeah it looks to me like the gas engine is running strictly on cng or propane which would be trucked in twice a year to refill the tank. In Texas most of these run on electric motors now.
Found a small one for water in Kentucky on Ebay. $1500 Shipping cost so much "Road Trip" picked it up myself. Totally fun two weeks driving across country the long way. Had no Idea the Bourbon Highway was so much fun.
That pump jack is probably powered by the propane tank,although if the well makes enough natural gas it could potentially power the hit and miss engine. They have these all over the area in Kansas that I live in. Most have been converted to electric but there are still a few around that use their own gas to run.
Many pump jacks do in fact use casing head gas (methane) to run a one cylinder engine similar to the one in the video. However, there needs to be a small gas / fluid separator near the the system. Think of something shaped like and similar in size to a vertical 5 gal propane tank. The gas comes off the top and fluid falls out in the bottom, similar to a volume tank on an air compressor. I think this pump jack runs off the propane continuously, I can't see a seperator anywhere in the system. Sometimes a pump jack will have a propane tank near by to start the pump jack and then switch to casing head gas after the well start getting oil and gas to surface. That is a large propane tank just to use for startup.
We have these in eastern kentucky. They pump oil into tanks. Theyre not the huge ones but ones that stand about 8ft tall. Theres actually one not far from where i live.
They run off the gas fumes from the well. You ever spray starter fluid into a gas engine and then watch it run for a few seconds on the spray fumes? It's just like that.
They do have others though that run on LP gas or electric generators.
This one here is running on propane.
You could have gotten closer. I mean, Texans aren't always like you see on TV. They're pretty nice generally.
I was thinking this unit ran on LP [white tank giveaway much :P] also *wolf pokes husky* Dang furrys are everywhere XD
Mike Ayers
Yah, we have a wide array of interests and topics just like everyone else does.
I know a couple of furry firefighters myself, both professional and volunteers :3
Talking to one now lol though at the moment I work security.
HuskyGamersUNITE I believe he is in Illinois not Texas, and they are not as nice.
+HuskyGamersUNITE Furries? On my Internet? x3
Hey there Scott, yes Grady is correct. That is a small conventional ALS aka Pump Jack being powered by Propane. I am now an ALS Inspector in the Bakken for these units for let's just say "a leader" in the industry internationally. If you enjoy these come on up and you can see some other things to tickle your brain called DynaPumps, Rotaflex, and these pumps so large you have to be in a bucket truck with a lift to work on these. Good times. And yes they can be driven by all forms of energy.
Hey now the Ozarks aren't flat! Greetings from Springfield MO
Bud the engine is a fair banks morse engine and its throttle governed thats why it sped up and slowed down notice it did that when the weights of the pumping unit were going up the engine size is a 118 and they flow the gas off the backside of the well to a regulator and into the engine I know because I'm a pumper and the oil is going to a stock tank sitting some where by
I didn't think fairbanks morse made a throttler.
grettagrids I'm fairly certain the engine is built by Arrow, they still make those kinds of engines.
+grettagrids Most of the Fairbanks were throttle governed engines. The few true hit and miss that they did make were painted red and not the normal green.
Check out the pump I filmed this last July in central OH. I live in northern OH. This was at a campground near Marengo, Ohio.
Scott, You can get these for pumping water. Dean Bennett supply Co.(just Google them) sells them. They're basically like the 100 year old ones that bolt onto a traditional cast iron deep well hand pump head. Baker mfg. and Dempster make them. Pricey though, $1,000-$3000!
That is an Arrow engine, running on propane. I spent three years maintaining them. Arrow C-46 likely. It'll rev up when the counterweight comes down, and it loads up when the counterweight goes up.
Thanks, I'm totally picking up what your putting down. Love these things.... Once again Thank You...
I would guess a truck drives out there and fills that propane tank. wonder how long it can run off that tank.
I love in MO and don't see these things around here..
the propane tank is used to start the engine after it started and oil and water pumped down the well make enough gas to run its self if you looked around you would see a some kind of heater,or a cold water knock out and a set of oil tanks and a water tank if the well makes any water
Thanks! I saw a pipe from the well to the propane tank and was wondering if the pump Jack could take and compress that gas for the tank? I really appreciate your expertise in this area. I would love to have one for a well pump. I have a really small pump jack I plan on doing a video soon off of a dc motor/solar. take care!
Saw one of these in WV. It was so small it could have fit in a kid's wagon!
funny how only a few of us would stop and take interest in things like this, I got that trait from my grandpa , who would have jumped that fence to see it ,,LOL
very cool some of the wells in Texas give of what is know as a drip gas it can run a gasoline engine no refining necessary
Come down to Texas, you would see plenty of these. Heck you could probably learn about it from a rancher or a roustabout. Hubby says you could probably get a good used one for a good price. Btw, yes, IL is very flat until you get closer to KY.
yep, oil, im in illinois, we have those everywhere. it pumps oil to tanks near the road. the tanks are called oil well batteries. the motor runs off propane. some wells have electric motors.
I would like to see a video of one of these being constructed. How long does it take to empty a well (yes, I know size makes a difference)
That depends on the reserve, how long the well runs and how mans wells are on the property. There’s some leases with 1 well and 400 million barrels of oil that’ll last for 125 years. There’s other with 5 oil wells and 2 million barrels of oil that’ll last for 9 years. It really depends.
It's a nodding donkey, these things to really fascinate me. These r used for pumping oil and of the ground. Look at the song rock the Caspah there is a massive black one in the back ground. Hope this helped 🙂
AA9Skillz Anthony How about walking beam natural gas if close enough for supply or propane.!
How much does it cost to put one of these up? and what is their output like ?
Depends on depth of the well. Some run into the millions of dollars. Output can be anywhere from less than a barrel to thousands of barrels a day. I'd assume with this small pumpjack, the well isn't too deep and it wouldn't make much production. Only assuming tho.
hell come to Texas you can have these inside the city limits. matter of fact there is one two houses down from me. but the town I live in is called boomtown cause of the oil boom.
maybe so! I've never seen a pump jack recharge a tank like that without an external compression system. But it may just be grabbing condensate or something.
have fun with your pump jack!
I love that you think its cool......good for you. Propane tank to run the engine. No backside gas to run it. Oil/Fluids lead line runs to tanks to separate, and sell. Probably since two flywheels, a fairbanks engine. Cheers.
hello, I am a pumper and out where I work we have a pump jack that makes natural gas that not only runs itself but two other gas engines too. I assume that is what they are doing here. the white tank would be a volume tank if they are running the gas to it. hope that helps.
Michael Cookson Say what ?
Michael Cookson Looks propane tank to me !!
I think the concept is pendulum pump. Massive torque! The hit n miss engine is there to keep the pendulum moving. Search for "Milkovic pendulum"
the oil comes up through the inside diameter of the well called the tubing, the outside called the casing is dry and they extract the gas from there
TRD185 say what?
very cool video.i would love to see you build a hit and miss motor
It looks like planting crops for this farm owner is just his part time job. Pumping black gold out of the ground is where the real money comes from. But who would have thought of the great oil crash of 2020?
That isn`t a hit & miss engine its a throttle governor Like the one I have here . That looks to be a Fairbanks Morse ZC 118 The model is the CU IN of the engine. The one I`m posing by is a ZC 503. The tank battery is most likley far away from this pumping unit so the trucks can pick up the oil by a side road . They can run the engine off the well head gas if the supply is great enough to. Many times they can run both the propane & well head gas to the engine.
I often see these pumps used and for sale in the Bradford PA area. (That's where the oil business started or so I'm told.)
Looks like a propane tank (white) so could be powered by propane. Must be connected to a pipeline if oil/nat gas.
Fairbanks Morse has two flywheels.
Arrow or Continental has one flywheel.
Two values on a Fairbanks one floats, Intake. open no oil.
The unit. oil well or Cabot. amount of total fluid. example 1.500x1.500=x42=x10=x.1166= 100% total fluid oil and salt water.
pump size square x link of stroke = x strokes per minute = x.1166 total fluid capacity of pump.
Starts on propane. when casing head builds casing pressure change to casing head gas.
Motor uses 1 cubic feet per hour of natural gas for every horsepower taken to run the unit. has a governor to keep motor from overrunning when less horsepower is needed.
It's using NG to run the motor off the oil reserve.
By the sound of it and how it appears to be running it is an older two stroke natural gas engine, maybe an Ajax or a Fairbanks. Hit and miss engines are no longer really used in the oilfield. If you like the idea of owning and older engine like this one check out Arrow Engine company in Texas, they supply new parts for many older model engines for industrial use.
Mark Schwartz They use electric in areas with electricity with in a couple miles
Down here in South Louisiana we have lots of those pumping Oil but I believe they are mostly very old ones? And they are mostly in 1 area.
You want to se FLAT!! LOL Come to South LA. Actually it is not all Flat~~some of it is sunken below sea level. LOL
just remember, don't play on the equipment it can kill .... i payed attention to the PSA's...lol
fairbanks morse engine I collect those but the tank is propane to run the engine nothing is pumped into the tank
if you take a look at my page you can learn alittle
Two flywheels, one propane tank.........Fairbanks, and NO Backside gas to run it. Good call, Solomon
I think it pumps oil and the white tank probably runs the hit n miss engine. I don't think it can pump both at the same time.
In the north I've seen these being run with electric motors more often than not.
I think its not water well but oil well.There must be a diesel engine or induction motor to drive the pump.
we had an ajax like that. prime it with gas.turn on propane to get it going long enough to open the casing gas and she runs all through the night. thank you trump for bringing back the oil patch!
Just googled Dean Bennett Supply Co. Man that is a resource worth knowing about. Thanks.
It always throws me when people comment about the flat land around here, cows, oil pumps ect. Just everyday life around here.
looks like south central illinois off I64
Yes it's true
the machine is perfect
This is so cool have seen lots of them 😃
No cage around unit
normally they are powered by an electric motor and sometimes a gas or propane engine.
Could be pumping fresh water. The position if the weights show it is a shallow well.
Whatsa matta U, Propane Tank, Plain as Day. lol
that engine is more then likely pumping oil, and the process in pumping oil often has natural gas as a by product. and because of this the engine can run near indefinitely with little to no maintenance. and it probably changed rpm a bit there because of an air bubble in the fuel or something like that. that engine is actually what is called a throttle governed engine more then likely. looks like an Ajax or something similar.
+Kegan Montgomery scratch that it looks more similar to a late model Fairbanks
Probably an Arrow engine. They are still making new-builds of the late model fairbanks pattern for industrial purposes such as running well pumps in places without access to the power grid.
I don't think this well is using the gas byproduct as its fuel, the propane tank is powering the engine. But it probably is profitable to run anyway or it would have been turned off a long time ago.
tool and die maker or engineer?
I thought that was you! :)
some wells make enough gas to power that lil 208 gas motor but if the well is down fora time u have ta use propane to runem fora while till the well pumps down and makes enough gas to run the motor then shut off the propane and yes well powers itself in some cases the well doesnt make enough gas and there isnt any electricity close enough fora electric motor so its yr only option
Could you run this from solar?
Not unless you did not want it pumping in cloud cover or in the night. Plus it runs from the gas it produces. Solar is NOT the answer for most things!
that thing is running fast... most of them around here in western oklahoma run at much slower RPMs just a real slow thump....thump.....thump....thump...... most around here use natural gas pulled off the well and only power on the up stroke and counterweight carries the crank around... Our natural gas well head we own on our farm, is naturally pressurized not no pump needed...
lived it, breathed it, and died like an idiot!
Bourbon in and OUT
Looks like a propane powered hit and miss engine.
Not hit miss
it might be solar power. there are lots were I live and they all have solar panels
Climb the fence!
Lol.
I BUILT UP A LOT OF THE FAIRBANKS MORSE 208 ENGINE'S,,,,VERY DURABLE OLD ENGINE'S
propane tank
i live in missori
👍
ram pump powered if its by a waterfall ahah