Patent ID: 7201222

Claim:
A method of operating a progressing cavity well pump, comprising: (a) providing a tag shoulder above a pump stator, securing the pump stator to a string of tubing and lowering the pump stator and tag shoulder into a well simultaneously with the string of tubing, the tag shoulder defining a restrictive passage to the stator that is more restrictive than a passage through the tubing to the tag shoulder; (b) securing a pump rotor having a helical contour to a string of rods, defining a drive string, and providing a stop in the drive string; c) after the tubing and the stator have been installed in the well, lowering the drive string and the pump rotor into the tubing until the pump rotor enters the stator and the stop lands on the tag shoulder; then (d) lifting the drive string a selected distance to place the stop above the tag shoulder, the selected distance being more than an expected stretch of the rods due to the weight of a full column of well fluid in the tubing; then (e) rotating the drive string, causing the rotor to rotate in the stator to pump well fluid up the tubing.