DIY well drilling / trench digging for GSHP

[Vlad]

AC, I am working on floor info and post it ASAP. Thanks for giving tips about DIY butt fusion. I use sockets to weld HDPE pipes but I used butt welds for pressure test. I just used aluminum surface of socket fusion iron for melting pipe ends and it works very well and easy. I just melted both ends on iron and pushed them together...

[Vlad]

Originally Posted by Geo NR Gee

Vlad,
Great work by the way! Do you have a picture of the drag bit? Thanks for the useful information also. What you write about makes it sound easy, but I know first hand, its not easy.

You can find bit's picture on page #5 where I posted all rig's pictures.
I bought drag or step bit from them:

Lone Star Drill Bits - Custom Drilling Tools - Special Applications - Drag Bits - Roller Bits - PDC Bits

They have eBay store and can configure exactly bit you need. For example: I needed 2" NPT connection but they didn't have one, they made one for me and listed it on eBay, so I could buy it. The price was good and carbide inserts are braised properly.

Drilling is not easy at all. And bad weather makes it miserable. I wasn't lucky with weather. Every time I start drilling it starts raining

[Vlad]

Originally Posted by Geo NR Gee

Vlad,
You mentioned that you switched to the shorter 5' sections of pipe. Did you cut the 10' pipes and re-thread them? What material is the pipe?

The reason I am asking is that we need more pipe ourselves to go deeper. My HDPE pipe is 210 feet with a U-Bend fused in already.

Why are you so determined do get to 210' depth? Is it just because your u-bend pipe is 210' long?

I will give you example you probably didn't think about. I put grout hose down 55-60' together with u-bends and started pumping grout. Hose quickly became SO HEAVY that I couldn't pull it out. I was like O..o... how do I take it out??? Finally I pushed some air down and emptied grout hose. After this I try to keep hose just above grout surface (you can feel it). I don't know how you are going to deal with hose 3 to 4 times longer??

[Geo NR Gee]

Vlad,
It was truely a pleasure to meet you and your family and for you to share your experience in drilling and other cool projects. You are a man of great energy and a wealth of knowledge. AC_Hacker and I had a lot to talk about on the way back to the states.

You're setup for drilling has given me inspiration to modify my rig. The bars and cables on your unit will be included as it looked like my toy rig could use them. The base of your unit is also something that I will change. Your setup is stout and easily moveable. Very impressive.

Your suggestion on drilling shallow holes and an easier way to pull the tremie tube up with a roller makes sense. I may utilize an electric motor for the roller though. 200 feet in my soil conditions would be very tough.

On another note, I really enjoyed the cool conversions you did on your equipment with Propane. Its next on my list now too!

[S-F]

You guys all hung out? You should have recorded the audio like they do on GBA from time to time. They have a (Monthly?) "podcast" of several green building folks sitting around, drinking and talking about a certain topic.

[Geo NR Gee]

Originally Posted by S-F

You guys all hung out? You should have recorded the audio like they do on GBA from time to time. They have a (Monthly?) "podcast" of several green building folks sitting around, drinking and talking about a certain topic.

Yes we should have. There was some video and photos. AC will chime in soon I am sure.

[AC_Hacker]

Geo & I went up to visit Vlad to see the hydrolic drilling machine he built, in action and it was a very interesting trip indeed.

First off I need to thank Geo for being the motivating force behind the trip... without his initiative, the trip would not have happened.

Vlad is doing some very interesting work, what with the house he built and the ground source drilling machine he built and the work he is doing with it, and the very efficient and fully-functioning hydronic system he built into his house and also the very interesting array of tools he bought new or used or built from scratch. There are lots of good pointers here for any DIY person.

I took a boat-load of photos and shot some video and it'll take me a few days to get it all into the appropriate forum pages.

The photos & video that are relevant to GSHP well drilling will go into this thread.

The photos relevant to his highly efficient DIY hydronic floor will go in that thread.

Lastly, photos & discussion of Vlad's tools (non GSHP drilling) will go into that thread.

It was a real pleasure meeting Vlad and his wife & family, and I thank them for being so warm, friendly and hospitable.

Photos to follow...

-AC_Hacker

[AC_Hacker]

Here's a photo taken from Vlad's 3rd floor window of the drilling site & setup...

Here is a closer zoom from the same location...

When I drilled my own loop-field my objective was to prove that it was possible to drill a useful field by hand or with light duty power tools. I feel that it was successful... but now that I have seen Vlad's hydrolic GSHP in action, I have considerable respect for the virtue of substantial power.

The rig is similar to hydrolic drilling rigs being sold. Vlad aquired the required hydrolic motors, pumps, controller, hoses, sprockets, chain, bearings, winches, and steel and cut & welded and fabricated the structure to suit his use. Vlad is no stranger to tools and in the "Tool" thread, I will expand on what tools he needed to use in order to make this all possible.

Here is a ground-level photo of the drilling rig...

To give you a sense of scale, the vertical posts (pipe) that the power head runs on are about 9 feet tall. The first version of the rig had longer verticals and used longer lengths of pipe, but for a single operator, the shorter vertical length was chosen.

Here is a photo of the power head...

The large hose at the top is where the drilling fluid is pumped in to the swivel, and down through the drill pipe (not in place in this photo). Although I have seen hydrolic motors drive the drilling pipe directly, Vlad chose to use a chain drive setup with the speed being reduced, and torque being increased. The chain drive assembly extends behind the drill pipes and the hydrolic motor hangs down from the assembly. I can say that this approach works quite well.

Here is a rear view of the power head assembly...

The hoses carrying the pressurized hydrolic fluid to and from the motor are clearly visible in this photo.

This next photo is taken from the right-rear side of the drilling rig and shows the 'prime mover', which is a 16 HP (I think) gasoline engine, driving the hydrolic pump, which in turn drives the drilling motor. Vlad has converted this gasoline motor (and several others) to run on propane, which gives him more favorable fuel prices and also more tolerable air to breathe, what with the prime mover engine and the water pump engine (also propane) churning out exhaust... much better than gasoline exhaust!

This photo pulls back to reveal the propane tank that fuels both the prime mover engine and the water pump which is so vital for flushing out cuttings from the bore hole.

Detail of drill-motor reversing control and hydrolic pressure gauge.

Here is another look at the power head and the 12 volt winch which is used to raise and lower the power head and also the considerable weight of the drill string (drill pipe and bit). Note that when working in a wet environment, higher voltage can become a substantial danger.

Vlad also included a manual winch for those occasions when he needed extra downward force to break through stubborn layers. Here Vlad is coordinating the electric winch and the manual winch in order to overcome a tough layer.

Regards,

AC_Hacker

[AC_Hacker]

(* Note extra photos added to previous post *)

Here is the business end of the drill string, Vlad uses this bit, a carbide drag bit for general drilling and also a tri-cone bit, similar to the next picture.

Here is a shot of the ends of several drill pipe segments showing the high-strength hydrolic couplings he used. Also note the pieces of steel welded to the sides, to make the pipe segments easier to separate with a wrench. the threads have been greased to prevent corrosion and to make disassembly easier.

Here is a photo (not quite as dangerous as it looks) of the 'sliding plate' that has a yoke opening that is wider than the drill pipe, and narrower than the pipe couplings, to prevent the drill string from falling down the bore hole. The sliding plates also have welded 'ears' that act as a wrench for separating pipe segments. The pipe segments are positioned in the yoke, the ears are slid into place and the drill motor is used in reverse to do the work of unscrewing the pipe segment.

Vlad was able to solve a problem I had that I was not able to woek out to my satisfaction... And that was the problem of mud pit circulation. My biggest problem was leakage from the pit. Vlad had the good fortune of drilling through blue sticky clay for his bore holes. He was able to use the clay to his advantage for stopping leaks. The wooden box show below has a plywood bottom with a hole larger than his bore holes. He also fabricated an insert that consisted of 6" diameter thin wall pipe pipe (perhaps 24" long?) and a flange with a diameter of about 14" (?) welded about mid way up the pipe. Before he positioned the wooden mud pit box, he dug a hole about 12" deep and filled it with the sticky blue clay... then he positioned the mud pit box with it's hole over the clay-filled hole, and inserted the 6" pipe-&-flange assembly, packing blue clay UNDER the flange (as a seal) and then bolting the flange to the bottom of the mud pit box. It was probably easier to do than to describe... hope you followed ther description...


Here's a photo of the mud pit box from the right side...

...and here's a photo from the front...

By the way, the hydrolics that are impinging on the lower left side of the above photo is the bucket and arm of Vlad's bob-cat like heavy tool that he used in this case to weight down the (already very heavy... 1000 pounds?) drilling rig.


This is a rear view of Vlad's rig, showing the rigid rear support and water supply from the mud pump

As a side note, most commercial mud contains a large amount of bentonite clay as an ingredient, which is intended to lubricate the bit and seal the bore hole. In Vlad's case, since he was drilling through sticky blue clay, commercial mud was not needed... pretty lucky, I'd say!

Vlad has struggled with the grouting phase, with pumps that are actually up to the job of pumping grout, and also he has had problems with the task of lifting the tremmie tube full of grout up from the hole... when his depth was at 50 feet. Vlad was unable to lift the tube by himself (and Vlad is no lightweight), he did come up with the idea of applying air pressure to the tremmie tube to expel the grout... and only then was lifting even possible.

Here is a photo of a diaphram type grout pump he has tried...

...and a dual diaphram pump he recently acquired that runs on air pressure...

This is a photo of the concrete mixer he us using for grouting...

Vlad's original idea was to drill 200 foot holes, but he hit a very resistant layer of gravel at around 50 feet and has decided to settle for 15 holes at 50 feet each.

* * *

I have to say that Vlad has done a spectacular job of sealing and insulating his house, and he has followed that with a very well conceived and thoroughly executed radiant floor. So, the heat the house requires to maintain warmth is much lower that typical houses of its size.


Regards,

-AC_Hacker

[Geo NR Gee]

Great pictures AC!