Well #1 done at last!

We have finally gotten the first well bored! It took quite awhile and I think some lessons were learned in the process. Now that the hole is 340 feet into the ground, the ground loop tubing has been inserted. In the photo below you see the last 8 feet or so that remains above ground to be connected later. They need to pour a cement mixture into the hole next, locking the tubing in place and assisting with heat transfer to the soil. Once done, the remaining steel goes away so it can be buried and invisible.



The trench we dug to hold the byproducts of drilling (water and sand) has been filling up. Normally you wouldn't see this much debris, but when the sides of the well cave in, extra sand comes out.



The drilling rig has been moved forward and re-set for the next bore. Note how 'clean' the area around the hole begins. The steel tube goes in and there's nothing around it...yet.


I hope that wells #2 and #3 can go much more quickly than the first. We would like our driveway back and the system in place soon!

Boring, boring, boring

The title is both descriptive of the action and the result. We've been at this for a few weeks now and we're not making stellar progress. We need three wells, each about 340 feet deep, for the heat exchanger piping. We are still on well number one, and not very far along at that.

Our soil seems to be quite sandy and the sides of the well keep caving in and the water used to remove the drilling waste erodes the sides of the well into a cavern. To counter this, the driller must fill the hole with cement until it starts to rise up the hole, then let it harden and drill through it in an attempt to get past the eroded area. It's sort of a three steps forward an two steps back dance here. We have been as deep as 105 feet, but as of Friday we were back to about 85-90 feet with about 75 bags of cement used to fill the hole.

Yes I am concerned about the lack of progress.

Let's hope this week is a breakthrough (pun intended) and we get past the soft soil and hit some good hard dirt or even rock. I'd like to get this project done, and the drill rig in the driveway keeps us from parking in the garages. Heck, we have to park on the north side of the house and hike across the dry creek to get to the front door. That's especially fun when it's pitch dark and you have bags of groceries...

Updates when something changes!