Rockmaster Tx450

[glenn kangiser]

I'm there with you.  It seems past the capability of the little rig but I was hoping for a miracle, although under the right conditions it seems like it could do a lot.  Maybe I'm just too used to seeing the giant complicated rigs.

I was also a real blacksmith for about 6 months heating planter shoes and plowshares in a coal forge and beting them out with a drop hammer, along with any other repairs that came into the shop -- later I started my own welding shop but didn't do blacksmithing for others in general.  Made a few of my own tools etc. though, but with oxy/acet rosebud.

[Okie_Bob]

Suspect you are correct about the tricone bit being a problem without a lot of weight on it.
In the oil patch we call them 'rock bits' made famous by none other than Howard Hughes. On an oil rig we use very heavy pipe called 'drill collars' right above the bit for the weight that helps keep the hole straight.
I assume what you guys are calling 'grout' is what I would call 'cement'? We 'cement' our surface pipe in and typically a lot deeper than you are talking. If you are only drilling 100 ft, I'd sure have my water tested OFTEN. Anything less than a couple of hundred feet is still groudwater to me and definatly not for drinking without constant testing.
And Glenn, you are correct about your pipe sizes. Your surface pipe has to be large enough ID so the bit will easily go thru it. With a pump big enough we would set our surface casing in place and then pump cement down the hole until it came out the back side of the pipe. We knew then that the surface pipe was completely sealed in place, let it dry and then come back in with the bit and drill to completion. Then drill a 'rat hole' after passing the production zone of about 50 feet or so.
I don't know if I would want to rely on this little rig you guys are looking at. But, I'm kind of screwy about the water I drink.
Okie Bob

[glenn kangiser]

Depends, BoB, Depends.  Seals around here in most places are only required to be 20 feet and the average depth for drinking in the valley is about 250.

We had one about 115 feet deep down there but the water tasted like crap.   :-?  Not real crap -- just crappy.  Very hard and didn't smell too good either.

We later drilled to about 400 for decent water - sometimes we got soft water but in that place we only got water that was a bit softer and no longer smelled like -- you know.

[Okie_Bob]

Guess I'm just a little paranoid Glenn. Anything less than a couple of hundred feet is just ground run off to me. I'm just real particular about what I drink. It better not only taste good, it better be real clear and have no smell at all and even then I want it tested for things I can't see or want to drink!
I even put a whole house carbon filter on the new house. I wouldn't even drink coffee made with the local water, carry 5 gallon bottles from town and that is sad.
Okie Bob

[glenn kangiser]

You are spoiling yourself, BoB.  The human creature is much more resilient than that.

!00 feet from well to leach fields but if I remember correctly you only need 5 feet vertical separation from the bottom of the leach field to drinkable groundwater below.  Yum.  I wouldn't want to test it though.  In other tests there was no detectable contamination from a outhouse after you were 10 feet away from it.  The little bugs do their jobs.



http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1133585177

[Okie_Bob]

That is true for some nice organic stuff contaminating our soil but, there are some very nasty chemicals a lot of people use that don't go away for many years and are NOT good to drink!
That's the stuff that scares me and I'm fearless!
Okie Bob
(Actually, it's you white men that are doing all the damage! Us natives would never do that!!)
Yutahay.

[peter nap]

That may be true in some parts of the counbtry Bob, but here, 96 out of every 100 wells you see are 50 feet or less. The standard is a 50 footer for the well drillers.

The deep wells are for newer houses many of which have fairly small lots. You can drill a deep well 50 feet from the house and a shallow well needs to be 100 feet.

The health department did an extensive test several years ago of wells in the southern part of the state. Basically, ye only problems with shallow wells were in the ones that weren;t grouted properly and were getting surface water. Even then the big complaint was muddy looking water.

There were very few cases of contaminated wells (meaning harmful contamination).

On another note....
The Rockmaster is out. It appears that they have had some problems with the BBB and the attorney General.

I have been looking at the Deeprock rigs and I am impressed with what I see. Better built and have bbeen in business for over 20 years without a single complaint I can find. The people that run it were well drillers themselves. Some were oil drillers. They answer the phone and give straight answers. When I asked if the tricone bit would drill what I have....he said no. He put me in touch with a fellow named Mills in Texas, He refurbs oil drill bits and supplies them with a heavy pipe type collar to put the weight needed.
They were expensive but he told me he sells them for the Deeprock rigs in West Virginia and Virginia and had never had one come back or had anyone complain that it wouldn't drill the rock.

[glenn kangiser]

Good info Peter and more agrees with my thoughts.  Keep  us updated please.

BoB, around here there are areas in the valley that can be contaminated to a couple hundred feet. I can't blame you for not wanting to drink the palefaces water. Ho.