Water Well Drilling
New portable technology uses smaller portable trailer mounted rigs with shorter 10 foot (3.0 m) drill pipe. DIY users and missionary groups use these to drill water wells as they can be operated by 1 or 2 people with a minimal skill level. The shorter drill pipe also allows a much smaller mast, which gives a smaller and lighter rig which is cheaper to ship overseas and can fit in a standard 20 foot (6.1 m) shipping container. Portable trailer mounted drilling rigs have drill ratings from 300 to 800 feet (91 to 240 m) depending on mud pump flow and pressure ratings.
Other, heavier, truck rigs are more complicated, thus requiring more skill to run. They're also more difficult to handle safely due to the longer 20 to 30 foot (6.1 to 9.1 m) drill pipe. Large truck rigs also require a much higher over head clearance to operate. Large truck drills can use over 150 US gallons (570 L) or more of fuel per day, while the smaller portable drills use a mere 5 to 20 US gallons (19 to 76 L) of fuel per day. This makes smaller, more portable rigs preferable in remote or hard-to-reach places, and are more cost effective in this new era of high fuel prices.
Read more about this topic: Drilling Rig
Famous quotes containing the words water and/or drilling:
“It would not be an easy thing to bring the water all the way to the plain. They would have to organize a great coumbite with all the peasants and the water would unite them once again, its fresh breath would clear away the fetid stink of anger and hatred; the brotherly community would be reborn with new plants, the fields filled with to bursting with fruits and grains, the earth gorged with life, simple and fertile.”
—Jacques Roumain (1907–1945)
“Don’t spend your time in drilling soldiers, who may turn out hirelings after all, but give to undrilled peasantry a country to fight for.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)