What type of equipment do you use to drill a Residential Water Well?

The equipment used to drill a residential water well is very large and obtrusive when it’s brought to your property. For reference a water well drilling rig is about the size of a semi-truck and trailer. The rig itself is about 40 ft long and 8.5’ wide. Along with the rig are several pieces of support equipment that are necessary in the installation of your well. When we move our rig and equipment on site we also need a place next to the drill site for our stem trailer, support truck(s) that fuel and provide equipment for the rig, a water truck and a mud machine that is trailer mounted. We like to tell our clients that we need a minimum 70’x40’ spot to drill your well with the well site in the middle of the pad. Follow a link for a site set-up sheet here. 

A water well drilling rig is a large unit mounted on the back of a big horsepower semi truck (like what hauls material down the highway). The rig itself weighs around 70K pounds and is a specially designed piece of machinery that only drills water wells. The unit itself is a proprietary design made from only a few manufacturers in the United States. It is a big piece of equipment made of miles of steel and hydraulic lines. The front of the drilling rig is the truck part of the unit and the rear is where all the action happens. You may see our team leaving the hood open while drilling to help keep the engine cool, fueling the rig with diesel and DEF fluid throughout the day and checking fluids in the many reservoirs mounted on the unit. The drilling rig typically chews through about 200 gallons of diesel fuel a day when at full speed and 5-6 jugs of DEF fluid. The rig is equipped with a large 1100/350 CFM air compressor for both well development and used for air-rotary hammer jobs to provide adequate pressure to our tooling. Additionally, our drilling rigs are set up to be universal in that they care capable of drilling both air and mud-rotary holes, as well as air hammer holes. This is because there is a large centrifugal mud pump installed on the rig that connects to a mud shaker to push fluid down the drill stem into the hole while performing mud-clean outs or mud-rotary drilling. We take pride in the maintenance and appearance of our equipment and are constantly inspecting fluid levels, gauges and speeds to provide a reliable piece of equipment to complete your job on time and on budget. The rig is manned by a crew of 2-3 team members that are specially trained not only to run the rig but also monitor ground formations to make recommendations while drilling your well. 

In addition to the drilling rig there are a few other pieces of equipment necessary to install a well on your property. First, we require water to drill a water well. This has always sounded odd to us as well but it is a necessity. Water is your primary fluid additive in drilling and is necessary to make the hole process work. In order to get water to your drilling site you A. Must provide it if you have a city-water connection or B. It must be trucked in via a water truck. This water truck must come and go several times from the job site and should be accounted for when determine a site to drill your well. Second, our drilling rig is paired with a “stem trailer.” This unit, about 30 ft long holds additional drill pipe, bits, fluid and tooling required to drill your well. The trailer is typically lined up a 90 degree angle from the rear of the drilling rig and is tooled with most items needed to install your well. Third, for mud-rotary jobs or mud-clean outs we have a mud shaker, labeled a “Mud Puppy” that works just like a shaker deck of a mining operation. This unit mixes bentonite mud slurry, processes material coming out of the hole while drilling and then mixes the material back in together to create a viscous material to keep the hole open while we are drilling in areas of soft formation. Lastly, we have several support trucks. These are typically large “Contractor Bed” trucks with tool boxes, fuel tanks and steel racks to carry material. These trucks transport our crew back and forth each day as well as carry needed supplies to/from the job site. The trucks need to be able to gain access to the drilling rig and all support equipment to fuel them up as needed. 

If you’re like me by now you are saying, “wow, there is a lot more that goes into drilling a well than I thought.” And you’d be right in thinking so. Drilling equipment is large, loud and takes up a lot of space! So where are you going to put all this equipment? And do you have to maintain a spot this large after the well is installed? To prepare for drilling the well your site may require site work to be completed. This work is completed by a separate contractor and may be minor like brush-clearing or very extensive including the need for a grading permit with large bulldozers. Please refer to the next article about site selection here to find out more about where to put your well!