WorldWide Drilling Resource

in the meadow, the drilling was ceased, and the excavator connected that run to the next. The finished loop in the base- ment maintained its airtight pressure, as later tested by the gauge. Once the heat pump is installed, low electricity usage is anticipated by all, because excellent entering water temperatures are expected from this loop. The statements and comments in this article are based on information and references believed to be true and factual. If you have any questions or comments, please forward them to me in care of WWDR . Pete Peter Tavino may be contacted via e-mail at michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com 35 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® JULY 2015 Horizontal Drilling in New England by Peter Tavino Litchfield Geothermal A beautiful residential lawn and meadow overlooking the hills of west- ern Massachusetts was the setting for a great horizontal geothermal loop instal- lation I designed and inspected this past spring. There were 1200 feet of two- inch-diameter high-density polyethylene pipe placed deep into the soil. The Vermeer NAVIGATOR ® Model D36x50 Series II did a fantastic job with its 15- foot-long 2½-inch-diameter rods in sandy till with some cobbles, but mostly free of boulders. It essentially drilled four bores, each a football field long at 300 feet, and pulled the geothermal loop through as it retracted those rods. BORE-GEL ® (from 50-pound bags) was mixed well, resulting in no cave-in issues. Location was monitored for depth constantly with a DigiTrak ® F2 ® on the surface. As we could hear the occasional sound of thun- der, we had to remember not to look to the skies for lightning, because the sound was beneath our feet. ACat 308E track hoe excavator dug out oversized sloped 7-foot-deep access pits, where the series loop was butt fused into one continuous run. The advantage of horizontal drilling for this situation over vertical, is the heating hot water return to the house side does not flow near the cold water supply side as it must for a U-bend. The advantage over conven- tional excavated trench is almost 15 feet of depth was reached in some areas, with minimal disruption to the landscape. Where ledge was encountered at 6 feet