WorldWide Drilling Resource

Boring Thoughts by Todd Tannehill Owner, Mud & More, LLC Choosing the Right Club A golfer carries a variety of clubs when hitting the links. Drivers, irons, wedges, and putters give them the club advantage with the pin as the goal. As drilling contractors, we have different choices when it comes to sealing and grouting. Here is a look into the drill operator’s golf bag: The Driver or Woods. This is your grout for sealing an entire hole, bottom to top, with one-step or two-step grouts. They can be bentonite, silica and bentonite, graphite and bentonite, mix-111, or any other combination. These grouts are flowable, and pumped into place. Grouts go the distance and are limited by tremie pipe length and pumping capabilities. The Irons. The irons can go varying distances and would compare to coated tablets. They can be poured to deeper depths due to coating which delays their hydration and allows them to fall into place without bridging off downhole. The different sizes of tablets allow for placement in varying diameter holes. A coated tablet is designed to pass through freshwater columns of up to 500 vertical feet without bridging. A Good Sand Wedge. Every golfer - sorry, drilling professional - needs a good wedge to chip it up on the green. Uncoated tablets are the matching product for us. They can be poured further than chips, and seal off the hole quicker than their coated brothers. Bentonite tablets are available in 1/4-, 3/8-, and 1/2-inch sizes. For shallow applica- tions, tablets can be poured slowly and steadily to prevent bridging. A dry tremie line can be used to set the product deeper. Let us not forget the Putter. For the short trip across the green and into the cup, use the Putter, aka bentonite chips. Chips come in two screened sizes and can easily be poured into boreholes four inches or greater. As a rule of thumb, the hole should be 500 feet or less, with no more than 350 feet of freshwater. They are commonly used for sealing off shallow boreholes, seismic holes, decommissioning wells, and providing a tight seal between gravel pack and grout. For tablets and chips, care should be used when pouring into the hole. By screen- ing or sifting out the fines, you will prevent rapid swelling of the powdered clay. Fines happen as product travels from plant to dis- tributor, then to the jobsite. The shifting of products in the bags causes rubbing, which wears down the bentonite like a sanding motion. When fines hit water, they have the same reaction as pouring drilling gels into water - immediate hydration and swell. This is not what we want when pouring sealing material. What do all the clubs have in common? They aremade of qualitymaterial. Most grout- ing and sealing products contain high-swelling sodium bentonite. While product names may be different, this is where most sodium bentonite sealing materials are the same - at least where chips and tablets are involved. To help determine the correct product for your next job, contact your favorite “Mud” professional or drilling fluids distributor. Todd michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com DIR New & Used Equipment Elevators SkyRex We Support Our Troops! Stock Sizes: 1” thru 24” for casing, column pipe, tubing, and drill pipe. *Load test certificates available * Available with or without a base UsedWorldwide • Drill Pipe • Drill Collars • Manual Tongs • Spiders • RC Swivels We have elevators of all sizes, types, and weights; can build to any special applications. • Stabilizers • Bits • Bowls • Centrifugal Pumps • Crossover Subs RC Swivel 6” In Stock In rememberence of 9/11 36 SEPTEMBER 2018 WorldWide Drilling Resource ®