DeepRock Hydra-Drill

centex · Nov 25, 2003

Has anyone here had any dealings with DeepRock and their Hydra-Drill systems? I have been trying to contact them for days and literally dialed their number over 300 times but their phone is permanently busy. I am wondering if there is a phone problem in Alabama because I cannot believe that a legitimate business would make it this hard to contact their sales department. It is hard for me to believe that they could be taking orders constantly for equipment that costs several thousand dollars. I assume this is a sign about what to expect in terms of customer support once they get your money. If anyone has used one of their drilling rigs, I would like to know how it worked.

BillG_in_TX · Nov 25, 2003

I just called them direct at 334-749-3377 and they said their 800# is "giving them fits". I told them you would call back collect, since that's what is says to do on their web page.

Good luck. I'll be interested to hear more about this machine. My brother is on their mailing list and forwards their "catalog" to me.

centex · Nov 25, 2003

I finally got them and they confirmed that they were having telephone problems. I think I am going to buy their low end commercial setup for digging 250' with the casing and screen as well as a roller cone bit for rock. It will cost me $8K delivered. I need to drill three wells and I expect to have one or two that won't recover fast enough so assuming only 3 250" wells at the going rate here of $11/ft I will break even assuming the rig works. As soon as I drill a dry hole, I will come out ahead. Now I need to learn to witch to find the best spot to drill. Actually, I don't think I would trust a water witch to find water at the depths we have to drill here. There is water at fairly shallow depths but it would not yield enough water to be useful and would likely dry up in severe droughts like we are having this year. (only 4" of rain since February).

I don't think I would gamble on this thing working in the granite around Marble Falls though. I have hard limestone around here but it is still a lot softer than granite. From what they told me, their rig should drill through the hard limestone at 2 - 4 in/hr which is faster than the drilling speeds I get with my 9" Beltec auger but then the drill is much smaller. I have a 2" carbide PHD bit that drills fairly fast but I use a lot of down pressure on it. The rig I am looking at uses 1 3/8" drill stem so you cannot put much down pressure on it especially at deep depths. The next step up is to 1.9" drill stem and the price goes up exponentially or so it seems.

BillG_in_TX · Nov 25, 2003

Don,

I had a quote last year for $6.50/ft drilling plus $3.50/ft for casing. Here's my post on the subject. I can give you the driller's name and number if you want "witching" lessons. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Actually, where we are (up on Backbone Ridge next to Longhorn Cavern State Park), the rock is mostly limestone and dolomite. Called Karst, it's pretty easy to drill through. My next door neighbor has a 250' well producing about 10-12 gpm in the springtime, and he figured he should have a backup well since he blasted out a swimming pool. He was so impressed with my douser that he hired him, told him to pick the spot, and he hit a vein at 150' that tests out at 100 gpm. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Keep us posted.

Egon · Nov 25, 2003

Did they give you any idea on bit life and replacement costs?

Egon

MossRoad · Nov 25, 2003

<font color="blue">From what they told me, their rig should drill through the hard limestone at 2 - 4 in/hr </font>

So is that 3-6 hours per foot? 10 feet of rock would take 30-60 hours? How many feet of rock are you going to have to go through?

Not being sarcastic or anything like that... just curious. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

centex · Nov 25, 2003

Bill, let me know the driller's name if you can find it. I almost bought some land in Hoover Valley before I bought the place I have now. I have friend who lives there and he had two wells drilled by a local douser. One produces 10 times the other although they are only a couple of hundred feet apart. One of his neighbors had the same guy drill a few hundred feet away and came up with a dry hole at 350 feet. That is what I like about the idea of being able to drill my own wells. I can always move over a 100 feet and try again for little additional money.

centex · Nov 25, 2003

Egon, they will replace the carbide on the bits for $25 or they will sell you the carbide and you can do it yourself. The bit life depends on what you drill through so it would vary widely. They will buy back used bits at 50% of new cost at least for the consumer grade bits.

centex · Nov 25, 2003

Mossroad, the slow drilling rate is not nearly as bad as it sounds. The rock here is stratified and the thickest rock I have seen is 2 feet thick. On the exposed ledges around my place there will be maybe a foot of soil followed by a foot of hard rock then 6 or 8 feet of soft material then another layer of rock a foot or so thick. In other areas the rock there is 30 or 40 feet of soft material between rock layers. Even the hard rock varies widely in hardness. I drilled lots of 9" post holes through 1 - 2 foot thick rock last year using a carbide tipped auger. One hole would take an hour to go through 2 feet of rock and the next hole only 40 feet away would take 6 - 8 hours to go through 1 foot of rock. The location of a well is not as critical as a post hole so if you hit the real hard rock you can just move over a few feet and find an easier place to drill. My neighbors had three wells drilled last year. Two of the wells were good at around 230 feet. The third well half way between the others was dry at 350 feet. It looks like you need to invest at least $3000 around here with a commercial driller just to find out if they can find water. They have a set up fee of $1000 which gets you 100 feet but since most of the good wells in the area are deeper than 250 feet you don't really know anything until they have gone that deep and since you are already out $2500 on the hole it would seem foolish not to let them keep going to 300 feet. If they don't then you will be out at least another $3000 plus the cost to case, and develop the well.