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Services. 

What is Directional Drilling?

Directional Boring or Horizontal Directional Drilling is a way to get utilities from one point to another without destroying the existing ground or obstacles that are in between the two points. Directional drilling goes above and beyond traditional trenching; connecting utilities and services in places that traditional trenching is impossible or dangerous.Horizontal Directional Drilling is ideal for boring under man-made and natural structures. This allows utilities to be connected from one side of a roadway to the other without destroying the existing road and is well suited for bringing utilities to tight locations. Our skilled drillers and locators can get utilities to any tight location without traffic delays or excavation that requires a lengthy permit processes. (Examples: main utilities under roads and sidewalks, bringing fiber conduit to existing phone locations etc)

How Directional Drilling Works

Here is a video that shows how the drill is able to steer underground.

Common uses

Directional drilling and boring is most often used for installing infrastructure such as telecommunication lines, power lines, multiple conduit at once, water lines, sewer lines and gas lines.

 

Conduit can be pulled for multiple applications other than utilities.

 

Conduit sizes we pull usually range between 1/2" - 4" in diameter, with typical pull lengths between 40 - 300 ft

 

Multiple conduit can be pulled at once with direct bury cables.

Steps for a Sucsessful Drill

1. Site Plan 

     Survey site, get information on all underground utilities. Get information on rocks and roots that need to be avoided

 

2. Move equipment on site

 

3. Daylight the entrance and exit. 

     The drill start and end may need to have a hole dug. We may also not want to arrvie at the surface but stop and maintence stack

 

4. Load sonde into drill head 

     The drill bit has an electronic transmitter that can be monitored from the surface

 

5. Now we drill

     Our drill rig can drill and we can control the drill heads direction - essential steering it through the ground. Directional drilling makes a horizontal borehole. Drilling begins with the boring of a small diameter pilot hole directed to and along a desired design profile using flexible drill rods. Sub-site electronics from DigiTrak are used to monitor and track the bore location through a sensor located in the bore head below the surface. Directional changes are made to the drilling alignment and direction with a borehead, which is offset slightly from the drill rods. Through small adjustments by the operator, steering corrections throughout the bore can be made (for example, around tree roots, boulders, buried utilities or private property). A special drilling ‘mud’ technology, borrowed from the oil and gas industry, is introduced into the hole to prevent it from caving as well as providing a lubricant and flushing medium for cuttings. Following advancement of the pilot hole, a back reamer is attached and pulled back though the pilot hole in order to achieve the required diameter for the product pipe to be installed. Pipe casing may then be pulled through the bore into position and required connections made.

 

6. Monitor progress 

     Using the locator, we monitor the drill depth and horizontal location

 

7. We are through!

     Once we come through the exit hole, the product is attached to the drill head and the line or conduit is pulled back.

 

8. Finished.

© 2014 by Alex Henderson for BOHCH Directional Drilling & Boring

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