Expanding from Geotechnical to Environmental Drilling Services

Primarily focused on conducting geotechnical investigations across Washington and Oregon, Holocene Drilling Inc wanted to expand their environmental drilling direct push services.

“We have a 7800, a 7822DT, and now a 6011DT,” Anisa Hamden, direct push project manager, said. “We wanted a third rig that was smaller than our 7822DT. Our older, limited-access rig we acquired through a former company purchase, and we wanted something beefier to do inside jobs like auto service bays.”

While looking to expand their environmental drilling services fleet, Geoprobe^® quickly became the clear front runner. Hamden had used another manufacturer’s rigs at a previous job, but found they lacked service support.

“You’d have to figure out with a mechanic how to make a repair,” Hamden said. “Geoprobe^® offers service support so 90% of the time they can help us figure out a simple solution to finish the project and then repair the rig later.”

While she admits they haven’t fully tested the capabilities of their new 6011DT, they’ve been able to achieve the desired results of adding a third rig.

“It has a bigger hammer than most limited access rigs while the smaller size means it can reach smaller areas our other direct push options don’t allow you to get into,” Hamden said. “It gives us a third option that’s more versatile with a decent hammer. If we’re inside a 10- to 12-foot ceiling clearance job, we can go outside and do the same thing.”

Recently they squeezed the 6011DT into a 5-foot area between two buildings collecting soil and water samples.

“The property line ran between the two buildings, and we had to collect samples on the property of interest side,” Hamden said. “If there’s a way to do the boring outside versus inside, it’s less disruptive.”

They often rely on 2.25 rods and MC5 to complete their environmental drilling services.

“We don’t break those rods with any of our rigs. It’s rare to leave something in the ground with that set up,” Hamden said. “We’re pretty much set up to do 2-foot to 5-foot tooling on all our direct push rigs.”

According to Hamden, her three drillers with nearly 50 years combined experience prefer she continue using Geoprobe^® for their tooling.

“I’ve tried other tooling options, and the Geoprobe^® thread style doesn’t bind up or break. Most of the time we retire rods before they break,” Hamden said. “We’ve tried others and it always fails, so we just go direct to the source at Geoprobe^®.”