Fieldwork Simplified with 31 Series Geotechnical Drills

Tri State Drilling LLC operates 10 rigs on a daily basis providing environmental, geotechnical, and mineral exploration drilling services for engineering firms across the southeast from their offices in Chattanooga and Nashville, Tennessee. Four of their rigs are Geoprobe^® - two 7822DTs and two 3126GTs.

“We wanted to replace on of our oldest rigs and had been pleased with the Geoprobe^® product. Even though the 3126GT geotechnical drills were newer to the market, we wanted to take a look at it,” Rob Bittel, president, said.

While talking with Lee Shaw, sales representative, he described their 7822DTs as direct push rigs that can also do geotechnical drilling where the 31 series rigs are  geotechnical drills that can also do direct push. 

“Our operator is very pleased with the rig thus far and he has already put it on some interesting projects, including a barge project over water, 200-foot rock coring at a quarry site, air rotary, and hollow stem auger from 2.25 to 6.25 inches,” Bittel said. “The rig has not backed down from anything we’ve asked it to do.”

The rotation speed and overall coring capabilities surprised their driller who cores with it almost daily. They also appreciate how well the carrier tracks and the user-friendly setup of the rig.

“Stepping up to the 3126GT was a good decision for us. The 7822DT had limitations on depths, auger size, and other factors we had to consider before mobilization,” Bittel said. “You can tell Geoprobe^® invests a lot of resources on R&D and relies on feedback from rig owners to assist them in making the best product they can.”

They have been pleased with the overall performance of the 3126GT. They drilled a 250-foot core hole at a quarry site in East Tennessee where productivity and recovery were good. More recently they did some air rotary drilling with it.

“We are all in unprecedented times where companies are having to push the limits, if you will, due to workload, increase in cost of doing business, and labor shortage. Our operator of the 3126GT has met most if not all of our production goals since we bought the machine and he seems to enjoy coming to work more,” Bittel said.

Their service department is also happy with the support Geoprobe^® provides.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked through the shop when our mechanics are working on a rig and facetiming with a Geoprobe^® technician troubleshooting a problem,” Bittel said. “That means a lot to us.”

For Bittel, the advantages of Geoprobe^® rigs, including the 31 series geotechnical drills, are numerous from being operator and maintenance friendly to their dependability and maneuverability.

“We are a better company than we were before we bought the machine,” Bittel said. “Geoprobe^® was listening to their customers when they designed that rig. It checked all the boxes for Tri-State Drilling.”