hydra drill mud pump free sample

The Hydra-Drill is a small top-head rotary drilling rig powered by a 4, 5.5 or 6HP gasoline power head and a 5HP gasoline re-circulating pump ( mud pump ). The Hydra-Drill uses the method of drilling referred to as "mud rotary" drilling.

The power head engine turns the drill stem which has a drill bit screwed onto the end. As the drill bit drills down into the earth, the mud pump re-circulates a drilling fluid down the drill stem and out the drill bit.

The mud pit is a simple pit dug into the ground or made of some type of container for the purpose of settling the heavier cuttings from the drilling fluid.

After the cuttings (soil, sand, clays, etc., that are flushed up out of the bore hole) flow into the mud pit the heavier cuttings settle out of the drilling fluid and the mud pump pumps the drilling fluid back down into the bore hole to repeat this process.

In most areas the restrictions that apply to professional drillers do not apply to someone who wants to simply drill a well on his own property for his own use.

We recommend you have the water tested In most cases if the water is pumped from a natural aquifer it is pure, drinkable water but have it tested to make sure.

When choosing a size and type of mud pump for your drilling project, there are several factors to consider. These would include not only cost and size of pump that best fits your drilling rig, but also the diameter, depth and hole conditions you are drilling through. I know that this sounds like a lot to consider, but if you are set up the right way before the job starts, you will thank me later.

Recommended practice is to maintain a minimum of 100 to 150 feet per minute of uphole velocity for drill cuttings. Larger diameter wells for irrigation, agriculture or municipalities may violate this rule, because it may not be economically feasible to pump this much mud for the job. Uphole velocity is determined by the flow rate of the mud system, diameter of the borehole and the diameter of the drill pipe. There are many tools, including handbooks, rule of thumb, slide rule calculators and now apps on your handheld device, to calculate velocity. It is always good to remember the time it takes to get the cuttings off the bottom of the well. If you are drilling at 200 feet, then a 100-foot-per-minute velocity means that it would take two minutes to get the cuttings out of the hole. This is always a good reminder of what you are drilling through and how long ago it was that you drilled it. Ground conditions and rock formations are ever changing as you go deeper. Wouldn’t it be nice if they all remained the same?

Centrifugal-style mud pumps are very popular in our industry due to their size and weight, as well as flow rate capacity for an affordable price. There are many models and brands out there, and most of them are very good value. How does a centrifugal mud pump work? The rotation of the impeller accelerates the fluid into the volute or diffuser chamber. The added energy from the acceleration increases the velocity and pressure of the fluid. These pumps are known to be very inefficient. This means that it takes more energy to increase the flow and pressure of the fluid when compared to a piston-style pump. However, you have a significant advantage in flow rates from a centrifugal pump versus a piston pump. If you are drilling deeper wells with heavier cuttings, you will be forced at some point to use a piston-style mud pump. They have much higher efficiencies in transferring the input energy into flow and pressure, therefore resulting in much higher pressure capabilities.

Piston-style mud pumps utilize a piston or plunger that travels back and forth in a chamber known as a cylinder. These pumps are also called “positive displacement” pumps because they literally push the fluid forward. This fluid builds up pressure and forces a spring-loaded valve to open and allow the fluid to escape into the discharge piping of the pump and then down the borehole. Since the expansion process is much smaller (almost insignificant) compared to a centrifugal pump, there is much lower energy loss. Plunger-style pumps can develop upwards of 15,000 psi for well treatments and hydraulic fracturing. Centrifugal pumps, in comparison, usually operate below 300 psi. If you are comparing most drilling pumps, centrifugal pumps operate from 60 to 125 psi and piston pumps operate around 150 to 300 psi. There are many exceptions and special applications for drilling, but these numbers should cover 80 percent of all equipment operating out there.

The restriction of putting a piston-style mud pump onto drilling rigs has always been the physical size and weight to provide adequate flow and pressure to your drilling fluid. Because of this, the industry needed a new solution to this age-old issue.

As the senior design engineer for Ingersoll-Rand’s Deephole Drilling Business Unit, I had the distinct pleasure of working with him and incorporating his Centerline Mud Pump into our drilling rig platforms.

In the late ’90s — and perhaps even earlier —  Ingersoll-Rand had tried several times to develop a hydraulic-driven mud pump that would last an acceptable life- and duty-cycle for a well drilling contractor. With all of our resources and design wisdom, we were unable to solve this problem. Not only did Miller provide a solution, thus saving the size and weight of a typical gear-driven mud pump, he also provided a new offering — a mono-cylinder mud pump. This double-acting piston pump provided as much mud flow and pressure as a standard 5 X 6 duplex pump with incredible size and weight savings.

The true innovation was providing the well driller a solution for their mud pump requirements that was the right size and weight to integrate into both existing and new drilling rigs. Regardless of drill rig manufacturer and hydraulic system design, Centerline has provided a mud pump integration on hundreds of customer’s drilling rigs. Both mono-cylinder and duplex-cylinder pumps can fit nicely on the deck, across the frame or even be configured for under-deck mounting. This would not be possible with conventional mud pump designs.

Centerline stuck with their original design through all of the typical trials and tribulations that come with a new product integration. Over the course of the first several years, Miller found out that even the best of the highest quality hydraulic cylinders, valves and seals were not truly what they were represented to be. He then set off on an endeavor to bring everything in-house and began manufacturing all of his own components, including hydraulic valves. This gave him complete control over the quality of components that go into the finished product.

The second generation design for the Centerline Mud Pump is expected later this year, and I believe it will be a true game changer for this industry. It also will open up the application to many other industries that require a heavier-duty cycle for a piston pump application.

OK, all y’all air drillers just thumb on over to Porky’s column or something. This is for mud drillers. On second thought, I know a lot of you air guys drill about three mud wells a year, and consider it a hassle to rig up mud. So, maybe something I say will be interesting …

The mud pump is the heart of the circulating system, and mud is the blood circulating in the hole. I’ve talked about mud before and will again, but this month, let’s talk about the pump.

Historically, more wells, of every kind, have been drilled with duplex pumps than any other kind. They are simple and strong, and were designed in the days when things were meant to last. Most water well drillers use them. The drawbacks are size and weight. A pump big enough to do the job might be too big to fit on the rig, so some guys use skid-mounted pumps. They also take a fair amount of horsepower. If you were to break down the horsepower requirements of your rig, you would find out that the pump takes more power than the rotary and hoist combined. This is not a bad thing, since it does a lot of the work drilling. While duplex pumps generally make plenty of volume, one of the limiting factors is pressure. Handling the high pressures demanded by today’s oil well drilling required a pump so big and heavy as to be impractical. Some pretty smart guys came up with the triplex pump. It will pump the same — or more — volume in a smaller package, is easy to work on and will make insane pressure when needed. Some of the modern frack outfits run pumps that will pump all day long at 15,000 psi. Scary. Talk about burning some diesel.

The places that triplex pumps have in the shallow drilling market are in coring and air drilling. The volume needs are not as great. For instance, in hard rock coring, surface returns are not always even seen, and the fluid just keeps the diamonds cool. In air drilling, a small triplex is used to inject foam or other chemicals into the air line. It’s basically a glorified car wash pump. The generic name is Bean pump, but I think this just justifies a higher price. Kinda like getting the same burger at McDonald’s versus in a casino.

One of the reasons water well drillers don’t run triplex pumps, besides not needing insane pressure, is they require a positive suction head. In other words, they will not pick up out of the pit like a duplex. They require a centrifugal charging pump to feed them, and that is just another piece of equipment to haul and maintain.

This brings me to another thought: charging. I know a lot of drillers running duplex pumps that want to improve the efficiency of their pumps. Duplexes with a negative suction head generally run at about 85 percent efficiency. The easy way to improve the efficiency is to charge them, thus assuring a 100 percent efficiency. This works great, but almost every one of them, after doing all that work and rigging up a charging pump, tells me that their pump output doubled. Being the quiet, mild mannered type that I am, I don’t say “Bull,” but it is. A duplex pump is a positive displacement pump. That means that it can deliver no more than the displacement it was designed for. You can only fill the cylinder up until it is full. It won’t take any more. The one exception to this is when you are pumping at very low pressure. Then the charging pump will over run the duplex, float the valves and produce a lot more fluid. Might as well shut off the duplex and drill with the charging pump.

Another common pump used in the water well industry is the centrifugal. You see them mostly on air rigs that don’t use mud too often. They have their place, but are a different breed of cat. They are not positive displacement. Flow is a function of speed and horsepower up to the limits of the pump. After that, they just dead-head. With large diameter drill pipe they make a lot of mud, but after the hole gets deeper, friction losses — both inside and outside the drill pipe — build up. This means that the deeper you go, the less circulation you have. This slows the whole process. Positive displacement pumps don’t do this; they pump the same per stroke regardless of pressure. It just takes more horsepower. Also, displacement calculations like bottoms-up time and cement placement are just about impossible. One way to get around the limited pressure of centrifugal pumps is to run two of them in series. I’ve seen a few of these rig-ups and they work very well for large diameter drilling. They will make almost the same pressure as a big duplex for a lot less money. They are still variable displacement, but they roll so much fluid that it doesn’t seem to matter. And run at pretty reasonable depths, too: 300 to 400 psi at 400 gpm is not uncommon with two 3 x 4 centrifugal pumps in series.

I reckon there are pumps for every type of drilling. It is just a matter of using the right one correctly. I once drilled a 42-inch hole 842 feet deep with a 5½ x 8 duplex. Talk about long bottoms-up time … but we got the casing in with less than two feet of fill on bottom! Took time, but we got-er-done.

A fast and efficient method of drilling, mud rotary drilling is effective in a wide range of geological formations, including sand, silt, clay, gravel, cobbles, and boulders. Not hindered by the presence of groundwater, a mud drill is also used for coring bedrock.

With the necessary torque for powerful rotation, new and seasoned operators find the Geoprobe® line of geotechnical drilling rigs and combination drilling rigs make for an effective mud drill thanks to:

With rig service shops in Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Florida, you’ll have industry-leading drill rig service support nearby for your routine maintenance or more in-depth rig remounting and refurbishment work - keeping your mud drill in the field earning dollars. Our service technicians are backed by our team of engineers to ensure solutions not bandaids to issues. And our production processes mean your mud drill is constructed consistently and tested thoroughly to ensure easier service support.

Engineered with efficiency and ease in mind, investing in a Geoprobe® mud drill simplifies your sampling while reliably ramping up production and rig utilization rates.

Our team of engineers thrives on collaborating with drillers while they continually innovate new designs for our mud drill line. Our goal is to make your job faster, safer, and easier. Partner with us and we"ll work to decrease your mud drill downtime while increasing your family time.

There are many different ways to drill a domestic water well. One is what we call the “mud rotary” method. Whether or not this is the desired and/or best method for drilling your well is something more fully explained in this brief summary.

One advantage of drilling with compressed air is that it can tell you when you have encountered groundwater and gives you an indication how much water the borehole is producing. When drilling with water using the mud rotary method, the driller must rely on his interpretation of the borehole cuttings and any changes he can observe in the recirculating fluid. Mud rotary drillers can also use borehole geophysical tools to interpret which zones might be productive enough for your water well.

The mud rotary well drilling method is considered a closed-loop system. That is, the mud is cleaned of its cuttings and then is recirculated back down the borehole. Referring to this drilling method as “mud” is a misnomer, but it is one that has stuck with the industry for many years and most people understand what the term actually means.

The water is carefully mixed with a product that should not be called mud because it is a highly refined and formulated clay product—bentonite. It is added, mixed, and carefully monitored throughout the well drilling process.

The purpose of using a bentonite additive to the water is to form a thin film on the walls of the borehole to seal it and prevent water losses while drilling. This film also helps support the borehole wall from sluffing or caving in because of the hydraulic pressure of the bentonite mixture pressing against it. The objective of the fluid mixture is to carry cuttings from the bottom of the borehole up to the surface, where they drop out or are filtered out of the fluid, so it can be pumped back down the borehole again.

When using the mud rotary method, the driller must have a sump, a tank, or a small pond to hold a few thousand gallons of recirculating fluid. If they can’t dig sumps or small ponds, they must have a mud processing piece of equipment that mechanically screens and removes the sands and gravels from the mixture. This device is called a “shale shaker.”

The driller does not want to pump fine sand through the pump and back down the borehole. To avoid that, the shale shaker uses vibrating screens of various sizes and desanding cones to drop the sand out of the fluid as it flows through the shaker—so that the fluid can be used again.

Before the well casing and screens are lowered into the borehole, the recirculating fluid is slowly thinned out by adding fresh water as the fluid no longer needs to support sand and gravel. The driller will typically circulate the drilling from the bottom up the borehole while adding clear water to thin down the viscosity or thickness of the fluid. Once the fluid is sufficiently thinned, the casing and screens are installed and the annular space is gravel packed.

Gravel pack installed between the borehole walls and the outside of the well casing acts like a filter to keep sand out and maintain the borehole walls over time. During gravel packing of the well, the thin layer of bentonite clay that kept the borehole wall from leaking drilling fluid water out of the recirculating system now keeps the formation water from entering the well.

Some drillers use compressed air to blow off the well, starting at the first screened interval and slowly working their way to the bottom—blowing off all the water standing above the drill pipe and allowing it to recover, and repeating this until the water blown from the well is free of sand and relatively clean. If after repeated cycles of airlift pumping and recovery the driller cannot find any sand in the water, it is time to install a well development pump.

Additional development of the well can be done with a development pump that may be of a higher capacity than what the final installation pump will be. Just as with cycles of airlift pumping of the well, the development pump will be cycled at different flow rates until the maximum capacity of the well can be determined. If the development pump can be operated briefly at a flow rate 50% greater than the permanent pump, the well should not pump sand.

Mud rotary well drillers for decades have found ways to make this particular system work to drill and construct domestic water wells. In some areas, it’s the ideal method to use because of the geologic formations there, while other areas of the country favor air rotary methods.

Some drilling rigs are equipped to drill using either method, so the contractor must make the decision as to which method works best in your area, for your well, and at your point in time.

To learn more about the difference between mud rotary drilling and air rotary drilling, click the video below. The video is part of our “NGWA: Industry Connected” YouTube series:

Gary Hix is a Registered Professional Geologist in Arizona, specializing in hydrogeology. He was the 2019 William A. McEllhiney Distinguished Lecturer for The Groundwater Foundation. He is a former licensed water well drilling contractor and remains actively involved in the National Ground Water Association and Arizona Water Well Association.

DeepRock is best known for its commercial well drilling equipment, but several years ago they recognized the need for something smaller and more portable. That"s when they developed the HydraDrill.

"They can buy a HydraDrill and drill their own and maybe several for themselves or neighbors and then sell the used drill when they"re through," he says. "That makes a lot of sense to people who have had to have two or three deep holes drilled in order to find water."

Lackey tells of a Nevada customer who had a commercial driller try to find water only to give up after several deep, dry holes. "He bought a HydraDrill and put in his own well," he says. "He found 30 gal. per minute at only 65 ft., which was more than enough to supply his livestock."

"It works just like any other mud-type rotary drilling machine," Roach explains. "It needs water and a �mud pump" that carries water and dirt away from the hole.

Lackey says one person can set up and operate the HydraDrill with no problems, but notes that it"s faster with two. "Under ideal conditions, it"s a good weekend job to put in a well if you have no drilling experience," he says.

"If you"re drilling through rock or through collapsing formations, it may take longer," he adds. "But we have optional bits, special instructions and Toll-Free technical assistance to help our customers drill in these formations."

One of the good things about the HydraDrill is if it takes a little longer or the well needs to be deeper, you"re not paying extra for the driller"s time and machinery.

"The drill bits, well casing, and drilling additives are the only expendable part of this system," says Roach. "Everything else can be used over and over."

Actually, you can get extra duty out of the bits, too. While the company sells new bits for the rig, it also sells a special re-tipping mix of tungsten carbide which you can apply yourself using just an acetylene torch. The more rock you need to drill through, the more often you"ll need to re-tip the bit, of course. But re-tipping is a lot less expensive than buying new bits. With re-tipping, Roach figures one bit should be good for five to ten wells.

Roach says HydraDrills have proven themselves over the years. "There are a lot of the older machines still in use and there"s a big demand for used ones. We get calls everyday from people who bought a used one and need parts or new bits," he says.

The HydraDrill is capable of drilling up to a 6-inch diameter hole for well casings up to 4 inches in size. "We carry an entire line of hand pumps, convertible jet pumps, and submersible pumps along with all accessories required to finish a well," Lackey says.

The HydraDrill is rated for drilling to 200 to 250 ft., but in good or ideal conditions you can go deeper . Roach notes that a HydraDrill might be a good investment, even where the water table is close to the surface and an adequate water flow could be achieved with a driven sand point well. "This is a lot less work than driving a sand point," Roach points out. "And you can backflush a drilled well to clean mud and sediment out of the casing. You can"t do that with a sandpoint well."

Cost depends on the accessories purchased, but a well-equipped package sells for from $2,200 to $3,100. "We can usually ship within a day or two of receiving an order," he says. "We offer free information packages on our drilling units for anyone interested in drilling their own well."

Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Chris Lackey, DeepRock Manufacturing Co., 2209 Anderson Road, Opelika, Alabama 36803 (ph 800 333-7762; outside the U.S. call 334 749-3377; fax 334 749-5601; E-mail: HydraD

Do-It-Yourself Well Drilling MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Miscellaneous 25-2-19 You can own your own well-drilling rig for about the cost of one well, says Rex Roach, vice president of engineering for DeepRock Manufacturing Company, Opelika, Alabama.DeepRock is best known for its commercial well drilling equipment, but several years ago they recognized the need for something smaller and more portable. That"s when they developed the HydraDrill.Chris Lackey, marketing manager for HydraDrill, notes that most people spend $3,000 to $5,000 to have a well drilled."They can buy a HydraDrill and drill their own and maybe several for themselves or neighbors and then sell the used drill when they"re through," he says. "That makes a lot of sense to people who have had to have two or three deep holes drilled in order to find water."Lackey tells of a Nevada customer who had a commercial driller try to find water only to give up after several deep, dry holes. "He bought a HydraDrill and put in his own well," he says. "He found 30 gal. per minute at only 65 ft., which was more than enough to supply his livestock.""It works just like any other mud-type rotary drilling machine," Roach explains. "It needs water and a �mud pump" that carries water and dirt away from the hole.The drill is powered by a 4 or 6 hp 4-cycle single cylinder engine with a clutch and an 18:1 gearbox that turns the drill at about 170 rpm"s. Lackey says one person can set up and operate the HydraDrill with no problems, but notes that it"s faster with two. "Under ideal conditions, it"s a good weekend job to put in a well if you have no drilling experience," he says. "If you"re drilling through rock or through collapsing formations, it may take longer," he adds. "But we have optional bits, special instructions and Toll-Free technical assistance to help our customers drill in these formations."One of the good things about the HydraDrill is if it takes a little longer or the well needs to be deeper, you"re not paying extra for the driller"s time and machinery."The drill bits, well casing, and drilling additives are the only expendable part of this system," says Roach. "Everything else can be used over and over."Actually, you can get extra duty out of the bits, too. While the company sells new bits for the rig, it also sells a special re-tipping mix of tungsten carbide which you can apply yourself using just an acetylene torch. The more rock you need to drill through, the more often you"ll need to re-tip the bit, of course. But re-tipping is a lot less expensive than buying new bits. With re-tipping, Roach figures one bit should be good for five to ten wells. Roach says HydraDrills have proven themselves over the years. "There are a lot of the older machines still in use and there"s a big demand for used ones. We get calls everyday from people who bought a used one and need parts or new bits," he says. The HydraDrill is capable of drilling up to a 6-inch diameter hole for well casings up to 4 inches in size. "We carry an entire line of hand pumps, convertible jet pumps, and submersible pumps along with all accessories required to finish a well," Lackey says. The HydraDrill is rated for drilling to 200 to 250 ft., but in good or ideal conditions you can go deeper . Roach notes that a HydraDrill might be a good investment, even where the water table is close to the surface and an adequate water flow could be achieved with a driven sand point well. "This is a lot less work than driving a sand point," Roach points out. "And you can backflush a drilled well to clean mud and sediment out of the casing. You can"t do that with a sandpoint well."Cost depends on the accessories purchased, but a well-equipped package sells for from $2,200 to $3,100. "We can usually ship within a day or two of receiving an order," he says. "We offer free information packages on our drilling units for anyone interested in drilling their own well."Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Chris Lackey, DeepRock Manufacturing Co., 2209 Anderson Road, Opelika, Alabama 36803 (ph 800 333