Services
Redback
Drilling
Services
Siting
Whilst you are pretty much guaranteed finding water anywhere in Melbourne,
if need be I can site
a bore using the old fashioned divining method.
I offer this as a free service for my customers as it
is a gift that I
have been lucky enough to have bestowed on me and as such, I do not believe
it
should be charged for. Although I do not guarantee water, my success
rate is pretty good. I will
never claim to be able to 'find' water. What
I am finding are fractures or variations in the strata
which should be
carrying water.
If you would prefer to get second opinion or an independent geophysical survey done, checkout the links page or the yellow pages for geologists and other water diviners. Under no circumstances will we guarantee the quality or quantity of the water.
Drilling
We offer a range of bores from ultra narrow diameter bores of 3" or 80mm
to 4" or 100mm in
diameter drilled to a
depth of up to
90m, fully cased and cemented.
A 3" or 80mm bore will comfortably accommodate a 3" (75mm) diameter submersible pump such as those from the Grundfos SQ range and can deliver up to 1000gph or 75L/m.
The standard diameter for a stock and domestic or small irrigation bore is 4" or 100mm diameter and with the correct 4" submersible pump installed can also deliver up to 1000gph or 75L/m. The average pop-up sprinkler uses around 7-10L/m of water, so as you can see by the above figures, these narrow diameter bores can deliver more than enough water for a domestic supply and even small scale irrigation.
Unfortunately we cannot offer larger diameter bores for irrigation purposes at the moment as our rig is only set up for 3" and 4" bores.
When we have completed the job, we will give you a bore completion report and also send a sample of water to SGS laboratories for analysis. We do not recommend installing a pump until you have the results of this test and know what the quality of your water is as water high in salinity can have disastrous effects on a garden.
An all air powered rig in Zimbabwe
All bores will come with a lifetime guarantee on construction and workmanship.
Capacity Testing
Whilst we can give a pretty good estimate on the bores yield during drilling and
development (post
drilling), to obtain an accurate figure a capacity test will need to be carried out. This involves installing a
test pump in the bore and pumping it for a pre-determined period of time (usually 3 - 5 hours for stock
and domestic) whilst monitoring the draw-down of the water level in the bore.
Old Bores
Rehabilitation (cleanouts) of old bores that have lost productivity
are carried out by various methods
ranging from mechanical to chemical
methods or a combination of these methods. Sometimes a simple
blow-out
is all that is needed (min charge of 2hr @ $250/hr).
Bore reconstruction can also be carried out in an attempt stop inflow of sand and mud into bores that have been poorly constructed or where the lining has corroded or split although this can be a costly exercise and the success rate is usually low. It is usually recommended that a new bore be drilled for which a Bore Construction License (relacement bore) will be required (contact your local authority for details).
A follow-up capacity test is usually carried out prove the success of rehabilitation or reconstruction and to clear any contaminants before reinstalling the bore pump.
Because the time taken to carry out these processes can vary from several hours to several days, prices are charged at an hourly rate. In some cases it is more cost effective to de-commission the old bore and drill a new one as there is no guarantee of success in reconstruction.