Large diameter boreholes

A commercial company in Northern England, that has several large diameter boreholes to provide their water, suffered a breakdown and called the Igne team to assist.

Unfortunately, one of their boreholes was damaged when it was being serviced.  The contractor involved was unable to resolve the issue. 

Also the string of 300mm uPVC casing and 300mm stainless steel screen was unsupported at surface and this had caused further damage through compression of the well screen.

We were commissioned to remove the existing uPVC casing and stainless steel wedge wire screen from the borehole, undertake a CCTV condition survey and re-line with a new string of stainless steel casing & screen.

The 64m of sand pack surrounding the casing and screen has created a sand lock, causing trapping of the casing and screen in the borehole. 

Igne's ingenious solution

We designed and fabricated a hydraulic tool that was lowered approximately 115m into the borehole and placed against the stainless steel well screen.

High pressure water was then utilised to activate the hydraulic ram, which has a pointed end, to penetrate the screen and force open the 2mm wedge wire screen slots to some 25mm to allow the sand to flow from the annulus into the screen.

This process was then repeated along the length of the screen, allowing the sand to flow freely from the annulus into the screen.

Once completed an eductor airlift system was lowered into the borehole and the sand “hoovered” clear of the borehole.  The sand was recovered and stored for re-use.  Once clear of all sand from inside, the casing and screen were lifted clear of the borehole.

The borehole was then CCTV surveyed and a new string of 300mm stainless steel casing and wedge wire screen installed.  The string was supported at surface to prevent compression and the annulus packed with sand for filtration. 

New headworks were fabricated to allow for attachment to the 150mm delivery pipework and a new pump installed on a stainless steel JSL riser system attached to a new stainless steel headworks.

You could say they should have called Igne in the first place to service their borehole!  But at least when we were called in, we were able to diagnose and fully rectify the issue and get the company's borehole back up and running quickly.

Do you have a water borehole that needs a survey?  Call Igne's experts today.