Geothermal Well Drilling

What is this machine and why is it floating up in the air?


That would be a super "wheelie" for such a low rider!

And indeed it is a low rider, down into the ground! This is a well drilling truck and machine. It is stabilized up off the ground as the drill does the work.

On the tail end is the business end of this machine. Notice the drill shaft doing the work below the truck operated by the machinist at the controls.

These drills are not drilling "for" water but rather, drilling a place to "put" water! These are our geothermal wells.

A number of people have asked about the many pipes sticking up out of the baseball field.

One even asked if that was going to be Pete's irrigation system! :-)

FYI: There will be fill added on top of these lines, and the irrigation lines will be above this system. The water for that will be supplied by the rainwater collection/gray water system.

These are our Geothermal well loops. It appears to be two pieces of pipe in each drilled well.
It is actually a loop, or one continuous piece that folds back along itself and is sunken into the drilled well.

The wells are drilled approximately 10 feet apart . Each well is 400+ feet deep and we will have around 250 of them under the baseball field.
At last count we were at about 114 completed and still drilling.

Each of these wells for a subterranean cavity and the looped piping will be filled with water which will be circulated back into our school. There is no water collected from these wells, they are just drilled holes. The water in the loops is a closed system which recirculates the liquid contained within them.

The workers below are welding the 12 inch tie-in or carry pipe that will deliver that geothermal warmed water back to our school.
Each of the loops out of the wells tie into these two main lines at the edge of the baseball field and cross under our driveway, one line in, one line back out.

As shown in the photo below, these lines then enter our school and tie into our HVAC system with water supplied at a constant temperate level.

Thus saving some of the energy it takes to heat and adding to the sustainability and green features of our new school. This is one of the LEED components we have incorporated to achieve LEEDS certification.