How to make a puncture in the ground for a plumbing

Laying a water pipe using a puncture method is a method of trenchless installation of a pipeline under various obstacles - roads, buildings. Its essence consists in the formation of a channel of the required diameter at a given depth by forcing it with pipes, working bodies of special machines and mechanisms, and a high-pressure water jet. This method is used both when laying main water supply pipes, and for installing a water supply system in the private sector, at a summer cottage.

Types of punctures

Depending on the mechanisms used, the principle of laying the channel for laying pipes, the following types of puncture are distinguished:

• punching;
• horizontal directional drilling (HDD);
• auger drilling;
• hydro-puncture;
• vibration puncture.

For the convenience of work, two pits (pit) are dug at opposite ends of the trajectory of the pipe being laid - the initial and the final.

Punching

This type of puncture is performed as follows:

1. In the initial pit, a directional drilling rig is placed, consisting of a frame with hydraulic cylinders that drive a carriage with a drill string - connected by rods.
2. A rod with a working head in the form of a sharp cone is installed first into the carriage.
3. With the help of an oil station (a gasoline engine with oil pumps), the hydraulic cylinders press the first rod into the wall of the sump under force.
4. After most of the first boom has disappeared into the soil, the carriage is retracted with the help of hydraulic cylinders. The next one is screwed to the end of the rod using a threaded connection, it is fixed in the carriage and the punching process is repeated.
5. When the working head of the first drill string appears in the final pit, it is removed, and a device for fastening and pulling the pipe is installed.
6. Pulling the pipe fixed to the first rod, it is laid in the channel (case) drilled in this way.

When laying a water supply polyethylene pipe in winter in the broaching phase, it is heated with a blowtorch or burner. This is necessary so that the polyethylene becomes more flexible, does not crack or deform when passing through the channel drilled for it.

Horizontal directional drilling

This method is widely used when laying water supply networks with a diameter of up to 200 mm. The puncture is performed by special self-propelled crawler units capable of operating in confined spaces and marshy ground.

Horizontal directional drilling technology consists of the following stages:

1. Drilling a pilot well - in this case, the installation deepens a string of rods with a working drill head in the form of a blade on the first of them at a given angle and punches a narrow channel, reaching the surface or in the wall of the final pit at the end point of the pipeline trajectory.
2. Sequential expansion of the pilot well - at this stage, the working head is replaced with a special rotating reamer (rimmer), which, when pulling the rod string, increases the bore diameter to the required value. At the same time, new drill rods are attached to the end of the rimmer - this is necessary so that, after expanding the channel, it is convenient and quick to pull a string of pipes through it.
3. Pulling the pipeline - a swivel (shackle) is installed on the last bar attached to the rimmer, to which the head of the pipe string is attached. The pipeline is pulled through by pulling the rods by the installation until the end of the pipe appears at the starting point of drilling.

The size (diameter) of the reamer and the expanded borehole should be 30 mm larger than the diameter of the pipe that is placed in it.

In the process of work, a special composition is supplied to the inside of the drill string rods and to the tip (working head), which helps to destroy the drilled rock, reduce the friction of the rods on the soil, and remove the drilled rock from the well. After the completion of the work, the drilling composition collected in the pit is pumped out, cleaned of rock particles and, with the help of chemical reagents, is regenerated for subsequent use.

Auger drilling

This method of trenchless laying of water supply and other communications is as follows:

1. An auger with a working head (blades) in the end part, rotating from the engine of the installation, is installed inside a large pipe-case.
2. When the pipe is pressed into the wall of the pit, the rotating auger drills the rock it encounters and partially removes it through the end of the pipe.
3. After the first pipe has completely disappeared into the soil mass, the next one with the same auger inside is attached to it;
4. When the end of the pipe string appears in the final pit, all augers with the remains of the rock drilled and not removed by them are sequentially removed from it.

Several water supply lines are placed in a pipe drilled in this way.

Hydropuncture

This type of puncture is performed using a horizontal drilling installation, in which a special head is put on at the end of the first rod of the drill string, piercing the soil in front of itself with the help of a powerful jet of water generated by a centrifugal pump.

This method is used to pierce loose sandy and sandy loam soils.

Vibration puncture

During vibration puncture, the working body of the pneumatic punch, in addition to rotational movements, also performs powerful reciprocating (like a jackhammer). Due to this, such installations can quickly and efficiently pierce even the most dense clay or loamy soil.

Method advantages

The popularity and demand for this method of laying a water supply system is explained by the following advantages:

• Efficiency of work - in comparison with digging an open trench, a puncture takes 3-4 times less time.
• Low labor intensity - the puncture does not require significant physical effort and a large number of workers, as is the case with the trench pipe laying method.
• All-season - a puncture of the soil under the water supply using various installations can be done at any time of the year.
• Environmental friendliness - this method of laying the pipeline avoids disturbance of the soil structure, damage to tree roots, destruction of natural landscapes, artificial lawns and plantings.
• Low risk of damage to nearby communications (sewers, communication lines, gas pipelines) - when punctured, the probability of damaging nearby communications is much less than when excavating with a bucket of an excavator or trencher.
• Low cost - even when hiring specialists with special equipment, digging a sewer by a puncture method costs 30-40% less than with traditional trench laying.

Do-it-yourself puncture under the water supply in stages

It is possible to make a puncture underground for a water supply system on your own, without the involvement of specialists and contractors, with a length of no more than 30 m.Such work, with the exception of the acquisition of materials, will not cost the contractor a penny, allowing not only to save money, but also to gain useful experience in laying communications puncture.

Materials and tools

When making a puncture of a road for a water supply system with your own hands, only a thick-walled steel pipe with a diameter of 40 mm with a sharp tip of a pyramidal or conical shape is needed. It is better to make such a working body from durable tool steel - a fragile material, meeting in soil with solid inclusions, layers of clay, can quickly fail, being deformed.

Of the tools for this work you will need:

• bayonet shovel;
• scrap;
• sledgehammer;
• Bulgarian.

Puncture stages

A simple puncture technique under a road or other obstacle consists of the following steps:

1. Digging two trenches on either side of the obstacle. In this case, the trench from which the puncture will be made should be dug 1.5-2 meters more than the distance that is planned to be punched under the obstacle. This is necessary for the convenience of working in a trench with a heavy sledgehammer.
2. Laying the punching pipe at the bottom - with the help of a level and bricks, the pipe is laid exactly in the center of the trench, resting with the tip of the tip against the wall of the soil that needs to be punched.
3. Punching the soil layer under the obstacle - by blows of a sledgehammer on the end of the pipe, it gradually deepens into the soil layer until its tip appears in the trench on the other side of the obstacle. After that, the tip and the butt flattened by the blows of the sledgehammer are cut off with a grinder.

The pipe is removed from the puncture directly when the water supply is laid into it, so that the earth around the made channel does not collapse and fill it up.

Cost of work

The price per meter of puncturing the soil under an obstacle for laying a water pipe depends not so much on the amount of work, the type of soil, but on the length and diameter of the channel being punched. So the laying of 1 meter of water pipe using the horizontal directional drilling method will cost the customer 1300-1600 rubles on average. When installing water supply pipes under roads, buildings and other obstacles by horizontal drilling, hydro or vibration puncture, the cost of 1 meter will be slightly lower - from 1000 to 1200 rubles.