My brother has been doing HVAC for several years and is becoming more involved with geothermal installations. The one piece that he has to contract out is the drilling. We’ve been thinking about adding this piece into his business. Does anyone know where/how to become educated/trained in the drilling aspects of geothermal wells? He’s been working with DX systems. Thanks for any help or assistance. Greg

You might think about calling Dan Bandimere who has been drilling DX for some time now.  There was a write up in the National Driller magazine about him a couple of years ago.  He installed my DX system and it has been purring like a kitten so he knows what he's doing.  He can be reached at 479-242-2007.

Here is the link to the National Driller magazine article.

http://www.nationaldriller.com/CDA/Archives/e402751af9197010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0

What type of formations is he needing to drill?

I've been in the same boat, and we ended up buying a sonic drill. My advice is to not try to be a driller. It's a VERY EXPENSIVE education you'd be paying for. We had a drill like Dan Bandimere's and hated it. I still hate that thing. It works wonderfully where you can easily maintain an open hole, but in looser, gravel, or cobbly formations, it sucks.

One thing we've learned, too, is to not buy the tooling from the drill manufacturer. They're always a premium on the stuff.

He'll need to check with the state water rights division, most likely, to find out about a geothermal driller's license, and how to get one.

We’d be focused in the NY, CT area which has some bedrock. A sonic drill seems to be the logical choice for DX systems but I had a concern with the bedrock in the area. I’m not sure if you meant that the education would be expensive you were referring to buying the wrong drill or learning how to drill. Before we buy anything, we need to understand what we’re doing. That’s the info I’m hoping to find. I appreciate the info you’ve provide so far. Greg