# Directional Boring



## MDShunk

I have a little gizmo that I'll do up to 50 feet in 2" myself, but bigger than that it rightfully needs subbed out. Even if you could rent the equipment someplace, I think it would be a trainwreck waiting to happen. Sub it out to an excavating contractor, the larger of whom tend to do directional drilling and underground boring, and roll that into your bid. I think it's insanity for all but the very largest few EC's to do their own work of this type.


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## randomkiller

shazam said:


> I am currently working on a quote for some portable classrooms.
> 
> One scenario calls for DIRECTIONAL BORING because the existing utilities (data, fire, security) are in the center of the the existing school building.
> Approx 200 feet.
> 
> I have ran plenty of equipment, but never have I had to utilize a boring machine with seamless conduit.
> 
> See it done plenty of times by the POCO.
> 
> My question here is ......
> Have any of you guys taken on this adventure?
> What for prices go into directional boring?


I have done plenty of trailers for temporary classrooms but never did we run under the school, we always ran conduit overhead to the closest outside wall to the trailers. That scenario seems a bit ambitious, tracking the head through the slab and under footings and walls.


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## 480sparky

In my area, there's a company that specializes in underground work. They do trenching, digging, and directional boring. I don't know how far they can bore, but with modern technology I'm sure it's in the hundreds of feet, if not thousands. I know they can hit an 18x24 Quarzite box from 300 feet away. Check the phone book yellow pages under "Underground..." or "Trenching"


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## shazam

Well, I have asked a local company for a price.

Seems this is just to "ambitious" as one of you put it.

I don't know why they would ask for boring under existing slab as opposed to going in to the school's drop tile ceiling spaces? 

The longest run is 320' of 2"
The biggest run is 210' of 4"

I let you guys know what the sub's quote is.


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## HighWirey

Sub out the birectional boring.

Make your you get a copy of his contractors license, and a copy of his current insurance certificate . . .

Best Wishes


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## HighWirey

Yea Marc,

We had one of those little 'cable locator' gizmos too. Gave it up for Lent . . .
It's 3PM now, and I'm just now getting out of my vaginas !!!

Best Wishes


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## MDShunk

HighWirey said:


> It's 3PM now, and I'm just now getting out of my vaginas !!!


You might want to double check what you wrote. I think you made a Freudian slip there, where you meant to say pajamas.


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## Andy in ATL

HighWirey said:


> Yea Marc,
> 
> We had one of those little 'cable locator' gizmos too. Gave it up for Lent . . .
> It's 3PM now, and I'm just now getting out of my vaginas !!!
> 
> Best Wishes


Now that is funny.:laughing: I can't imagine (on the other hand, i can ) the idiocy of some architect making you bore... Much easier to go over head in the tiles and then to a pole at the trailers...After all, these are "temporary", aren't they???


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## shazam

Pricing here is as follows

2-2" and 1 4" bank 26.00 per foot
2-2" 16.00 per foot

When you think about it.
You can't do that any cheaper with a backhoe or trencher in a grassy area.

It will be subbed. Thanks for the input guys


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## bigredc222

shazam said:


> Pricing here is as follows
> 
> 2-2" and 1 4" bank 26.00 per foot
> 2-2" 16.00 per foot
> 
> When you think about it.
> You can't do that any cheaper with a backhoe or trencher in a grassy area.
> 
> It will be subbed. Thanks for the input guys


That comes out to $7800 for a 300' run. A backhoe isn't more than about $750 a day for mach. & operator. You can do that easy in one day in the open. Obviosly not under the slab. For both runs it's got to be like 10-12,000. My 
experience with churches is, they never have much money. That seems like a pricey way to do it. I'd consider giving them an alternative quote for doing it in the ceiling. It might get you the job.


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## gilbequick

bigredc222 said:


> My experience with churches is, they never have much money. That seems like a pricey way to do it.


It's for a school and YOU KNOW where they get their money from. You think they care how much it costs? HA! Although that is a good idea for showing them the alternate method. I wonder if there actually is a good reason that the engineer specifically called for directional boring. Maybe he knows something that you don't. Doubt it, but ya never know. You could give him a call and ask why he chose that method.


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## bigredc222

For some reason I had church in my head. School is a whole diff. matter. If they planned on future renovations it would prevent having to worry about it. That's all I can think of.


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## heavyduty73

We did this a couple a couple of summers ago at a school where they feed seperate distrubution gear from on end of school to the other.4 4 inch pipes and one two inch pipe for emer panel. Everything went well untill the first day of school when the sewer pipes backed up and flooded the tunnels below the buildings. It turns out the sub on the job bored though the sewer main from the building. That was some good weekend work to fix.:thumbup:


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## mtikeith

lots of info here on hdd.


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## MDShunk

mtikeith said:


> lots of info here on hdd.


Yeah, it's spam, but sufficiently interesting to let stand. :thumbsup:


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## user4818

MDShunk said:


> Yeah, it's spam, but sufficiently interesting to let stand. :thumbsup:


Just a hunch, but I don't see that forum getting the traffic that this one does. :laughing:


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## MDShunk

Peter D said:


> Just a hunch, but I don't see that forum getting the traffic that this one does. :laughing:


Sorta what I was thinking. It's a pity link. :laughing:


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## mtikeith

Sorry for the spam guys. We're a new hdd specific forum, so I'm trying to cross post on other non-hdd forums to get some more traffic there.

I understand if you want to nuke it. :thumbsup:


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## MDShunk

mtikeith said:


> Sorry for the spam guys. We're a new hdd specific forum, so I'm trying to cross post on other non-hdd forums to get some more traffic there.
> 
> I understand if you want to nuke it. :thumbsup:


Yeah, it's technically a rules violation, and we've never let links like this stand in the past, but this one appeals to me. Another mod may nuke it. I dunno. 

You can make peace by explaining exactly how the hell they bore a thousand feet under a school and hit the mark and avoid stuff. It's a mystery to most of us electricians. We just show up one day and the pipe is magically there at both ends.


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## mtikeith

Lol... I'll do my best.

Inside of the drill head, we have what's called a sonde. (pronounced sond... like song with a d). The sonde has a radio transmitter built into it along with very sensitive location sensing switches that can relay to the locator display things like pitch angle, depth, clock angle, and others... You take this information coupled with a drill head that will drill at around a 5 degree angle due to a offset 'bill' on the end of it, and you can literally steer up, over, and around whatever you want... and push out of the ground anywhere you plan to. If you're wondering about the 'steering'... you do it by pushing the drill head in without rotation until you get the bend that you want... then when you start to rotate the drill head will go straight again.

How is that for ya? :thumbup:


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## Awg-Dawg

MDShunk said:


> I have a little gizmo that I'll do up to 50 feet in 2" myself.


 "Little" gizmo and 50ft. of 2" don't seem to go together.

Got a link or pic?


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## MDShunk

Awg-Dawg said:


> "Little" gizmo and 50ft. of 2" don't seem to go together.
> 
> Got a link or pic?


This thread is years old, but I still use it. Borezit is the name of the tool.


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## MDShunk

mtikeith said:


> Lol... I'll do my best.
> 
> Inside of the drill head, we have what's called a sonde. (pronounced sond... like song with a d). The sonde has a radio transmitter built into it along with very sensitive location sensing switches that can relay to the locator display things like pitch angle, depth, clock angle, and others... You take this information coupled with a drill head that will drill at around a 5 degree angle due to a offset 'bill' on the end of it, and you can literally steer up, over, and around whatever you want... and push out of the ground anywhere you plan to. If you're wondering about the 'steering'... you do it by pushing the drill head in without rotation until you get the bend that you want... then when you start to rotate the drill head will go straight again.
> 
> How is that for ya? :thumbup:


Thanks. I always wondered how you steer a drill pipe.


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## user4818

Directional boring is pretty mind blowing. Remember the relief well they had to drill in the Gulf of Mexico for BP's blown out well? Hitting a 9" casing 2 miles down completely blind....


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## Awg-Dawg

MDShunk said:


> This thread is years old, but I still use it. Borezit is the name of the tool.


 
Yeah, I know the thread is old, I starting typing my question back then.

I am a really slow typer.:laughing:


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## electures

I have a little experience with horizontal boring. One thing I will share because I learned the hard way is for every inch in diameter increase the depth by 12". I learned this after sending a 6" bore 24" under a driveway at school. Needless to say we have a new speed bump.


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## Del

Whats the funky gizmo there, MDShunk, that you mention earlier in the post.


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## Del

Sorry, - didnt notice the second page. I found the BorZit site, wow, might be useful for some irrigation on my lawn.


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## bobelectric

I'm on a job where they are directional drilling for fiber optics. They only like to go 500 ft., but can go 1000. A 10 inch drill to pullback 2-4"conduits. No road cuts!


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