Moling directional drilling any pro's /cons?

[Safety First]

Further to my other post about digging a trench for laying a new water pipe...

I was looking at options for using a mole/boring service.

Seems they give a price which includes a few pits for where the mole hits a big rock and they have to dig down and remove it- we'll have plenty of them!

Once you've used up you allotment of pits they charge for the rest and your drive (still) looks like the moon.

Has anyone got a good/bad experience that they can throw into the mix for us to consider?

Thanks...

 

[Ian H]

Good and bad.

9 out of 10 times it goes well and you can usually tell when you dig your first 2 pits. Lots of big rocks or very wet ground is bad, stones, soil and clay are good.

I’ve only done straight moling, never directional.

 

[Ian H]

Just saw you have 13mtrs to do. For that i’d do 3 holes, someone with bigger balls may do just 2.

The mole would be 45mm diameter to pull through a 25mm pipe.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Check theirs and your insurances for level of cover against accidental damage. The number of clay drains I have seen a mole smash straight through, and if you're really unlucky, you can flood an entire town's gas network.....

Directional drilling can go wrong, drilling for a new water main through my local park, they managed to lose the drilling head right under a stream, rendering it extremely difficult to get to. Decision was made to abandon it under there and drill another route. New drill head was £35000 they said...


Having said that, many jobs go off without a hitch, I just wouldn't want anyone getting stung on an insurance technicality.

 

[ianmcd]

I worked on a construction site and the contractors that were moleing the gas main, a huge piece of kit, hadnt been paid, they stuck the mole in the ground vertically and set it off then when it ran out of hose they cut the hose with a hacksaw and went home , god knows how much that thing was worth

 

[gas112]

seen one moling job go wrong and cost approx £3.5 million to put right