Removing the Drill Pipe

It turns out that it can be really important to have a good safe technique for removing the drillpipe. When you drill further than 25 to 30 feet and it comes time to remove the drill pipe, you should remove it in sections. Don’t do something stupid like I did and try to remove a 65 foot pipe all at once!

I finished a 65 foot hole and it was time to remove the drillpipe.  I simply started pulling the pipe out of the ground.   Now, anyone with beans for brains can easily see that a 65 foot piece of pipe is not coming out of the hole without breaking.  Mine broke in half and the bottom piece snapped back and whacked me in the head.

So, I made a quick run over to South Baldwin Emergency Room where they stitched me up and sent me on my way.   The problem was, for the next several weeks people kept calling me “Petey.” 

 I never did figure out why…

In this video, we demonstrate a safe way to remove a long drillpipe from the ground.  We’ll use a spacer made from oak that just barely lets a piece of two inch pipe fit through but will not let a coupling pass.   Here is a picture of it.

Spacer that just fits over two-inch PVC
Clamp

Here is the video that demonstrates how to SAFELY remove a drill pipe.

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