Water Well Journal

February 2021

Water Well Journal

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Industry NEWSLINE Franklin Electric Acquires Gicon Pumps & Equipment F ranklin Electric announced on Janu- ary 4 that on December 31, 2020 it acquired Gicon Pumps & Equipment Inc. of Lubbock, Texas, for $27.9 mil- lion in a cash transaction. Gicon is a professional groundwater distributor operating seven locations in Texas. Gicon has approximately $68 million of consolidated annual sales. DeLancey Davis, president of Head- water Companies, the wholly owned Distribution Segment of Franklin Electric, comments: "We are pleased to add Gicon to the Headwater family. The team at Gicon has served the pump industry and re- lated water resource markets for over 40 years and has an outstanding reputation within the industry for quality service and technical depth. The acquisition of waterwelljournal.com 12 n February 2021 WWJ Bergerson-Caswell Uses Braden-Head Grouting Method for First Time W ith Bergerson-Caswell Inc. struggling to set a tremie line through the annular space of the bor- ing on a late September 2020 project, David Henrich, CWD/PI, CVCLD, turned to his industry resources. "I read Marvin's (Glotfelty) book (The Art of Water Wells), talked to a few of my friends, and successfully grouted an 8-inch well in a 12-inch hole on a project we had been having nothing but trouble with," says Hen- rich, president of Bergerson-Caswell in Maple Plain, Minnesota, and the 2018 president of the National Ground Water Association. While installing a 295-foot Darcy heat exchange well (500-plus gal- lons per minute) for the Pipefitters & Steamfitters Union Hall in St. Paul, Minnesota, Henrich opted to use the braden-head grouting method for the first time. The project was becoming a head-scratcher for Henrich's drilling crew as the glacial tills seemed to be causing the bore to have an irregular path. "Even though we were using a freshly built-up stabilizer, we still were having issues setting a tremie line through the annular space of the bor- ing," Henrich explains. "After dealing with a plugged-up grout line on the first boring, we started exploring other options. "After talking with an industry friend and reading Marvin's book, it was apparent that there was a much easier way to install our grout." Henrich says any of the displace- ment methods would have worked, but the braden-head method seemed like the easiest for his company to build and use in a short time. Henrich's in- dustry friend provided pointers on how to build an assembly, and within a cou- ple of hours, the company had a new grouting tool ready to go in its shop. "Considering our grouting time was cut by three quarters, I would say that I got some sound advice," Henrich says. "The overall process was much easier than using a tremie line and was much less time consuming. Since you don't ever have to pull any pipe—like you would during a tremie grout job—you can continuously pump grout until the boring is filled. Since the grout is con- tinuously pumped from the bottom of the boring towards the top, the grout seal is arguably as solid as it possibly could be." An inspector from the Minnesota Department of Health was initially reluctant about the company using the braden-head method, mainly because it was Henrich's driller's first time executing the process. But Henrich says "he (the inspector) seemed some- what impressed by the time we were finished even though we had to top off that specific boring the next day." "The boring took an excessive amount of cement which went well beyond our expectations and our safety factor," Henrich continues. "Once we switched over to using cement trucks and a commercial cement pump, the process only took about an hour to complete. Once the cement was pumped in, we could actually drive the pipe into the bedrock, which made for an incredibly good interface seal." Henrich says the first night the com- pany finished at 10:30 p.m., but it had to manually mix 2½ pallets of cement. "Had we known that we were going to need 2½ times the bore volume, we would've called a truck in from the get-go," he says. "Once we switched to trucks, the process went very quick." Bergerson-Caswell will more than likely use the braden-head method anytime it needs to pump two or more yards of cement. Henrich recommends finding someone who has used the method to get their input before giving it a try. "Make sure you have all the steps planned out and then execute," he says. To learn more about the braden- head method, read the Water Well Journal's "Drawing from the Well" column at waterwelljournal.com/final- thoughts-using-neat-cement-grout. To learn more about Glotfelty's book, The Art of Water Wells, visit www.NGWA.org/Bookstore, or if you already know what you want to order, call (800) 551-7379, fax (614) 898- 7786, or email customerservice@ ngwa.org. —By Mike Price Bergerson-Caswell Inc. used the braden-head grouting method for the first time on a project that was giving the company fits. Photos courtesy David Henrich, CWD/PI, CVCLD, president of Bergerson-Caswell in Maple Plain, Minnesota. NEWS continues on page 14

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