In September of 2014, Nickerson Company was approached by a large surface mining operation to provide and install (3) deep well submersible pumps for a variable flow groundwater dewatering project. The range of flow specified was from 100 GPM minimum out to 400 GPM maximum, with pumping head requirements from 1,060’ TDH minimum out to 1,575’ TDH maximum. The pumps were to be set at 1,500’ in 10” ID well casings.
Nickerson Engineers Equipment Needed
Due to the relatively deep setting depth and the variable head and flow conditions, this application was difficult to approach using conventional water well equipment. Working in partnership with GE Oil & Gas and utilizing oil field style equipment, Nickerson Company was able to engineer and provide a complete package of equipment well suited to this application.
The equipment package created by Nickerson Company consisted of GE Oil and Gas 225 HP, 2P, 3/60/2300 motors with GE Oil and Gas TJ9000 pumps, #2 GE submersible cable, 5.5”, 15.5lb API column pipe, INW electronic water level monitoring probe, custom fabricated landing plates, and GE Oil and Gas Vector Plus 3/60/460 VFD drives, as well as 460 VAC to 2300 VAC step up transformers for the down hole power. Using 460 VAC VFD’s combined with the step up to 2300 VAC down hole power allowed for the use of much less expensive 460 VAC drives combined with the advantage of much less expensive and smaller 5 KV down hole cable. Download product brochures relating to the equipment, GE Vector Data brochure and GE Submersible Pumps brochure.
Project Timeline Approximately 2 Months
The equipment was placed on order in October of 2014, expedited and installed by mid-November of 2014. All field service installation work on this MSHA property was accomplished by Nickerson Company Field Service Crews and Rigs. As of early December 2014, all the equipment was in service and operating to expectations.
