Right Guys, Right Skills for Schramm Drill Rigs Refurbishment

Getting started in geotechnical drilling, by the mid-90s Chesapeake Geosystems in Maryland grew into geothermal.

“For the past 10 years we’ve focused on larger commercial geothermal projects along the East Coast,” Chris Blanchet, owner, said.

With a fleet of nine drill rigs primarily comprised of Schramm drill rigs, Blanchett was disappointed in available rig options when he began looking to upgrade his fleet. So instead he looked to the team at the Geoprobe^®/DRILLMAX^® East Coast Service Center (ECSC) to refurbish his Schramm T450WS in 2018-19.

“We needed a track-mounted, deck engine geothermal rig focused on speed, efficiency, and ease of maintenance. We wanted a manufacturing-affiliated service option within 100 miles. If service isn’t there, the rig is basically useless,” Blanchet said. “There was no viable alternative rig to do what we do or substitute what we had. We decided to make new what was old.”

Blanchet was so pleased with the results he has had two more Schramm drill rigs refurbished by the team and has a fourth of his Schramm drill rigs in the shop now.

“In my opinion the team is comprised of all the top former Schramm service techs and engineers who sought a way to provide good support to water well market when Schramm focus turned to oil and gas,” Blanchet explained. “They provide the best quality maintenance and service and are skilled in caring for the customer.”

He describes the work as “successful” and “seamless.” 

“They put in the time and effort to solve the problem or point the customer in the right direction if they can’t figure it out themselves,” Blanchet said. “They went over the rig with a fine-toothed comb to identify issues and repair them.”

Blanchet believes the rig looks and operates better than new.

“I’ve probably started up to 12 new rigs, and they all had time-consuming issues right off the bat,” Blanchet said. “The refurb was put together perfectly and ready to roll into the field right away.”

Blanchet feels confident taking any of his fleet to the ECSC team.

“They understand how drill rigs work and are open minded to working on all types of rigs,” Blanchet said. “They provide a different level of service than any other service company I’ve used. They have all the right guys with the right skills. They know what they’re doing and talking about and care about their customers. They’re extra cautious not to cause downtime and are open and honest about what is going on. You can feel confident the right thing is being done.”