From Sea To Shining Sea

The DT325 Soil Sampling System has been field tested and used by customers around the world, and it continues to receive the approval of those who have made the switch from their previous method of sampling.

Changing your sampling regimen and tooling is difficult, especially if you’re comfortable with the performance of your current product and satisfied with the results. Many of our customers have made the switch to the new DT325 sampling system; now it’s time for the rest of you to make the change.

The DT325 Soil Sampling System is used by customers around the world with great success.

"The changes and improvements we’ve made in 3.25 in. tooling over the past two years is huge!”, said Tom Omli, Geoprobe® Sales Manager. “These changes are significant. The DT325 system is one of those examples of what you don’t know hurts you.”

Customers who use the DT325 tooling tell us they see better performance in the field, stronger and more durable tooling, and an easier-to-use system. Even with the additional weight of this larger diameter system, many customers say their field teams prefer to work with the DT325 system.

“Our field team would rather lift the heavier 3.25 in. tooling and use the DT325 dual tube system than work with the much lighter MC tooling and 1.5 in. rods,” said Lisa Doan, Operations Manager for Innovative Brownfield Management in Mishawaka, IN. “Even though the DT325 tooling is heavier ... it makes work a lot easier because it performs so well.”

We’ve heard similar results in Nevada and California, where the geology is typically nasty. According to Mark Taggart, Vice President for Earthprobe Environmental Field Services in Bountiful, UT, “We’ve had great success with the tooling. Everytime we’ve used it we’ve had success." In northern California, where much of the sampling is done in sands and clays, the DT325 performed great. “I like it!” said Dennis Lake, Drilling Services Manager for Laco Associates in Eureka, CA. “It’s much easier to work with than the older dual tube system, and the cutting shoes stay attached when we’re retrieving the sample ... and that’s huge for us. We typically sample from 20 to 40 feet, and this system has performed well for us every time we’ve put it in the ground.”

"In this part of the country, we're working in the garbage can of geology. . . we never know what we'll find. Even though the DT325 tooling is heavier, our operators would rather use it because it makes work a lot easier.” Lisa Doan, Operations Manager Innovative Brownfield Management, Mishawaka, IN

And for customers who pull a significant number of samples from below the water table, the DT325 allows for efficient recovery of samples in formations ranging from plastic clays to saturated sands. Tom McChesney, Owner of Foresight Enviroprobe Inc. in Freehold, NJ, says, “We’re very impressed on how well the DT325 performs below the water table. We’re consistently collecting true, representative samples using this tooling.”

Innovative Brownfields Management has had such good success with the system that most of their services are completed with the DT325 tooling. “Over 99 percent of our work here in northern Indiana and northern Illinois is done with the DT325. It works beautifully in the glacial till we’re going through every day,” Lisa added. “In one push we can go from clay, to sand, to gravel, to clay again, to heaving sand. We’ve cored through nearly two feet of limestone with it, and have pushed through chunks of buried asphalt, metal pipes, small pieces of concrete, and even a few things we haven’t identified!”

Don Watts and his field team at Hydro Environmental Technology in Lafayette, LA, reports that they switched over to the DT325 tooling and now they’re running it almost exclusively. “We no longer have problems with stuck liners or sheath breakage,” he said. “It’s a good system.” They use 48-in. liners with the extended cutting shoe and generally sample to 40 or 50 ft. in clay. Sometimes seeing a demonstration of the tooling in the field is all it takes for some people to be convinced that this is THE tool for them. “We’re ordering a new 6620DT,” said Patrick Ferris, Owner of Ferris Company in Kutztown, PA, “and the DT325 tooling is included in our tooling purchase. The quality of the samples from the DT325 is better than any sample I’ve ever seen.”

The new DT325 Liner Spacer Refill (PVC) and Liner Spacer Head is recommended for flowing soils which may overfill liners during normal sampling procedures. The extra room afforded by the spacer refill keeps the system operating more smoothly and cleanly by preventing stuck liners and preventing clogged drive heads or inner probe rods.

“It’s hard to describe how well this system works,” Lisa concluded. “Even with the heavier probe rods and tooling, our field people prefer to use the DT325 because it takes less effort to complete a project. We’re working in the garbage can of geology here ... we never know what we’ll find. But we do know the DT325 is our tool of choice.

If you’d like to see this tooling in action, DT325 field demonstrations are scheduled at every 2007 Field Days event on our calendar. You can also see a demonstration of this tooling plus others when you visit the Kansas Geoprobe® offices. The welcome mat is out for you ... just let us know when you’re coming.

	The DT325 Expendable Cutting Shoe requires the use of an O-ring which temporarily locks the shoe in the Expendable Cutting Shoe Holder. This locking O-ring system helps eliminate problems when sampling in saturated sands.