One of those things that seem to make sense, limestone seems flaky, but.

Seems there are advantages to limestone aggregate.

I work for local concrete companies. One is a supplier for new I90 bridge to Wi. I'll have to ask!

Every batch is specified and inspected before, during, and after pour.

I'm no expert, but like everything, probably pluses and minuses to all.

Some pours may require a harder aggregate.

 

While you're asking, try to find out why I see concrete cores used for lawn decorations all over the place. Weren't they supposed to be crushed during quality testing?

 

Just to let you know we, me at least, are between fracking jobs so I have been doing mostly shop work the last few weeks hence the lack of updates.

We did however just pick up some big long term contracts that should keep us going near non stop for quite a while starting in the next week or two.

 

Good luck. Looking forward to more info snippets.

 

This thread has taken a political turn. Posts #145-166 have been moderated.
The original purpose of the thread was for the OP to provide some personal insight working in the fracking industry. Please keep it that way.

 

Short term contracts don't sound good ,some of the employers...when they talk

its sounds like there so many people. Maybe you don't hear about the people losing

there savings and coming back home. We want you to do well.

 

Actually these types of waiting periods are quite normal in this industry.

There are other factors between when a well is drilled and the drilling rig moves off site and when we get there.

Same with contracts. They don't just deside they want us today and we start fracking tomorrow. There is a lot of paperwork permits and other such stuff that has to be finalized plus if and when there is another company doing work on the well between when the drilling rig left and when we get there that too can cause some considerable delays as well.

Hurry up and wait is the norm around this type of work.

The other thing is we have crews out doing other work. It's just that I am not presently out with them.

To be honest I really don't mind being the E-tech who stays back a the shop the most. I didn't take this job because I wanted to work let alone because I need the money either. Mostly it was just to prove a point to my wife that when I was self employed from home there is a whole lot of work I did every day that she never knew about let alone had to deal with.

She figured that I didn't do anything at home and if I got a job that would give her more spending money as well. So far she has had to pick up a load of my home chores since I am gone most of the time and to be honest she really hasn't seen any financial gains for herself from me going to work either!

I on the other hand don't do chores much being I am not home and when I am home I have lots of spending money to play with.

 

Actually these types of waiting periods are quite normal in this industry.

There are other factors between when a well is drilled and the drilling rig moves off site and when we get there.

Same with contracts. They don't just deside they want us today and we start fracking tomorrow. There is a lot of paperwork permits and other such stuff that has to be finalized plus if and when there is another company doing work on the well between when the drilling rig left and when we get there that too can cause some considerable delays as well.

Hurry up and wait is the norm around this type of work.

The other thing is we have crews out doing other work. It's just that I am not presently out with them.

To be honest I really don't mind being the E-tech who stays back a the shop the most. I didn't take this job because I wanted to work let alone because I need the money either. Mostly it was just to prove a point to my wife that there is a whole lot of work I did around home every day when I was self employed that she never knew about let alone had to deal with.

She figured that I didn't do anything at home, despite the fact I paid half the bills and put a little money in savings while making about 1/3 her take home pay, and if I got a job that would give her more spending money as well.
So far she has had to pick up a load of my home chores since I am gone most of the time and to be honest she really hasn't seen any financial gains for herself from me going to work either even though now I am bringing home about 3X what she does!

NOw I on the other hand don't do chores much being I am not home and when I am home I have lots of spending money to play with.

 

Continuing on with the machinery that we use the next unit in line from the water storage tanks and related transfer systems would be what we call the hydration unit.

This machine is basically a huge jello slurry maker! What it does is take the feeds from the different types of water sources we are using and mixes in the gel powder and some of the treatment chemicals to make a gel that will carry the propant material that gets added at the next machine down the well and out into the formation.

There are two primary ways that this mixing process can be done. For the small low flow rate jobs we do it in batches of 100 - 150 bbls at a time of which get stored on the machine in a large tank that holds around 220 bbls total. The other method is on the go mixing which when done right the unit will automatically measure the flow rates of the fluid in the systems and automatically adjust the rates of the gel powder and other additives to keep the level of the holding tank fairly constant.

The gel powder is augered into the mixing stream where a high pressure jet call an educator carries and mixes it with the water ending in it going into the holding tank. The other additives are metered into the systems from a second unit called the chem van which is where all the liquid chemicals and additives are measured and metered out.

To be honest when things are going well this is a nearly fully automated piece of equipment that requires little personal effort to run which is good being the hydration unit operator is most often having to do other duties relating to the adding of specific additives like foam reducers which are dumped into the holding tank in buckets a few gallons at a time when needed.

Specs wise our hydration units have a single 500 - 600 HP diesel engine and a number of hydraulically driven centrifugal pumps and can do on the go mix rates up to around 80 - 100 Bbls a minute if being fed by 8 inch lines from the water tanks.

Most of our jobs run at rates of 5 - 45 bbls a minute so under normal working conditions they hydration unit and its operator are not working all that hard.

When things don't go right it can become a huge slime covered all around miserable job to have.

 

it can become a huge slime covered all around miserable job to have.

Inspiration for a nightmare movie? .
Folks are going to be concerned that all those additives could leach into domestic water supplies. What precautions are taken to prevent that? Is any additive toxic to humans?

 

Here is the most dangerous chemical we are using and it's usually being added at a rate of a a few 100 PPM to the supply water.

http://www.kellysolutions.com/erene...water_Bio_Clear_5000_3_25_2009_4_38_24_PM.pdf

We have catch pads below the equipment so what ever would make it to the ground is immeasurable.

To be honest at the concentration levels we use most antibacterial household cleaners and farm pesticide/herbicides/biocides are more dangerous.

 

Thanks for the info. If I've understood the pdf correctly, that stuff at 'a few 110 ppm' could result in a solution which would be strong enough to have an effect on rats. And the pdf definitely says it shouldn't be allowed to get into water supplies. Sounds nasty. I think, to allay people's fears, the industry should be taking more steps to publicise safety measures in place to prevent water supply contamination.

 

The way I see it is it's like everything else. It all depends on the quantity in question and its duration of effectiveness.

As far as I am concerned it's a fairly reactive substance which means it tends to react with and break down fairly quickly in the presence of most any organic material.

On a typical job we may only have a few hundred gallons of it at best and even then its in a well contained location.

What may get spilled on the ground would have to go through the systems making its relative quantity per unit of water spilled very small.

 

The spilled amount may be small, but the vast majority of it is being pumped into the formations. That's the cause for concern (justified or not).

 

So unjustified concern due to insufficient knowledge of the subjects being concerned about makes them valid concerns?

 

It reacts with water and decomposes in a few months. Long before anyone will be pulling it up in their water well. Things more hazardous are used in commercial boilers for steam heating and that all eventually ends up in the sewer.

 

Heard there was big fire burning in Williiston, and you can see the oil well lights

from space. Sixty five deaths a year, double each year.

 

If I've understood the pdf correctly, that stuff at 'a few 100 ppm' could result in a solution which would be strong enough to have an effect on rats.

I think you misread the MSDS. It shows the LD50 by skin contact is 40g per 1kg rat. Or 58g for oral consumption.

For a solution at just 100ppm, which is 100g per metric ton, the rat would need to contact 400L of solution - or drink 580L - to reach the LD50. Now granted, the rat's odds of survival are down to 50/50 at that point. But not as low as the odds of it being able to consume 580L.

This stuff sounds fairly benign, IMHO. It's even approved for use as a direct food additive in beet sugar processing and in food packaging. It degrades quickly.

The worst feature is that it's really bad for aquatic organisms, so would be a poor choice near bodies of water.

 

For a solution at just 100ppm, which is 100g per metric ton, the rat would need to contact 400L of solution - or drink 580L - to reach the LD50.

That assumes 10g/L of solution. For comparison, water is 1kg/L.

 

It means what I said, 100ppm = 100g per 1000L which is roughly 1000kg as you noted.

There is some ambiguity in what tcmtech said about the dosage rate. We can't tell if he meant the pure chemical is at 100ppm or whether he means the diluted solution of it they likely use in the field. The pure chemical would be a dry crystal and that's not likely used.