Borewell rig reliability and drilling records

Why rig records matter more than most owners think

A borewell rig works far from a workshop, often in summer heat, dust and long shifts, and the compressor is usually its most expensive and most heavily loaded component. When it stops, the rig stops, the crew waits and a half-drilled hole may be lost. Most of these stoppages do not come from nowhere. Filters choke gradually, coolers foul over weeks, oil degrades with hours, and hoses and couplings wear with every rod change.

Without records, each of these is noticed only when it fails. With records, the operator and owner can see a trend and act early. A logbook also answers the questions every service engineer asks first: how many hours since the last oil change, what pressure was it making last week, when did the fault start, and what had been done before.

Good records do not need software. A bound logbook, a printed sheet per day or a simple spreadsheet filled at the end of each shift is enough, provided it is filled in honestly and every time.

What to record for the compressor

For a diesel high-pressure borewell compressor, record these at the start of the shift, once or twice during drilling at steady load, and at shutdown:

• Hour meter reading – engine or compressor running hours. Everything else in the maintenance plan hangs on this number.
• Working pressure – the gauge reading while drilling, in psig or bar (1 bar ≈ 14.5 psi), and the set or rated pressure.
• Discharge temperature – for an oil-injected screw airend this normally runs at about 75–95 °C. A slow upward drift points to cooler fouling, low oil, a thermostatic valve problem or high ambient.
• Engine readings – coolant temperature, engine oil pressure, engine speed under load, and battery or charging warnings.
• Fuel – litres filled and the hour meter at each fill. Fuel per hour, compared on similar holes and depths, is one of the best early-warning numbers you can keep.
• Filter indicators – air-filter restriction indicator position, and any separator differential-pressure reading the machine provides.
• Oil levels – compressor oil and engine oil checked before start; any top-up quantity written down.
• Faults and shutdowns – every alarm or trip, with the time, the depth being drilled, what the panel showed and what was done.

Safety shutdowns on these machines typically include high discharge temperature, low engine oil pressure and high coolant temperature. A trip is information, not a nuisance; recording the circumstances is what lets the cause be found.

What to record for the hole and the rig

The drilling side of the log explains the compressor side. A pressure rise means something different at 30 metres in dry rock than at 150 metres with water standing in the hole.

• Hole number, location, date, crew and rig.
• Depth at each rod change and time taken, giving penetration rate.
• Formation as seen in cuttings: soil, weathered rock, hard rock, fractured zones, clay.
• Water strikes: depth, and a rough estimate of inflow.
• Bit and hammer: serial or identity, metres drilled on each bit, regrinds or changes.
• Casing installed and depth.
• Rig hydraulics: hydraulic oil temperature and level, hose failures, rotary-head noise or leaks.
• Downtime: start and end time, and cause (compressor, rig, tooling, waiting for fuel, site access, other).

Over a season, these entries give the owner metres per day, metres per bit, fuel per metre and downtime by cause – the numbers that decide whether the rig is profitable. Our drilling productivity and cost per metre page shows how to use them.

A simple daily log template

The table below is a practical starting layout for one shift. Print it, or copy the columns into a spreadsheet. Keep one row per reading time.

Alongside the daily sheet, keep a separate service record for the compressor: date, hour meter, work done (oil, filters, separator, belts, coolers cleaned), parts used with part numbers, and who did it. On our own hire jobs, oil change and servicing are done every 300 running hours, and the hour meter in the daily log is what tells us when that point is near.

How records reduce breakdowns

Records turn guesswork into a few clear patterns. The table below links common trends to their likely causes and the action they should trigger.

Records also stop the most expensive mistake on borewell sites: resetting a safety shutdown again and again until the engine or airend fails. If the log shows three high-temperature trips in a week, that is a service call, not a reset. For deeper fault-finding, see borewell compressor performance diagnostics and diesel portable compressor troubleshooting.

Turning records into a maintenance plan

1. Set service intervals by hours. Take the maker’s intervals for oil, filters and separator, adjust for dust and heat, and track them against the hour meter in the log.
2. Agree baselines. After a service, note working pressure, discharge temperature and fuel per hour on a typical hole. That becomes “normal” for that machine.
3. Review weekly. The owner or supervisor compares the week’s readings with the baseline and flags anything drifting.
4. Plan the stop. Order parts in advance and schedule work between holes or during moves, not in the middle of a bore.
5. Close the loop. After repair, record what was found and confirm readings have returned to baseline.

This is the same inspect, measure, trend, act and verify approach used in industrial plant maintenance, applied to a mobile machine. More on structured maintenance is on our preventive maintenance page.

Common record-keeping mistakes

• Filling the log from memory at the end of the week, which removes the detail that matters.
• Writing “OK” instead of the actual reading.
• Not recording the depth and ground when a fault happened.
• Logging fuel bought instead of fuel put into the machine.
• Keeping the service record somewhere separate from the machine, so the visiting engineer cannot see it.
• Changing the operator without handing over the log and open issues.

Photos on a phone help too: a picture of the panel at a fault, the gauge readings, or a failed part with its number visible is often more useful than a long description.

How Reddy Compressors helps

For borewell rig owners we supply all types, all brands and all models of borewell compressors: new sales, used and refurbished machines, rentals, service and spare parts.

Reddy Compressors, based at Tarnaka, Secunderabad, is an independent multi-brand specialist that sells, rents and services borewell and DTH compressors, including ELGi, Atlas Copco, Ingersoll Rand, KAESER, Chicago Pneumatic, Doosan and other makes. We are not an authorised dealer of any brand. We have tie-ups with all major and reputed brands.

• Service and repairs by our team of over 20 service engineers and technicians across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. When you share your log, we can see the trend and arrive with the likely parts. See borewell compressor service and repairs.
• Spare parts supplied across India, identified from make, model, serial number and nameplate, with fit confirmed before quoting. See borewell compressor spare parts.
• Rental compressors from our own fleet when your machine is down for repair or overhaul, or for extra rigs in the season. See borewell compressor rentals and hire.
• New machines where records show an existing compressor has reached the end of economic repair. See new borewell compressor sales.

We can also help set up a log sheet and service schedule that suits your machine and the way your crew works.

What to send us

• Compressor make, model, serial number and a photo of the nameplate.
• Current hour meter reading and date of the last service.
• Recent log entries: working pressure, discharge temperature, fuel use and faults.
• Photos of the control panel showing any alarm or trip message.
• Rig make, hammer size, bore diameter and typical depth.
• Site location and whether you need service, spares, a rental or a replacement.

Frequently asked questions

What should a borewell compressor logbook include?

At minimum: date, hole number, operator, hour meter at start and end, working pressure, discharge temperature, coolant temperature, engine oil pressure, fuel added, oil top-ups, air-filter indicator, depth drilled, water strikes and every fault or trip with the time, depth and action taken. Keep a separate service record of oil, filter and separator changes against the hour meter, with part numbers.

How often should a borewell compressor be serviced?

Follow the maker’s hour-based intervals for oil, filters and separator, then shorten them where dust, heat or heavy duty demand it. On our own hire compressors we change oil and service every 300 running hours. The hour meter reading in your daily log is what tells you when the next service is due, so record it every shift without fail.

Why does my borewell compressor keep tripping on high temperature?

The most common causes are coolers blocked with dust or oil, low or degraded compressor oil, a faulty thermostatic valve, fan or belt problems and very high summer ambient. If your log shows discharge temperature rising over days before the trips, cooler fouling or oil condition is likely. Clean and check before resetting repeatedly, as running hot shortens oil and airend life.

How can drilling records reduce cost per metre?

Records show metres per day, metres per bit, fuel per metre and downtime by cause. With those numbers an owner can spot a worn hammer, an underperforming compressor or a crew habit that wastes time, and fix it. They also let planned maintenance replace breakdowns, which avoids lost holes and idle crews. Over a season these small gains add up to a lower cost per metre.

Is a paper logbook good enough, or do I need telematics?

A paper logbook or simple spreadsheet is enough for most rig owners if it is filled in honestly every shift. Telematics and digital monitoring can record hours, pressures and faults automatically and raise alerts, which helps with larger fleets. But no system replaces basic checks, timely servicing and someone who reviews the readings each week and acts on them.

What fuel consumption is normal for a borewell compressor?

There is no single figure. Fuel per hour depends on the engine, the compressor size, the working pressure and how much of the time it runs loaded. The useful approach is to record fuel and hour meter at every fill and compare your own machine on similar holes. A steady rise against that baseline usually signals filters, engine or air-side problems worth checking.

Related pages

• Borewell and DTH compressor library
• The borewell rig as an integrated system
• Drill string and air path review
• Compressor condition monitoring and baselines
• Portable compressor fleet management