Day 12 - Mr Mole arrives

 Today, Mr Mole and his merry molers arrived on site with their pneumatic moling machine.  

Mr Mole

Moling is a trenchless method used to lay pipes and avoids the need to dig a massive trench or, in my case, dig up a perfectly fine, tarmac drive. Moling can be used to lay water pipes, electrical pipes, phone cabling and heat pump systems. BarnGirl needs Mr Mole to dig two parallel holes for EDF and BT. These utility companies weren't happy to share the same pipe!  But lo, we would all love a share of your profits!

BarnBoys prepare hole for mole

The Mole

This simple looking device, known as a mole, forces its way through the soil, along the desired path of the pipe. It doesn't push the soil in front of it's steely point, it forces, or, should I say, compresses the soil, sandstone, clay....whatever, sideways, creating a neat pipe of its own. The electrical and telecom cabling can then pass through with ease.

One hole for EDF and one for BT

It takes Mr Mole a day per hole

Meanwhile, back in the barn and Digger Ryan is digging up yet more of my hall!  This time creating a metre deep trench for the utility cabling.  It required some precision driving, as Ryan Nureyev, danced his bronco over the trenches he'd so nimbly prepared. 

Digger Ryan pirouetting

You're fine. Both feet on the ground

 

Digger Ryan jetes across the trench into the utility cupboard. But who's the ghostly figure?

Cables in utility cupboard

 

'Has the cake arrived?'

  

















Mr Wickens, Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) man, was also on site today, preparing metres and metres of cabling, one continuous piece of copper encased in plastic tubing, for the Air Source Heat Pump.
This renewable energy will supply my underfloor heating and hot water.

Continuous length of copper cabling for ASHP

Pass the ball

'Real men eat quiche' or so I thought

I just had to include this. A picture of Digger Ryan's lunch. I'm sorry, but this is definitely looking more like a Nureyev than Rodeo man's lunch. Babybel 'lite'?!








I'm off to make lunch, Digger Ryan styly.
Love
BarnGirl
xx



If you're interested - more about moling....
The standard approach to moling is to dig a hole about 1 m square and 2 m deep. In my case, it was more like 2-3 metres by 2 metres. The mole is then entered into the earth on the horizontal face at the bottom of this hole. A destination hole of similar proportions is also dug (other side of the drive and hedge) and this is where the mole emerges. The mole itself is a steel cylinder about 60 cm long and 6 cm in diameter. It works as a pneumatic cylinder with pulsed compressed air causing the head of the mole to repeatedly hammer against the soil in front of the mole. Once the mole has passed through the earth the pipe can be pulled through the long horizontal hole.