Tips and Tricks

Did you know HydraSleeves can be left in the wells between sampling events?  This can be any indefinite time frame - even years!  The unique design of the check valve, the special food-grade poly material,  and the way the HydraSleeve works allow this to be possible. 

This will save you the extra hassle of taking an additional trip out to the site just to deploy the HydraSleeves in the wells.  It also saves time by allowing far more equilibration time than necessary for the well to return to ambient conditions.  There will be no doubt after several months that the well has stabilized.

We have tested this theory in standpipes under lamp oil to show that there is no deterioration of the material and no seepage into the bag as they sit in the water.  A simple Alka-Seltzer tablet placed inside the bag shows that no water gets inside until the unit is retrieved.  We have also filled several HydraSleeves with varying degrees of contaminants and, to date, no deterioration of the material has been discovered.

So, please, when you think about ordering your HydraSleeve supplies also think about leaving a sleeve!  Simply replace that unit upon retrieval and your wells will be set for months (or even years - depending on your sampling schedule) to come.

Here you can see no deterioration in the HydraSleeve material after several months of chemical exposure.  The first photo was taken in November 2011 and the second photo was taken February 2012.  The blue liquid is a petroleum based product, next is alkali, then acid and finally chlorine as an oxidizer.  An interesting thing happened with the blue petroleum additive.  The amount of liquid remaining has decreased significantly due to the diffusion of the contaminant through the sleeve wall and into the air - it is not a result of deterioration in the HydraSleeve.  None of these sleeves shows any sign of wear or weakening of the material.

You all know how exciting those fishing shows are on ESPN?  Well here's another one for you!  We have pubished a video demonstration of Fishing for HydraSleeves.  Please see the video on our website by clicking here.  Or click the photo below for the link on YouTube.

Written details follow:

In the course of events you will likely, at one time or another, find yourself with items that have fallen into the well and need to be retrieved. It happens to us all from time to time.

Have you ever lost a HydraSleeve down a well?  We have devised an effective method of retrieving them if this happens to be your dilemma.  This method will work for any item that is flexible and has been lost downhole. 

We keep several electrical contractor's fish tapes on hand to use in these emergencies.  The one we depend on the most is made by Ideal.  It's called the Tuff-Grip Pro and is 120-feet long with a stainless steel line.  Other models can be found at your local hardware store which are shorter or longer.

Here are some samples of fish tapes.  They are basically made for electrical contractors to fish wire through conduit in walls and such.  However, they work extremely well for the purpose of fishing HydraSleeves out of wells.

A fish tape long enough to reach the bottom of your well will be needed and another person to go fishing along with you.  Fishing is always more fun with friends, right?

You will want to bend the end of the wire open into a "v" shape or hook (as shown) and ensure that it fits inside the well.  Then spool the wire out and lead it down the well until it reaches the bottom.

Once the fish tape wire has reached the bottom of the well you need to rotate the unit 10 times in the same direction.   You do so by rotating the entire reel around.  Ten seems to be the magic number.  It may take another try and a few more turns, but eventually the wire will loop around enough in the well to snag the flexible HydraSleeve.

Bring the wire up by pulling it out slowly.  DO NOT REWIND IT ONTO THE REEL.  One person should be at the well gently pulling up on the wire and another should be walking away with the reel.  This prevents jerking and possibly loosing your hooked HydraSleeve back down the well.

The HydraSleeve has likely been snagged by the hook created at the end of the wire and will come up out of the well.  In this case the hook actually went into the check valve.  However, you may find that the sleeve gets snagged from the side or the tether gets wound up on the fish tape hook. 

Please be sure NOT to reuse the sleeve, the sampling integrity has likely been compromised.  No matter how it gets hooked, even if it looks perfectly useable, we do not recommend using the HydraSleeve again.  This is one fish you never want to toss back!   Please dispose of it properly and use a new HydraSleeve to take your sample.

No matter how your HydraSleeve is hooked it's a great catch.  We have happy fishermen with no sad stories about the one that got away.

Watch a video of the retrieval process here!

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Please see this link for a great in-depth description of the Green Remediation Focus based at the federal superfund site, Massachusetts Military Reservation.

One goal of the greener remediation at this facility was to convert to passive groundwater sampling.  They report using passive diffusion bags and HydraSleeves at 87% of the monitoring wells on site.  The estimated cost savings is $200 per well or $400,000 over a 6-year period.

Here is another great example where switching to HydraSleeves for your groundwater sampling will save you time, energy, and money. 

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While doing research last week we just happened to find this case study on the use of our HydraSleeves.  We are proud to provide the link and continue our growing list of independent research which point out the benefits of HydraSleeves and no-purge sampling. 

This particular study was published by Arcadis in Belgium.  It is a comparison study of purge and no-purge sampling for deep groundwater. We believe this is the first international study of no-purge sampling including the HydraSleeve.

Please check it out!  The conclusions show that no-purge groundwater sampling (such as the HydraSleeve) can be used for long term monitoring; and that no-purge sampling is more cost-effective for deep wells. 

Don't take our word for it.  There is a reason that our Independent Studies page is so-titled.  We have never had any influence, technical or financial, on the results found in these studies.  Each of the cases shown are independently researched and supported.

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