OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS - Eijkelkamp Agrisearch Equipment

© September 2006
OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS
1201.SA/SB SOILMOISTURE SAMPLING SYSTEM
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Contents
On these operating instructions ....................................................................................................................... 2
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 2
2. Principle .................................................................................................................................................... 2
3. Description.................................................................................................................................................. 2
3.1 Probe ................................................................................................................................................ 2
3.2 Vacuum pump and gauge (Set 12.01.SA only) .................................................................................. 3
3.3 Vacuum tank and large pump (Set 12.01.SB only) ............................................................................. 3
3.4 Gouge auger ..................................................................................................................................... 4
3.5 Accessories ....................................................................................................................................... 4
4. Technical specifications ............................................................................................................................... 4
4.1 Minimal set (12.01.SA) ..................................................................................................................... 4
4.2 Standard set (12.01.SB) .................................................................................................................... 5
5. Safety .................................................................................................................................................... 5
6. The use .................................................................................................................................................... 5
6.1 Minimal set (12.01.SA) ..................................................................................................................... 5
6.2 Standard set (12.01.SB) .................................................................................................................... 7
6.3 Gouge auger ..................................................................................................................................... 9
6.4 The required time ........................................................................................................................... 10
7. Application ................................................................................................................................................ 10
8. Problems and Solutions ............................................................................................................................. 11
9. Maintenance ............................................................................................................................................. 11
P.O. Box 4, 6987 ZG Giesbeek, NL
T +31 313 880200
F +31 313 880299
E eijkelkamp@eijkelkamp.com
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www.eijkelkamp.com
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M2.12.01.E

On these operating instructions
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text
When the symbol shown on the left is placed before a piece of text, this means that an important
instruction follows.
When the symbol shown on the left is placed before a piece of text, this means that an important
warning follows pointing out a risk of injury to the user or damage to the device.
Text in italics means that the actual text is shown on the display screen.
1. Introduction
To obtain a water sample out of a well drained zone, which is above the ground water level is very complicated.
This is caused as the water is attached to the soil. With direct methods a soil sample will be taken to the
laboratory in order to withdraw the soil moisture.
The soil moisture sampler operates according to the direct method, on which the moisture will be withdrawn
direct and undiluted. The advantage of this method is that you get an undiluted water sample. Another benefit
is that you do not need to bring large quantities of soil material to the laboratory.
This manual describes the following two soil moisture sampling systems:
Minimal set for singular sampling up to a depth of 1.5m (12.01.SA)
Standard set for multiple sampling up to a depth of 1.5m (12.01.SB)
2. Principle
Both sets operate according to the same principle. A small porous water
accepting pipe, after first saturating it water, is placed into the soil. By
creating a under pressure on the inside (by a vacuum pump or tank), the
soil moisture will be sucked in.
A wet pipe will not transmit air as long as it has not reached its bubbling
pressure point. The bubbling pressure point is the moment on which
adhesion between water and ceramic material and the largest pore
breaks. The pressure point of the ceramics will not be reached in
practice.
3. Description
3.1 Probe
The probe is constructed as following:
A stainless steel tube (3) is on the bottom fitted with a synthetic core(7)
which is fixed by a screw(11). Around this core there is a porous ceramic
cylinder (8) which is held on its place by a synthetic cone (10). The
silicone rings (6 & 9) will provide an air tight seal.
Through the boring of the core two flexible tubes are lead. A Teflon tube
(4) reaches Until the bottom of the porous cylinder and is provided with a
amber coloured connection tube (12) on the top. A nylon tube (5) ends
above the cylinder is provided with a transparent connection tube(1).
If you have doubt (about the colour) which one is Teflon, you can use a
match or a lighter to check it; Nylon will melt easily, Teflon however only
when heated long.
In order to connect extension rods, the top of the tube is provided with screw-thread (2).
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After the probe is inserted into the soil and the connection of the ceramic cylinder (8) against the soil is correct,
a vacuum will be created by a pump, through the tube (12).
From this moment the nylon tube (1) has to be squeezed air tight by the pinch clamp. Now soil moisture will be
sucked in, which is less strongly attached to the soil than the under pressure in the sampler. The gathered
moisture in the sampler can be extracted by releasing the pinch clamp on the nylon tube (1 ). The sample is
collected by placing a sample bottle between probe and vacuum source.
3.2 Vacuum pump and gauge (Set 12.01.SA only)
The set for singular sampling (12.01.SA) is provided with a small and light manual pump (13) with gauge(14).
With this set only one probe at a time can be connected. A sample bottle is used as a buffer for the vacuum.
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Vacuüm pump and manometer (set 12.01.SA) Vacuüm tank and large pump (set 12.01.SB)
3.3 Vacuum tank and large pump (Set 12.01.SB only)
The standard set for maximal 5 fold sampling is equipped with a large pump (15) and a vacuum tank (16). The
Gauge (17) indicates the under pressure within the tank. The vacuum tank has rubber stop with 5 connections
(8) which can be connected to the same quantity of probes. The vacuum is created by the manual pump(15).
The non return valve (19) and shut-off valve(20) prevents entering of air via the pump, when there is vacuum in
the tank. Due to the large vacuum reserve, the set B can operate for a longer time frame without the necessity
of monitoring. Within a radius of 2 meter, can be sampled with 5 probes with its own sample bottle,
connected to the tank through the stop (18) simultaneously.
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3.4 Gouge auger
The auger body fo the gouge auger (21) is almost half cylindrical, with parallel cutting faces from top to bottom.
The diameter is 30mm. The maximal length of the sample is 50 cm. The auger can be extended by
connecting a coupling sleeve(23) and extension rod(22) (set 12.01.SB only) onto the upper piece (24).
Extension rod (left) and coupling sleeve (right)
Gouge auger
3.5 Accessories
Push-/pull handle
The push-/pull handle exists out of 2 parts which can be connected
around a rod. Due to its shape the push/pull hand will clamp itself
onto a rod as long a force is exercised on both handles.
Utility probe (Set 12.01.SB ONLY)
The glass fibre utility probe has a length of 105cm and has a cone of a diameter of 19mm. The utility probe is
isolated and can be used, even in very dry soils, to look for cables and tubes.
Hanging clamp (Set 12.01.SB ONLY)
The hanging clamp is placed on the probe or extension tube and fixed by screws. Two separate clamping jaws
will enable you to position the sample bottle accurately.
4. Technical specifications
4.1 Minimal set (12.01.SA)
Part Description
Insert probe Length 50cm, Ø 18 mm.
Ceramic cup Purity of 99,8% Al 2 O 3
Extension tube Stainless Steel, length 100 cm, 2 inner hoses
Sample bottle 250 cc met glass stopper
Gouge Ø 30 mm, bayonet connection
Teflon hose Ø 2 x 4 mm, length 10 m
Carrying bag Inner dimensions: 17 x 150 cm, with 2 shoulder straps.
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Push-/Pull handle
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4.2 Standard set (12.01.SB)
Part Description
Insert probe Length 50cm, Ø 18 mm.
Ceramic cup Purity of 99,8% Al 2 O 3
Extension tube Stainless Steel, length 100 cm, 2 inner hoses
Sample bottle 250 cc met glass stopper
Gouge Ø 30 mm, bayonet connection
Extension rods length 100 cm, bayonet connection, fit for gouge auger
Utility probe Glass fibre, length 105 cm.
Aluminium case suitable for 10 sample bottles
Aluminium box transport box, outer dimensions: 108x23x14 cm
Vacuum tank with pump suitable for 5 insertion probes, content 6.7 litre, inclusive 10 m connection hose.
5. Safety
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Be cautious during a thunderstorm. Lightning strokes often occur in the open field, in
particular when holding a metal auger.
To withdraw the auger keep your back straight and your knees bent to prevent injuries.
Empty the gouge auger with a spatula. Make sure not to touch the cutting edges; they are
very sharp. Inappropriate use may cause you to cut your hands.
Prior to augering use the utility probe to check for cables, tubes and pipes. If necessary, select
another spot to auger.
Fill the borehole with soil or special bentonite plugs after augering. This will prevent humans
or animals to trip into the hole and incur injuries. In addition, it will allow impermeable soil
layers to recover.
Be cautious during a thunderstorm. Lightning strokes often occur in the open field, in
particular when holding a metal auger.
6. The use
6.1 Minimal set (12.01.SA)
1. Prepare the probe one or several days before the actual installation in the field. That is to say that the
ceramic cup has to be saturated with gas free water. You can do this by the following method:
Take distilled water and boil this on order to remove the dissolved gasses and let it cool down.
Take distilled water, pour it in a glass bottle and bring it under vacuum. The dissolved gasses will come
out within minutes.
2. Place the ceramic part of the probe complete under water, squeeze the amber coloured hose (12) tight with
a hose clamp, connect the vacuum pump onto the other hose and create a vacuum until water is coming out
of the hose. Now all pores are filled with water. In order to protect the cup against dry out and bumps, wrap
some polyethylene, aluminium or a clean wet cloth around it.
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3. Appoint the place and depth where the sampling has to take place.
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Check before boring for any (electricity) cables, conduits or pipes in the
ground (check the local municipally). Use the optional obtainable
utility probe for checking the boring site safely. If there are, choose
another place.
Be careful during thunderstorms; in open fields the risk of being struck by
Lightning is higher with a metal object (auger) in your hand.
4. Bore a hole with the gouge auger up to just above sample depth (see § 6.3)
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Do not use any force to hammer the gouge auger into the soil; you might
be damaging the tools.
In order to prevent back troubles, retract the auger with a straight back
and bent knees.
To discharge the gouge with a spatula, beware not to abrade your fingers/
hand on the cutting edges. These edges are sharp and can inflict cuts.
Wear sturdy gloves
5. Mark the probe for sampling on the desired depth.
Probe installation
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6. Place the probe in the hole and push it, with help of the push/pull handle (26), carefully up to the desired
depth. The contact between the ceramic part and the soil has to be optimal. Option wise the probe can be
extended; connect the hoses of the probe to the same tubes of the extension piece and screw the
extension piece (27) on the probe.
7. Connect the amber coloured connection hose (12) to the rubber stopper of the sample bottle by means of
the supplied teflon hose.
8. squeeze the transparent hose (1) of the probe tight with a pinch clamp.
9. Remove the rubber cone on the “suction side” of the vacuum pump (13).
10.Connect the other outlet of the rubber stopper to the vacuum pump (13).
11.Take out the air out of the system by means of the vacuum pump (13)
12.Now under pressure is created in the sample system. Soil moisture will be sucked in through porous wall of
the ceramic part (8) into the sample tube. If the contact between the soil and the probe is poor, less water
per time unit will be the yield. The enormous adhesion between the water and ceramics will prevent
entering air into the system. Therefore check the pressure gauge just after creating the vacuum: if the
pressure is decreasing fast, then there must be a leakage or a crack the ceramic part.
13.Optional the vacuum pump (13) can be removed, after the connection hose between the pump and the
sample bottle is squeezed tight; the bottle now functions as a vacuum storage.
14.When sufficient soil moisture is sampled, the probe can be emptied by releasing the transparent silicone
hose of the probe from its pinch clamp. The atmospheric pressure (= 1 atmosphere) will force the water
within the porous part through the teflon hose into the sample bottle.
15.Just after the sample is taken, the sample bottle will be closed with a rubber stopper and stored in the case
with foam rubber upholstery.
16.Extract te probe with the push/pull handle.
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After boring fill the hole with bored out material or with special betonite plugs. This prevents
that men and animal will step into the hole and get injured. Moreover impermeable soil layers
will be restored.
17.After use clean the probe thoroughly by using a brush, rinse the probe well with tap water and after
cleaning store it dry. If the probe will be used within the next days then wrap it in a foil or a wet cloth to
prevent drying out.
6.2 Standard set (12.01.SB)
1. Prepare the probe one or several days before the actual installation in the field. That is to say that the
ceramic cup has to be saturated with gas free water. You can do this by the following method:
Take distilled water and boil this on order to remove the dissolved gasses and let it cool down.
Take distilled water, pour it in a glass bottle and bring it under vacuum. The dissolved gasses will come
out within minutes.
2. Place the ceramic part of the probe complete under water, squeeze the amber coloured hose (12) tight with
a hose clamp, connect the vacuum pump onto the other hose and create a vacuum until water is coming out
of the hose. Now all pores are filled with water. In order to protect the cup against dry out and bumps, wrap
some polyethylene, aluminium or a clean wet cloth around it.
3. Appoint the place and depth where the sampling has to take place.
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Check before boring for any (electricity) cables, conduits or pipes in the ground (check the
local municipally). Use the optional obtainable utility probe for checking the boring site
safely. If there are, choose another place.
Be careful during thunderstorms; in open fields the risk of being struck by lightning is higher
with a metal object (auger) in your hand.
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4. Bore a hole with the gouge auger up to just above sample depth (see § 6.3)
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Do not use any force to hammer the gouge auger into the soil; you might be damaging the
tools.
In order to prevent back troubles, retract the auger with a straight back and bent knees.
To discharge the gouge with a spatula, beware not to abrade your fingers/hand on the cutting
edges. These edges are sharp and can inflict cuts. Wear sturdy gloves
5. Mark the probe for sampling on the desired depth
6. Place the probes into the different holes and push it, with help
of the push/pull handle (26), carefully up to the desired depth.
The contact between the ceramic part and the soil has to be
optimal. Option wise the probe can be extended; connect the
hoses of the probe to the same tubes of the extension piece
and screw the extension piece (27) on the probe.
7. Connect the amber coloured connection hoses (12) to the
rubber stopper of the matching sample bottle by means of the
supplied teflon hose. Option wise you can fit the hanging
clamp with sample bottle on to the probe.
8. Squeeze the other transparent hose (1) of the probe tight with
a pinch clamp.
9. Connect the second hose of each sample bottle to the vacuum
tank. Make sure to push the rubber stopper firmly for a good
seal
10.Close the not used hoses of the rubber stopper (18) with a
pinch clamp.
11.Open the shut-off valve(20) of the vacuum tank (16) and
create a vacuum of ± 0,7 bar by pumping. Next, close the shut
off valve (20) to prevent leakage along the pump.
12.Now under pressure is created in the sample system. Soil
moisture will be sucked in through porous wall of the ceramic part (8) into the sample tube. If the contact
between the soil and the probe is poor, less water per time unit will be the yield. The enormous adhesion
between the water and ceramics will prevent entering air into the system. Therefore check the pressure
gauge just after creating the vacuum: if the pressure is decreasing fast, then there must be a leakage or a
crack the ceramic part.
13.When sufficient soil moisture is sampled, the probe can be emptied by releasing the transparent silicone
hose (1)of the probe from its pinch clamp. The atmospheric pressure (= 1 atmosphere) will force the water
within the porous part through the teflon hose into the sample bottle.
14.Just after the sample is taken, the sample bottle will be closed with a rubber stopper and stored in the case
with foam rubber upholstery.
15.Extract te probe with the push/pull handle.
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After boring fill the hole with bored out material or with special betonite
plugs. This prevents that men and animal will step into the hole and get injured. Moreover
impermeable soil layers will be restored.
16.After use clean the probe thoroughly by using a brush, rinse the probe well with tap water and after
cleaning store it dry. If the probe will be used within the next days then wrap it in a foil or a wet cloth to
prevent drying out.
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6.3 Gouge auger
1. Screw the synthetic handle (25) in the upper part (24)
2. Connect the auger parts (see below drawing). Attach the optional obtainable
extension rods during deeper augerings only on the up side of the auger,
directly under the upper part. When dismantling attaching it is import to maintain
the original sequence (the rods have a certain curve which is uphold in the bore hole
3. Press the gouge auger vertically, without turning, into the soil. Take samples of
Maximal 50 cm. When the auger meets a lot of resistance, you can overcome this by
Giving it a turn. Then press it further down.
4. If the gouge is full, turn it and extract it with a slight turn. Cut off the cylindrical
material up to the cutting edges by using the bent spatula (see figure right above).
The left material is an almost undisturbed profile. It is possible to bring on marks with
the spatula each 10 cm by means of the measuring marks on the outside of the
gouge auger.
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Do not use any force to hammer the gouge auger into the soil; you might be damaging the
tools.
In order to prevent back troubles, retract the auger with a straight back and bent knees.
To discharge the gouge with a spatula, beware not to abrade your fingers/hand on the cutting
edges. These edges are sharp and can inflict cuts. Wear sturdy gloves
Coupling an auger
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6.4 The required time
The required time which is necessary to sample a certain quantity of soil moisture depends on several aspects,
among others:
the moisture content of the soil
The amount of vacuum pressure within the system
The permeability of the porous element
The number of probes connected to the bottle
The required time for sampling 100 cc soil moister may vary between 20 minutes up to 10 hours. Optional a
seal around the stainless steel can be provided to prevent entering of rain water, which affect the results. Tests
have made out that out of the most soils at field capacity at least 15 cc per hour can be sampled.
The limit value where no moisture can be sampled is about 30-40% below field capacity (pF 2,0). As the soil is
dryer, an increase of the vacuum has a positive influence on the result of the moisture withdraw.
7. Application
with the soil moisture sampler moisture can be withdrawn out of the unsaturated zone.
Soil moisture samples are taken for determination of:
The salt concentration in the soil moisture
The concentration of certain chemicals in the soil moisture (e.g. nitrate)
· The wash away/down of different elements
Remark: Please bear in mind that ceramics can absolve certain chemicals in more or less amounts.
The representativeness of the sample gathered with ceramic soil moisture samplers can be qualified
as following:
Spore elements: please be very careful in connection to ion exchange en sorption
Macro parameters: be careful. Will fulfil nitrate analysis
Organic parameter: handle with care
pH: handle with care
Naturally a certain saturation will take place. However it is not possible to give a prognoses. Besides agricultural
purposes, the probes can be use for sampling of amongst others percolation water at refuse dumps, flush water
of roads (control of slipperiness).
In case of frequent sampling on the same spot, it is recommendable to place a permanent probe. To maintain
the speed and reliability of the samples, it is advisable to connect multiple probes on one sample bottle. In this
case more connection possibilities to the bottle has to be provided.
A permanent line-up with multiple probes on one bottle gives the following advantages:
fast sampling
no repeating damage of plant roots
the soil moisture is always extracted on the same spot
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8. Problems and Solutions
In case a ceramic element (8) is damaged, it has to be replaced. Release the synthetic cone (10) from the
probe, replace the element (8) en mount the cone again. The O-rings (6) and (9) has to be on its place
9. Maintenance
Because you do not want that a residue of a soil sample influence another sample, it is desired, before
conducting a next sampling, to rinse the porous element and the teflon hose of the probe and perhaps the
extension part with distilled water. This can be done by creating a minor vacuum, whilst the probe is placed
in a bottle with distilled water.
Nothing in this publication may be reproduced and/or made public by means of print, photocopy, microfilm or any other means without previous
written permission from Eijkelkamp Agrisearch Equipment.
Technical data can be amended without prior notification.
Eijkelkamp Agrisearch Equipment is interested in your reactions and remarks about its products and operating instructions.
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