Underwater Drone Used to Save Diver's Time

About Mountain West Commercial Diving
ROV Inspection with Deep Trekker
Diver & ROV Inspection
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Mountain West Commercial Diving currently uses their Deep Trekker underwater drone to conduct ROV inspections or potable water towers.

Aim to exceed the client’s expectation while adhering the highest standards in industry compliance and safety; that is the goal of Mountain West Commercial Diving (MWCD). Based out of Hazelton, Idaho, MWCD has over 25 years of experience in successfully completing underwater tasks ranging from repairing dams and reservoirs to inspecting and maintaining potable water systems. To preserve their objective, MWCD needed a way to keep the overall cost of a job down for their clients while not cutting corners in their operation; thereby compromising the safety of their dive team and the general public.

About Mountain West Commercial Diving

Mountain West Commercial Diving has a broad range of services; salvaging pipelines, boats, and weapons from the lake bottom, stopping leaks in dams and reservoir walls, pouring concrete, setting anchors, cutting pipelines, dredging rivers and pipe penetration, and replacing submersed valves. Lastly, but most certainly not least, MWCD inspects potable water systems and provides. When their inspections reveal problematic sediment in potable water tanks, they offer a thorough and efficient water tank cleaning service; with no disruption to the supply.

Mountain West Commercial Diving’s continuous commitment to safety and quality led to the acquisition of a Deep Trekker DTG2 Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV); offering the team the ability to rapidly conduct a submersed inspections of potable water systems. Jake Spaulding, owner of MWCD, commented, “Rather than deploying divers in every situation we save the customer money and do [an] inspection with the ROV and provide the customer with HD video of their tanks/reservoirs.”

ROV Inspection Company

Deep Trekker is a Canadian company that builds ROVs, otherwise known as underwater drones. The DTG2 ROV is being used in-field around the world on thousands of aquaculture sites, hydroelectric dams, search & rescue operations, dive teams, municipal infrastructure inspections, and more. Using their patented pitching system, Deep Trekker ROVs are able to navigate through the water in all directions using only two thrusters. Deep Trekker offers extremely robust systems while keeping them at an accessible price point.

Prior to owning the Deep Trekker underwater drone, MWCD sent in divers for every underwater inspection; this was proving to be taxing affair and would be quite costly for the company which would in-turn be a burden on the clients. With the ROV inspection tool, Jake Spaulding has been able to provide a cost-effective solution.

“It’s nice to save my divers from unneeded climbing or entry into a tank that was in good shape,” Spaulding adds, “It is so much nicer to hoist the ROV to the top of a tower [than] it is to send a diver dressed in up a 65 ft ladder. Now we only send in divers if we know what is needed.”

Talk to us about combining ROVs with divers to perform safe and efficient water tower inspections

Diver & ROV Inspections

If the ROV inspection identifies further servicing is required, Spaulding is able to deploy the drone alongside a diver to not only monitor the diver’s well-being but also to direct them to the areas of interest. Jake Spaulding gravitated toward the DTG2 for his company’s underwater ROV inspections primarily because it runs completely off of onboard batteries. On a single 1.5 hour charge, the drone has a 6-8 hour work time; this allowed MWCD to perform seven thorough potable water tank ROV inspections. Some towers in the area are located in toilsome locations with no topside power for generators. The DTG2 unit requires no power from the surface and comes perfectly portable in one carrying case. rov-inspection-water-tower

“Deep trekker makes this task much easier no hauling in a generator. I’ve also gone multiple days without charging and inspected multiple tanks.”

MWCD is able to drop the ROV into a tank and have a live video feed transmitted from the unit to the lightweight controller; additionally, they are able to snap high-quality photos and record an HD video to review alongside their clients. With their Remotely Operated Vehicles, MWCD will be able to save their drivers from unnecessary climbs up towers that do not require servicing; thereby reducing the average cost to conduct an inspection for their clients while adhering the highest standards in industry compliance. Mountain West Commercial Diver has immediately seen the cost saving benefits of owning a Deep Trekker ROV to conduct their underwater ROV inspections; not only do they plan to continue to use their unit, their future strategy is to expand their aquatic drone fleet.