The Gold Drill was bought from Germany in 1922 to mine for gold. The shot drill was considered very powerful at the time and had a depth capacity of 150 metres. It initially reached 250 metres with the original drill bit, and later, 700 metres with a different drill bit. Operations discontinued after two years when they did not find any gold. The equipment was then sold to Reykjavík Energy, and in 1927, it was used to drill for hot water in the geothermal washing pools of Reykjavík. The purpose was to investigate the possibility of utilising geothermal energy for either generating electricity or district heating. Since the source of geothermal energy was from water pools rather than steam, it was decided that it would be better used to heat houses. In 1930, a hot water supply from Laugardalur was connected to Austurbæjarskóli school, with the runoff supplying the Sundhöll Reykjavíkur swimming pool. The drill was moved to the Árbær Open Air Museum in 1977.
