As technology advances, combination trucks get more sophisticated. The Vactor 2100Plus from the Vactor Manufacturing subsidiary of Federal Signal Corp. is the company’s newest iteration of the machine.

Improvements range from simple, like built-in clamps to hold vacuum extension pipes in place on the side of the truck for storage, to highly complex, like a redesigned, hydraulically controlled pump that can deliver water at very low flows and conserve energy, extensive computerization in system controls, and a wireless remote unit.

Representatives of Vactor and of its Wisconsin/Illinois distributor, Bruce Municipal Equipment of Menomonee Falls, Wis., demonstrated the truck for employees of the City of Muskego, a suburb southwest of Milwaukee, on June 5.

Participants included project manager Mike Rose, product manager Jared Dippel, and sales technician and demonstrator Myles McGonigle, all of Federal Signal; Vactor specialist Mike McNulty and Jim Weedman, both of Bruce Municipal Equipment; and Scott Kloskowski, superintendent, and employees of the city Public Utilities Department.

Walk-around

The Vactor 2100Plus can be built on a number of truck platforms. While built higher from the ground for undercarriage clearance, it carries a lower overall profile than previous Vactor models. The debris tank has a high-dump configuration with the spill plate about five feet off the ground. Debris filters on the driver’s side are accessible and easy to clean.

Two storage brackets for pipe extensions to the vacuum hose are placed low on the truck frame, at about 30 inches and five feet from the ground, within easy reach. Spring-loaded clamps hold the pipes in place. Additional pipe storage is mounted higher on the side of the debris tank.

The primary jetter hose reel is front-mounted and carries up to 1,000 feet of 1-inch hose. The system is sized for up to 100 gpm, although the unit demonstrated was configured for 80 gpm.

A pair of control panels mounted on the front of the reel operate the jetter, hydroexcavation and vacuuming functions. Once the operator engages the vacuum unit from the truck’s cab controls, a switch on the front panel can be used to turn the blower on and off during operations.

“If you’re rodding and you’re ready to start vacuuming, all you have to do is turn your blower on,” says Rose. “The blower will sync up, and then you’re ready to vacuum. You don’t have to do a lot of in-and-out of the cab stuff.”

The panel includes two joysticks, one for playing the jetter hose in and out and the other to manipulate the vacuum boom. The truck as demonstrated was equipped with a 5-by-5 boom, which can extend out five feet and down five feet, and with a single 6-foot pipe attachment can reach down 11 feet. That is useful for catch basin cleaning without further attachments.

Above the left front panel a 3.5-inch IntelliView screen reports on a wide range of operating conditions, functions, and diagnostics along with mechanical system performance for troubleshooting. Users can switch from displays showing water flow, the length of hose extended into the manhole during jetting, hydraulic oil temperature, chassis RPM, PD blower or auxiliary engine rpm, vacuum mode, and which of the machine’s two power take-off units are active.

The vehicle uses the same sort of CAN-bus electronic engine control and diagnostic systems that have been standard in automobiles for 15 years. Such systems allow a mechanic to troubleshoot if electronic modules in the engine and system components are communicating properly, and if not, to quickly diagnose the problem. The electronic system can transmit fault or error codes to the IntelliView screen. The screen also can display error messages if the operator is put into an unsafe condition.

Along the right side of the vehicle is another pair of control panels in an aluminum cabinet. One includes controls for dumping debris as well as controlling water and air, and the other has electrical controls for the hydraulic system. Electrical hydraulic control reduces the number of levers and valves required. The panel is easily accessible for truck maintenance. “We don’t have any valves buried underneath the truck,” Rose noted.

Both the side panels and the front control panels include a bright-red emergency stop button. Another emergency-stop button is found on the wireless remote unit that is available for the machine.

The truck uses Vactor’s single-piston pump, refined for true multiflow capability. The water pump switch offers three flow settings, all capable of pressures up to 2,500 psi: Low (1,200 rpm, up to 37 gpm), mid-flow (1,200 rpm, up to 60 gpm) and high (1,800 rpm, up to 80 gpm). A rheostat enables variable flow at each setting.

The vehicle is equipped with two power takeoffs. Advances in engine design enable better torque ratings at lower engine speeds that make it possible to limit the pump flow to what the operator desires.

The water pump is on the side of the truck, rather than the back, to better distribute weight across the vehicle’s length and to reduce the distance hydraulic oil and water must travel. “Instead of plumbing oil to the back and then water all the way to the front of the truck, everything is only flowing right here, so we’ve got less pressure drop throughout the system,” Rose said. The water fill has been lowered for easier access.

Certain specifications can be customized. The demonstrated model included a Roots 824 pump with an 18-inch blower, a 15-cubic-yard debris tank, and a 1,500-gallon aluminum fresh-water tank.

In addition to the primary hose reel on the front of the vehicle, the truck carries two side reels, one for hydroexcavation and the other for the handgun washdown system.

A wireless remote control unit includes all the functions offered on the front control panels: throttle, boom joysticks, hose reel control, pump control, water flow control, vacuum relief, emergency stop, and others. “Everything I need to run that truck is here in my hand,” Rose said. The control can be worn slung around the body with a strap for near-hands-free operation.

Operation

The demonstration began with a quick display of the emergency-stop button. With systems turned on although not in actual use, Rose used the button to disengage the vacuum system and the hydraulics and idle the engine without killing it. He noted that would allow workers to relieve a hazard without having to restart the engine.

The remainder of the demonstration focused on hydroexcavation and jetting. McGonigle drove the vehicle to a cul-de-sac in an industrial park where the Public Utilities Department is located and backed it up to a manhole. Crew members opened the manhole, and McGonigle used the controls on the front of the jetter hose reel to send the jetter nozzle and hose into the sewer. The IntelliView screen was switched to display the hose footage as it extended to 234.4 feet, then was pulled back in by the operator.

Muskego employees Jim Bourdo and Steve Ludwig were among those who took turns operating the jetter, using the controls on the front-reel panel.

After the jetting demonstration, the vehicle was driven back to the municipal garage and set up for hydroexcavation.

To release an extension pipe for the vacuum boom, McGonigle pulled on the T-shaped handle for one of the two clamps holding the pipe in place in brackets on the side of the truck. He twisted it a quarter-turn from vertical to horizontal, then repeated the maneuver with the second clamp to release the pipe.

While McGonigle used the hydroexcavation wand to dig a three-foot hole in a grassy area next to the garage, Ludwig used the remote unit to maneuver the vacuum hose and collect the soil slurry. He also used the remote unit to control water flow through the hydroexcavation wand.

As the hydroexcavation proceeded, the IntelliView screen indicated the water output was at 7.4 gpm, the pump rpm at just over 1,800 and the blower and chassis rpm at about 1,400. All three values were displayed at the same time.

The multiflow pump can run at very high pressures with very low flows — as little as 2 gpm at 2,500 psi. The hydraulic system moves one gallon of oil for every gallon of water. “We’re only producing the amount of energy it takes to create the flow you’re asking for,” Rose said. Pumps lacking this capability must run at much higher flows; if the operator wants a lower flow, the rest of the water is recirculated, using more energy.

The hydraulic machinery uses what Vactor calls load-sense or on-demand hydraulics, meaning that oil in the hydraulic system is not moving unless it is actually being operated. An automatic shutdown is triggered if the oil temperature rises above a certain threshold.

The pump multiflow feature is made possible in part by the use of two power takeoffs on the truck. There are also energy-conserving features associated with the configuration.

For example, explained Dippel, if the pump is being run on the “high flow” setting, both PTOs will operate. But if the system isn’t demanding high flow, despite the setting — for example, if the operator has mistakenly selected a water nozzle not capable of producing a high flow, or if the truck is being run in combination mode with both vacuum and water pump engaged, but the pump isn’t actually needed at the moment — the system can detect that high-flow water is not being demanded. Then it will automatically disengage the second PTO, saving fuel, and send a message to the IntelliView screen to alert the operator.

The hydroexcavation demonstration concluded at three feet down. The original plan was to dig six feet down, but the crew encountered a rock three feet below ground, and Kloskowski was sufficiently satisfied with the demonstration to stop there.

When the digging was ended Ludwig raised the boom with the remote and McGonigle cleaned the inside and outside of the extension tube with the hydroexcavation wand. McGonigle then detached the extension pipe from the boom, returned it to its mounting bracket on the side of the truck, then used the control panel on the front of the reel to maneuver the boom onto a protruding boom rest on the vehicle’s front bumper.

Observer comments

Bourdo and Ludwig reported that because of the multi-flow capability of the pump, machine noise was considerably less than from other machines. Bourdo said the joystick control for the jetter hose was easy to use and responsive, and he especially liked getting a count on hose footage from the IntelliView screen.

Ludwig noted that a rheostat dial to adjust the water pressure during jetting was much easier to use than mechanical linkages on the city’s earlier model.

While using the wireless remote requires “a little bit of a learning curve,” Ludwig said it was relatively easy. “It was a little slow — you’ve got to hold it for a couple of seconds,” he said. But he also found the unit attractive in that it allows the operator to work out of reach of the reel-mounted control panel.

Kloskowski said crew members who took part in the demonstration found the new vehicle more user-friendly in many ways, including the access to the filters for cleaning and the ease of access to the vacuum extension pipes. He said the wireless remote would be especially helpful when working on an easement.

Manufacturer comments

Dippel noted that the vehicle is built using Vactor’s module flex approach, which allows customers to have the unit easily customized.

In demonstrating access to debris filters on the demonstration model, Rose removed a series of nuts from a cover plate. That is being changed for the production model to a single, central fastener for easier opening and closing.

The prototype demonstrated was a standard tandem-axel model. Rose and Dippel noted that a single-axle design is available as well as a fan machine in both single- and dual-stage configurations.