Compact jetter saves time, trouble and money

Problem: Craig Casteen of Casteen Plumbing & Repair in North Carolina faced working in a residential crawl space that didn’t allow much room to maneuver. He needed a jetting unit compact enough to get into tight areas and powerful enough to dislodge blockages from small lines.  

Solution: Casteen chose the JM-1000 Mini-Jet from General Pipe Cleaners. The compact, lightweight, electric-powered unit lets him clear grease, sand, and ice from small, 1 1/2- to 3-inch lines up to 50 feet long. It provides 1,500 psi of cleaning power. Pulse technology helps slide the hose around tight bends and down lines. It breaks the initial tension between the hose surface and pipe walls, increasing cleaning power. The JM-1000 weighs 23 pounds for easy carrying and is convenient for jobs completed by
one person.

Result: Casteen used the unit in the crawl space to quickly clear the blockage. 800/245-6200; www.drainbrain.com.

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Acoustic inspection incorporated as part of a capacity, management, operation and maintenance program

Problem: The town of Uxbridge Department of Public Works Wastewater Division serves a population of 12,000 people in Massachusetts, about an hour southwest of Boston. The town’s 40-mile wastewater collections system and accompanying treatment plant are managed by a staff of only six employees. So, when their permit requirements led to the need for a CMOM collections O&M plan, Jim Legg, the operations supervisor, looked to incorporate new technologies that could maximize the efficiency of the limited field staff.

Solution: In the summer of 2015, Uxbridge implemented an SL-RAT acoustic inspection program from InfoSense as the first step in their collections system maintenance program. The device is used as a first-line blockage screening tool to help the town avoid wasting effort cleaning clean pipe. “It is amazing how quickly it gives you good information at very low cost,” Legg says. Uxbridge crews the equipment with two people who frequently inspect 10,000 or more feet per day.

Result: Uxbridge has screened more than 25 percent of its collections system in two years while using it only one to three days per month. Additionally, the SL-RAT helps the utility comply with its Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. EPA Region 1 permit requirements. It has allowed the field crews to focus their cleaning and CCTV activity on the 5 to 10 percent of pipes that have significant problems. No sanitary sewer overflows have occurred since the acoustic inspection program was implemented. 877/747-3245; www.infosense.com.

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Transportable pipe beveller speeds up production

Problem: Jeff Young, owner of the central Pennsylvania welding and fabrication company J.R. Young Inc., was looking for a way to speed up production in his 10-man shop. The company is a subcontractor to HVAC contractors; they fabricate and install carbon steel pipe from 2 to 24 inches in diameter. For Young and his team, pipe preparation was a stumbling block, slowing the company down and taking too many man-hours.

Solution: Young read about and watched videos on the RIDGID B-500 Transportable Pipe Beveller, which convinced him to buy the tool in June 2015. It quickly sets up and bevels 10-inch-diameter Schedule 40 pipes in 45 seconds without flames, replacing traditional beveling methods such as grinding. It mounts to the end of pipes 4 inches or greater in diameter, with a maximum wall thickness of a 1/2 inch, as well as on flat plates up to a 1/2 inch thick.

Result: Since purchasing the unit, Young has found it to be faster than the more expensive bevellers the company had been using. They have six men doing the same amount of work it took eight men to do before because they can work faster. He has also been impressed with the precision and durability of the cutter inserts. Hundreds of cuts have been made without requiring a rotation of the inserts, and quality has been outstanding. 800/769-7743; www.ridgid.com.