From: Stormwater BMP Maintenance Practices
Maintaining the Maintenance Equipment
It might seem like an obvious need, but the equipment used to keep the stormwater infrastructure running smoothly requires its own regular maintenance, too. Such trucks and cleaning equipment can be subject to harsh conditions and heavy use, so keeping them well inspected and performing preventive maintenance on them can save a city, or a contractor, time and money.
“These units are actually designed to require very little maintenance,” says Dan Koziczkowski of Super Products, referring to the company’s Camel trucks. “Our units are powered by a single engine on the truck chassis.” The first step in maintenance is, each day, to perform a simple oil check on the water pump, vacuum pump, and hydraulic system. “The next step is a walk-around the truck to make sure there were no major leaks overnight,” he continues. “This shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes a day.”
Weekly maintenance involves greasing the unit at various grease points, and then a couple of filter checks and cleaning. Initial oil changes are necessary on the water pump, vacuum pump, and hydraulic system, and these should take place after the first 30 hours of operation. “These are important, because this is the break-in period,” emphasizes Koziczkowski. “After that, oil changes are required either every 500 hours or six months, whichever comes first.”
It is common for owners to engage in less maintenance than is recommended by manufacturer, rare for them to perform all of the recommended maintenance, and almost unheard of for them to do more than is recommended. However, Tim Rush is not your average owner. Rush, who is the sewer foreman for the City of La Vista, NE, not only follows Super Products’ maintenance guidelines for his Camel truck, but takes things several steps further, and he has long-lasting equipment as a result. La Vista is a residential bedroom community for Omaha.
“This truck can be called out for emergencies, such as a sewer plugging in the middle of the night or weekend,” explains Rush. “It has to be ready to go. As a result, good preventive maintenance keeps the truck in check and ready for emergency operations whenever it is called on.”
Before an operator leaves the shop each morning, he performs a walk-around check, as he would with any other city vehicle. There are also some points that need to be greased every eight hours of operation, and other points that require greasing less often.
“We make sure the hose is in good condition at all times, such as no rips and tears and worn connections,” says Rush. “We also keep the filters cleaned out and functioning properly.”
The city takes extra pride in keeping the truck extremely clean. “It might take an extra half hour every day to hose it off,” he admits. “However, it is more of a pleasure to work around, because it doesn’t smell. It also makes it easier to spot any leaks.” Furthermore, according to Rush, the washing adds to the longevity of the product by allowing less rust to form. “The seals also last longer, because we keep them clean and free of debris,” he states.
La Vista uses city-provided water, which is processed and comes out of a fire hydrant. “However, we never know when some debris might get past something and into our holding tanks,” notes rush. “As a result, once a week, during the walk-around inspection, the guys also clean the strainers out on the water intake.”
As a result of making sure the water is clean, the pumps seem to last “forever” between rebuilds. “Last year, we replaced a couple of valves on one pump and rebuilt it,” he states. “That pump had been operating every day since 1993.” When Rush’s counterparts in surrounding suburbs ask him why his pumps last so long, he tells them it’s preventive maintenance, especially keeping the strainers clean.
La Vista purchased a 1,500-gallon combo Super Products Camel truck four years ago. “It runs every day that the temperature is above 20 degrees, and it run 10-hour days in the summer,” observes Rush. “We have not had any problems with it.”
Kalamazoo, MI-based Terra Contracting owns nine Vactor 2115 Series trucks. The environmental services firm owns Terra I/S (Industrial Services), Terra Abatement Services, and Down Under Municipal Services.
Terra purchases Vactors because of their standardization, durability, and ease of maintenance. However, to ensure continued durability, the company understands the need for regular maintenance. “We are pretty aggressive on our maintenance cycle,” says Rich Walsh, president. “The main reason is that the Vactors are out in residential areas, and the last thing you want there is a hydraulic hose breaking or any other failures. When you are in public and working for an engineering company or municipality, you don’t want to embarrass them.”
For preventive maintenance and cycling of hydraulic hoses and other parts, “We do most of our own maintenance,” he says. “However, if we find some maintenance work that needs to be done beyond our skill sets, we work with Jack Doheny Supplies out of Northville, Michigan.” Doheny is the largest Vactor dealer in the world.
Maintenance, of course, is year-round, but the company steps up engine checks during summer heat waves, primarily because the engines are designed to run hot to begin with. “A hot summer day doesn’t help that much,” he explains. “As a result, we want to make sure we aren’t burning oil, and that the cooling system is operating properly.”
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During very cold periods, maintenance is also important. However, during these times, the emphasis is on “swapping out” the fluids to the appropriate temperature levels. “During the summer, we might run at 5W-30 oil. During the winter, we will run a thinner oil.”
Results? “We believe that our preventive maintenance program has definitely made us more profitable. When you buy a $300,000 truck, it is kind of silly not take care of it. In addition, it is cheaper to put in 10 gallons of new oil than to spend $200,000 on a rebuild of some sort.”
November-December 2009
From: Stormwater BMP Maintenance Practices
Maintaining the Maintenance Equipment
It might seem like an obvious need, but the equipment used to keep the stormwater infrastructure running smoothly requires its own regular maintenance, too. Such trucks and cleaning equipment can be subject to harsh conditions and heavy use, so keeping them well inspected and performing preventive maintenance on them can save a city, or a contractor, time and money.
“These units are actually designed to require very little maintenance,” says Dan Koziczkowski of Super Products, referring to the company’s Camel trucks. “Our units are powered by a single engine on the truck chassis.” The first step in maintenance is, each day, to perform a simple oil check on the water pump, vacuum pump, and hydraulic system. “The next step is a walk-around the truck to make sure there were no major leaks overnight,” he continues. “This shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes a day.”
Weekly maintenance involves greasing the unit at various grease points, and then a couple of filter checks and cleaning. Initial oil changes are necessary on the water pump, vacuum pump, and hydraulic system, and these should take place after the first 30 hours of operation. “These are important, because this is the break-in period,” emphasizes Koziczkowski. “After that, oil changes are required either every 500 hours or six months, whichever comes first.”
It is common for owners to engage in less maintenance than is recommended by manufacturer, rare for them to perform all of the recommended maintenance, and almost unheard of for them to do more than is recommended. However, Tim Rush is not your average owner. Rush, who is the sewer foreman for the City of La Vista, NE, not only follows Super Products’ maintenance guidelines for his Camel truck, but takes things several steps further, and he has long-lasting equipment as a result. La Vista is a residential bedroom community for Omaha.
“This truck can be called out for emergencies, such as a sewer plugging in the middle of the night or weekend,” explains Rush. “It has to be ready to go. As a result, good preventive maintenance keeps the truck in check and ready for emergency operations whenever it is called on.”
Before an operator leaves the shop each morning, he performs a walk-around check, as he would with any other city vehicle. There are also some points that need to be greased every eight hours of operation, and other points that require greasing less often.
“We make sure the hose is in good condition at all times, such as no rips and tears and worn connections,” says Rush. “We also keep the filters cleaned out and functioning properly.”
The city takes extra pride in keeping the truck extremely clean. “It might take an extra half hour every day to hose it off,” he admits. “However, it is more of a pleasure to work around, because it doesn’t smell. It also makes it easier to spot any leaks.” Furthermore, according to Rush, the washing adds to the longevity of the product by allowing less rust to form. “The seals also last longer, because we keep them clean and free of debris,” he states.
La Vista uses city-provided water, which is processed and comes out of a fire hydrant. “However, we never know when some debris might get past something and into our holding tanks,” notes rush. “As a result, once a week, during the walk-around inspection, the guys also clean the strainers out on the water intake.”
As a result of making sure the water is clean, the pumps seem to last “forever” between rebuilds. “Last year, we replaced a couple of valves on one pump and rebuilt it,” he states. “That pump had been operating every day since 1993.” When Rush’s counterparts in surrounding suburbs ask him why his pumps last so long, he tells them it’s preventive maintenance, especially keeping the strainers clean.
La Vista purchased a 1,500-gallon combo Super Products Camel truck four years ago. “It runs every day that the temperature is above 20 degrees, and it run 10-hour days in the summer,” observes Rush. “We have not had any problems with it.”
Kalamazoo, MI-based Terra Contracting owns nine Vactor 2115 Series trucks. The environmental services firm owns Terra I/S (Industrial Services), Terra Abatement Services, and Down Under Municipal Services.
Terra purchases Vactors because of their standardization, durability, and ease of maintenance. However, to ensure continued durability, the company understands the need for regular maintenance. “We are pretty aggressive on our maintenance cycle,” says Rich Walsh, president. “The main reason is that the Vactors are out in residential areas, and the last thing you want there is a hydraulic hose breaking or any other failures. When you are in public and working for an engineering company or municipality, you don’t want to embarrass them.”
For preventive maintenance and cycling of hydraulic hoses and other parts, “We do most of our own maintenance,” he says. “However, if we find some maintenance work that needs to be done beyond our skill sets, we work with Jack Doheny Supplies out of Northville, Michigan.” Doheny is the largest Vactor dealer in the world.
Maintenance, of course, is year-round, but the company steps up engine checks during summer heat waves, primarily because the engines are designed to run hot to begin with. “A hot summer day doesn’t help that much,” he explains. “As a result, we want to make sure we aren’t burning oil, and that the cooling system is operating properly.”
During very cold periods, maintenance is also important. However, during these times, the emphasis is on “swapping out” the fluids to the appropriate temperature levels. “During the summer, we might run at 5W-30 oil. During the winter, we will run a thinner oil.”
Results? “We believe that our preventive maintenance program has definitely made us more profitable. When you buy a $300,000 truck, it is kind of silly not take care of it. In addition, it is cheaper to put in 10 gallons of new oil than to spend $200,000 on a rebuild of some sort.”