Whale hatches a safer lid
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• Whale Tankers has supplied over £1 million of vacuum tanker equipment on mainly Seddon Atkinson and Volvo chassis, to North West Water. The tankers will all be fitted with Whale's new remotecontrolled manlid which eliminates one of the main dangers in vacuum tanker operation, that of opening access and filling hatches from above.
The pneumatically-operated hatch is a standard feature on all 26 which will be deployed around North West's ten operating divisions. The device can also be retro-fitted if required.
When the remote control lever is operated, two powered clamps release the manhole cover and a pneumatic ram slides it away from the opening. To close it after filling, the process is reversed leaving it clamped on both sides.
With the manhole secured, the tank may be pressurised to assist discharge in the normal way up to its one bar (15psi) working pressure.