French chalk up sales
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by Bryan Jarvis • Two UK sewer cleaning companies, West Midlandsbased Aqua Descaling and John Dicks of Welwyn Garden City have put French-built Huwer drain jetting vacuum tankers into their fleets.
EPOK of Maidstone has also ordered an ERF EC12.33-based Huwer effluent tanker with a similar build specification to Dicks' vehicle.
The completed eight leggers were equipped in the Barlin factory near Calais. Aqua's is based on a Renault 340Ti Maxter and John Dicks' on a short wheelbase Foden 8x4. Whereas the Perkins 3 3 5 Tx engined Foden has a 1,2 0 Ocfm vane type pump the Maxter uses a Uraca K D 7 2 4 125hp liquid ring pump capable of 1,800cfm.
Both have 225hp high pressure pumps giving them jetting capabilities of up to 88 gals/min at 3,300psi.
The tanks have moving partitions to isolate the sludge from the cold water compartment. Aqua's 18,000 litre combination vacuum jetter has a water recycling facility, essentially to meet Severn Trent's requirement. Dicks decided against, on the basis of cost (it adds another £10,000) but says that his next will have that capability.
Instead of PT-O's, they use Huwer transfer boxes which it recommends where high power is involved. From its UK base in Ashford, Kent, sales director Jacques Donnati says: "They enable engine revs to be matched closely to pump outputs, use less fuel and there's less wear and tear on the engine".
Newcomer Huwer will have one of its tankers on the Foden stand at the Waste Management exhibition at Torbay.