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logged with tons of debris accumulated during more than 10 years of inatten- tion, a network of large concrete box culverts posed a threat of flooding for the drainage canals connected throughout the city of Lauderdale Lakes, Fla. Thanks to an innovative solu- tion that matched up commercial divers with an advanced-technology vacuum truck and a versatile new sewer-cleaning nozzle, the city’s culverts are debris-free and the canals are no longer in danger of overflowing. Shenandoah Construction of Pompano Beach, specializing in storm and sanitary sewer mainte- nance and trenchless construction, solved the city’s problem with a combination of ingenuity, skill and technology. The company faced daunting conditions — nearly 20 concrete box culverts from 24 inches in diameter to 6 feet tall by 10 feet wide and up to 150 feet long, all mostly clogged with debris and full of water. The culverts run beneath roads throughout the city, connecting a series of drainage canals that collect and divert sur- face water. “Normally, you’d blow debris out of a culvert from one end and pick it up with an excavator at the other end,” says Danny DiMura, vice president of Shenandoah Construction. “The problem is moving the excavator and trucks around in locations where you don’t have much room to operate. PRODUCT: Vactor 2100 Plus vacuum truck; HydroSurge cleaning nozzle MANUFACTURER: Vactor Mfg. APPLICATION: Cleaning heavily clogged box culverts in collaboration with professional divers BENEFITS: High efficiency and safety USER: Shenandoah Construction of Pompano Beach. Fla., for City of Lauderdale Lakes, Fla. WEB SITE: www.vactor.com BETTER MOUSETRAPS DEEP CLEANING Professional divers, a vacuum truck, and special adjustable cleaning nozzle team up to remove tons of debris from a South Florida city’s canal culvert system By Frank Ligori C BETTER MOUSETRAPS Professional diver Shaune Rogers approaches a blocked culvert with a HydroSurge nozzle. (Photography by Cooper Hong Inc.)

PRODUCT: Vactor 2100 Plus vacuum truck; - Shenandoah ... · PDF fileIt’s time-consuming and not very productive. This seemed like a good place to use our dive team along with a vacuum

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logged with tons of debrisaccumulated during morethan 10 years of inatten-tion, a network of large

concrete box culverts posed athreat of flooding for the drainagecanals connected throughout thecity of Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.

Thanks to an innovative solu-tion that matched up commercialdivers with an advanced-technologyvacuum truck and a versatile newsewer-cleaning nozzle, the city’sculverts are debris-free and the

canals are no longer in danger ofoverflowing.

Shenandoah Construction ofPompano Beach, specializing instorm and sanitary sewer mainte-nance and trenchless construction,solved the city’s problem with acombination of ingenuity, skill andtechnology. The company faceddaunting conditions — nearly 20concrete box culverts from 24inches in diameter to 6 feet tall by10 feet wide and up to 150 feetlong, all mostly clogged with debris

and full of water. The culverts runbeneath roads throughout the city,connecting a series of drainagecanals that collect and divert sur-face water.

“Normally, you’d blow debrisout of a culvert from one end andpick it up with an excavator at theother end,” says Danny DiMura,vice president of ShenandoahConstruction. “The problem ismoving the excavator and trucksaround in locations where youdon’t have much room to operate.

PRODUCT:Vactor 2100 Plus vacuum truck;HydroSurge cleaning nozzle

MANUFACTURER:Vactor Mfg.

APPLICATION:Cleaning heavily clogged box culverts in collaboration withprofessional divers

BENEFITS:High efficiency and safety

USER:Shenandoah Construction ofPompano Beach. Fla., for City of Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.

WEB SITE: www.vactor.com

BETTER MOUSETRAPS

DEEP CLEANINGProfessional divers, a vacuum truck, and special adjustable cleaning nozzle team up to remove tons of debris from a South Florida city’s canal culvert system

By Frank Ligori

C

BETTER MOUSETRAPS

Professional diver ShauneRogers approaches a blockedculvert with a HydroSurgenozzle. (Photography byCooper Hong Inc.)

It’s time-consuming and not veryproductive. This seemed like agood place to use our dive teamalong with a vacuum truck. Wewere very pleased with the results.”

Tons of debrisShenandoah used a new Vactor

2100 Plus fan-driven vacuum truckfor the project as part of anextended field test of the truckarranged by Environmental Productsof Florida, a local Vactor Manufac-turing dealer.

The truck, introduced in early2009, includes increased vacuumperformance, along with improve-ments in operator comfort andcontrol, air routing and filtrationefficiency, and fuel efficiency.Internal monitoring systems enablethe operator to monitor and trou-bleshoot flow and pressure, blowertemperature and oil level, drive sys-tem idle and open vacuum relief.

For the Lauderdale Lakes job,the truck was equipped with theHydroSurge high-performancecleaning nozzle from Vactor. Ituses an adjustable nozzle plate andwaterjet inserts with adjustableangles to provide enhanced trac-tion and cleaning performance forhandling difficult blockages.

“We talked to Shenandoah about

finding a good project as a test forthe new Vactor truck and nozzle,”says Paul Hart, south Florida terri-tory manager for EnvironmentalProducts. “The Lauderdale Lakesproject combined some interestingelements and challenges, and the2100 Plus proved it could easilyhandle the job. As we expected,the HydroSurge nozzle performedeffectively underwater.”

Shenandoah’s four-man diveteam played an integral role in the project, manually guiding thenozzle underwater to clear the culverts. “We entered the culvert atthe opposite end from where thevacuum truck was positioned,” saysShaune Rogers, diving superin-tendent.

“I hand-carried the nozzle andtook it right underwater into thematerial in the culverts. I was usinga diving helmet with two-way radio

communication to the vacuumtruck driver operating the con-trols. I’d tell him to turn it off orpull it up — basically just give himdirections from right inside theculvert. I felt that hand-carryingthe nozzle was very safe, and Ifound it was easy to move the mate-rial. It almost felt weightless.”

Rogers emphasized that Shenan-doah followed all OSHA safetystandards for the dive, includingusing the required number ofdivers (three in this case) and atender (or spotter). “We’re theonly vacuum truck operator in thearea that uses divers,” says Rogers,who trained for four years as a U.S.Navy diver before starting a com-mercial diving career 16 years ago.

Efficient and safeRogers explains that the dive

crews often uses a short, plain PVCpipe attached to a 185-cfm com-pressor to vacuum material at oneend of the pipe and discharge itfrom the other end. To clean theLauderdale Lakes culverts, Shenan-doah combined the compressor withthe power of the vacuum truck.

DiMura and Rogers agree thatthe combination of the dive team,vacuum truck and improved nozzlewas successful with respect to effi-ciency, productivity, safety andresults. “I have to say, this was reallya cool, interesting job,” Rogers says.

During the six-week project,the crew cleaned nearly 20 culverts,including a 150-foot-long culvertthat required seven days. Thedivers worked with up to 100 feetof vacuum hose. Rogers estimatesthat the crews removed more than1,000 tons of material.

DiMura gave the Vactor 2100Plus high marks. “It’s a great all-

around sanitary sewer cleaningmachine,” he says “It has very goodvacuum power, and it’s well designedwith a side-discharge port andgood placement of the vacuumports. We were very impressed withhow quietly the truck operated.”The test of the HydroSurge nozzlewas so successful that Shenandoahwill continue using it for all itsheavy-duty sewer cleaning projects.

Customized approachesShenandoah Construction has

provided quality service in thetrenchless industry for more than30 years. The company operates alarge fleet of cleaning trucks, seveninspection trucks (four with testand seal capability) and a variety ofother mobile equipment. Fromlocations in Pompano Beach, PortSt. Lucie and Fort Myers, the company serves customers fromJacksonville to Key West.

The company provides a cus-tomized approach to each projectit manages for clients, whichinclude municipalities, county gov-ernments, property managementcompanies and contractors. Itsdive team handles underwaterprojects including dam repair andthe placement of riprap in con-structing breakwaters and otherunderwater walls. The LauderdaleLakes project was the divers’ firstculvert-cleaning assignment.

“For more than 30 years, ourfocus has been to use the most up-to-date technologies and meth-ods,” says DiMura. “That’s why wewanted to try the Vactor 2100 Plusand HydroSurge nozzle on a diffi-cult and unusual project alongwith our dive team. It was a success-ful approach, and one that we’lluse again in the future.” ✦

Frank Ligori is a product managerwith Vactor Mfg. based in Streator, Ill.

“Normally, you’d blow debris out of a culvert from one end and pick it up with an excavator at

the other end. The problem is moving the excavator and trucks around in locations where you don’t have

much room to operate. This seemed like a good place to use our dive team along with a vacuum truck.

We were very pleased with the results.”Danny DiMura

Vincent Farquharson (left) and Roscoe Graham supervise the feeding ofthe hose. The Vactor 2100 combination truck is on the left, and theVactor 2100 Plus fan-driven vacuum truck is on the right.

MORE INFO:5 Vactor Mfg.

815/672-3171www.vactor.com

Reprinted with permission from Municipal Sewer & Water™ / October 2009 / © 2012, COLE Publishing Inc., P.O. Box 220, Three Lakes, WI 54562 / 800-257-7222 / www.mswmag.com