Lightweight Van-Pack Jetter Helps Council Improve Response Rates

For Northumberland County Council Housing Services, versatility was vital in creating a specification for their new responsive maintenance vehicle. Balancing the requirement for high-performance jetting against the need to reduce the overall weight in the van meant finding a specific solution. The lightweight V-Pack 2-Series by Andy Guest Jetters was able to measure up.

“Payload was the main issue for us,” says Albert Straughan, Responsive Maintenance Team Leader of the Housing and Public Protection team of Northumberland County Council. “Our previous jetter was a big, powerful machine but it was heavy and meant that we couldn’t carry any water in the van without going over the payload limits. So, we were looking for something lighter with the equivalent power.”

Hunting around for a lightweight machine led Albert to Andy Guest: “We needed a jetter to install in a 3.5t standard commercial van so that anyone with a license could drive it. We also needed to carry water on board as it’s not always easy to find a standpipe on site.”

In choosing the V-Pack 2-Series, the Council could satisfy these requirements. The low weight of the jetter also meant a non-standard 500L water tank could be installed without the van going over the legal payload weight when fully loaded with water.

The fully-featured machine includes a hydraulic drive HP reel and integrated filling reel. The powerful 24HP diesel engine and Triplex Plunger Pump provide performance figures or 3000psi@9gpm. To enable single-man operation the new machine was supplied with a 5 Channel Radio Remote.

The versatility of the equipment was also a factor in choosing the 2-Series, explains Albert: “The team also use the jetter for cleaning tasks such as spillages on paths and removing graffiti from walls. Having a multipurpose jetter makes this possible.”

The Responsive Maintenance team oversee the stock of 8,000 houses and Albert says the team are “over the moon” with the new equipment. “It definitely means biggest isn’t always best and it’s an ideal machine for what we wanted.”

For an increasing number of councils and housing associations, in-housing specialist skills such as drainage engineering is being viewed as a viable option. Moving away from outsourcing provides a better way to control costs and develop skilled staff within the organisation.

“The new machine and van are definitely saving money,” explains Albert. “We’re now able to do about 80% of the work in-house, whereas before we were outsourcing a lot more work to private drainage contractors.”