Putting a waterjetter in the hands of a rookie operator is akin to asking a novice to route service vehicles: Productivity and efficiency are bound to suffer.
This – along with safety – is why cleaning contractors make proper training a priority, whether that involves classroom sessions or pairing up a seasoned technician with a newer employee in the field.
Another central focus is maintenance, as a properly maintained jetter will work more efficiently. Camera inspections also give productivity a lift by giving technicians a clear idea what pipe conditions they’re facing. That, in turn, helps dictate nozzle selection, pressure and flow.
Here is what a few experienced service contractors had to say about getting full productivity from a modern waterjetting system.
“To maximize productivity, we’ve found that thorough training is critical, both in our training facility and on the job,” says Jeff McGill, the owner of McGill’s Industrial Services. Based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the company focuses on industrial cleaning for a variety of industries, including potash mines.
“We probably spend about half a day of training on each of our units,” he says. The company largely relies on truck-mounted jetters, which provide protection from the elements, especially bitterly cold winters.
“Then we put trainees on units with veteran operators for about a week, so they get some hands-on experience as well as classroom experience,” McGill says. “After that, we try to get guys going on their own.
“Well-maintained equipment goes hand-in-hand with proper training. We invest a lot of money on maintenance. We have a full-time service technician in our shop. It’s an advantage because he’s a wealth of knowledge and can fix almost anything. We have our guys work alongside him as often as they can, so if he happens to be away or on another job, they may also perform necessary repairs. There’s much less downtime with someone dedicated on staff.
“We’ve found that if the guys have to participate in repairs, it often motivates them to keep their equipment running well,” McGill says. “We also have a bonus structure, so there’s a vested interest for technicians to keep their machines up and running. We promote ownership – the concept that it’s your unit and you look after it like it’s your own.”
“The No. 1 key to productivity is properly training your guys,” says Darin LaQua, president of A-Tech Sewer.com, a company based in Watertown, S.D., that inspects and cleans municipal and industrial pipelines.
“Nozzle selection is huge,” he says. “You can do a lot more with lower flows with the correct nozzle, but you still need flows. It just depends on the application. We have some jet-vac combination units, some straight jets, and some smaller trailer jetters, as well as a hydroblaster. We train our people so they know what works best with the nozzles, flows and pressures that they’re using.
“You have to take different nozzles and know what kind of degree of angle and volume it’s going to take to clean the line efficiently,” LaQua says. “For example, with gravel, you want a bigger nozzle with a lot of pressure and a lot of flow to get it farther down the line. With grease, you need to angle your nozzles out more to clean the walls.
“A camera inspection also helps us increase productivity. It provides us with a good idea of what our nozzles are doing in the pipe. We try to send in a camera and take a peek beforehand and see what we’ve got, but sometimes we can’t get too far if there’s a blockage. If nothing else, we pop a manhole to get an idea what the line will be like.
“Maintenance is also very important,” LaQua notes. “You want to keep your water filters clean and keep the valves in good working order on the truck. If your shutoff valve is worn out, some water is bypassing back to your truck, and you’re losing pressure. That also means you’re burning more fuel because your pump is working more.”
“For us, maximizing productivity starts with on-the-job training,” says Ben Wittman, secretary-treasurer of Professional Plumbing & Design Inc. in Sarasota, Fla. The company’s primary services include residential drain cleaning and waterjetting, along with pipeline location and other residential and commercial work.
“We have our technicians learn the basic functions, then move into cleaning and removal of waste,” he explains. “You’ve got to learn the functions of your machine first. Then you can learn how to use the different nozzles and all the other intricate parts of drain cleaning with a jetter.
“We use nozzles for roots, sand and deep scaling on cast iron, and penetration nozzles for removing stoppages,” Wittman says. “Once you’re around it and learn the various facets, you pick it up pretty quick. Plus, you already have a good working knowledge of what the nozzles can do because you’ve seen demonstrations on Web sites, or you’ve picked up ideas from sales representatives.”
Camera inspections also help boost jetter productivity. “When you have a jetter you have to have a camera. Those two go hand-in-hand. You have to video inspect everything both before and after. That’s how we operate our business. The camera provides us with the distance to the blockage, so we pretty much know how far in the intrusion is, and it also shows us what kind of application we’ll need to use.”
