Frozen pipelines are a big problem during long winters in the five-county area that Snowbridge Inc. services around Breckenridge, Colo. Luckily, company technicians can handle whatever Mother Nature throws at them, thanks to a US Jetting Inc. 4025 truck-mounted water jetter enclosed inside an insulated, heated box body.

In a tough job scenario, the unit – which generates 4,000 psi at 25 gpm  – twice thawed about 1,200 feet of a sanitation district’s 4-inch force main that runs between a treatment plant and lift station, says Bill Tatro, co-owner of Snowbridge.

“We did that two years in a row,” Tatro says. “The first time it took about four days, doing 400- and 500-foot runs. The second time, it took us about two days, partially because they dug up a section that time, plus we’d already figured out the best hose-and-head combination and which manholes to use.”

Snowbridge, which performs residential and commercial drain-cleaning work as well as septic tank pumping, purchased its first 4025 unit back in 1992. The company bought this newer one about six years ago when the truck that carried the first unit reached the end of its life cycle.

The newer unit is housed in a 14-foot box body, made by Supreme Corp., and mounted on a 2007 Sterling Acterra truck chassis. The truck carries a 600-gallon water tank and an onboard heater, powered by the truck’s diesel engine, keeps the hoses thawed and ready to work.

“My office is at 9,500 feet elevation, and we regularly see temperatures of 10 and 20 below zero,” Tatro notes. “In our older truck, which we now use as a backup unit, the jetter was enclosed but there wasn’t any heater. So a lot of times, you’d get to a job and find the hose frozen. The heater in the newer truck takes care of that problem.”

Tatro says he’s sold on the 4025 not only because it can handle small and large jobs, but because it also provides many productivity benefits. Take the unit’s twin reels, for instance, which allow crews to eliminate time-consuming hose changes for different job applications. One reel carries a 1/2-inch hose for larger, mainline cleanings; the other one carries a 3/8-inch hose for smaller lines, and an adaptor allows technicians to quickly switch to 1/4-inch hose, Tatro says.

“Sometimes we use both size hoses on the same job, like for a big hotel where we do maintenance jetting four times a year,” he explains. “It saves us a lot of time because we don’t have to continually take hoses apart.

“Or say it’s winter,” he continues. “We can send out one truck and perform a variety of jobs – like unclogging a 4-inch pipe and then working on a frozen 12-inch-diameter culvert pipe – without changing out hoses. When you’re talking about 300 to 500 feet of hose that you might have to reel out [to change hose sizes], where it might freeze, it easily saves us a couple hours a day. That adds up over the course of a year.”

The unit’s versatility also saves on labor, fuel and general vehicle wear and tear because Snowbridge can send out one truck to do different kinds of work, as opposed to sending out two trucks. Moreover, the truck’s gross vehicle weight is 25,500 pounds, which is just under the point where drivers would need a commercial driving license. As such, during bad weather, the truck isn’t subject to chain laws, which saves time because technicians don’t have to stop and install chains on tires unless conditions require them, Tatro says.

“The truck also has traction control on the rear differential that works great in the snow,” he adds. “It’s not quite four-wheel drive … but the traction control works really great. That’s huge, because our territory is geographically very large – about a 100-mile radius around Breckenridge. The only ways to get in or out of our county are via mountain passes or tunnels … it’s mountain driving in snow almost all the time.”

The truck also carries three RIDGID pipeline-inspection push cameras and two small Roto-Rooter-brand cable drain-cleaning machines. Technicians also use nozzles made by Shamrock Pipe Tools Inc. and Warthog nozzles from StoneAge Inc.

Tatro estimates that the jetter generates 30 to 40 percent of the company’s revenue, noting that many times, two crews use the truck in one day: one during the day and another at night.

“It’s our mechanic’s job to give all our trucks nicknames,” Tatro says. “He nicknamed this one ‘Rock Star,’ because it can do everything. It’s definitely a profit center for us …  we’re always trying to stay on the cutting edge of the newest technology, so we always have the kind of equipment that can fix whatever problems customers might have. This truck does just that.”