When Mark Carrasco decided to name his business Zippity Split Plumbing, he knew he was setting the bar high for fast and responsive service.

As a result, when Carrasco invests in equipment speed, efficiency and productivity are top of mind. A good example is the RotoMidi, a pipe-milling machine from Finland-based Boldan Oy that Carrasco bought from Trenchless Supply in late 2022. The machine cost about $10,000, but he says it has more than paid for itself through increased efficiency.

“It allows us to do more jobs per year than we otherwise might do,” says Carrasco, who established Zippity Split Plumbing in Phoenix in 2019. The company employs 12 people, runs nine service vehicles and primarily focuses on trenchless pipe lining throughout the metro Phoenix area.

“You literally could pay for this machine with just 10 descaling jobs,” he adds, noting he uses the RotoMidi primarily for prepping 3- to 4-inch-diameter cast iron pipes for lining. “Or it could pay for itself with one commercial lining job with 300 to 400 feet of pipe. Quite honestly, if you’re in the trenchless pipe rehab space, $10,000 is not a big investment. But you can’t put a price on productivity.”

Next-level pipe prep

Carrasco says he first heard about the RotoMidi when he visited Trenchless Supply for pipe lining training. What he saw left him impressed.

“I knew that the next time we were ready to buy a new machine, the RotoMidi would be first in line,” he says.

The RotoMidi features an aluminum frame; a 86-foot-long, 3/8-inch-diameter cable enclosed in a low-friction casing; a 1.5-kilowatt/230-volt electric motor that gen- erates up to 1,500 rpm; adjustable speed and rotation direction; an emergency stop button; and a foot pedal. 

Designed for pipes ranging from 4 to 8 inches in diameter, the machine weighs about 175 pounds. It measures roughly 34 1/2 inches tall by a little more than 35 inches wide by almost 19 inches deep.

Carrasco says he uses Boldan chain knockers for prepping pipes.

“The design of the teeth on the knockers allows them to clean very well and restore pipes to their original inside diameter,” he says.

Maneuverability matters

Compared to other units he’s used, Carrasco says the machine’s compact size and features provide a built-in advantage in terms of maneuverability in tight places, which boosts productivity. Take the wheels, for example. Two of them are swiveling caster wheels, which makes it easy to maneuver in a small hallway or bathroom.

“It sounds silly because it’s such a small thing,” Carrasco says. “But it makes it 10 times easier to swing it 180 degrees in, say, a hallway. It makes the machine much easier to use.”

In fact, the caster wheels are only one of several small details that yield big productivity results, Carrasco says. There’s the foot pedal that allows an operator to keep both hands on the cable. Furthermore, the pedal is removable and the wires that connect it to the machine can be stored in a compartment.

“One of the biggest problems I’ve had with other machines is that you can’t remove the cord, so the wire always gets kinked to the point that you eventually have to cut it and resplice it,” Carrasco says. “And that always seems to happen on a job site, which causes downtime.”

Efficient design

The machine also features four guide holes where the cable can come through off the reel, instead of the two holes found on many machines. Again, that may sound like a minor detail, but it helps jobs move along faster, Carrasco says.

“We don’t have to move the machine so that one of the holes, which serves as a guide, faces the pipe,” he says. “Instead, we just use a different guide hole. That’s actually really handy, especially when you’re cleaning multiple lines. The machine is well-engineered to remove small pain points that have big impact on productivity.”

In addition, the machine can also be used for reinstating branch lines after pipe lining is complete, Carrasco notes.

So far, the RotoMidi has also been very durable. It withstands the rigors of constantly being taken in and out of service vehicles and trailers, not to mention homes and commercial businesses, Carrasco says.

“It’s a very sturdy and well-built machine,” he says. “Boldan didn’t reinvent the wheel with this machine, but the company has incorporated a lot of little design details that improve our efficiency. As we replace our older machines going forward, this will be the one we continue to buy. We named the company Zippity Split because we feel customers like companies that can save them time and money, and this machine helps us do just that.”