Hoffmann Brothers Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing, Electrical and Appliance Repair in St. Louis has added RIDGID FlexShaft drain cleaning machines to every new plumbing service truck it outfits after having experienced the tool’s versatility and timesaving benefit.
“It’s definitely a timesaver. Just loading and unloading it, going from heavier machines to lighter, more compact machines saves time right there; then add speed and cleanliness on top of that,” says Christian Telford, master plumber/drainlayer and field operation manager at Hoffmann Brothers.
The company primarily uses the FlexShaft K9-306 designed for 3- to 6-inch-diameter drainlines up to 125 feet, but the drain cleaning machines are also available in two smaller models – K9-102 and K9-204 – for cleaning 1 1/4- to 4-inch residential and commercial pipes up to 70 feet.
“You also can’t get the thorough cleaning with standard equipment like you can with FlexShaft,” Telford says. “The ability of the expanding chains to maximize the pipe size allows for a full pipe cleaning. Coupled with how clean the machine itself stays, you provide the client with an overall better experience.”
Telford notes that the FlexShaft is 10% to 25% faster at cleaning drains, and for a flat-rate fee company, that means saved labor costs and the opportunity to complete more jobs in a day.
In business for more than 40 years, the team at Hoffmann Brothers prides itself on the quality and integrity it brings to every job. That means not only providing the best customer service to clients, but also staying on top of the latest technology and equipment to be at the top of the industry.
One of the impressive uses the Hoffmann Brothers team has found for FlexShaft is root clearing.
“We were pleased at how well it did with roots without binding up too much,” Telford says. “We’ve had heavy balls of roots that our sectional and drum machines usually have to make several passes for. With FlexShaft, you may have to make one additional pass for a final polishing while running water. By this point, you have again saved time and given the client a thorough cleaning, which is a huge win for both parties.”
Employees are also using FlexShaft on descaling job sites after running the K9-306 through the course to see if it could meet their lining work quality standards and allow them to use it for their prequalification process.
“Not only did it meet our expectations, but we decided to also take it a step further and try to use it with reinstatements, which puts some heavy pressure on the equipment. It met the challenge,” Telford says.
Telford says this was a great testament to the K9-306, as this was not why they originally purchased the machine. However, it opened the door for their specialized technicians who do the lining process to be able to not only perform their daily jobs with clients, but also perform prequalifications on perhaps the same visits – a great gain for the company and the client.
Hoffmann Brothers is now using the FlexShaft for residential, light commercial, descaling, milling and reinstatement jobs. To purchase or learn more about FlexShaft machines or other drain cleaning solutions, contact your local distributor for an in-person demo.
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