AUSSIE JETTER REVOLUTION

Drain Cleaning Jettersout Go The Eels

Australian Pump first starting supplying pressure cleaners to Kennards Hire shortly after the company started. The Kennards team was tremendously helpful in guiding the company in how to make machines which were literally, “hire proof”.

It was a big ask but when the challenge was presented Aussie’s engineers took to it with a vengeance. The result is product lines that are not just sold to hire but all over the world. Even Japanese tradies and earthmoving contractors love Aussie’s Scud design.

That design morphed into a range of drain cleaning Jetters, designed initially for plumbers.

“It was plumbers who provided the same level of impetus to our Jetter development. Now, we’re finding Jetters making their way into the hire environment as well”, said Aussie Pumps Chief Engineer, John Hales.

Kennards Hire were first to put Aussie’s high pressure Jetters in their hire fleet. It was Andy Kennard who saw the number of Aussie Jetters on the back of plumbers utes and realised there must be a hire market emerging sooner or later. He was right.

The Aussie Jetters are trolley mounted machines with stainless steel frame, 30 litre water tank and 60 metres of high pressure hose with nozzle kits. The trick is you have to be trained in how to hire them and make sure the customer who rents them understands the safety issues involved.

On the other hand, a standard 4,000 psi 13 hp Honda powered pressure cleaner can be easily adapted for Jetting. Australian Pump have a drain kit that enables a pressure cleaner of the right capacity to be adapted for jetting.

It consists of a Mini Reel, about to be released in stainless steel configuration, set up on a stainless steel frame with 60 m of high pressure drain cleaner hose. The Aussie Mini Reel, quick couples onto the hose of a pressure cleaner, with an M22 coupler. Thus the Mini Reel can be used to clear chokes up to 60 metres away. The operator can read the pressure on the gauge. Three separate nozzles can be mounted on the Mini Reel, making it easy to select the right one for the job.

Aussie Pumps are working on a program on easy nozzle selection. This will be available soon and will enable hire companies to rent the Mini Reel with pressure cleaners for even DIY customers.

Australian Pumps are very sensitive about the safety standards for pressure cleaner operators. They were the first to recognise that the hire industry needs to focus only on Class A machines.

Operators of Class B machines, bigger units with more than 5,600 bar/litre capacity, must be trained and certified to use the equipment by a Registered Training Organisation. That is an expensive process and not something that the hire industry would want to ‘police’.

This is an opportunity that will continue to grow. Aussie has always been at the forefront of developing products for hire. They support the industry and are proud to be part of it.