Nozzle Brings Power and Performance to Scouring Pipelines
Adjustable chain-cutter nozzle chews through tough mineral deposits and protruding taps
As a sewer cleaning veteran with more than 15 years of experience, Matt Murphy has used a number of different brands of nozzles to scour pipelines in the Chicago metro area. But he reports that for sheer power and performance, nothing tops the S600 chain-cutter nozzle from USB-USA. Period.
“I’ve used multiple brands of nozzles,” says Murphy, a superintendent at Comprehensive Construction Solutions, a company that cleans about 300,000 feet of pipe a year, on average. “But the USB S600 chain scrapers are superior to anything I’ve ever used.
“They remove large mineral deposits about 75% faster, if not more, compared to any other nozzle I’ve used. The amount of torque and power in these nozzles is unbelievable. They quickly turn mineral deposits, which are harder than concrete, into dust.
“And they trim taps down completely, like someone cut them off with a Sawzall,” he adds. “We used to hate removing protruding taps because it might take hours to cut them out. Now we like to see protruding taps.”
Murphy says he used to use a root cutting nozzle equipped with carbide steel blades and now has a “graveyard” of replacement blades in a supply room because the S600 made them obsolete.
“Each blade cost about $700 and we were going through three or four a week per crew, and we have five crews. You might break two or three blades on a really tough deposit. … Sometimes they take up half of a pipe.”
Increased production
Scouring pipes thoroughly down to their original diameter is particularly important for Comprehensive Construction Solutions crews because the company’s primary focus is prepping and inspecting Chicago sewer lines — typically clay-tile pipes from 12 to 24 inches in diameter — for pipe lining. CCS is in the first year of a five-year contract to prep pipes as a subcontractor for a major infrastructure company, Murphy says.
Some of the productivity gains come from the cutter’s design, which includes a continuously adjustable guide skid that enables operators to quickly set it to clean at exactly the right pipe diameter.
“It’s insanely easy to adjust the size,” Murphy says. “You just insert a device like a hole punch and twist it by hand. You can do it in less than a minute because you don’t have to loosen and then retighten bolts.
“That speed of adjustability comes in real handy when you’re inside a manhole. You just go down, adjust it and come out. It’s probably one of my favorite features.”
The increased production improves profitability on jobs, too. And working 75% faster enables the company to perform significantly more work in a year than it did before it purchased the S600 about a year ago, which boosts revenue, he says.
“By working so much faster, you also use significantly less water and fuel. Speed is everything when you’re cutting out taps and mineral deposits.”
Better productivity also enables the company to be more competitive on job bids, he adds.
The S600 is made from stainless steel and aluminum and connects to a 1- or 1 1/4-inch-diameter water hose. (CCS crews hook it up to one of the company’s five Camel combination sewer vacuum trucks, made by Super Products). It’s designed to remove scale, calcium and roots in pipes 12 to 24 inches in diameter and requires a minimum of 60 gpm of water.
The unit’s power stems from patent-pending technology that uses six water jets to drive a turbine that spins the cutting chains more than 20,000 rpm. Three other rear jets propel the device; all the ceramic jetter-port inserts are replaceable. Moreover, the unit can be used with recycled water.
The unit measures 19.5 inches long by slightly more than 10 inches in diameter and weighs around 77 pounds. Its diameter can be adjusted in increments of 1/16 of an inch, which makes it easily to navigate small offsets.
Wise investment
The unit costs about $13,500, but Murphy says its performance and productivity make it worth every penny. As an example, he cites a job CCS did in spring 2021 that involved removing mineral deposits that had formed at every joint in about a 650-foot-long stretch of 18-inch-diameter clay sewer pipe.
“We finished the job in a day. With any other nozzle, we would’ve been on the job for at least a week. Every time my guys use the S600, they’re more impressed.
“Without a doubt, it’s a heavy investment at first. But it quickly pays for itself when you do as much deposit- and protruding-tap removal as we do,” Murphy says. “It totally dominates in pipes with mineral deposits.”
Originally posted in April 2022 Cleaner Magazine - Written by Ken Wysocky