Maintaining stormwater systems in inner-city Johannesburg can be tricky. There’s often no space to manoeuvre a truck-mounted jetting vehicle and sometimes jetting needs to take place in extremely-hard-to-reach places – such as the rooftop of a high-rise building. These are the challenges that Brett Ross, owner of Modular Plumbing, was looking to overcome by procuring a trolley-mounted jetting unit from Werner Pumps.
“Modular Plumbing actually started out as a manufacturing company, selling products into city settings, but our maintenance business grew out of that and has become our main focus,” says Ross. “We predominantly service developers with large-scale housing units in the CBD. Getting to some of their stormwater drains to clean them out is a major challenge, but they need regular maintenance to avoid issues like flooding.”
Initially, Ross rented out a trolley-mounted jetting unit from a supplier, but ultimately decided to invest in one for the company. He approached the supplier about buying a unit, but the response was lacklustre at best.
Frustrated with the service he’d received after several weeks, Ross searched for a unit online and came across Werner Pumps. “I got in touch and quickly heard back from George Jolly, the sales manager. He set up a meeting, got me the information I was looking for and said they could manufacture a unit for me. Once I’d paid the deposit and placed the order, he sent me regular updates with photos and exact timeframes. The service was just incredible compared to the opposition, who didn’t seem interested.”
Ross received his unit – a trolley-mounted jetting unit with a 13.5 horse power Honda petrol engine, which can operate at 200 bar and pump 21 litres per minute. It includes a 50m jetting hose with hose reel, and a 10m high-pressure hose with lance.
He says while the unit will predominantly be used for jetting to clean out stormwater drains; it also offers a useful high-pressure spray function for water cleaning. “We’ve used it a few times and it’s working perfectly, plus its maneuverability means we can get it where we need it to be, even if it means taking it up to a roof in a lift,” he says. “We’re planning on using it more over winter, which is the dry season in Johannesburg and the perfect time to do stormwater maintenance before the next rains.”
