What’s on your truck accessories wish list this year?
We asked several contractors from past Pumper Classy Truck features about their favorite ways to accessorize a vacuum service rig. Read what they had to say and see if you have the same equipment expectations for your trucks.
EASY FLUSH
To Tom Oravsky of Countryside Septic Service in Voorheesville, N.Y., a vacuum truck is more than a work vehicle — it’s his pride and joy. Oravsky calls his vacuum trucks his play toys and tries to outfit them with every add-on possible.
A 2006 Classy Truck of Month entrant, Oravsky recently added a new vehicle to his fleet. Like the 2004 Peterbilt 330 featured in the August 2006 edition of Pumper, the 2008 Peterbilt 335 has stainless steel hose trays straddling the tank. LED accent lighting adds to the look and safe operation.
The truck also has a Chelsea hot shift PTO that can be operated from outside the cab and a 2,500-gallon, carbon steel tank built by Transway Systems Inc. Sight glasses are mounted to show each 500 gallons on board, and there’s an auxiliary valve with pump at the front of the tank.
“I like that a lot because I can flush the tank out,” he says. “I can go six months by just flushing water through a fire hose in the front valve. The truck is almost 95-percent clean all the time.”
Oravsky is thinking about going with an aluminum or stainless tank on his next truck. “Stainless doesn’t pit inside the tank like carbon steel,” he says. “And with aluminum you can carry more payload.”
ONBOARD JETTER
When it comes to accessories, Dustin Bishop, manager for McGuire’s Septic Service in Rome, Pa., opts for efficiency. “We have a fitting with a garden hose on it — about 20 feet long — that you suck air through.” The device helps create vacuum for pulling septic at long distances. Bishop describes it as a camlock fitting screwed into 90-degree PVC. “If a line’s plugged up, we can hook that on and suck out the line. Most of the time you don’t even have to run a snake up the line.”
Bishop’s fleet includes a 2,800-gallon Peterbilt and 2,500-gallon Sterling, both built by Pik Rite Inc. His next truck will have a freshwater tank with jetter for back-flushing and winter use. “If you’re working in a factory or something and you need to clean out a line, it’s a lot easier to put freshwater down there with a jetter,” he says. Bishop is looking to add a new truck to the fleet this year, possibly a 2010 International with some type of hose reel.
TANK AGITATOR
Jeff Denome, owner of Crescent Moon, a septic pumping and portable restroom company in Bloomfield, N.Y., considers the Crust Buster tank agitator his most valuable accessory. He purchased the device at the 2006 Pumper & Cleaner Expo International and says it has paid for itself in time savings.
Denome’s metallic plum, gold and white 2006 Peterbilt with 3,600-gallon tank from Transway Systems was the September 2006 Classy Truck of the Month. He plans to add a portable sanitation truck with approximately 1,800-gallon tank (1,500 gallons waste) to his fleet this year. Although uncertain about the make or model, he says the new truck will have a real-time GPS system to make routes, scheduling and labor more efficient.
CAPACITY GAUGES
Deborah Longley, office manager for Herr Environmental Inc. in Delafield, Wis., says her company hasn’t added any accessories since its 2006 Sterling LT9500 was featured as the November 2006 Classy Truck of the Month. “About the only thing we’ve talked about adding to our trucks is a gauge that would show how much we pumped.” Longley says her company plans to add the gauge to both of its Sterling vacuum trucks this year.
Built by Advance Pump & Equipment, Herr’s 2006 Classy Truck has a two-compartment aluminum tank that can carry 4,500 gallons of waste and 150 gallons of freshwater. Accessories added at the time of purchase were a 5-gpm, 3,000-psi Cat high-pressure jetter package, heated jetter box, hot shift PTO, heat-jacketed and insulated valves for harsh Wisconsin winters, full-length hose trays with diamond-plate hose protectors and stainless steel tool boxes.
“We like the guys to have a certain amount of room to store their tools to do basic repairs and troubleshooting. You don’t want them rattling around in the cab,” Longley says. “And having those jetters is a real plus. You don’t have to send a second service truck out just to clear a small line.”
LED LIGHTING
Ed McGuire of Rome, Pa., whose 2005 turquoise and white Sterling Acterra was voted the 2006 Classy Truck of the Year, no longer is pumping septic tanks full time. Having sold the business in 2008, he now hauls mostly freshwater for the natural gas industry under the name EJM Energy Services.
McGuire’s latest truck, put to work in December 2009, is a 2006 Peterbilt 379, shortened five feet, with 4,600-gallon tank built by Pik Rite. Accessories include stainless steel rollers on each side to make hose loading easier. Other features include electrically heated valves, hose tray lights, strobe lights and LED lighting around the unit. “It’s very, very basic; it just looks fancy,” McGuire says. “It’s got a lot of lights on it, like a Christmas tree.”
In the septic pumping business for more than 40 years, McGuire says the lights on his truck are as much for looks as they are for safety. “I always felt it was an image thing,” he says. “I started out with junk stuff, and I said, ‘I’m not going to have junk stuff for long.’ Forty-four years later I had nice equipment and people said they called me for that reason. Some people felt they couldn’t afford me, but they were surprised that just because I had nice looking equipment I didn’t charge any more than the next guy, and a lot of times less.”
While McGuire believes in curb appeal, he doesn’t scrimp on interior bling. His cab is accented with chrome and has XM satellite radio, as well as just about any other creature comfort imaginable. To protect his investment McGuire coats his truck with a spray-on lining. “I do the whole underneath of the truck, tank and anything exposed to the elements,” he says. “Where we live there’s a lot of salt and corrosion.”
Other features include aluminum diamond-plate tank protectors and twin train horns with three trumpets on each side. “A lot of people aren’t into that; they just want a work truck,” he says. “This is still going to work, but it looks good too. It’s an attention-getter.”
SATELLITE RADIO
Thomas J. Sheeran of Arden Septics Inc., Staten Island, N.Y., is also big on creature comforts. Sheeran was featured in the October 2006 issue of Pumper. His latest truck, a 2009 Peterbilt 367, has a 4,000-gallon tank by Vacuum Sales with heated valves. Chrome stacks accent the cab that’s equipped with satellite radio and CD changer. “It keeps you happy in the cab all day,” says the music-loving Sheeran of his entertaining options.
