For maximum versatility and productivity, it’s tough to beat the 2010 Camel 1200 combination vac truck/hydroexcavator made by Super Products LLC, says Chris Roseland, the co-owner of Omaha-based Backlund Plumbing.

“The Camel has taken our drain cleaning side of the business to a new level,” says Roseland, who bought the company with his father, Mark, in 1987. “We can offer service to residential and commercial clients that others can’t.”

The Camel features a 12-cubic-yard debris tank, a 1,500-gallon water tank, a 4,460 cfm blower made by Roots Systems Ltd. and a water pump (80 gpm at 2,000 psi) made by Pentair - Myers. The company uses it to clean everything from municipal stormwater lines to grease traps to underground stormwater retention basins.

“In Omaha, they store excess stormwater in underground detention basins and they need to be cleaned periodically,” Roseland explains. “The Camel can remove more debris in a shorter time period. And when you’re charging clients by the hour, you’re doing them a better service by being able to remove more product per hour.”

The Camel also opened a door to another market: vacuum excavation of utility lines for sewer repairs. “The hydroexcavating package allows us to pothole utility lines instead of digging them up by hand, so that speeds up our sewer repair jobs,” he says. “And hydroexcavating also reduces our liability risks.

“We use the Camel for just about everything,” he adds, noting that crews once used it to vacuum up slurry left behind by concrete pouring crews that were building a new highway. “We put the truck in creeper mode and walked along behind it, spraying water to keep the slurry liquefied while we vacuumed it up.

“And in homes with clogged sewer lines, before breaking up a concrete floor to get at a clog, sometimes we’ll just hook up the Camel and try to vacuum out whatever is in the line,” he adds.

In other instances, the Camel allows crews to use jetters in basements. “Usually you can’t do that because the jetter just puts more water in the basement, but we can do it with the Camel because it vacuums up water as we work,” Roseland explains. “It’s a very versatile machine.”

Read more about Backlund Plumbing in this month’s issue of Pumper magazine.