Hino Isando and Werner Pumps & Equipment (Pty) Ltd have together produced South Africa’s first working water recycling truck. Built with quality components on a robust Hino 700 cab and chassis, the water recycling unit is the ideal solution for cleaning sewer and stormwater lines and is the latest edition to the extensive Werner Pumps product range.

“Our customers can now jet drains, suck up the rubbish and then reuse the water without having to leave their working sites,” explains Sebastian Werner, managing director of Werner Pumps. Prior to this development, the company’s customers would have to jet drains, suck up the rubbish and then leave the working site to dump the load before refilling the tank and returning.

Apart from saving time and fuel, the Werner Pumps water recycling truck eliminates the wastage of 168 000 litres of water – per machine – in every 8-hour working shift. Available in various forms and sizes, the unit also has wet and dry suction capabilities.

The hydraulically operated water recycling truck is built on a Hino 700 2838 6×4 chassis/cab which Werner Pumps acquired from Hino Isando, a Supergroup dealership that specialises in sales, service, and parts supply for the complete range of Hino commercial vehicles.

This particular vehicle is privately owned and is rented out to various customers, including to the Emfuleni municipality. It has also been used in the Vaal River clean-up, where two of the company’s combination units are currently being employed by Erwat.

While the high pressure and vacuum pumps are imported from Switzerland, everything else, including the tank and cylinders, is built in Springs, Johannesburg by Werner Pumps. Everything manufactured is first designed in-house using Autodesk Inventor 3D modelling software, while the Canbus electronics system and all hydraulics are assembled here, too.

The vehicle has been specially designed for rugged African conditions with several components toughened for improved durability. The PTO was done by Hino-approved Truck Equipment (Pty) Ltd, while on this particular vehicle, the chassis was lengthened by Ticaserve to accommodate the tank. For jobs requiring smaller tanks, chassis lengthening is not necessary.

“We try to produce as much as possible ourselves so that we can support our customers better and quickly resolve any issues that may occur,” says Werner. “We are also the only company in this industry with an ISO9001 rating in South Africa and have been checked by Toyota Japan, who sent engineers over here earlier this year to inspect what we do.”

Due to its contact-free rotor design, the vacuum pump is extremely quiet and equipped with 3 100m3/hr suction power. The top-mounted boom is also unique in that it can rotate a full 360 degrees, unlike the more common varieties that only rotate through 255 degrees.

The unit has a continuous slewing capability with 6-inch suction line, while the single-cylinder pressure transformer pump jets 350 l/min at 205 bar. The vacuum pump is also available in various sizes.

The 12 500-litre tank, which can be tipped 40 degrees upwards, is constructed from anti-corrosive 304 grade stainless steel and a tank cleaning nozzle is provided for cleaning out excess debris.

In the interest of user-friendly operation and safe handling, the water recycler can be operated via wireless remote control. Electronic real-time location monitoring is provided, which means the vehicle can be viewed on mobile devices at all times. The unit’s total number of operating hours are also recorded.

Vehicle services are carried out at 350-hour intervals since the truck spends most of its time idling. Hino Isando performs these services.

The first water recycling unit took the company about six months to design and manufacture, although Werner expects the lead time to reduce as the process is developed and refined. Werner adds that 30 people are required to produce the vehicle in its entirety.

Werner Pumps provides a smaller Hino 500 series water recycling truck to customers while the larger vehicle is being produced, thereby allowing them to fulfil their contractual obligations in the interim.

The company chose Hino because of the countrywide support for the brand and the service and parts backup support that is provided. Another important factor is the in-house finance offered by Hino Financial Services (HFS) to Werner Pumps’ customers. HFS ensures customers can obtain vehicle finance quicker and at lower interest rates than third-party financial providers.

Werner says the company will look at providing operator training in the near future and is working towards an ISO welding specification as well as ISO14001 (environmental) certification for the equipment. The company is also actively looking at export opportunities for its water recycling truck, with interest already being shown in India, Mauritius, and Kenya.

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February 27, 2020