Bottom Cleaners

BOTTOM CLEANING NOZZLES

When the cleaning project is to remove material located at the bottom of the pipe it is wise to choose a so-called Bottom Cleaner, Scraper, Bulldozer, C-RAY®, MANTA®, Flounder or Floor Cleaner.

Bottom Cleaning nozzles have a design where the rear thrusting and cleaning water jets are in a horizontal position compared with standard cleaning nozzles. Standard nozzles have thrusting rear jets positioned in a circle around the hose connection. When there is debris to be removed in the lower part of the pipe, it is beneficial to use a Bottom Cleaner since they do not waste water in the upper part of the pipe where there are no debris to remove. All the cleaning force is directed where the material is - at the bottom of the pipe.

There are a variety of Bottom Cleaners on the market. The Flounder nozzle is usually Tier 2 or in rare cases Tier 3 nozzle. The Flounder can easily flip around without affecting the cleaning. Due to the “flipping” design, the rear jets must be directed vertically straight back. This result in poorer cleaning efficiency and prevent the Flounder’s capability to keep the material away from the nozzle body as it piles up behind. When the Flounder are not able to push the material away anymore it "jump over" the debris, leaving waves of material behind. The next pass with the Flounder will become more difficult and the total usage of time, water and diesel will be high, before the mission is completed.

Except for the Flounder design, there are many other models of Bottom Cleaners on the market, with more or less advanced flow technology. They are characterized by a higher weight with low gravity center, to prevent nozzle from flipping over. This type of nozzles does not work efficiently lying upside down and they are always supplied with a rotary swivel. The swivel catches hose rotation to avoid being transferred to the nozzle body.

We at AquaTeq® have several variations of Bottom Cleaning Nozzles, all with a scientific flow technology Tier 3 (USA) / Tier 4 (Europe). C-RAY®200 and C-RAY®400 are made of high-quality stainless steel with six or eight rear jets, with a possibility of one front jet if needed. The angles of the thrusting rear jets are directed to cover the width of pipe, as well as breaking hard sediment at the bottom of the pipe and being able to push material far behind the nozzle. The C-RAY®200 and C-RAY®400 move much more debris in just one pass. C-RAY® comes also in another design - C-RAY®TWIN. The design of C-RAY®TWIN allows water feeding from two jetting trucks to obtain more water flow rate per minute, which is necessary for effective cleaning of larger pipes. The jetting trucks are positioned – one downstream and one upstream. With this solution no water will be wasted transporting the C-RAY®TWIN upstream. The upstream jetting truck rewind their sewer cleaning hose, while the jetting truck downstream put their hose reel in freewheel position. Once nozzle is at upstream position the cleaning process can start and the downstream truck rewind their hose, while upstream is in freewheel position. All nozzles in the C-RAY® series are suitable for clean water but not recycled water.

MANTA® is made of quality stainless steel with a flexible construction allowing easy change of the rear end (rear jets) and can easily be adapted with 8, 10 or 12 jets. MANTA® comes with a Hardox skid to prevent wear on the actual nozzle body. The Hardox skid can easily be replaced when worn. MANTA® works excellently with any type of recycled water and of course also with clean water.

 
Do you need guidance which Bottom Cleaner to use? Contact us at AquaTeq® and we will discuss which products will be the best solution for your projects.