All-purpose Vac Truck released by Jamieson

Jamieson’s VT2000 non-destructive digging and vacuum unit combination offers versatility and efficiency in the vac truck space.

Capacity and versatility are the key attributes of any vac truck on the market. Designed to do the dirty work in and around public utilities such as sewage lines, a vac truck comes in many shapes and sizes, but it is the features that make the vehicle. South Australian-based national heavy vehicle engineering and manufacturer, Jamieson, has developed a new, high-end all-purpose vacuum truck and digging unit designed for a much wider variety of tasks in this space.

The VT2000 is based on the company’s proven vac truck and vac trailer platform and is said to offer unrivalled functionality, versatility and efficiency in the field.

In addition to a 9000kg (starting) payload and impressive power and safety specifications, its lower profile and compact size provides for an impressive turning circle and suitability for tighter spaces where other vac trucks will have problems performing.

According to Dieter Herzog, Jamieson’s vac truck specialist, the VT2000 has many features not found on other vac trucks, with the main being its spoils carrying capacity, suction and excavating ability.

“The 6×4 version of the truck can potentially carry 10 tonnes of spoils and has 2000 cubic feet per minute (cfm) of suction,” said Mr. Herzog. “A competitor’s truck would have around 500-1100 cfm and may be able to carry five or six tonnes maximum.”

“I’ve worked in the vac industry for a while, and a couple of the challenges we faced were the amount of weight these trucks can carry, and the other efficiencies involved. We wanted to give our customers an advantage over their competitors and the VT2000 is the end result. This means we now have an edge over our own competitors with the superior carrying capacity, suction power, access and non-destructive digging ability.”

Other features include full remote control and manual operation, which is designed to provide ease of use.

“The VT2000 represents the latest in design and technology, which make it one of the best performing industrial combination units on the market today”, according to Mr. Herzog.

Safety is also important

“We did our research on the truck, and the trucks we use really are world leading with their safety features,” says Mr. Herzog. “They have collision alerts and front impact alert, while driver comfort is also a big part of it.” Then, there are its working and time-saving efficiencies.

“The clients using our units unload once a day instead of three times a day, and excavate in one third of the usual time” says Mr. Herzog. “If you are a long way from a waste station, and you are in the Sydney CBD for example, you are about a two-hour drive away. Let’s pretend it’s only an hour and a half – that’s one way. It takes half an hour to three quarters of an hour to unload it – that’s four hours. If you have to do that three times a day, how much work do you get done?”

Putting together a vacuum truck with so many advanced features means other companies might get ideas about building a similar unit. However, Jamieson knows how to make sure that its concepts are protected.

“We have several patent-pending applications across multiple innovations and technologies used on the Jamieson vacuum units,” says Mr. Herzog.

Mr. Herzog also says that there are other factors besides the truck’s efficiencies, such as the legal weight a vac truck is allowed to carry.

“In South Australia, the road transport authorities carried out an extensive campaign on overweight vehicles, and, in particular, vacuum trucks. Results found that up to 98 per cent of the trucks weighed were overloaded. From a safety point of view, it is important to get the weight-carrying capabilities right. Our on-board weighing system shuts off operation to prevent overloading, ensuring we achieve this.”

With 390HP and a 400-litre fuel tank, the truck has a lot of performance under its hood as well as staying power in terms of how much work it can get through before the fuel tank needs refilling.

The new vacuum truck platform from Jamieson comes amid major developments across their range of products, including bitumen sprayers, semi-tankers and kettles, water tankers, heavy horizontal discharge/live bottom trailers and a range of tippers.