Five more Bell water tankers for Flannery
Latest deliveries mean UK plant hire firm now has Europe’s largest fleet of Bell water tankers
OVER the last 50 years, plant hire specialists Flannery have partnered with world-leading machinery manufacturers, including Bell Equipment, to ensure they maintain the most modern and sophisticated fleet of machines.
With more than 50 Bell articulated dumptrucks (ADTs) in their portfolio, models include 20-tonne, 30-tonne and 45-tonne trucks that have proven very popular with hirers thanks to their combination of productivity, fuel efficiency and reliability.
Recently, the company has invested in Bell water tankers to work on multiple groundworks projects nationwide. A recent delivery of five new Bell B30E water tankers has brought the number to 10, making it the largest fleet in Europe to date.
The new units have been delivered to the HS2 construction site in Lichfield to help manage excess water and to keep the site operational throughout winter. They join an existing Bell water tanker which has been on site since the start of the works.
According to Liam Hill, senior plant co-ordinator for Flannery, the 27,000-litre Bell tankers perform a range of vital functions and the ability to help remove excess water has been critical in keeping the site open during poor weather conditions.
This includes redistributing water from a series of purpose-built water lagoons and creating recyclable limestone haul roads. In summer the bowsers will switch to dust-suppression duties, a versatility that will ensure year-round utilization.
‘Our fleet of Bell articulated dumptrucks are in great demand and they simply never let us down,’ said Mr Hill. ‘We were confident the water tankers would prove to be equally productive and so far, they have, particularly on sites such as Lichfield where the ground conditions can be challenging. They are currently working seven days a week without any issue at all, and without them we would struggle to keep the project on track.’
Each tanker is fitted with a powerful water pump on the rear which runs off a hydraulic motor coupled through keyed shafts and direct gear couples. The pumps operate at a flow rate of 1,800 litres/min and a pressure head of 50m/5 bar, allowing the machines to self-fill in just 20 minutes.
A low-level water sensor automatically cuts off the pump when the level is low to prevent the pump from running dry, whilst a high-level sensor cuts off the pump once the chassis-mounted tank is full – a fail-safe mechanism designed to ensure long pump life and performance.
