Construction Equipment Guide
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May 2009North Texas is well known for its dry summers and irrigation is very important for both commercial and residential applications.On May 12, Witch Equipment Co., based in Fort Worth, Texas, joined with Hydro-Rain and its BluLock product to provide a very comprehensive demonstration for preparing and installing a water sprinkler system in residential and commercial properties.Witch Equipment has facilities throughout North Texas.Kevin Knuckley of Witch Equipment arranged to have the Ditch Witchavailable to do all the trenching for the demonstration. The Zahnwas chosen due to its versatility of attachments and its maneuverability in both large and small applications. Theis available with 2 or 4 wheel drive. Both versions are articulated and can accept either 2 to 3-ft. (.9 m) trenchers with up to 8-in. (20.3 cm) wide capacities. When the machine is set up as a 2 wheel drive, it is normally a dedicated trencher. Thealso can handle boring attachments capable of up to 70-ft. (21.3 m) runs.In order to demonstrate the 30-hp (22.3 kW)capabilities, Witch Equipment joined with Metro Irrigation Supply Co. Ltd. in Fort Worth and Alan Probst of Hydro-Rain using the BluLock product line as the water carrier. BluLock is a environmentally friendly green product that is made HDPE and totally recyclable making it a perfect alternative to PVC. Due to the BluLock patented retaining system, there is no need for PVC primers or glue...making a healthier environment for workmen.According to Alan Probst, you simply push the fittings together without any adhesive and it requires more than 400 lbs. (181 kg) of energy to pull them apart. The fittings are leak-proof with O rings and stainless steel grips. The time savings was exemplified by multiple customers when they calculated that the BluLock product would save them approximately 70 percent in time to make all the hook-ups on the 6 zone system.Even though the soil was wet "Black Gumbo" and many trees had to be navigated, the entire 6 zone, 926 ft. (282 m) of trenching was accomplished within one hour's time.According to Probst, the Ditch Witchreally made a difference in speeding up the entire job.All of the customers from the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex that attended the demo including the city of Mckinney, Designs by Nature, Hulcy Sprinklers, Automatic Rain, Montgomery Farms, Sprinklers and Mow, Miguel's Sprinklers & Drainage, C-Green Sprinklers & Landscape and Dickehut & Sons Landscaping were more than impressed with both theand the BluLock products."In this economy, being more efficient is the only way to make a profit and both our products made a lot of sense to the potential rental and sales customers," stated Kevin Knuckley. "We look forward to more of these demos to show the possibilities of both our product lines in this very important industry."
