Major Investment in ATEX Crawlers and Push-Rods

Responding to increased market demand for equipment that is certified for use in potentially explosive environments (ATEX), Ashtead Technology (UK) has become one of the first rental companies to heavily invest in the latest ATEX certified remote control crawlers and push-rod cameras.                     

“We have received a large number of requests for these specialised systems in recent months from a wide range of customers,” says Ashtead’s Sales Manager, Jay Neermul. “Increasingly, drain inspection and remediation contractors are being required to offer services in potentially explosive atmospheres so we have expanded the fleet to include a selection of camera systems for both zone 1 and zone 2 operation,” he adds.

The new purchases include multiple units of the latest inspection equipment such as EX versions of the iPEK Rovion Crawler and the iPEK Agilios Push Rod Camera, which are both Zone 1 certified. The camera on the Rovion crawler has a 10x optical zoom for clearer images and produces high-quality PAL video, and both sides of the powerful 6-wheel-drive can be controlled independently. The Agilios push rod camera also offers advanced features; with high pipe-bend mobility, it has an operating range of up to 90m and is suitable for inspections starting at a diameter of just 52mm (house laterals). It also has LED lighting, a high quality, robust, axial camera, and a constantly upright picture.

The Zone 2 certified Minicam Proteus crawler has also been added to the fleet. Engineered, built and tested for safe use in some of the most dangerous situations, without compromising on any of the features of other Proteus crawlers, the ATEX version makes working in explosion-risk environments much easier and safer than alternative methods.

Summarising the justification for this investment, James Carlyle, General Manager says: “By adding this technology to our rental fleet we are enabling our clients to bid on a wider range of projects, confident in the knowledge that they have access to all the necessary technologies without the capital cost of ownership – put simply, we invest in this equipment so that our customers don’t have to.”