Over the last 50 years Flannery’s has partnered with world leading machinery manufacturers to ensure it maintains the most modern and sophisticated fleet of machines and this includes Bell Equipment with over 50 Bell Articulated Dump Trucks (ADTs) in the portfolio.  Models include 20t, 30t and 45t trucks that have proved to be 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 brings 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 Coordinator for Flannery’s, 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 and this versatility ensures year-round utilisation.

“Our fleet of Bell Articulated Dump Trucks are in great demand and they simply never let us down. 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 800l/min and a pressure head of 50m/5 bar enabling 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.  This fail-safe mechanism is designed for long pump life and performance.