Once one of the more commonly seen equipment in operations, bucketing equipment today is used primarily in large line cleaning, from about 24” diameter pipe on up.
Sedimentary deposits come from a number of sources, from repairs and construction in the system itself to rain events that sweep debris from the streets into the sanitary mains, to flushing operations which do not trap materials in smaller lines which migrates to the larger diameter pipes. This material compacts over time under the tremendous weight of the water on top of it, to the point in many large pipes that flushing equipment is not able to penetrate it. In lines over 36” diameter, flushing equipment tends to bog down and put more material into suspension than it actually removes from the pipe, creating problems further downstream as it settles out, or worse, filling up sediment basins in pump stations or treatment plant head works.
Bucketing equipment can remove an impressive amount of debris from these large pipes. The operation pulls buckets into the pipe from a distant manhole, traps the material with the bucket, then removes it from the pipe, leaving the wastewater in place and removing only the solid material. This is dumped in an appropriate area or container for removal on the surface.
