Who says you can’t take it with you?  Water extends bit life and aids in compaction, but it is not always available when and where you need it.  Now you can take water with you with this new portable water system!

The system comes in two main parts, the adapter plate and the tank assembly.  The adapter plate attaches with a pin to the loader hitch.   The tank assembly, which includes the tank, frame, pump and hose, attaches to the adapter plate.  The ZPW-150 weighs about 200 pounds empty and can be  installed by two workers. The assembly fits easily in the back of a pick-up truck.  The whole system can be assembled or disassembled in minutes.

To order or to learn more about pricing and delivery, please call 1-888-ZIPPER-8.

“If you don’t have a Zipper nowadays, you’re really behind the times,” declared Ron Susi of Orion Construction in San Diego, California.

Needless to say, Orion Construction is very happy with their Asphalt Zipper. When questioned about what he liked best about the Zipper, Ron replied, “There are many reasons but mainly I save the cost of saw cutting. Plus I don’t have to separate the chunks from the dirt and then load, haul and dump them. That’s a big savings. And I don’t have dumping fees anymore either. I just grind what I need each day.”

“The beauty of the Zipper is that it is good for the environment,” Ron says. “The Asphalt Zipper is the recycling tool everyone should have.”

Just recently he solved some opposition to the Zipper at a job at Camp Pendleton. It took over a year to persuade the engineers to let him use the Zipper instead of saw cutting. They were worried that the edge wouldn’t be as good as a saw-cut edge. They finally agreed to let him demonstrate the Zipper. After grinding only 10 feet the army engineers saw all they needed to see. They loved the edge. They were impressed with the fineness of the grindings and the speed. It took a year but now the army engineers love the Zipper.

As a result, Orion Construction recently began work on a $20 million pipeline job for NAVFAC, the naval facility in San Diego. Ron is using the Zipper to open a 75,000 foot trench, 48” wide through 8” asphalt for a 16” pipeline.

When asked about the Zipper’s production compared to saw cutting he said, “Well, the saw cutters can usually do about 400 trench feet per day. That’s both sides. And the saw cutters charge me $1.50-$2.00 per foot! (That’s $225,000 to saw cut the entire job @ $1.50) Then I would need to dig it out, separate the chunks from the dirt and load and haul it somewhere to be dumped. Then there would be dumping fees on top of that!” He said the Zipper was easily able to open 1000 linear feet of trench per hour. (4000 square feet per hour)

Another reason he prefers Zipping to saw cutting is alignment changes. When an alignment change occurs in the pipeline’s route he can make the changes daily with the Zipper. With saw cutting it would mean re-cutting and more expense. Ron says he only opens as much trench as they need each day, which adds to the efficiency of the whole job.

But how much will the Zipper save the company over the traditional method of opening a utility trench?

Well, let’s look at the figures. Running the Zipper will cost Orion Construction right around $.20 per linear foot or about $15,000 for the entire 75,000 linear foot pipeline. This includes loader, fuel, manpower, and bits. If the cost to saw cut this job is $225,000, this means a $210,000 savings over just saw cutting alone, not including chunking, loading, hauling and dumping! That could amount to thousands more!

Ron mentioned that they are so satisfied with how the Zipper is increasing their production that they are just about ready to add another one to their stable.

SIDEBAR
Saw Cutting Versus the Asphalt Zipper
If saw cutters are able to saw cut 400 trench feet per day, the entire job of 75,000 feet would take them over 187 days to complete. Ron said the Asphalt Zipper was able to open trench at a rate of 1000 feet per hour. At this rate he could open the entire 75,000 feet of trench in a little over 9 days based on an 8 hour day! That is an increase in production of 95% over saw cutting!

The city of San Bruno, California’s, street department is usually able to repair about 2,500 square feet of asphalt during their fiscal year. Time and money just wouldn’t allow more than that.

However, like every other city in California, they have been affected by budget cutbacks and were seeking for a less expensive way to repair their streets.

Gino Quinn, field supervisor for the streets division, decided to take a look at the Asphalt Zipper to see if it could live up its claims of increased production. The demonstration he witnessed showed him all he needed to know.

He calculated that the AZ-300, the 30” wide attachment for a backhoe, would pay for itself easily in savings alone. He was right.

The city of San Bruno took delivery of their new Zipper on February 12. In two months they have already repaired 6,000 square feet of streets using the Zipper. That is more than twice as much as they normally do in a whole year!

Their second repair job was a large 980 square foot patch. The method they would normally use to repair this would be to first saw cut the perimeter, jackhammer a hole for the backhoe to start and excavate all the asphalt out. Then it would be loaded onto a truck and transported to a recycling yard.

Some additional base would have to be brought in. It would then have to be compacted and paved. Gino figured this job would normally take 2 weeks and approximately 350 man hours.

With his new Asphalt Zipper he was able to Zip the patch full depth, clean out the excess material, compact and lay the first lift of asphalt in one day! They came in the second day and added a second lift of asphalt to finish the job. Total man hours for this job was just 48! This process used only 3-4 men instead of 6-8 the old way. The savings were phenomenal!

Gino shared his savings in man hours alone. Cost of man hours to do this 980 square foot patch the traditional way would have cost him $15,759.65. His actual cost using the Asphalt Zipper was only $2,161.32. He saved $13,598.33 just on man hours alone on this one job! An 85% savings!

Gino admitted he still had to truck off the excess gravel from the job but he stockpiles it and uses it for unincorporated roads so it doesn’t go to waste. In fact it saves the city money again, because he doesn’t have to purchase new material.

ARRA welcomes Asphalt Zipper as it’s newest member. The ARRA (Asphalt Recycling & Reclaiming Association) recently celebrated it’s 30th anniversary.? The ARRA is an association of manufacturers, contractors and suppliers working together to educate and promote all the benefits of Full-Depth Reclamation (FDR) and other recycling methods pertaining to road and street repair and maintenance. To learn more about the ARRA go to www.arra.org

You told us what you wanted and we listened. The result was a new line of models re-engineered from the ground up. First came the AZ-300 for backhoes and more recently the AZ-500, the flagship, for loaders. In its first few months the AZ-500 has already become the top seller especially among existing owners. October so far has been all AZ-500’s resulting in some backorders. If you’re needing an AZ-500 we encourage you to get your order in as early as possible.

Let us kick off our Asphalt Zipper blog with a heartfelt THANK YOU! for visiting our website.

The Portland Cement Association (PCA) just published their annual Full Depth Reclamation with Cement guide, a 12 page insert that ran in all of the McGraw-Hill Construction publications in October.

Featured in the insert is a story on how the city of Brownwood Texas has found that by using their Asphalt Zipper to do FDR with cement they’re able to do long term, full-depth repairs for half the cost of a temporary surface treatments.

What was once limited to larger contractors and agencies with big, expensive equipment, FDR with cement is now affordable for most any municipality, county or DOT thanks to Asphalt Zipper attachments. The entire guide can be viewed here PCA’s 2006 FDR Guide

City of Brownwood, TX is winning the war on higher asphalt prices and getting better results according to an article in the September issue of Texas County Progress. You can read the whole story at countyprogress.com

The Franklin County (Kentucky) Road Department recently used their Asphalt Zipper to do a study with the University of Kentucky on the effectiveness of full-depth reclamation with cement. The University’s report can be viewed at kyt2.com