Managing the flow of fuel and diesel exhaust fluid in compressed, urban environments is a multifaceted challenge that many contractors in the country’s largest cities face on a daily basis. Not only does it entail the actually fueling and maintenance of core heavy equipment, but also generators, auxiliary lighting and other on-site assets that require round-the-clock power and attention.
One fuel distributor that has leveraged Thunder Creek’s latest technology on tight, high-pressure construction sites is IZE Rentals, of Brooklyn, New York. After launching primarily to provide construction sites with generator power, IZE has diversified into providing smart fueling solutions to construction clients in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, New York.
When the company first launched, it used 100-gallon tanks in the back of pickup trucks to squeeze-onto construction sites to fuel generators and heavy equipment. They quickly found it wasn’t an efficient process for them, or their clients.
“We were spending half our day in gas stations just refilling the auxiliary tanks, going to the job site, dumping, going back to the gas station,” said owner Ari Simkin. “It was costing us a lot of time, especially in Brooklyn. You could sit in traffic half your day.”
So, Simkin took action and purchased a Thunder Creek Equipment Multi-Tank Upfit bulk diesel and diesel exhaust fluid management solution. The Thunder Creek MTU 920 has capacity for 920 gallons of diesel fuel and 100 gallons of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) and leverages a series of 115-gallon fuel tanks connected through a common manifold mounted to either a Ford F550 or Dodge Ram truck body.
The design eliminated the need to hire hard-to-find employees with a Commercial Driver’s License or HAZMAT authorization and provided IZE with enough diesel volume on a nimble chassis to service multiple customers around the city.
“We realized that a lot of big fuel trucks that carry 5,000 gallons of diesel cannot even access the certain points where we needed to fill up,” Simkin said. “And we actually got phone calls telling us that with our new solution ‘only you could fit in to this specific area’ because Brooklyn is so tight. With the Thunder Creek MTU, we can sneak in there, fill them up and then go on, and the excavator could continue loading trucks.”
IZE’s Thunder Creek MTU transformed the company from a rental outfit into one of New York City’s most sought-after fuel distribution partners almost overnight.
“That's what made this whole diesel end of the business spiral is that we were going to job sites filling up our generators, and everyone, the contractors started saying, ‘Oh, I have a Bobcat there. I have an excavator there. I have this compressor and that machine… just fill everything up once you're here,’” Simkin said. “And that is what made the diesel end of the business get extremely busy.”
Editor's Note: Scranton Gillette Communications and the SGC Water Group are not liable for the accuracy, efficacy and validity of the claims made in this piece. The views expressed in this content do not reflect the position of the editorial teams of Water & Wastes Digest, Water Quality Products and Storm Water Solutions.