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Plumbing Van – The Office, Storage and Tools in One Place
For many plumbing professionals, their vehicle serves as both, their storage area and office. Therefore, investing in a reliable vehicle is crucial for transporting valuable materials, plumbing tools and equipment to and from the job site. When you depend on tools and equipment daily, while having them easily accessible and organized can significantly improve job productivity. Therefore, choose equipment specially made for plumbers, since it provides the pre-selected assortment of van “gear” and accessories that offer the optimal storage and organization for plumbing needs. Van outfitters include a bulkhead, shelving, ladder racks drawers, lighting, pull out storages and other accessories.
Partitions
It’s a crucial safety feature like airbags, and therefore it’s a must-have thing in any plumbing van. A partition or bulkhead is positioned at the front of a commercial van, behind the seats. It’s a wall-like structure made from different materials such as steel or aluminum. It’s an essential part of upfitting your plumbing van. A bulkhead makes a separation between the cargo and driver, protecting the driver from shifting load. It keeps work tools in the back of the van, ensuring your safety while you drive from one job site to another. By setting up a van partition, you’re designating a cargo space in the van. Keeping plumbing equipment in one place makes it easier to find the needed item or tool for the job. You can also add several partition accessories which will create more storage and space for tools and equipment. It’s critical that a bulkhead has been installed in your work van, because a plumbing van without partition is potentially dangerous. In case, a vehicle stops suddenly or wrecks, cargo may be moved to the front of the van, causing a severe injury to the driver.Plumbing Van Shelving
A tidy, well-organized cargo van will impress customers. Shelving allows to organize and maximize cargo space and improves vehicle loading. Van shelving also increases driver and passenger safety, since loose tools rolling around in cargo area can be dangerous.
Choosing the Right Shelving Material
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Types of Van Shelving
Knowing which type of shelving best fits your needs can be challenging. First, you must measure the dimensions of the van and determine the proper layout for your tools. Once you size up your needs, you’re ready to choose from one to many shelving options available.Custom Shelving System
Custom shelving systems for plumbing van provide an organization system tailored precisely to job needs. You can have your own idea about what you want but consider leaving it up to the professionals. Shelving benefits include: • Ergonomically optimized van space; • Specially designed space for plumbing tools to keep them from crashing or falling around; • Improves job efficiency.Corner Shelving
If you need shelving system which requires large spaces for materials, corner shelving is most adequate for that purpose. You can opt to install them on the floor or up to the ceiling.Open Shelving
You can build open shelving that fits all type of drawer systems. Use aluminum or steel shelving to keep it affordable and easy to install.Ladder Racks
They attach to the roof of a cargo van for storage and secure transportation of ladders. If you use ladders regularly, you understand how important is to have a reliable ladder rack that you can trust to keep the ladder safe on the road. They make much it safer to load and unload the ladder. Instead of pulling the ladder out of the work van, let the ladder rack the work. Loading, transporting, and unloading becomes streamlined and straightforward with a ladder rack. Ladder racks are mostly made from aluminum, steel, and rarely from wood. Few main types of ladder racks are typically used for work vans such as: • drop-down racks, • grip-lock rack, • utility racks, • perimeter racks, • and ladder keepers.You May Also Like
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Drop-Down Racks
This type of ladder rack allows the plumber to quickly raise and lower ladder from the top of vehicle. Still, it should be noted that this type of rack includes moving parts and is for that reason more of an investment than some of the alternatives.Grip-Lock Racks
They firmly grip ladder rungs to prevent shifting and slipping during transport, which cuts down the risk of potential damage and injury.Utility Racks
The most versatile solution on the market, utility racks make the most transportation of cargo, including ladders, efficient and simple.Ladder Keepers
They are installed on the roof inside of plumber van. This secure option is most popular among contractors that actually need to protect ladders from the thieves.Drawers
If your cargo van is already "packed" with tools and equipment, but you still need additional storage, drawers are an excellent solution for you. They provide extensive, secure storage for vans. Keep power tools, small parts, equipment neatly organized. Many drawers can be mounted out the rear side door and are also stackable. Floor drawers are engineered to be easily accessible through van’s rear side or doors. Additionally, they’re stackable to allow the highest amount of customization. Instead of having tour excess equipment spill over onto the floor, causing a mess, floor drawers provide that extra space for storing stuff out of sight. Metal parts drawers offer low-cost storage for bolt and nuts, or other small items, while drawer cabinets provide versatile storage for small items and tools.
Van Lighting
There are plenty of bright LED light units you can get improve light levels in your work van. Some light units can be hooked up into the existing light system, while small battery-operated units can be inserted inside and turned off or on with a light finger press when you're leaving or entering the load space. There is also added lighting on the van's exterior, in the form of fog lamps and spotlights. Certain manufacturers offer kits that can be retrofitted to add more lighting, while the most straightforward form can be a light bar that goes on top of the plumbing van.
Van Accessories
With a secured cargo area for large and high-buck items, pipe storage for conduit chutes for side-accessible storage, a well-organized cargo space is ideal for plumbers that get things done. In addition to those standard productivity-boosting features, there are many options and accessories commonly used by plumbers:
Plumbing Van Organization
Building a mobile storage system will help you and your crew cut the time spent finding and gathering equipment needed for the project. Here’re 3 tips to help you organize plumbing van setup.Build a Base
Making a solid foundation is a vital part of building an efficient storage system in the plumbers’ vans. It's imperative to store bigger items on the floor or in lower sections of the van and leave space towards the top for smaller pieces. Generators, drain cleaning machines, and air compressors are some examples of large equipment that you must store at a low level. Keeping large stuff on the bottom not only maximizes space but will also “save” your back when hauling bulky items.