The Plumbing Gurus' Long and Tall Plumbing Van Setup
RIG DETAILS
| USED FOR | Plumbing Heating |
| MODEL | 2018 Ford Transit 350 |
| BODY | Full-Size Cargo Van, Extended, High Roof |
| DRIVETRAIN | Ecoboost Gas |
ORGANIZATION
The Plumbing Gurus use a Ford Transit 350 for their plumbing business based out of Calgary, Alberta.
They like the van for its size and the speediness of the Ecoboost engine. These guys have tried most other vans, but they love this one!
Check out their Youtube channel for tool reviews and plumbing tutorials.
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These guys know the importance of being organized:
If you're organized and you can say, "Hey, this is exactly where everything is", right there it's going to save you money, save you time, and it's going to make you look good for your customers and for your clients.
High Roof Is Good
One of the best things about a high roof van it that you can store long things on the ceiling of the van and still stand up inside. These guys store both a 6 foot step ladder and an ingenious PEX tubing "rack" that allows them to store uncoiled 20' lengths of PEX.
The PEX mounting system consists of two 4" PVC pipes mounted to the ceiling. The pipes are mounted to the left and right sides of the van's ceiling and run the length of the ceiling. From the back of the van, they thread a piece of PEX through the pipe on each side so that it's a U-shape.
This setup is very simple, makes it easy to grab a piece of PEX, and avoids the problem of storing and working around PEX coils.
Length Is Good
Another benefit to a long van for plumbing is that there is plenty of length to store straight pipe inside the van. Especially with a high roof van, it's a lot easier to store pipe on the inside of a van rather than the roof.
Right now, they use strap slings that extend to the floor to hold all of their pipe. This keeps pipe contained to one side and prevents it from rolling around.
Inventory Management
Aluminum shelves and plastic bins keep parts separated and organized. Because of the size of the van, they're able to keep plenty of inventory. This is great because customers love it:
It's really nice when you go to a customer and they're like, "Hey, I need this done, this done" for a service call and you go "Yeah, no problem" and you go hop into your van, everything's in the van, you're ready to go.
It looks nice on you.
Easy Tool Access
Most hand tools are located at the passenger side cargo door in tool bags. The hand tools don't obstruct entry from the side since they are one of the first things that goes on to the job site. This means that they end up with clear entry and exits points from the rear and side cargo doors once on the job site.
Right behind the driver side of the bulkhead, they have a skinny shelf for organizer storage for things like screws and small fittings.
Details
Check out some of their other organization videos!
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