D I G G I N G S A F E LY
Hydrovac Excavation: The Safe and Efficient
Solution for the Underground Community
The Utility Excavation Challenge
“Safety” is not a buzzword, and “Damage Prevention”
is not a fad. These are critical issues that are especially
important when considering the incredible amount of
work that is done around buried utilities.
Beneath the soil lies a complex maze of facilities
carrying petroleum products, electricity, water, wastewater,
natural gas, and telecommunications. Every single day
incidents occur across the country that leave utilities
damaged, property destroyed, and sometimes, workers
injured or worse.
Most companies who work around buried facilities
fully understand the risks involved, but solutions are not
always simple. The challenge faced by most contractors
and facility owners is: How does one work safely in today’s
congested underground while remaining both efficient and
productive?
The Hydrovac Excavation Solution
Hydrovac excavation is one solution changing the
way companies approach the dangers of underground
construction. Hydrovac excavation is a non-destructive
method of excavation that uses water and vacuum power
to quickly and safely expose underground infrastructure.
During the hydrovac process, pressurized water is
injected into the ground through a handheld wand. As the
soil cover is liquefied, the resulting slurry is simultaneously
extracted by a powerful vacuum and stored in a debris tank
onboard the hydrovac.
Hydrovacs can dig effectively in all soil types,
including clay, and with the aid of onboard heaters
hydrovacs provide a safe means of digging in frozen
ground. In addition, some of the more powerful hydrovac
systems can excavate over 40’ deep and at distances greater
than 400’ from the truck, enabling work to be done in areas
of limited access.
An argument can be made that the use of hydrovacs
requires the importing of backfill. However, the
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By Bryan Jones, Badger Daylighting
(www.badgerinc.com)
productivity gains realized by hydrovac customers more
than offset the cost and inconvenience of this additional
requirement.
In Toronto, Canada, the use of hydrovac technology
has grown to the point where hydrovac service
providers support utilities (electric, gas, water, sewer,
telecommunications), their contractors, and engineers
on a daily basis, digging thousands of holes per year.”
The Bottom Line
Excavators all want to complete their work safely and
without incident, but they also need to maintain their
bottom line if they want to stay in business. The added
cost of using a hydrovac on a project can be negated by
the increased productivity achieved on the job. By clearing
a path through utility conflicts, a hydrovac can help
contractors put more pipe in the ground per day, install more
poles per day, or complete more service repairs in a day.
Hydrovacs add value to projects by helping contractors
get more out of their existing resources. The beauty of the
hydrovac solution is that all of this can be done without the
risk of causing damage to existing infrastructure.
Some examples of how a hydrovac has improved project
numbers include:
n Excavated 30 utility pole holes per day
(24” diameter x 6’ deep)
n Excavated 44 anode holes per day
(12” diameter x 7’ deep)
n Excavated 60 test holes for directional drilling per day
(12” diameter x 4’ deep)
n Slot trenched over 300’ per day (3” wide x 3’ deep)
In one recent example, a hydrovac service provider
completed over 5,000 anode excavations in less than three
months without causing a single bit of damage to any
buried pipe or cable. This project serves as an example of
what a hydrovac can do for you: improved productivity
and safe work methods translate into profit for those
working in today’s underground environment. n
DIGGING DEEPER
Did you know vacuum excavation trucks have more uses than just
uncovering buried utilities. More and more rescue services are
taking advantage of vacuum excavation technologies to rescue
trench collapse victims, given their ability to remove a tremendous
amount of dirt very quickly.