Dig Safely around Utility Locations.

Utility lines and service pits are many times located in the municipal right of way congested with underground infrastructure.

The Delta Hydrovac is up to five times faster and fifty percent less expensive than hydraulic powered trenching machines or manual digging.  Additionally, the risk of damaging fiber optic lines, gas pipelines or energized cables is drastically reduced.
 

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Many would vote for the loader-backhoe, for years a proven workhorse.

Others say the honor belongs to the skid-steer loader and its array of multi-purpose attachments.

A vacuum excavator is two machines in one:

- A soft digging tool that can make small, precisely-controlled excavations for virtually any purpose;

- A powerful, portable vacuum suitable for a multitude of work site clean-up tasks.

What sets vacuum excavators apart from other machines that dig is their “soft” excavation technology, which, depending on make and model, displaces soil using either pressurized water or pressurized air delivered by a hose to a nozzle held by the machine’s operator. As digging progresses, the unit’s vacuum sucks up spoil which can be used to refill the hole later or be transported offsite.

For digging, one of the primary assignments for vacuum excavators is “potholing”—uncovering buried utilities to visibly confirm their locations before construction involving any type of excavating.

Depending on the machine used and soil conditions, a 12-inch-square, 5-foot-deep pothole can be completed in 20 minutes or less. The equipment’s soft excavation technology excavates around buried pipe or cable without the risk of damage inherent with backhoes, excavators, or other mechanical tools, and excavations made with vacuum excavation equipment usually causes less disruption of traffic and other surface activities.

Vacuum excavation’s digging capabilities are not limited to potholing.

Hydrovacs are used to dig short segments of trench in areas where larger equipment can’t be used and in easements crowded with buried pipe and cable.  Hydrovacs are effective for digging holes to set utility and light poles and poles to support signs and they are used to make small excavations to repair pipe and pipe joints, to cut off service lines, to plug unused pipelines, and to attach anodes for cathodic corrosion protection systems. Jetting attachments are useful in cleaning out conduit and sanitary and storm sewer lines.

Small excavations made by the machines are easier and less expensive to fill and repair than the larger ones made by mechanical equipment.