Pneumatic and Hydro Vacuum Excavation Services in Action
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Our safe digging (aka “day lighting”) techniques have saved our clients more misery and expense than we could ever add up. To start with, the various types of vacuum excavation services we offer are contained and clean, meaning they yield very little disruption to the surrounding area.
This is particularly important in locations that are surrounded by processes that cannot feasibly be taken offline during the digging process and/or adjacent construction activities that cannot be disrupted. But the other incredibly crucial way that we save money for our clients is uncovering buried lines, cables, and pipes without causing damage to them.
Each time we discover one of these lines, our client has avoided the incredible hassles of interrupted service, repair costs, potential danger to people in the area, and other expenses. In today’s post, we would like to highlight two of our recent vacuum excavation services projects and show how these techniques could help your facility as well.
Trench excavated strategically using 7,000 PSI hydroblasting technique
Hydro Vacuum Excavation
Our hydro vacuum excavation services use high pressure water to dislodge materials into sizes that facilitate the soil to be moved through the hose/pipe to the vacuum truck. The pressure level that we use is powerful enough to efficiently and accurately dig through soil, but also limited enough to prevent damage to buried lines if we encounter them.
During a recent excavation project, we found that we needed to adjust our approach in order to get the job done within the time frame set by our client. The client in question asked us to do an excavation for a project connected with a power plant. Our plan was to use a soil surgeon, a hydroblasting device that uses water pressurized to 2,500 PSI, to cut through the soil. At the same time, we set up a vacuum pipe, which removes soil and rock as it is loosened by the hydroblaster.
Unfortunately, our team discovered that instead of normal soil, the route for the excavation lay through solid rock! We could have continued using the 2,500 PSI hydroblaster, but the job would probably have taken longer than anticipated. Instead, we adjusted our approach. We brought in a new hydroblast pump capable of producing 10,000 PSI of water pressure, and connected it to a shotgun lance set at 7,000 PSI. The result of using this more powerful equipment – but applied with a systematic technique that still ensured against sub-surface damage – resulted in quicker completion of the project and the complete satisfaction of our client. You can see one section of the excavated trench in the photo above.
Pneumatic Vacuum Excavation
Pneumatic vacuum excavation services use pressurized airinstead of water to dislodge the material for excavation. This method is even safer for utilities than hydro excavation, which turned out to be a critical quality factor during a recent project at a seaport construction site. The job ahead of our team was “potholing”—digging holes that would later be filled with concrete in preparation for new construction.
We used a pneumatic system to dig the holes, but soon discovered a factor that the client had not known about. There were utilities buried beneath the port that were so old they did not appear in the plans that the client had for the area. Because we were using highly pressurized air instead of heavy equipment with metal blades to dig, the utilities were not harmed and we were able to devise a safe solution for them.
Overall, the pneumatic excavation project was so successful that the client engaged us to perform additional jobs at other sites in the area. We always find it incredibly rewarding when a new client decides to trust us with other jobs, and we protect that trust by approaching each job with the same high quality equipment, expert project management, and zero incident safety policies.
Vacuum Excavation Services
Our vacuum excavation services combine power and flexibility for an approach that serves our clients exceptionally well. When we encounter unexpected conditions, our teams know how to re-assess the situation, consider alternative equipment and techniques, and decide on a new approach that will get the job done despite the new factors that they must take into account.
We invite you to ask us for more information about our pneumatic and hydro vacuum excavation services.
Please email or call us today to schedule an appointment with our experts.
