Vacuum excavation is a revolutionary technology that replaces trenchers, backhoes, and shovels while eliminating the risks associated with traditional digging methods. It uses water to break the soil and vacuum to move it into a debris tank.

This technique is very efficient, precise, and safe.  Firstly, the digging site is cleaner and there are far less risks related to worker injuries. Also, there are far fewer environmental impacts than in the case of traditional digging techniques.

Vacuum excavation is also effective on frozen soil because the trucks are equipped with water heaters which makes the digging process fast and efficient. This reduces downtime and eliminates pollution.

This technology is also perfectly safe for underground utilities so it is often used for these specific tasks and projects:

• Daylighting/potholing (i.e. digging to locate underground utilities)
• Slot trenching (i.e. digging narrow trenches for cables, pipelines, etc.)
• Debris removal
• Piling hole excavation (i.e. digging holes of various depths and diameters)
• Directional drilling (i.e. making gradual underground changes in depth and direction)

There are also some less-conventional uses of hydrovac trucks including spillage clean-up (removing wet and dry hazardous materials), disaster clean-up (e.g. removing debris from storm drains after natural disasters), and rescue efforts (trench cave-ins, building collapses, landslides, etc.).