In this expository series that combines vacuum excavation applications and utility locator technologies, author Carol Brzozowski discusses the productivity results that factor into decision-making between hydro versus air vacuum excavation equipment determination. Follow this series below in its conclusion as specific construction project examples illustrate site-based vacuum excavation methods and equipment selection.
Hitting the Hidden Mark (Part 9, Conclusion) By Carol Brzozowski
The combination of the vacuum and utility locator help get that precise target.
Hitting the Hidden Mark (Part 9, Conclusion) By Carol Brzozowski
The combination of the vacuum and utility locator help get that precise target. [text_ad] Hydroexcavation is generally the preferred method of vacuum excavation due to its speed and productivity says Ben Schmitt, product manager for Vactor Manufacturing Inc. He adds that air vacuum excavation also has its own advantages. The benefit of hydroexcavation is that it is much faster than air vacuum excavation, says Schmitt, adding that water is able to move more material faster and more efficiently. “In frozen ground or harder materials, water can be heated with onboard water heaters to aid in cutting through these materials,” he says. Hydroexcavation equipment can often be used for adjacent applications, such as tank cleaning. “With the onboard high-pressure water pump, hydroexcavators can perform many alternate applications that cannot be completed with pneumatic excavators,” says Schmitt. Another benefit is that hydroexcavation does not produce the sandblasting effect the way air does, reducing the potential for damage to underground utilities, he adds. “Water is also a lubricant, which helps to prolong the life of the excavation equipment by reducing wear on the vacuum hose and other components in the airstream,” says Schmitt. The speed of hydroexcavation is too significant to overlook for general potholing, which is why utilities are looking for a machine with both capabilities, he says. Vactor Manufacturing’s HXX Prodigy serves the utility market with hydroexcavation as its primary medium and air excavation as an optional medium for excavation, offering a dual-purpose machine that delivers the speed of hydroexcavation and the dry spoil feature of air vacuum excavation. [text_ad] One company that uses HXX extensively is the SiteWise Corp., a 240-employee company based in Denver, CO. The company works primarily on natural gas pipeline construction in Colorado and in surrounding states, building, repairing, renewing, or doing some kind of measurement on natural gas pipelines. Additionally, the company’s engineering operations include hydroexcavation and utility locating. The company runs six Vactor HXX Prodigy units and a seventh unit, a Vacmaster. Five of them are for outside customers, and two are used for supporting the company’s own crews in doing hydroexcavation. The equipment selection for daylighting is tied into the soil conditions in Colorado, points out Joe Kramer, vice president of engineering operations for SiteWise. “A lot of our soil out here is hard clay and a lot of rock,” he says. “For the most part, we like to use hydroexcavation versus air excavation because it’s pretty impractical to dig in a lot of places where we’re at with the air excavation.” The crews use various digging tips and water tips on its water wands for protecting the facilities upon which they are digging. “If we’re digging on an electric facility, we might run lower water pressure and spinning tips versus a straight tip and higher water pressures for other utilities,” says Kramer. “The only applications we utilize the air for would be digging around tree roots, and we might do that once a year.” That approach is used in doing work in right-of-ways when a city arborist might want the company’s crews to ensure they’re not damaging a certain tree. “We might use a lot of air around those tree roots to help protect the roots,” says Kramer. “Other than that, we pretty much use water or hydroexcavation.” Kramer says his company doesn’t encounter any issues with water damaging the area during procedures. “We’ve been doing this for 12 years, and over the years, you find there are best practices you use for digging around facilities,” he explains. “As long as you’re following those pressures and digging tips for the proper facility, you really don’t have issues.”Hydroexcavation is generally the preferred method of vacuum excavation due to its speed and productivity says Ben Schmitt, product manager for Vactor Manufacturing Inc. He adds that air vacuum excavation also has its own advantages.
The benefit of hydroexcavation is that it is much faster than air vacuum excavation, says Schmitt, adding that water is able to move more material faster and more efficiently. “In frozen ground or harder materials, water can be heated with onboard water heaters to aid in cutting through these materials,” he says.
Hydroexcavation equipment can often be used for adjacent applications, such as tank cleaning. “With the onboard high-pressure water pump, hydroexcavators can perform many alternate applications that cannot be completed with pneumatic excavators,” says Schmitt.
Another benefit is that hydroexcavation does not produce the sandblasting effect the way air does, reducing the potential for damage to underground utilities, he adds. “Water is also a lubricant, which helps to prolong the life of the excavation equipment by reducing wear on the vacuum hose and other components in the airstream,” says Schmitt.
The speed of hydroexcavation is too significant to overlook for general potholing, which is why utilities are looking for a machine with both capabilities, he says.
Vactor Manufacturing’s HXX Prodigy serves the utility market with hydroexcavation as its primary medium and air excavation as an optional medium for excavation, offering a dual-purpose machine that delivers the speed of hydroexcavation and the dry spoil feature of air vacuum excavation.
Hitting the Hidden Mark (Part 9, Conclusion) By Carol Brzozowski
The combination of the vacuum and utility locator help get that precise target. [text_ad] Hydroexcavation is generally the preferred method of vacuum excavation due to its speed and productivity says Ben Schmitt, product manager for Vactor Manufacturing Inc. He adds that air vacuum excavation also has its own advantages. The benefit of hydroexcavation is that it is much faster than air vacuum excavation, says Schmitt, adding that water is able to move more material faster and more efficiently. “In frozen ground or harder materials, water can be heated with onboard water heaters to aid in cutting through these materials,” he says. Hydroexcavation equipment can often be used for adjacent applications, such as tank cleaning. “With the onboard high-pressure water pump, hydroexcavators can perform many alternate applications that cannot be completed with pneumatic excavators,” says Schmitt. Another benefit is that hydroexcavation does not produce the sandblasting effect the way air does, reducing the potential for damage to underground utilities, he adds. “Water is also a lubricant, which helps to prolong the life of the excavation equipment by reducing wear on the vacuum hose and other components in the airstream,” says Schmitt. The speed of hydroexcavation is too significant to overlook for general potholing, which is why utilities are looking for a machine with both capabilities, he says. Vactor Manufacturing’s HXX Prodigy serves the utility market with hydroexcavation as its primary medium and air excavation as an optional medium for excavation, offering a dual-purpose machine that delivers the speed of hydroexcavation and the dry spoil feature of air vacuum excavation. [text_ad] One company that uses HXX extensively is the SiteWise Corp., a 240-employee company based in Denver, CO. The company works primarily on natural gas pipeline construction in Colorado and in surrounding states, building, repairing, renewing, or doing some kind of measurement on natural gas pipelines. Additionally, the company’s engineering operations include hydroexcavation and utility locating. The company runs six Vactor HXX Prodigy units and a seventh unit, a Vacmaster. Five of them are for outside customers, and two are used for supporting the company’s own crews in doing hydroexcavation. The equipment selection for daylighting is tied into the soil conditions in Colorado, points out Joe Kramer, vice president of engineering operations for SiteWise. “A lot of our soil out here is hard clay and a lot of rock,” he says. “For the most part, we like to use hydroexcavation versus air excavation because it’s pretty impractical to dig in a lot of places where we’re at with the air excavation.” The crews use various digging tips and water tips on its water wands for protecting the facilities upon which they are digging. “If we’re digging on an electric facility, we might run lower water pressure and spinning tips versus a straight tip and higher water pressures for other utilities,” says Kramer. “The only applications we utilize the air for would be digging around tree roots, and we might do that once a year.” That approach is used in doing work in right-of-ways when a city arborist might want the company’s crews to ensure they’re not damaging a certain tree. “We might use a lot of air around those tree roots to help protect the roots,” says Kramer. “Other than that, we pretty much use water or hydroexcavation.” Kramer says his company doesn’t encounter any issues with water damaging the area during procedures. “We’ve been doing this for 12 years, and over the years, you find there are best practices you use for digging around facilities,” he explains. “As long as you’re following those pressures and digging tips for the proper facility, you really don’t have issues.”One company that uses HXX extensively is the SiteWise Corp., a 240-employee company based in Denver, CO. The company works primarily on natural gas pipeline construction in Colorado and in surrounding states, building, repairing, renewing, or doing some kind of measurement on natural gas pipelines.
Additionally, the company’s engineering operations include hydroexcavation and utility locating. The company runs six Vactor HXX Prodigy units and a seventh unit, a Vacmaster. Five of them are for outside customers, and two are used for supporting the company’s own crews in doing hydroexcavation.
The equipment selection for daylighting is tied into the soil conditions in Colorado, points out Joe Kramer, vice president of engineering operations for SiteWise. “A lot of our soil out here is hard clay and a lot of rock,” he says. “For the most part, we like to use hydroexcavation versus air excavation because it’s pretty impractical to dig in a lot of places where we’re at with the air excavation.”
The crews use various digging tips and water tips on its water wands for protecting the facilities upon which they are digging.
“If we’re digging on an electric facility, we might run lower water pressure and spinning tips versus a straight tip and higher water pressures for other utilities,” says Kramer. “The only applications we utilize the air for would be digging around tree roots, and we might do that once a year.”
That approach is used in doing work in right-of-ways when a city arborist might want the company’s crews to ensure they’re not damaging a certain tree. “We might use a lot of air around those tree roots to help protect the roots,” says Kramer. “Other than that, we pretty much use water or hydroexcavation.”
Kramer says his company doesn’t encounter any issues with water damaging the area during procedures. “We’ve been doing this for 12 years, and over the years, you find there are best practices you use for digging around facilities,” he explains. “As long as you’re following those pressures and digging tips for the proper facility, you really don’t have issues.”
