Hydrovac excavation has become an invaluable technology for industrial facilities and construction companies over the past decade. Unlike traditional excavators, such as backhoes that employ brute mechanical force, hydrovac trucks utilize highly pressurized water and airflow to excavate the soil safely and precisely.
With its pinpoint accuracy and minimal surface disruption, hydrovac excavation has a wide variety of applications at industrial job sites. In this blog, we’ll overview six of the most common uses for this technology.
Exposing Underground Utilities and Infrastructure
One of the biggest advantages of hydrovac industrial services is the ability to safely expose buried pipes, cables, drainage systems, and other utilities without the risk of damage. Because it uses pressurized water rather than a mechanical bucket, hydrovac allows clean and precise exposure to underground infrastructure.
This makes it an ideal method for locating and visually inspecting existing underground utilities before beginning new excavation work. Hydrovac excavation companies can pinpoint specific utilities to uncover prior to trenching or similar projects.
Daylighting Work Areas
Hydrovac trucks are frequently utilized to “daylight” an area prior to excavation work, such as trenching for drainage or utility pipes. The hydrovac quickly and safely removes the top layers of soil to expose the work zone without disturbing the subsurface.
This daylighting via hydrovac excavation enables crews to avoid accidental contact with potentially buried power lines, gas lines or other hazards when digging trenches or drainage areas.
Slot Trenching
Creating narrow, precise trenches is another common hydrovac application. The trucks can expertly excavate trenches just inches wide, providing the ideal space for laying power lines, communications cables, drainage pipes, or other linear utilities. Slot trenching via hydrovac minimizes surface disruption and damage compared to using traditional mechanical backhoes or excavators for trench creation.
Potholing
Hydrovac technology is also invaluable for non-destructive “potholing.” Potholing involves excavating a small visual inspection hole to examine buried utilities before commencing a larger digging or excavation project. By using hydrovac trucks to expose utilities via compact potholes, crews can check the condition, dimensions and depth of existing pipes or cables. This facilitates safe excavation planning by identifying potential underground conflicts before they become a problem.
Site Preparation and Grading
The accuracy of hydrovac excavation makes it highly useful for site preparation and grading. Hydrovac trucks can rapidly and precisely excavate or move soil to create very specific grade changes and slope elevations in preparation for constructing a facility, parking lot or other elements. The ability to intricately excavate and shape a site’s contours results in significantly less invasive surface disruption compared to traditional excavation machinery.
Contaminated Soil Removal
Finally, hydrovac excavation plays an important role in removing contaminated soil from industrial sites and spill locations. The hydrovac vacuum system contains the contaminated media, ensuring no spread of pollutants during transportation.
This reduces the chances of further site contamination compared to mechanical excavation and transport methods. Many environmental remediation projects leverage hydrovac industrial services for the safe handling of hazardous materials during excavation.
Wrapping Up:
With capabilities far beyond just simple excavation, hydrovac technology has proven itself to be a versatile tool for numerous applications at industrial facilities and construction sites. Companies specializing in hydrovac excavation can provide these services while expertly navigating safety and environmental regulations. For expert hydrovac services at your job site, contact experts at Rock Hill Industrial today. Experienced hydrovac excavation companies near me will have the latest truck-mounted equipment and extensively trained operators to handle any project safely, efficiently and with minimal disruption.