Vacuum Excavation - The Future of Digging in Plumbing?

In plumbing we spend a lot of time in holes, under houses, and working on things that were buried under ground. Digging is time intensive and costly. I saw for the first time the other day, vacuum excavation and I was totally amazed... I really think in the future, vacuum excavation will be widely adopted by the plumbing industry and I think it will revolutionize how plumbers work on plumbing under ground.

Thanks for watching! I'm Roger Wakefield, LEED AP, The Expert Plumber and welcome to my channel. On this channel I teach homeowners how to save money on their plumbing by doing DIY plumbing projects. I also teach plumbers and plumbing company owners how to be the best plumbers in their area and run successful plumbing businesses. My goal is teach you everything you need to know about plumbing.

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[RogerWakefield]

Have ya'll ever used one of these Excavator Vacuums? If so, what kind of job was it? If not, tell me about a job you have been on where this would have saved the day!

[alexistaylor]

Been doing this since I was a kid in the 90s with a garden hose and a shop-vac to dig post holes.
I showed my grandpa how it works and he went and got a generator with a converter and a pressure washer and we fenced in 120 acres for cattle in a day, well we put all the posts in, we did the fence the next day with my using the come-along winch and him unloading and unrolling the fence. Just a 62 year old man and a 9 year old girl, we even had time to break for lunch and go eat a burger grandma made, best burgers I ever had.

[chrisgraham]

The technology is amazing. Last summer I constructed a pressure treated fence with 16 posts. I dug all the post holes with a 3200 psi gas pressure washer and a 60 liter Ridgid shop vac. I tried it after watching our city workers. My Canadian city has an ambitious program to replace almost every electrical utility pole (electricity, cable, telephone, lighting..etc.) with new 100 foot poles. The city and local electrical commission purchased a number of HydroVac Excavation Vehicles. On day one, a dozen 100 ft. poles are delivered to the street along with a dozen one cubic meter bulk bags of fine limestone screenings. On day two, the HydroVac truck arrives with a crew of four men to dig the holes. The nozzle on the boom provides both the high pressure water jet that digs the soil and the same nozzle sucks the slurry from the hole. The hole is 24 inches in diameter and 12 feet deep and is complete within 6 minutes in unobstructed soil. When they move on to dig the next hole, a boom crane move to the first hole location and sets the pole into the hole and holds it while the hole (about a 4 inch gap around the pole perimeter) is back filled with limestone screenings. The pole is now set and complete. The crane crew then moves to the next hole, which by that time has already been completed. They easily install 12 poles during an 8 hour shift (about 1, 000 ft. of street). On day three, electrical crews are on site to set up guide wires and begin stringing high voltage cables and anything else that gets attached to the poles. Residents of the street usually experience a power outage of about 1 hour when their power switches from the old network to the new. A few days later, a crew arrives to extract the old electrical poles. Note; The HydroVac excavator has not problem operating year round and boring through frozen soil that can be frozen solid to a depth of 4 feet below grade during winter.

[lilturk]

When I was an apprentice one of my first jobs had us digging a 7' deep by 6' wide by 50' long hole inside of an apartment. It was nothing but ground water, clay and rocks, and it was one of the worst experiences Ive had at my company.

[AdamMuhle]

A local internet company overlaid fiber in my neighborhood about 2 years ago. The underground construction guys doing the main fiber runs along the street used this technique a lot. The most common uses were to locate existing utilities and make holes for their underground junction boxes. It was fascinating to watch. I'm pretty sure they used pit run sand for backfill. But they only left about an inch for topsoil. So I dug some out and put my own dirt in there.

[georgeg]

That process has been used down here in south louisiana since the late 90's, called hydro tunneling.They blow river sand in the tunnel to replace the dirt and the sewer and drain lines are hung with stainless hangers and threaded rod anchored to the slab.

[art]

as an electrician i approve of this wow this would make under grounds so much easier!!!

[thisissyron]

Thank you so much for showing this method of excavation!! Because of watching this video, we were digging holes for a fence project near electrical wires and this SAVED the day! We did a power washer and dry vac, but it accomplished the same thing.

Only problem in TX is making sure you suck up the dirt before the clay can stay wet for too long 😅 learned that the hard way

Anyway, amazing video, honestly changed our ability to get this fence project done!! Now I’ll be keepin this in mind for plumbing issues that may come up-I’ve already redone plumbing thanks to your videos.

Thanks again so much for your content. It’s truly life changing and I say that in all sincerity!

[Corvette]

Roger... this would be awesome for use in a cemetery. No muss no fuss. Steve

[mikewalker]

I’ve been waiting for this . I’ve been digging for 20 years now.

[doxx]

*Hi Rodger* I'm a young plumber (8years experience and growing) I learn so much from watching your videos. I like how you share the knowledge you have without reservations. This information today was completely new to me. You've earned my subscription. Great work 👏 👍

[centralcoastcamper]

I have seen these in action. Our local water company uses them. There are smaller trailer mounted versions that are much cheaper to buy. I like the idea that an operator can expose layers of utility lines that may be on top of the leaky pipes without breaking them and creating more work.

[myveryown]

i do this for a living now. its pretty satisfying when you find the utility line you were hired to look for

[gfoster]

We've used them and they are not cheap!!!

[supermariobros.]

Just want to say roger was my inspiration to become a plumbing, i am runing my own plumbing companey. Thanks.

[localrooterandplumbing]

I know a guy who has 5 of these vactors, along with directional drilling/boring, he makes about 6 millions a year. problem is they are over half a million a piece. the vactor is a must if you do a lot of street work, dig quickly, no dirt mount, fix the problems, pour slurry, asphalt patch, done. I am looking to get 1 my self.

[thomasroberts]

Roger you have made me such a better plumber and I always find your videos motivating and engaging.
- All The Way from Kenai Alaska 👍

[Chris_at_Home]

I worked around fiber optic cable and we used vac trucks and a big compressor similar to what rock drillers use. We called the nozzle an air knife. It worked great and you didn’t have water around.

[ccsecond]

I seen this used in my neighborhood for electrical. It’s a precise tool and made me think of my apprenticeship and all that digging

[fhuber]

Not sure I like the flowable fill as the way to fill the hole.
.
How hard is that to dig when you need to get back in there again?