Vacuum excavation is a non-destructive way of daylighting utilities, and a vacuum truck can be even more effective in winter than in the other seasons provided users follow a few simple steps.
Winterize your equipment
Whether you own an air-vac truck or a hydro-vac truck, you have to prepare it for colder temperature operation.
Check your machine’s instruction manual for specific recommendations. It will probably include the following:
- Switch over to winter tires
- Start using a heavier oil designed for colder temperatures
- Also change over to a hydraulic fluid that is designed for winter operation
- Top up the windshield wiper fluid tank
- Check the battery and clean it and related components
- Check filters and replace them, if necessary
- Check your machine’s hot water tank (if it has one)
- Ensure insulation surrounding all hoses are in good condition
- Equip the truck with a winter emergency survival kit (extra hats, gloves, warm clothing, blankets, food, water, flashlights, and batteries)
- Consider adding additional lighting to support better visibility in low-light conditions in the early morning and late afternoon
You may also wish to add to your machine a wind front to its grill to maintain heat, a battery heater, and a fuel line heater. Some manufacturers offer a “winter package”, which is a combination of features designed to optimize use during winter.
TRUVAC vacuum excavation trucks are designed to operate efficiently in temperatures as low as -40-degrees Fahrenheit (-40-degrees Celsius). The company offers several cold weather options, including heated storage, heated water pump and water heater cabinets, toolbox heaters, and warming cabinets. The company’s Kenworth T880 chassis models can be equipped with an arctic package including a block and pan heater, heated fuel water separator, coolant tank heater, battery pad heater, and arctic hose options.
Air-vac trucks don’t require the same amount of winterization. “For winter operations, there’s not a lot you need to do to winterize your air-vac truck, because you’re not working with water. Nothing freezes,” says Charles Bell, Sales Manager, Vacmasters, a leader in air-vacuum excavation.
Once your machine is winterized, there are only a few operational considerations one must keep in mind.
Are air-vacs better in cold weather than hydrovacs?
There are two types of vac trucks—air-vac and hydrovac. The first uses high-pressure air to break up soil and the second uses water to do the same.
An air-vac system offers the end-user the ability to break apart soil using high-pressure air. This keeps the soil dry for quick and easy backfill, saving the time it takes to haul the muddy soil to an approved disposal facility and haul in new backfill. These two factors alone can save companies a lot of time and money in operational costs.
“All soil has minute cracks and fissures. So, as long as the air can penetrate those cracks and fissures, air can break it apart whether the ground is frozen or not,” says Bell. “If the ground is covered in ice, then you may need to switch to the onboard water system until you reach more favorable digging conditions.”
Compared to hydrovacs, they don’t perform as well when excavating frozen soil. So, if the ground contains a lot of frozen moisture, the efficacy is further minimized.Vacmasters air-vacuum excavators AIR PSI ranges from 150-250 PSI, depending on the model. Whereas a hydro-vac can be adjusted from 0-4000 PSI. (depending on the model) the difference between the two is that a hydrovac is cutting soil, and an air-vac is in essence “exploding” the soil from within. Air is compressible and provides a safer form on vacuum excavation.
A hydrovac, on the other hand, can be equipped with a water heater. Hot water is much more effective at excavating frozen ground than an air-vac and sometimes more so than traditional excavation methods.
The onboard water heater on the Truvac HXX water tank, for example, is capable of 800,000 BTUs. When using hot water, ensure the water temperature remains below 150-degrees Fahrenheit (65.6-degrees Celsius) and reduce pressure to avoid damaging utilities.
For extreme cold temperatures, the Truvac HXX can also be equipped with a heated debris body. This prevents excavated material from freezing up and greatly improves material offloading.
Vacmasters air-vac trucks can be ordered with a water tank to provide both air-vac and hydro-vac solutions. It can be equipped with a water heater. This makes it a much more versatile machine.
Winter vacuum excavation
When outdoor temperatures dip below 30-degrees Fahrenheit (-1.1-degrees Celsius), it’s time to change how you operate your vac truck. Below is a list of things you should do to optimize performance and safety. A lot of these activities are tied to an operator’s daily walkaround:
- Check airline hoses for cracking
- Ensure the air dryer is functioning
- Check lights for burnout and snow, ice, or dirt buildup
- Ensure the recirculator is operational
Then there are a few other best practices, you should do, including:
- Regularly wash the truck to minimize damage caused by salt and other corrosive material
- Wait for hydraulic fluid and transmission fluid to heat up before beginning machine operation
- Drain and purge all water from the vac truck’s system when shutting down for the day. Alternatively, you can use a glycol injection system to run glycol through the line
- If unable to park the vac truck indoors overnight, you may require a block heater to start it
So, by putting these practices into effect, you can optimize your operations and make better vac truck decisions.
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