Getting Serious About Utility Construction, Fluid Management and Disposal

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Getting Serious About Utility Construction, Fluid Management and Disposal

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Water is a crucial ingredient for horizontal directional drilling and related utility work success. For drilling, water mixed with drill additives provides bore hole and tooling lubrication, helps cool the sonde housing, helps maintain the drill hole integrity and washes away cuttings. For digging, pressurized water allows for potholing without harming the utilities being located.

Unfortunately, with fewer approved disposal sites for used drilling fluids and vacuum excavator spoils, as well as rising dump fees, some underground utility contractors try to get by with using less water.

According to Adam Bates, product manager for Vermeer, some contractors figure that using less water means less fluids they have to dispose of. “This mindset is a bit shortsighted, because all it takes is one project where something goes wrong — they snap a drill rod, overheat the sonde or do a poor job of daylighting utilities — and they have a huge problem on their hands that may end up costing them a lot more than they saved,” he explains. “With that said, given the challenges and costs associated with handling used fluids, it is easy to understand their concerns. It’s why the team at Vermeer has spent the last several years developing a product portfolio to address handling used drilling fluids and spoils.”

Since water is used in so many different ways on trenchless projects, and there are so many different types and scales of projects being done, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all fluid management solution. Vacuum excavators that “pump-and-dump” used directional drilling fluid and vacuum excavator spoils may be the right solution for one contractor. At the same time, others would benefit from recycling or separating the solids from liquids on the job. Bates says that the right solution depends on many different factors.

“Solutions like recycling and reclaiming fluids used to be reserved for larger pipeline projects because of space and setup requirements,” he says. “But we’re changing that with the introduction of a smaller unit that can be used in utility applications. Also, Vermeer has spent years working on vacuum excavation technology that gives hydroexcavation contractors the ability to separate solids on site, which will help them dig more holes in a day. More important, though, is that new fluid management innovations can help contractors operate more efficiently and control their fluid management expenses.” 

Since fluid management equipment is more recent trenchless technology, here’s a brief overview of the machinery available and the applications in which they fit.

Traditional vacuum excavators

These machines have been around for a long time and are a staple for utility contractors managing HDD drilling fluids and potholing existing utilities. Vacuum excavators dominate the market because of their versatility, and the wide range of sizes and configurations that are available. They are an excellent fluid management solution when disposal sites are nearby and costs are low.

XR2 vacuum excavator

While the XR2 falls into the vacuum excavator category, its onboard innovation goes beyond a traditional vacuum excavator. It is the industry’s first vacuum excavator equipped with a shaker deck that separates liquids and solids. The solid material can be hauled off separately or stacked, while the used, dirty water gets pumped back into one of four holding tanks. This design gives contractors great flexibility when handling all the material used in the drilling process.

The XR2 vacuum excavator is an efficient fluid management solution for utility potholing, stitch boring, slot trenching and many general construction tasks.

Reclaimers

Recycling used drilling fluids has been an effective solution for pipeline HDD contractors for many years. When a project requires large volumes of drilling fluids, reclaiming or recycling the fluid can be a cost- and labor-efficient option. And now manufacturers, including Vermeer, are designing new, more compact reclaimer models that will help make recycling drilling fluids a more viable option on utility HDD projects as well. At ICUEE in 2019, Vermeer debuted a prototype of the new R70 reclaimer designed to be paired with utility drills in urban environments.

A range of options

Bates says fluid management and fluid disposal are sure to continue to be hot topics for contractors, but now they have a wide range of solutions to choose from.

If you have questions about which fluid management and disposal options are right for your business, contact your local Vermeer dealer or visit vermeer.com.



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