Vacuum excavation is a non-destructive way of daylighting utilities, and a vacuum truck can be even more effective in winter than in other seasons provided users follow a few simple steps.
Winterize equipment
Whether you own an air-vac truck or a hydrovac truck, you have to prepare it for cold-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
- Change over to a hydraulic fluid that is designed for winter operation
- Top off the windshield wiper fluid tank
- Check the battery and clean it and related components
- Check filters and replace them, if necessary
- Check machine’s hot water tank (if it has one)
- Ensure insulation surrounding all hoses is in good condition
- Equip 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.
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 for Vacmasters.
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?
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,” Bell says. “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.
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.
Winter vacuum excavation
When outdoor temperatures dip below 30 degrees F), 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
By putting these practices into effect, you can optimize your operations and make better vac truck decisions.
About the Author
AEM is the North American-based international trade group representing off-road equipment manufacturers and suppliers, with more than 950 companies and 200-plus product lines in the agriculture and construction-related sectors worldwide. AEM has an ownership stake in and manages several world-class exhibitions, including CONEXPO-CON/AGG.
