Winter is a challenging season in many parts of the world and for many tasks, excavation being one of them. However, construction projects cannot be put on hold because of the frost, so building companies use a very special and very powerful technology to handle excavation tasks in winter: hydroexcavation.

The water excavation technology involves the usage of water that is warmed with the help of powerful heating coil and pulverized onto the ground under high pressure. The water thaws the ground and moves the soil in the area to be excavated in, then the large-diameter hose of the hydrovac equipment removes the slurry. The hose is attached to a powerful unit that creates strong vacuum to lift the slurry, then the material is transported to a large container, from which it is later disposed of at a suitable site.

Hydrovac technology is used either for excavating larger holes or for digging to find hidden, unmapped utility lines. The latter task is called daylighting and it is an essential phase before any extensive construction work commences on the site – hidden utility lines can cause dangerous situations, such as explosions and injuries, therefore they need to be located and safely disconnected before any other construction process can safely start.