Hydro vac trucks are special trucks used for excavation purposes, composed by a special, powerful carrying vehicle, a water tank to supply the hydrovac process with water, a generator that creates the vacuum and hoses to deliver the water and to extract slurry. During operation, the hydrovac truck applies pressurized water on the surface of the soil to break it down and to move it, then the slurry generated is extracted through vacuum hose to a separate tank.

Hydrovac trucks come in various sizes, equipped with water tanks of various sizes and with the other components available in various sizes, too. The most common hydrovac truck Denver has come with tanks suitable for holding around 1550 gallons of water, but small trucks, with capacities of around 500 gallons are also available. In terms of the size of hoses, the largest trucks can extend their arms to a distance of about 600 feet, which means that the truck can perform efficient digging standing at that distance from the excavation area. Trucks also come with nozzles of varying sizes and diameters, allowing the operator to finely-tune the digging process and to create trenches and holes that are very thin as well as to move soil over a larger area down to predefined depth.