Hydro Excavating Utilities With A Vac Truck

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[@Highstranger951]

Back around 2009 I worked utilities and brought up “why not use a vac truck like the city uses to clean out storm drains?”. We hand dug every pole hole for every pole set(wood, steel, concrete, fiberglass etc) in and around Baltimore. Everyone laughed and said that was a stupid idea. I should have started a company specializing it just that.

[@jonschneck4559]

for 30 plus years I have been using JetBlast to vacuum pea gravel from around fiberglass tanks and lines in gas stations. first time they all thought I was crazy, now it is a whole industry.

[@peewee.3138]

I used to use a vac truck for replacing old water service shut offs that the steel cotter pin would rust off- we would just pothole the valve box and we had a set of pliers on an aluminum pole that you could squeeze from the top to put the new pin in. We would also use it for most of our main breaks and then we didn’t need to keep a pump in the hole, either. Once we had the main exposed, we kept the vac pipe right on top of the main and we could keep the main still charged a bit so no dirt could go back in and contaminate the water.

[@larrywalker7759]

On my way home from work today I saw a hand painted slogan on the tailgate of a pickup truck that said "Hustle until your haters ask you if you are hiring." I think that's a good one.

[@joebledsoe257]

pretty much my idea too. but alas....

[@henkoosterhof5947]

@@peewee.3138 were i live(the netherlands) all in the ground things are in an box with a cover, non return, meters an so on. Valves must have an pvc pipe with extention where the spindle is in. Regulations of installing.

[@leighswogger4272]

The pigs watching the slurry come off the truck, thought you brought them a new puddle to play in. Poor guys! Lol That was really awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[@frotobaggins7169]

I thought that to, "oh look, he's feeding us. We're over here. Over here."

[@mojo6706]

I was thinking the same thing. Chris should have dumped it in the pig pen. That would have been satisfying haha!

[@dwaynekoblitz6032]

Yep, I thought the same exact thing as well. They would've loved that.

[@gp37521]

all i can care about is breakfast...

[@peterlosangelos4108]

Very efficient as long as the only operator doesnt stop working when he is talking :)

[@abialo2010]

that guy is really enthusiastic and knowledgeable. always feels good coming across people like that.

[@rodrod383]

yea he was entertaining and seemed cool

[@ledang9584]

He is really cool guy

[@genop1038]

Kudos to the hydro vac operator. He knew his stuff and seems genuinely excited about his job.

[@n7565j]

I once hit a 3 phase 440 line that was "supposed" to be 3+ feet deep... It was 6"!!! That ditch witch threw the prettiest blue sparks 4' into the air and sounded like thunder when I hit it!!! Scared the crap out of me and everyone who was watching :-) Neat rig and it sure does beat a shovel!!!

[@sumatrican5990]

I’ve been building roads and such for almost 20 years now and I have never ever seen or heard of doing a hard locate with a vacuum truck. Genius my boy. Absolutely genius.

[@brianpearl7504]

We used to excavate out manholes in the street with a backhoe and then do a lot of back breaking hand work to finish the job and debris would fall down the barrel and then a few years ago we realized the Vactor might work well and we have never looked back. Here is a video I just made of us using ours. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZ_QqoaKZ6mrrrM

[@eldonhill4840]

We use them all the time up here in WA, but that's more on the city/commercial side where there are a lot more complicated and sensitive utilities. Same with CAD trucks for material placement (like in 50 ft underground parking excavations), which would make another cool video.

[@stvkomer]

everything gets hydrovac in the oilfield. Its a minefield of pipelines, 3 phase power, and fiber all over the place.

[@PATRICK-zj9xb]

Hi Chris, that was quite interesting! Quick & safe, perfect. It's always cool to learn about new ways to get something done! Thanks !

[@GoBlue79]

Your pigs were super-excited to see all that fresh slop! HA! I've always wondered how these trucks worked - now I know, thanks to LetsDig18

[@nandi123]

Enquiring porkers want to know!

[@rodrod383]

yea the pigs were freaking out

[@jimmyv2235]

This is awesome seeing these trucks work in the field. I build sewer cleaners/hydro excavators for a living. They are a fantastic piece of machinery. Excellent Job Chris and crew!!

[@brianpearl7504]

Hands down I agree. I love ours. We use ours to excavate manhole frames in the street. Here's video of us using ours . kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZ_QqoaKZ6mrrrM

[@BeytekinConstructionMachinery]

Very common in Germany. Have a nice day.

[@stonewallpi1]

I like the random (behind the scenes) videos like these. Extremely effective and cost efficient way of pin-pointing utilities that I never knew existed. That line was alarmingly shallow even to a common mans perspective like me. Interesting videos as always my friend.

[@Adamsadventures83]

Natural Gas lines are always roughly 2-3 ft deep. This one was shallower than normal, at least for my area. NC. might have different standards, or there was some erosion along that area, or they graded down at some point prior

[@daddybob6096]

This is an innovative idea Chris, saves a lot of man hours on a shovel. Kyle is a nice young man, he enjoys a chat and is easy to communicate with unlike some who don't have anything to say. Bob. NZ.

[@farmerbill6855]

Cool truck. They rebuilt the power line on my road a few years ago. Set all the poles with one of these. Did almost four miles in two days and never called the locating service. They told me they didn't need to when they used the vac. Fiber optics on both sides of the road. Pretty impressive. Best regards from Indiana.

[@MichaelBrown-qn9hi]

That's the safest and quickest way to find utilities. Always something new with you Chris, keeping your viewers informed.

[@cmankowski9438]

I've been seeing those type of trucks around Atlanta and had to "google" what hydro excavating was. You satisfied my curiosity WAY better then what I read. There is a whole 'nuther world that most people don't know about that you are sharing. Another one was the video about the roads covered with soil/cement. Fascinating!

[@tiredoldmechanic1791]

My dad was operating a grader on a street repave. The gas line had been located and was supposed to be 3 feet deep. He was supposed to cut a foot deep because the street was just paved over dirt with no gravel bed. He was only 10 inches below the surface when he hit the gas line.

[@edpoints1127]

It's common for the tracer wire to be WAAAAY off/separate from the actual pipe.

[@tiredoldmechanic1791]

@@edpoints1127 In that case, the tracer wire was embedded in the plastic gas line. The installation crew just didn't go deep enough. Even at 3 feet deep, in Wisconsin, the frost can lift things. It's not uncommon to have frost more than 4 feet deep under a road. Water and sewer lines are commonly placed 8 feet deep and occasionally freeze even at that depth if there isn't much flow.

[@rr3102]

@@waynep343 ?

[@HughzieTube]

He joked about boring right through it. Friend of mine started getting issues with blocked drains and weeks after getting it jetted clean it was blocked again. When they eventually ran a camera down the pipe they found the gas board had bored a replacement gas line to the neighbours house right through the middle of the sewer line and were causing the pipe to block with the solids.

[@marksaunders2500]

Hi from uk chris👋👍 great to see the excavac in service was good watch as never seen one on site👍 so much safer with this as you both said👌 here in uk we always expect tape and sand before services are found even when step benched! I witnessed a collegue loosing corner of his shovel as was no tape looking for street light power supply pot ended to connect to and struck gold when he was blew out the hole in smoke🤔😢 he was ok but (parden the pun) we where both in shock that day it was horrible watching as he was dazed on a round so I blocked road with my jcb 535-200 loadall/telehandler and tried to help him 👍 please be safe on this job chris I know you will be tho 👌 I always say your my magic man but this guy had the wand today epic to watch thank you for your time and be safe see you soon👍👋

[@pinwizz69]

Thanks Chris. Definitely something new this old horse learned today. Really fascinating how fast and easy it was to locate those utilities that were slightly off from the marks.

[@longcaster]

When he emptied out it looked like a cow emptying out. What a great way to find utilities.

[@ericpaul4575]

I think the pigs wanted a go at the pile as well.

[@latisimusd]

First time seeing that type vacuum technology for field work. Sort of like a water jet cutter in a machine shop. That's so cool for your safety and the already questionably depth installed/buried utility lines. Plus he likes his job/work too. The hogs were all lined up lookin at that fresh mud, too funny. Fun to watch & Thanks for sharing!

[@samuel_towle]

Hog Heaven just out of reach.

[@dansbrown1313]

Yeah I thought we might see those hogs come through the fence as that slurry is a natural sunscreen for them. My Landrace sows sure would have!

[@cloud9extendedstay245]

We use this piece of equipment when drilling new utility poles when surrounded by Urdu cables- 8 hr hand dig in just one hour

[@jwm6314]

Well that was different and cool! Thanks for sharing this one. Used to dig holes with a garden hose as a kid, never thought to pair it with a shop vac!

[@heatherlane9270]

This is a time, financial, utilities and life saving excavation process - I must have been living in a bubble as it exists in my home town. Thanks LetsDig18 for waking me up.

[@alfadoofus]

Nice to see alternatives of locating lines . Glad you took the opportunity to show this Chris

[@richdillon2157]

Now that was very interesting. I still see them hand digging most everything around Ocala Florida. Thanks Chris enjoyed the hell out of this one.

[@Wood.Water.Camping]

That was awesome to watch. I actually had our gas utility do this yesterday at our plant to uncover a 6” high pressure gas line. Wasn’t able to watch it but this made up for it

[@ZenWithKen]

I had a hydrovac locate power and fiber around a main gas line when I moved the gas meter to the garage. It was pretty interesting watching them weld a nipple onto an 8" natural gas line for the new feed. The connector they put on sealed and pierced into the main via the nipple. Vac trucks are amazing, thanks for sharing.

[@ke6gwf]

I have seen them welding on an open gas main before. It's quite interesting when you are a few hundred feet down wind and scared that someone is going to light a cigarette and blow the block up the gas smell is so strong, and meanwhile you see sparks flying out of the hole where the main line is from the welder.

[@ZenWithKen]

@@ke6gwf The strangest thing I had the privilege of being part of was many years back. We were digging out an old leaking fuel tank at an airport, you could smell the fumes coming out of the hole. We were ready to pick the tank but had to remove a bung first. A dude I didn't know, jumps onto the tank and proceeds to wrench on the bung, while smoking. We politely asked him to put it out, lol.

[@darrengreen7906]

Dumping out the slurry and you had an audience. Piggies, they were interested in that mud!

[@Oldscudrunner]

When I was putting in my fence, I had phone lines real close. So, I made my own "Hydro Excavator" out of my old shop vac and a pressure washer. It was physically easy and it worked really well and I would have 3 foot deep hole in less than 5 minutes.

[@GRid-yk2ru]

That idea was going through my head while watching. Even with having to empty a shop vac a few times per hole, it's still easier than chipping away by hand. At least until a big rock comes along. Lol

[@lockgessner]

I used this method to make some pier holes under a garage, works rather well

[@ke6gwf]

If you want larger collection volume, rig up a 15 gallon removable top drum (community) commonly used for Hazmat disposal) with two vac hose connections on opposite sides of the lid, hook the vacuum to one and your hose to the other. Most of the material stays in the drum. I did this a while back with a pneumatic powered vacuum cleaner as an oil spill clean up rig.

[@gregoryk.9815]

I do that too super easy and quick.

[@gorak9000]

As I was watching, I was thinking "it's really the pressure washer that does the hard work, the vacuum just sucks up the sludge afterwards - I have a pressure washer..." - not sure why I didn't think of using a shop vac for the vacuum side... brilliant!

[@wbulex]

Thanks for that video! I love to learn about new equipment! What a time saver!

[@johnblecker4206]

This specialist with his toolkit makes this video much more interesting and thanks for showing him.

[@stephenkeefer3436]

That was just doggone fascinating to watch. What a novel idea ! Thanks Chris !!

[@zpakk4499]

I work for the utility company in my state, from the office. My team schedules work for the distribution crews and utilized Hydrovac companies all the time. I have always wanted to see this in action! Another great video!!

[@bruceaitken3977]

Always wondered what those trucks did ! Great - Safe way to locate under ground see

[@jerryhoschouer5131]

Well now!!!! That’s awesome and my first time seeing one in operation. Thanks Chris.

[@luc1fersflowers]

Super cool - thanks for the variety on your channel. Love watching and learning from you!

[@kevinwhitehill7049]

Chris, I work for a large class 8 truck dealership group that supplies a large manufacturer of these trucks with many red oval trucks. The company is Vactor Manufacturing out of Streator Illinois and they make a lot of what we refer to as “Super Suckers” We also have a customer who owns two or three of these units that contract them out to a frac sand supplier. They use them to clean up spilled sand from the trains they load the sand into. They are very cool and the use’s are nearly endless. Nice video.

[@ko9446]

Oh shit, here comes the “use it on a pond” remarks.

[@Blazer02LS]

You see the future... lol

[@ko9446]

@@Blazer02LS there are 571K subs to Chris, all but 500 can see this coming.

[@bennetts-revenge_2]

Wow that was pretty cool and safe way to find utilities! Thanks for sharing Chris!

[@garyberg]

I can take that off my bucket list now. I've always wondered what those trucks did besides cleaning manholes and storm drains. very worthwhile

[@dansbrown1313]

Thank you Chris, I have never seen that before and the operator seemed really comfortable sharing his info with you. Cool.

[@smokeymacpot76]

when i quit city services work 5ish years ago it was pretty much all vac truck locating by then...its safe, fast and easy

[@AnomadAlaska]

What a cool video! Thanks for sharing. I don't know what my back is worth? And while I enjoy the health benefits of manual labor as opposed to my office job. A truck like that would have saved me a s***load of frustration on the 1905 farm house I am fixing up. Plumbing and I mean 13 trips to the big box store and a lot of cussing. The pigs seem to find the slop super interesting at the 20:15 mark. "Hey we want in on that action..." LOL

[@Loafinbaker]

This was great! I always wondered how those machines worked. Work Smarter Not Harder!

[@senecapirate1254]

Awesome show Chris, really enjoyed seeing that new tech service.

[@HelloRenauldo]

How I miss operating one of these. Thanks for my moment or nostalgia! Another great video.

[@tomrogers9467]

“You can run this rig with one man”. Unless it’s a government job, then you need a supervisor, a foreman, a quality inspector, four flagmen to totally screw up the traffic, and the requisite six “standers”!

[@ryanhoward1013]

And on weekends you have to double the crew because they all need overtime money

[@oldschoolhoosier]

That is a very expensive operation but high in demand on city and suburban jobs. Number 2 brother-in-law in Canada has very similar equipment and gets $285 P/H plus travel. He just had to replace 1 small pump last week that cost him $10K plus $700 shipping cost. Awesome video to show those another option to digging around buried high power lines.

[@edpoints1127]

Chris, love the videos and I've been subscribed for quite a while. I do sewer and water for a living, State certified. Seriously THE CLEANEST vac truck operator I've ever seen... I'm talking about his bibs, his boots (99% of the time rubber - FYI waterproof work boots don't cut it) etc... Vac truck is a great tool without a doubt. Good video. BTW... That operator should clarify vertical or horizontal suction! I know the answer. I was in a lift station that we shut down the pumps and replaced an 8" valve and piece of pipe. Inlets kept flowing. We relied on alternating trucks to keep us working until the replacement was done.

[@chddrone]

One of my favorite trucks to run. It’s sort of gratifying.

[@garylatture8948]

Good to see some who enjoys their work and is good at it.

[@SpeedSmith]

Wow, that was excellent to see how those work. Thanks Chris.

[@Mapantz1]

I love seeing machines like this, that are made for special purposes. If I worked with one of these, I'd be making holes every where, 24/7 lol Thanks for sharing this, Chris.

[@leestoddart7014]

Fascinating. That's such an improvement on hand digging. Great job.

[@frosteone1670]

Unique application of 2 existing hardwares, wish we'd had this when I was doing excavating. It would have saved two 2700 pair phone cables. Thanks for sharing!

[@neilyoungfan]

I had a front row seat for one of these machines just last week. The electric company was replacing the transformer box located right beside my condo wall. I could look down from my 2nd story window right into the hole they were blasting out. They had to take out an area about 5x6 feet to take out the old box, then splice the lines into the new box located a few feet away. There was fiber down there too as everything terminated into the building right there. Lots of conduit! The guys were really careful and did not destroy the trees and shrubs located just a few feet away. I was very impressed!

[@keithdunlap2701]

That was pretty Cool !! And way, way, faster than digging any day... Thanks for sharing that Chris, enjoyed checking that out man !! Great as always , Have a Great Evening, and, On too the Next...

[@allenbeaulieu7077]

First time I ever even heard of this type of excavation Chris. Man I can see this technology helping someone with a bunch of fence posts holes to dig having a big sigh of relief . Very cool machine.

[@brianpearl7504]

We used to excavate out manholes in the street with a backhoe and then do a lot of back breaking hand work to finish the job and debris would fall down the barrel and then a few years ago we realized the Vactor might work well and we have never looked back. Here is a video I just made of us using ours. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZ_QqoaKZ6mrrrM

[@farmerbrown3768]

As I drive down the road I keep seeing more and more of these kind of trucks around, thanks for showing how they work!

[@donnaflanagan6612]

What a magnificent piece of equipment? And a 1 man operation as well, worth every dollar. A similar truck was used on the boundary of my place & my neighbour to find the internet cable. Years before the previous owner of next door dug a massive hole to repair a storm water pipe & of course severed both internet cables, he did a dodgey repair on mine & didn’t bother to fix his as he decided to go satellite internet. The new owner wanted usual cable internet hence trying to see what the problem was. I was able to watch them do the whole thing, so interesting. Take care Chris & cheers🐨🦘🥰

[@oldjarhead1125]

Interesting Chris.....I've never seen this. I have seen the NC Highway dept use a straight vacuum to clean out storm drains on our street. Also, those are cool pants. I think letsdig18 needs some special logo'd pants like his! You could put the Logo across the seat!

[@lathamarea1437]

called in a broken water line under a hydrant, this type truck showed up..No mess, no front lawn damage and quickly sucked a hole big enough and deep enough to do repair...A bit loud on a city street but quite impressive..

[@billroberts3864]

Chris, thanks for doing a video on this water jet/vacuum truck. Now we know an efficient, safe and fast way to dig down to underground utilities. Keep the interesting videos coming to your audience.

[@richwielechowski5191]

Always wondered how those worked. Thanks for sharing.

[@terryrogers1025]

I find that very interesting, time efficient, and really safe, and cost effect,especially when it saves a cable or line being cut. I have been in situations looking for marked utilities and found the marker way off and deep, and it is nerve racking when you know something is suppose to be there and it’s not. Thanks for the ride along.

[@SusieQ450]

the pigs are curious.🤣 They must think that mush is for them.

[@dangerrangerlstc]

Work on trucks like that sometimes. Always wondered how they operated. Pretty neat system. Clean hole, no mess outside the hole, don't seem to get too dirty, and the truck does all the work. Pretty much point and shoot.

[@mischef18]

Totally safe way to find utilities, thanks for thinking of us bro. Safe travels

[@Stratos53100]

Awesome machine & process, 1st time watching one in action.

[@Sleekfalcon]

That was awesome. Never seen it done before. Thank you for sharing that with us.

[@jwdickinson643]

what a cool process and service! never knew this kind of excavation existed. it’s given me some ideas for how to put in a drain under one of my sidewalks.

[@tsales330]

Dig a hole on both sides of the sidewalk then push a steel pipe or whatever you have under the sidewalk. Then pull it back out and slide your drain pipe in.

[@jcadult101]

They make a jet to screw onto a pipe to do just this. Dig the trench up to both sides, then lay the pipe in and turn the water on. It will blast the soil out of the way.

[@jamesogorman3287]

@@tsales330 I prefer to do it with pvc then just leave it in as the line or as conduit.

[@maxium4x4]

Nice! We used to dig beside and crumb the dirt off a cable or pipe, you need to be able to read the soil. Never ever use a shovel or spade up against a cable, it damages easy. When fiber optics hit the area, no trace wire was buried with it. Poke and hope, read the soil to find the trench. Hours upon hours are spent to visually expose a utility and to date, I have never came close to cutting or damaging a line. One of your best informational video's Chris 👍

[@terryjennings2356]

That is cool! Thank you for sharing this with us!!

[@srichey7203]

First time seeing this...What a time saver. Thanks for sharing

[@johnpyle8027]

Saves a back! Those pigs were giving you the stink eye, they wanted that mud!

[@rondastump8930]

Very interesting and informative! Thankful for this process as so much safer and less work involved. Thank u! God's blessings.

[@mjalco7410]

Chris i sure hope you set this guy up with some LD18 swag… awesome video

[@jimclark576]

I’ve seen those trucks around and always wondered what they did, now I know. Thanks!

[@harryp1249]

Been in oil and gas for many years and never got to see a hydro excavation. Thanks!

[@randallday7737]

Thanks Chris for sharing video haven't ever seen that done before.

[@Blueberry6268]

Cool video. I done this same work. Hydrovacing in Saskatchewan Canada for 12 years. Best way to expose any type pipe and cables underground

[@corycourneyea6802]

You really could set an alarm to this guy, 430 on the dot. That's awesome Chris

[@doombreed52]

At my old job we used these working around gas and power mains, to fix sewer man's, I sometimes ran it but it was mostly one of the other guys that did it. They are extremely useful for keeping water out of a hole you are trying to fix a pipe in.

[@JD-zm4eh]

Wow, that is fantastic. Awesome machine.

[@SmithyScotland]

What an interesting vehicle. Thank you for showing it to us.

[@uberuser1999]

Very cool - I had no idea this type of equipment existed. Made fast work of it in a very safe way.

[@leol1682]

Like the video on Hydro Excavating Utilities .

[@eddieatkinsjr.8875]

Nice outfit, first time I have seen one of those work. Great video.

[@donbraden8533]

Thats cool truck thanks for sharing Chris and of course the operator 😎👍👍

[@scottharbaugh4078]

WOW, Chris i'd never seen this truck used like this before. GREAT idea whoever came up with it. definitely saves time and labor. Can't believe utilities are only a foot down though. Could of been very much bad. Very informative video. thx. P.S. still wtg on shirt and decal. can't wait to show it off around town and see who recognizes it.

[@johnm840]

Clever set up. Reminds me of a water jet metal cutter, but much different.

[@pinky2502]

Something new. Cool stuff Chris!

[@alexanderbordeau7417]

That was very educational. Great tutorial on safe excavating.

[@RM.....]

Well that was pretty neat.Safe and big time saver for sure

[@BZ1340]

Great vid Chris. Fascinating

[@wb8ujb]

Very interesting Chris, never knew this existed. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[@jeffryshadwick1798]

Good thing is Justin recommended this company too you !!!!

[@toddwalther9177]

I use to work for a city about 20 years ago we had a hydro tube that had cutting jets on the end. We would use to dig up b boxes and hydrant auxiliary boxes. It worked great on sucking up the slop from main breaks too.