What the Heck is Remote Hole Excavation?

No, we’re not talking about remote-controlled cars you played with as a kid. This is some powerful excavation for rough terrain.
What the Heck is Remote Hole Excavation?
In most cases, the reason for remote hole excavation is simply that fact that the truck can’t be driven to the excavation site, either because terrain is too rough or because of existing buildings and structures on the property that prevent truck access.

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In most cases, hydroexcavation takes place close to the dig site, using a truck’s hydrovac boom. Tougher jobs in hard-to-reach places require remote hole excavation — the use of a flexible hose that allows hydrovac operators to excavate more than 500 feet from the truck. 

Kris Norris, owner of NCM Hydro Vac Services in Ottawa, Ontario, has developed a market niche for remote hole excavation. 

“Our team has made a specialty of it,” Norris says. “On the business end, it isn’t that much different from near-truck hydroexcavation except that you need to use manual labor on the hose instead of using the truck boom to move the pipe up and down.”

But why?

In most cases, the reason for remote hole excavation is simply that fact that the truck can’t be driven to the excavation site, either because terrain is too rough or because of existing buildings and structures on the property that prevent truck access. 

NCM fields two trucks. A 2006 combination unit has a 12-cubic-yard debris tank, 1,300-gallon water tank, a blower with 3,800 cfm at 17 inches of mercury, and a pump that delivers 2,500 psi at 80 gpm. This unit features a water boiler package to defrost icy soil during tough Ottawa winters. 

A brand new hydroexcavator features a 16-cubic-yard debris tank and 1,500-gallon water tank. The blower generates vacuum power of 6,000 cfm at 28 inches of mercury, and the pump delivers 3,000 psi at 18 gpm). The larger debris tank ensures NCM can complete several projects before dumping a load of excavated material. 

“I typically carry 100 feet of hose on the truck, so I need to prepare for any truly remote contracts by carrying additional lengths of hose to the job,” Norris says. 

Three isn’t a crowd

While most typical hydroexcavation jobs are completed with a two-person crew, NCM must send along a third crew member in a cube van to deliver the extra hose for jobs requiring greater length.

A skid-steer also comes in handy to deliver extra hose from the truck to the excavation site. The additional hose reels come in 100-foot lengths and are hooked together on site using round steel clamps.

“Remote excavations from 100 to 500 feet from the truck are commonplace,” Norris says. “But currently we’ll offer to excavate up to 900 feet from the truck on the hydroexcavator.

“That’s the furthest that I would say we feel comfortable in offering the service without sacrificing performance and starving the truck for air. Without enough air, you’re not moving enough material.”

In order to maintain velocity on the longest excavations, Norris uses a 6-inch-diameter hose instead of the typical 8-inch hose platform. That allows the operator to maintain enough air velocity to complete excavations over a longer distance. Air velocity can run as high as 160 mph inside the longer, narrower lines.

“If you get a stone or a tree branch stuck in one of the longer lines at 160 miles per hour, removing it can be a little labor intensive,” Norris says. “But we’re happy to handle those details.”

Watch the NCM crew in action:

Read more about NCM at www.cleaner.com/editorial/2014/01/the_big_fix.



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