What is Vacuum Excavation & Suction Excavation?

The Vac-Ex Process

Vacuum excavation — sometimes called suction excavation — is a safer, more precise way to dig around underground services like electric cables, gas mains, or water pipes. Instead of using a mechanical digger that might hit something it shouldn’t, the system uses powerful airflow to break up the ground and suck the material away. It’s tidy, fast, and helps avoid expensive mistakes.

It’s not a new technique — it’s been around for years — but the technology has improved massively. These days, vacuum excavators are used on all sorts of sites: city centre utility upgrades, rural telecoms jobs, even tricky access areas near rail lines or bridges.

At Vac-Ex, our units can dig as deep as 30 metres and reach horizontally up to 80 metres. They’ve even worked at heights — around 50 metres vertically — when jobs have called for it. That sort of reach is a game-changer when traditional digging just isn’t practical or safe.

This method is also brilliant for what we call ‘non-destructive digging’. It’s less disruptive, especially when you’re working around multiple services that aren’t clearly marked. There’s no need to break out the shovels or risk damaging infrastructure — the air does the heavy lifting.

Whether it’s trenching, perimeter work, or clearing access points in tight or congested sites, vacuum excavation is becoming a go-to option across the UK. It saves time, reduces risk, and cuts down on reinstatement costs — all things that matter when you’re running a tight project schedule.

Contact our hire team to get expert help for any bespoke projects.

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How Vac-Ex Works

Breaking the ground – Compressed air is directed through an insulated AIR-EX lance to loosen, agitate, or aerate the ground initially. This loosened debris is then safely removed by the vacuum.

Removing the ground – The Vac-Ex unit generates a large amount of Air Flow & Vacuum through their Vacuum turbines. Air and debris travel through the Vacuum pipe into the Debris Chamber / Container. The Pressure drop inside the Container allows any air-borne particles to fall from the air stream. This partially clean air travels through a series of filters which further separate debris and dust. The ‘clean’ air is then finely filtered to 5 microns before being expelled through the baffles to the atmosphere.

Difficult ground – If the ground is more stubborn, high-pressure water is an excellent alternative. The resultant materials can then be removed using the same process above.

Transportation & Disposal – The Vac-Ex machines are sealed units, enabling the material to be transported without the risk of spillages or cross-contamination. Depending on the unit of choice, the resultant material can then be tipped to ground, bulk bag, wheelbarrow, skip and stockpile or into a controlled environment.

Benefits of Vacuum Excavation

Vacuum Excavation advanced technology is a much quicker non-invasive process used to safely expose live utilities that could easily be damaged by traditional hand digging methods.

We are proud of our record of over one million hours with zero strikes, using extensions we can navigate through very narrow and deep holes or trench excavations with our Vac-Ex units.

There are many benefits of using Vacuum (Suction) excavation including health and safety.

Safety:

Reduces the risk of utility strikes compared to traditional excavation methods.
Reduces Manual Operation with remote-control operated Vac-Ex units, ensuring work can be carried out safely in all areas and performed at a distance, which eliminates risk to the operator.
Cleaner Excavation, materials captured inside skips, ensuring a safe working environment for workers on site.
Eliminating underground utility strikes, maintaining Health & Safety records.

Efficiency:

Faster and more efficient than traditional excavation, especially when excavating around underground utilities.
Reducing reinstatement costs by reducing the size of excavations.

Environmentally Friendly:

Minimising traffic disruption.
Less disruptive to the surrounding area and reduces the need for extensive digging.

Cost-Effective:

Less workforce and equipment needed for each project, therefore more cost-effective.

At Vac-Ex we are committed to reducing the Co2 emissions generated from our vehicles.

Our units use HVO fuel which is a sustainable and renewable alternative to diesel making us much more environmentally friendly than other vehicles in the industry. For more information please visit our environmental page or complete the short form below.