Glossary

Air Excavation

What is Air Excavation?

Air excavation is a form of vacuum excavation that uses a compressed-air lance instead of water to break up soil, keeping spoils dry so they can be backfilled and avoiding the slurry produced by hydro excavation.

Air excavation (air vacuum excavation) loosens soil with a high-pressure air lance and suctions the dry spoils into the debris body. Because it uses no water, the excavated material stays dry and can often be reused as backfill, and there is no slurry to haul away or offload as wet waste.

Air is frequently preferred around fiber optics, sensitive coatings, and where dry spoil reuse matters, while hydro excavation is faster in hard or frozen ground. Both are non-destructive digging methods performed by vacuum trucks. See air vacuum trucks for rent on Vac4Rent and submit a free request.