Air Knife Excavation

Air Knife Excavation is a tool for breaking up soil that uses high-pressure air to penetrate and expand the soil. This method of excavation is non-destructive and quite safe. Once the air knife looses up all the necessary soil, it is vacuumed up. The primary advantages to this method of excavation are that it doesn’t risk damaging utilities that are buried nearby, and it doesn’t require significant excavation and disturbance of the ground, like many other methods do. 

Benefits of Air Knife Excavation:



• Safe
• Efficient
• Inexpensive
• Takes up less space
• Removes solid sediment & debris 

How is Air Knife Excavation different from Hydro Excavation? 

Hydro excavation involves the safe uncovering of underground utilities using high-pressure water and a vacuum, usually off a vac truck. This different from air knife excavation because it is faster and considered to be the most efficient form of excavation by vacuum. Air Knife Excavation allows one to be able to reuse the material excavated out of the hole to refill the hole, while in Hydro Excavation you are not able to do this. All in all, Air Knife Excavation is slow than Hydro Excavation, but it provides the benefit of being able to put the material back into the hole at the conclusion of the work.