Founded in 2006 by Director Andrew Rowlands, and technical founder Denis Walker, Vacvator has grown from its humble beginnings to specialise in the manufacturing of high-quality vacuum excavation trucks.
Based in Goulburn NSW, Vacvator’s units are now distributed nationwide to support the civil, industrial, utility, mining sectors and more.
As one of the key players in the Australian vacuum excavation truck market, Vacvator now strives to provide “the most productive trucks on the market”. Vacvator models are manufactured using the latest technologies and the company prides itself on creating products that are durable, reliable, easy to operate and safe to use, resulting in market leading productivity and significant reduction in whole of life costs of the unit.
The most popular units in recent years have been TMC40-160B and the TMC76-245B. The TMC40-160B is a 4000L truck and is the smallest in the range. It is the simplest to operate, manoeuvre and maintain compared to the larger models, but still maintains Vacvator’s high levels of productivity and performance, a highly efficient cyclone system and 1600CFM of suction and up to 18-inch Hg vacuum.
The TMC76-245B is an 8000L truck. Like the TMC40-160B model, it is efficient and versatile; however, it is more powerful, with 2450CFM of suction and up to 26-inch Hg vacuum. The unit is ideally suited to small operators and municipals.
The TMC76-245B is one of the most popular models in the series. Over the past 12 months Vacvator have introduced two new combination units to support its product range. Firstly, the Duo Dry which delivers the cost saving option to excavate with high-pressure air to dislodge the soil matter to be deposited into the tank as dry material or traditionally high-pressure water. This unit is quickly gaining popularity in areas where the cost of disposing of contaminated soil is becoming more and more expensive (approximately $180 per tonne).
Secondly the Duo Jet is designed to deliver NDD and drain cleaning capabilities, this truck has been designed to offer high pressure water jetting at 250lpm/2200psi. Both units reattain the ability to traditionally NDD without damaging underground utilities and pipelines.
To ensure the highest of standards, all Vacvator units incorporate an integrated CANbus system as a standard feature. The system not only makes Vacvator the market leader in operator integration with intuitive control systems, but it also incorporates safety features to protect the unit and more importantly ensure that the truck is safe to operate on and off the road. Vacvator’s primary goal is to ensure our units are both safe for the operator and profitable for the owner.
Perhaps one of the greatest productivity benefits Vacvator has been its effective design and innovation around the airflow. The combination of filter design, cyclones and the smart interaction between the major components means that the blower capacity is utilised to its full capacity. The resultant effect is a very efficient use of power allowing the truck to perform at an exceptional level, the design also means that blockages in most cases, never happen.
Vacvator has long recognised that noise is one of the biggest concerns for vacuum truck owners, as its predominant working environment is in urban areas. Using the truck engine as its primary power source means that it does not need to run at high RPM to run the blower unit, this coupled with the vacuum blower selection and the blower muffler design means that all our trucks operate below 82 dBA. The lower overall dBA level has a positive benefit for the general public and other operations working in the surrounding environment, reducing their exposure to excessive noise.
Using the truck engine to drive the unit as opposed to an auxiliary engine also reduces running costs and start up times. The cost of servicing two engines itself is not the biggest cost for the truck, it is the compounded down time when the two engine servicing intervals don’t line up resulting in underutilisation and higher overhead costs. A truck engine that is maintained by an authorised truck dealer, has less chance of failing than a stationary engine that randomly gets serviced and maintained.
Vacvator has its own in-house quality, safety, and incident management system, with the company relentlessly ensuring its processes and procedures are followed during manufacturing to ensure quality and consistency of all its products. Despite the quality of its products, Vacvator has faced challenges with the industry expansion and a rapidly changing market. To continue to support its existing clients and meet their excavation needs, the company has had to undergo significant growth in recent years. There are plans currently underway to expand its Goulburn manufacturing facility. The facility is currently 1340 square metres of manufacturing space and is expected to increase by a further 1430 square metres incorporating a purpose-built blasting and painting facility.
The company has also had some recent additions to its management team. Following Denis retiring earlier this year, Con Alvanos was appointed as the new General Manager and Operations Manager. Con, who joined the organisation two years ago as the operations manager, now works closely with his senior management team to ensure Vacvator clients are supported and are consistently delivered high-quality products.
“I am so confident in the quality of our engineering, our craft people’s skills, and our attention to detail during manufacturing that we will warrant all Vacvator manufactured components for three years,” he says.
“Interestingly the first Vacvator built is still in operation some 15 years later. If you are a dedicated vacuum excavation company, a civil contractor, a mining company, or a council and you need your equipment to work each time every time, then you need a Vacvator.”
Con says Vacvator understands the challenges the industry faces and ensure its customers benefit from an easy-to-operate vac truck.
“As an organisation we offer guaranteed turnaround time for support to our valued customers. From the time you call in to the time we get one of our team to help with your problem, we guarantee to call back within the hour,” he says.
“Vacvator trucks are Australian made using Aussie ingenuity to combine superior quality and exceptional performance with green, safe technology.”
For more information visit Vacvator.
This article featured in the June edition of Trenchless Australasia.