TT-UK Cyclone City Sucker Proves Its Worth

What is thought to be the first cyclone design City Suction Excavator recently carried out trials throughout the United Kingdom on various National Grid and other contractors’ inner city jobsites.

The trials were to prove the capabilities of the new TT-UK/RSP Suction Excavation technology, particularly useful when digging and exposing buried pipe and cables in congested highways and pavements.

The City Sucker as shown below worked in London, Northampton, Watford, Norwich and Manchester. Sucked waste material is easily disposed of onsite using the Big-Bag side emptying container facility. The varied soil conditions in the different geological locations proved the sucking power of the City Sucker.

Safety is of paramount importance when digging around often live cable and pressurized water and gas mains, hence the requirement for the new City Sucker to comply with all the latest safety measures, as well as the need for non­conductive tooling and suction hose extensions.

The final trial for the City Sucker consisted of sucking around a 46-in. (1,100-mm dia.) gas main that was leaking on the joint. The excavation had all types of third-party utilities running through it and it was impossible to excavate with a mini digger. The two operatives from the National Grid assisting TT-UK’s specialist suction excavator demonstration engineer Paul Gardener, commented that usually they have to work with a vacuum type unit and were interested in seeing how the City Sucker performed. They said that they could not believe how easy it was to use and how much more power (suction) it had compared to their vacuum unit; they also liked the idea that they didn’t have to have a separate compressor on site due to the City Sucker having an on-board unit as standard.

This article was submitted by TT-UK.