Air spade?

[richy_B]

I am looking at at getting an air spade for our street tree planting work. There is always the risk of services but it might also reduce physical work (compared to a bar and long handle shovel).

 

We are aiming to dig a 50cm x 50 cm x 50 cm hole in a mix of subbase, soil & london clay. I am sure the air spade is capable of this but I don't think we'd have the vaccuum unit due to cost and bulk. I thought once 'loosened' it could be shovelled out.

 

We'd buy the air spade, hose and cone tors and hire a compressor (125cfm is readily available locally but could go bigger).

 

I did have a chat air-vac and looked at the small spade and vac unit mounted on a muck truck. It looked great but was £25k without a compressor - so a non starter.

 

Any thoughts or reviews?

[dumper]

Without the vac unit it gets messy especially on footpaths with people near

[richy_B]

Without the vac unit it gets messy especially on footpaths with people near

Sounds like a non starter then.

[Paul Barton]

It might be helpful, but you'll need some large and robust guards to stop stones (and dust) from raining down over all the pavement and nearby cars.

 

It's horrible work to be honest!

[richy_B]

I think I might be put off the idea already!

 

Cheers for the input guys.

[David Humphries]

Compaction, clay and flying debris (as mentioned in previous posts) are the obvious issues as to why not to go down that route.

We have used the airspade to excavate planting pits but mostly in parks where the soil horizon is generally less compacted.

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/picture-forum/22063-airspading-planting-pit-dogs-danglies.html

 

Leaking oil in to the air stream is also something to consider with hired compressors.

 

 

 

 

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[richy_B]

Cheers David, interesting thread. Looks great for parks sites but perhaps not appropriate for my needs.