Two days with different ready mix companies but the same ammonia smell from the concrete.Both sales reps had no idea what i was talking about,so isn't it the sales reps responsibility to know what is in the mix?May I ask,what is that obvious ammonia smell?

Ha........ a sales rep that knows mix designs ? Highly unlikely :-)

Sounds like TurboCast to me, huge quantities are in most Class E mixes (6-hour and 12-hour high early), it has a very distinct amonia smell.

High early for a house slab in south Louisiana?Seems to me recently these ready mix companies have no idea how to load a job,just load all the concrete and let em sit..........I really am curious what that ammonia smell is

Polyheed plasticizer is a water reducer/anti shrinking agent by Masterbuilder BASF the gives off an amonia type smell

I would think water reducer

Master Builder rep must have swung through Baton Rouge......Thanks guys

I've been told it is an inferior flyash. Has low LOI (loss of ignition). Try pumping that into an enclosed room and you'll come out gagging with your eyes watering.

nice

Again not high early mud. That should have been made awhere of before the job even started. it was probably plastisizer From the plant. You really need to pay attention to the tags to get yourself educated in concrete mixes that you pump and start asking a lot of questions.

That is a good point about looking at the tickets and asking questions,but,the only thing on the ticket was your basic 3000 performance and the batch time,which was an hour old when reaching my site.All I noticed was the smell,and that got my attention.I asked the contractor who had no ideas and the salesman who looked at me like I was invading his knowledge,or lack of........What they say most of the time is pump the damn concrete and we will worry about the mix.     I then proceeded to get my 2 bags of retarder and sugar close by if I needed them...I sure did

Ya sometimes they can be jerks and there no reason for it. Try calling the batch plant directly more more info. I had a very good rapport with batch plants and they would answer the phone for me and give me as much info as needed. Good luck in LA.

So many of these mixes have different type of water reducers in them. There are mid range and high range water reducers. I have noticed that these chemicals smell more if they sit in their bins a bit long. The water reducers are a cheaper additive sometimes then adding more cement to the mixes if they stay on spec. Expect this trend to continue in our industry.