I have to ask how many of you do this....I do it all the time and I am surprised how much water ends up in my priming port after I have done this. I have never had a plug on cold days when I Pre Heat the boom and I go and prime.

How are you preheating?

Exhaust pipe !!

Learn something new every day, good idea///

With the pipes insulated I thought it was electric tape of some sort.

Yeah I do it every chance I get in this weather,The only thing I do a lil different is I open up my swing 90 as to let it breathe!!

You dont have to open your 90, just put it in reverse so you don't lose all your prime

If you have a prime port, just open it up.  If not, then you've got to crack the swing elbow, unless you happen to be able to stop the vlalve between the cylinders.  The exhaust gas needs some place to go, if there isn't an outlet, you're just getting a very warm tip hose.  I've had hose men comment on the warm hose after prime-out when I've warmed the boom pipe.

BTW, nice pic 38zman, but that's not a Z or a 38?   LOL

What is that on your pipe for insulation?

Thanks Chris for the video.

I do preheat before every first job and i just stop my rock valve between the two cylinders the heat could come out of the tub

I talked to a few guys about this and they say they do it when it gets really cold. You only got one shot at getting mud out the end of the pump so pre heating is the way to go. I dont know if this will hurt or cause any problem on the new mack trucks with the regen systems?

LOL Yes I know it is not a Z It is old school R&F...lol as for insulation I cant tell you what it is but it works great Yesterday in the cold with the pre heat primed like it was the spring The only problem is it heats the placing hose and if they are bending the end it stays in that shape...lol

Last thing the pipe is only as good as the clean up the night before so if you are puting alot of water in the boom with the ball not all of it comes back because it freeze on the inner wall of the pipe and after pre heating you se how much did not come back with the ball...

I just did a job for a guy that used to work in Toronto and he swore by this method . The thing they had to change was the curve in the stack  and make it straight so they could easily slip the tip hose over the stack.

good pictures and video

when you get done with a job dont you suck something back ? ball/sponge/shirt or something??? if so where does the water come from??? at least enough to cause a plug up?? i have heated up my pipes /boom before just to be doing it .doesnt get that cold here. thought it looked cool .but i dont see the need to have to do it. maybe there is something to it im not seeing help me out

 Chuck the water comes from water washing Im assuming. So no sucking the sponge back. I have used this method to de-ice the pipes. My boss looked at me like I was nuts till he saw the ice fall off in a short time. I thought this would be about warming the hydralic system to operating temp. I hold the fourth sectin in retract till the mud arrives or, about 15 minutes.

I was advised, one time, not to preheat the boom until the outside temp is about -5 C.  Apparently you can dry out the inside of the pipe if the water isn't frozen and make priming more difficult.  Has anybody else heard of this?

G ROCK; I would have to disagree. In the summer months, if you have saturday sunday off as an example, your boom pipes dry anyway. In regards to having your priming cap removed or your rock valve centred,or your transition door opened? I have to disagree again! As long as water box has water in it, just stroke the machine!! It will pull the exhaust heat into the pipe that much quicker and you will be warmer your hydraulic oil as well. Plus it didn't require you to have to do any extra work of removing this or removing that. Also the other thing that can be done is if you have a boom that folds so that your jib elbow is behind the cab instead of at the rear of machine, you can purchase a rubber exhaust flex hose and mount between your exhaust stack elbow and mount to your jib elbow while driving then you can pre-heat boom in travel. In this application you WILL have to remove priming cap or some other form of resolution to allow exhaust to vent. This method will not work with the re-gen engines. Not that it wouldn't work,I just haven't found a hose that will except those higher temps.Also you have to be careful when using this method, the temps can get hot on the jib elbow,grease your swivel more regularly. Other options if for whatever reason you can't get access to exhaust on your truck, use some other form like another exhaust source, placers pick up truck or inside the building of the pour. where ever there is a good heat source. Anything is better than nothing.

The water is from condensation , warm exhaust and cold steel-pipes... And You prime is a piece of cake , We were 2 Schwing S42SX on a bridgepour , I arrived the night before and pump 2 in the morning right from the garage . I pre-heated My boom , the other operator didn't and I get the first batch (allways little colder, before the mixer at the plant get warm) wich boom had an ice-blockage after the first boom ? Between A-boom and B- boom...

So ....ROOKIE??, Your saying to leave the prime port or the swing 90 in place and just stroke the machine?? NO-WAY!!!!! You can dry stroke your cutting ring and Kidney seal if YOU want to but NOT this guy,I will just swing the 90 open!!...Thats just me!!

Oh yeah and one more thing.  Don't forget to take the hose away from the exhaust pipe before priming. (lol) That would suck!

Primed this morning no pre heating minus 31 degrees celcius with out the wind.  Pump never skipped a beat 35 mpa mix with 40mm stone with super p added.  79 meters poured never really warmed up all day.

Heres a question how long should you warm your pipes for so that way some of us know how much earlier to leave for a pour??????? 5 min, 10, 20?????

Hey

Well I try to get at least 20 min like today i did it for 30 or so min when you start to see the exhaust then the pipe is warming and when you see water in your priming port but Vasa is correct also warm air cold pipes as for the water it is between the 2 balls I put the first one in give it a stroke or so and then put half a pale of water in and the 2nd ball and stroke it back slow I have pulled elbows to see if I ever have build up in the boom and deck pipes and they are spotless. I also suck the ball from the elbow and not through the hose even if I have a 5 inch hose on I take it off and always go through the elbow.

I have seen guys suck the ball through a 4 inch hose and the ball goes back like a missle and then they wonder why in a week or 2 why they plug on the prime

The moral of the story is this works for me it is not right or wrong but till this day I have never had a plug on prime because of a half assed wash out from the night before.

Hey if you have a routine that works for you stick with it..

FYI

The magic temperature that will degrade the hardness of your hardened boom pipe is 450°F I was told.  Each cycle into this temperature range will decrease the hardness each time.

Tom Johnston

tom.johnston@conforms.com

866-652-7810

just did it this morning been doing that for about 12 year now i usually catch the s tube between strokes