Hey Todd, do you still have that piece on cold weather pumping? Forecast says I might need a refresher!!

Yep for sure, here it is

http://www.concretepumping.com/dictionary/index.php/Cold_Weather_Concrete_Pumping

Here is a link to all of our articles.

http://www.concretepumping.com/dictionary/index.php/Concrete_Pumping_&_Safety_Articles

wow that guy was pumping in -45 degree weather in that article !!! The only thing that would get me out in that cold would be ice fishing in a nice warm hut !!

 My worst cold weather day was -7 doing an Inspection not pumping and that was just about my limit and I was born and raised in northern N. Dakota also. Man that operator had to be an icicle by the time he was done pumping . lol

Boom inspector your getting old and forgetful the job you and i did in jersey. it was colder than -7

yup i agree with the article! my coldest day was -50 celcious,pouring a wall with the boom could hardly see it move it was so cold thought the day was cold but when the sun went down man the day felt warm was in northern canada also!!!will never forget that day!!

Holy shit JohnA, yes I did forget about that day but for good reason. Man we froze our arse's off removing that 42m main section pins didnt we ? Aww memories (that I wish I could forget LOL)

Winter is here this week. Hopefully it'll warm up next week. This is the first winter with my new pump. Schwing. So far, so good I've done cold ones now with minimal preventative maintenance. Just drain the water tank, water box, and open the hose valve on back so it can drain. Worked well yesterday 22 F. Got a early footing call 5:45 am. I forgot to plug in the engine but it fired up no problem. I do like the hot water tank!

used to have the engine running in pto if the pump was parked outside for any amount of time jan-mar.  watch out for the first couple loaded in the mornings from the batch plants.  hot water makes hot loads.

if your pumping where its cold, get used to being cold.  wear to much clothing and you sweat too much.  hot pack for your gloves, two pairs of dunlop or viking thermal boots and a sweet tuque.

Hot water tends to loosen up the fin-fish too. But it's usually worst at the start of the season. I also notice an increase in the amount and size of the cement balls from dry-batch plants during hot water season. But that always seemed to be worse in certain trucks, perhaps the condition of the fins is also a factor in that.

Yeah, the fin fish are appearing. It's cold where i live Northern Mn, Coldest I've gone out is -15 F Not again though. A wise RM plant won't bring out mud unless it's at least above 0F during the day. I like pumping warm water mud its creamier. I'm just transfering to a new truck 5 years of a 1990 now an 02. Little different but I like it.

WOW!!  You went OUT at -15 F?  (-26 C).

-15 C (5 F) and warming is my self-imposed limit.

How did the boom react to that?  Very slow, I'll bet.

And the outrigger setup must've been a turtle race too.

Did your waterbox get slushy?

I fill up the water box with hot water with the RM truck supply. It was a cold one that day. My sponge froze in the pipe when I was sucking back, because, the set up was threw a bunch of trees and fold up was slow. My hydraulic oil took about 20 minutes to warm up enough to move the boom. This was on my old 1990 28 meter it was a good ole pump. Still is it's just down in Mexico.. I like using my line pump in the winter if possible because I put it in the garage heated start it up and leave it running till the jobs done. I need to build a large heated shop for the Boom Pump.

To get rid of fin fish I use a fin fish net and it works great never have to worry unless you get a load of old hot mud that the vibrator cant break up and the mixer driver is to stupid to notice