OK all you cold weather guys time to think COLD

It happens every year, frozen water box, Frozen water pump, water or snow that freezes in the bottom of the hopper. Yep that one gets some of you.

So lets start a cold weather thread to help those who might not be thinking of all the tips.

I will start with a few

 Hydraulic oil tank, make sure you are draining the water off of the bottom of the tank regularly, this will help keep the water from building in the oil, but also it is not good to get to a job and when the frozen drain valve thaws out your cracked valve leaks hyd oil out of the tank on site……Had it happen and it’s a real mess.

Another tip for guys with pumps that have Accumulator bottles, even if you park in the shop, the drive to the job can freeze the accumulator bladder to the bottle.

Think like this: the bladder is like an inner tube in a tire, during the frozen drive to the site the exterior of the bottle gets cooled way down, when you get to the site and clear the e-stop the frozen brittle bladder can rupture and fail, I had one customer loose 3 in one day, his fix was to wrap the accumulator bottle to insulate it from the cold on the road portions of the trip, once it is warm and working it will take care of itself.

For those of you that have tank heaters that use engine antifreeze it is possible to acquire a little air in the heat exchanger, I have had guys tell me that a yearly bleeding to release trapped air in the exchanger will help with circulation and warmer water.

Another big one is to inspect the e-stop boxes. They are supposed to be water tight, but moisture from pressure washing, humid climates and general condensation will build up, It is good to open the boxes and make sure they are clean and dry. What can happen is. Someone pushes the e-stop and the damp contacts can freeze open so that the button is out but the contacts are not closed. This cost one customer a slab and 80 yards of mud. So look in the e-stop box and blow it out, clean and fix any corroded wires, saving you a future problem. Don’t use WD 40 it freezes so use a drier that won’t freeze or better yet just dry it out. This also goes for the hopper grate switch box..

So I know there are a lot of tips you have learned along the way. Lets see how many we can come up with, Don’t be bashful there are always new guys out there that haven’t learned these and old timers to

And Granddad I know you have a few......

My pumps all have Electric hot water tanks plus my line pump has a small generator  for my deisel salermander heater I carry in the winter, I know that I'm the only company that does this but beleive me its very cost effective, I built a 250 gallon steel water tank for my line pump its insolated with 2 inch foam it has one 220 volt water heater element so I plug it in at night my preassure washer pump is rapped with a heat trace cord in the morning I just unplug from base power and start generator, if for some reason something freezes I take the heater a put the hest on it and it thaws out fast, my boompump has the same those elements are 110 volt  as of now I don't have a generator for it cause it mostly sit's.

Change your air dryer

Good one Ti-so

Also drain the air tanks so the water wont freeze in the air valves.

Keep your fuel filters fresh and always have a spare. I had a job once with three RM Trucks lined up then, 

baw ba baw.... Bawwww. The engine quit. Long stressful story but, I managed to get it running and finish the job. 

Reason it quit was the water in the fuel filter froze. 

I've heard a couple of guys talk about warming up their pipes in the winter by positioning the tip of the boom near the exhaust pipe, opening up the swing tube at the rear of the hopper (or centering the rock valve between cylinders) and blowing their exhaust through their pipes. I guess it warms up the pipes so that your slurry won't freeze to the pipe walls when you prime the pump. I've never had to do it where i am it doesn't get cold enough here to warrant that kind of thing. 

Feeewww Methol in the air system, and good cut fuel goes miles in the cold, extreme winter, get ugly and wrap with insulation. Nothing wrong with antifreeze in water box, just make sure it is dumped were fido can't lick it up. Commen sense goes miles. Warming pipes is nice, but if that cold, you better use a tiger torch. wrap boom pipes and on and on.

We often take a jerrycan with hot water with us from the shop to do the water prime. Works great to

Insulate your booms.  If cost is a factor insulate last 2 sections and here is why.  A pipe full of concrete will not freeze as fast as an empty pipe.  That frozen layer of concrete will peel off when you start pumping again and create a frozen slug of concrete that will plug in elbows.  If you don,t beleive me put a full glass of water in your freezer and a glass that you fill then empty out leaving it damp.  In 5 minutes open your freezer (or less) the full glass will be still lquid and the water of the damp glass will be frozen.  Now imagine 50 ft of pipe hanging down and all of that frozen water peeling off you will have enough ice for your drinks for the christmas party.  Keep an eye out for temperature of your concrete, and atmosperic temperature.  Depending on how busy a redi mix company is the temperature of their concrete can change drastically through the day.  concrete and water so hot you can,t touch their hose without gloves and by the end of the day there is still steam coming off the loads but you can handle their water hose and the temperature has dropped by 15 degrees.  Concrete and water have a lot of similar properties.  Think of concrete like a lake or river,. What freezes first the centre of a lake or the edges? Answer is the edges. 

    Also remember that hydraulic oil will be thick as molasses on cold days.  Give yourself lots of time so you can warm up your oil on site.  To much engine speed can cavitate pumps or blow lines.  you'll be certain to find the weak link in your system if you show up throw the pump into gear and go at it because your running late.

    Keep brake line anti freeze and fuel conditioner in your pump at all times for obvious reasons.

    We keep our blow out balls in anti freeze in the winter as well.  A number of times I've seen pumps come back to the yard because of a ball thats frozen in the pipe.  And don't panic if you are frozen.  Frozen concrete has to thaw out before it sets.  You can save the boom system.   I'll try to think of some more tips, but hopes this helps.

Reverse-stroking also introduces cold air into the boom pipe, it will freeze the grout layer.

Thats good tips.. So the best pump for extreem coldness is a Z boom keeping as much as possible pipes full of concrete. Maybe even best with a shut off clamp to keep the last section full as well...

If yiu wash your pump in cold weather good idea to drive pump arround little and use brakes a lot to dry out water in drums so you dont come in next morning to find brakes froze to drums

Hey Allen would that be me your talking about?

 It definately requires some adjustment to ones usual routine! Like lighting the pump then going back inside to cook breakfast while she warms up for an hour :) When it's below zero I've been engaging the PTO in a lower gear long enough for the oil to warm up and the hyd. pumps quit whining. Pressuring out the hyd. system helps warm things up a bit faster. Even closing off the aggitator curcit helps a lot. I wont cycle the pump until it warms up to at least +20C otherwise the accumulator bladder can & Will rupture. A couple unsulated blankets laid over the deck hold in the heat generated by the hydraulics and keep things plenty warm after the warm up process. 

 The tip hose over the exhaust works well just dont put the tip hose completely over the exhaust stack, that's not good for the engine. Hanging it a few inches from it draws plenty of heat. A stash of calcium pellets in a water tight container & a propane torch come in awful handy when its time to wash out and everthing's froze.. again.

 !!Aways keep people from standing directly under the boom! Especially when priming and at the start of a pour. The boom pipe warms up as soon as concrete passes through it and losens the ice that's frozen to it. The boom tends to warm up a bit later so always be ready for ice falling off the boom! Especially from the pivot points and off of the levers etc. I try to keep people out of harms way (out from under the boom) until it stops raining water from the melt off.