Hey all! It's my first post and I just wanted to my mind at ease, I've had this been bugging me for a while and it's kind of driving my girlfriend up the walls. My girlfriend owns a concrete pump and I've been operating it for the last 3 months without any problems except I've been told conflicting information regarding hose/pipeline setups I want to know what is the best setup for Truckmounted Line pump and why? I've been told not to run three 10metre rubber hoses as it causes the pump to work hard which cause strain on the pump which will lead to breakdown. I've been running this setup for a while to houseslabs. Elbow - 2.4mX4inch whippet - 2.4mX4inch steel pipes(1-4 depending on length to slab) - 4inch to 3 inch shooter - 10metresX3inch rubber house - 10metresX3inch rubber hose(the tip) I've been told it's too much to run and I'm better off just running 3x 10metre hoses from the 4inch to 3inch shooter. Tell me what you guys think and what setup do you recommend? I would love to hear from you guys!!! Thank you very much Brendo

On line pumps, it's recommended to use all steel off the pump, this prevents 'line surge' - the movement of the pipeline during each stroke.

On boom pumps, it's recommended to use a section of rubber off the tip to reduce the additional stresses imposed on the boom, but then one must restrain the pipeline from surge.

Another benefit of using rubber off the hopper is that you have some adjustability in the event that you plug close to the hopper and disconnect to clear it, it's easier to reconnect.

If you have a short section of rubber to use to act as this buffer, I wouldn't see the harm in it.  a shorter length will reduce the amount of surge.  You may still want to secure the pipeline from the movement imposed by this surge if it's too great.

There is roughly 3 times the friction in a rubber hose, compared to the same length of steel.

As far as excessive wear and tear on the machine for pumping through this rubber, they all wear out at some point, they were designed to build this pressure, all you need to do is to ensurte that the rates you are getting will allow you to repair and replace the parts at some point in time.

is it a piston pump? or a ball valve? how many yards are you pumping on your average house slab? what do you average far as yards per hour? if you could provide these answers it will give us all a better idea of how to answer.

3 metal equal the pressure of 1 rubber everyone hopefully knows that. The more pipes the better. If your pumping short distances I dont think it would matter. I would run steel pipe as far as I could without having to change out pipe for hoses as you finish. But to run more than 3 hoses I think everyone does. Most I think I ever did was 300'

what we usually did on our putz 1408 as 5x4 elbow to a shorty 4x4 to a 22 degree elbow (cuz we would head up to the forms to get the trucks backed up quicke) then four or five 4 inch pipe usually to the edge of the forms then 4x3 reducer then all three inch after that most we usually put out was 250 totaly system then when we were done all we would have to do was suck all the fours back to the pump hookup a 5x4 then 4x3 90s of the pump and 1 3 inch 12 and wash her out helper loads all the system while you are washing out then when your done washig out nothing to pick up and we were doing about 4 to 5 trucks sometimes 6 an hour great set up and you can have the pump turned up becuase the fours keep the kick down because it cant expand and contract like a rubber will hope this helps and this was all rock slabs

sorry also forgot to mention we had a 4 inch surge chamber hooked up rite at the pump prolly about 5 to 10 feet off the back of the pump

Boomtish, You are pumping down under, what State and what brand of pump? Is it a PTO powered unit of donkey diesel?

Once we know what you have we can suggest the best set up.

Thanks for the reply guys, I'll definitely will be running more steel pipes than running more rubber hoses!

However, steel pipes can be a bit of a hassle when it comes to house slabs that has 2 or more 150mm stepdowns which requires me to pour the main slab first than moving the pipelines outside to 2 stepdowns(Porch and Patios) to finish the job off. It's how the slab boxing is setup.

I'm asborbing alot of information on the pumping work and I think I'm a natural with it, it hasn't been too much of a problem til the previous operator which was laid off due to being lazy/drinking on the job which left the pump in a bad shape(Just recently spent over $6000aud getting the hydraulic pump fixed/newone) I would like to maintain longievty of pump life without causing alot of strain.

I do 6 houseslabs a week(6days work no 2nd ups(2nd job on the sameday)averaging around 50m3 of concrete being pumped each day. Sorry folks I do not know how many yards it is.

@DIGGER
I'm from downunder, in the fine sunny state of Queensland. I run....I'm sort of ashamed to say but Flowcrete ICB30 pump, it's a PTO powered pump. It's been a really good pump over the last 5 years except for those costs of getting it fixed yearly.

I will run as many steel pipes as I can into the slab but like I said it can be a bit of an hassle. I'm all for less fiction on the lines.

Thanks for the reponse!

hey mate it is a concrete pump and is designed to pump concrete where you want it. in saying that if by using 3 3"hose saves the boxing from having to put pipes over it or saves time from moving pipes half way through the job. i say run the 3 3"hoses.or do what we do with our lines we run 2 3" hoses and 1 10m 3 1/2" of the pipes.  

Boomtish, trust me, people tend to overthink what they're doing here.  Lay down the hose because it's easier to work with and pump the concrete.  The hydraulic pumps today are very well built, and extremely overengineered for our application.  Pressure relieving at 300-350 bar is nothing to the pump.  You may go through mud cups quicker, but if you're doing around 300 cubic meters a week, it'll take a couple years to wear them out anyways.  Just keep the oil clean and full, do the filters, and run the pump.  I've got 10 line pumps running everyday, no steel, lots of 250 foot plus work.  I've done an 850 footer, all hose, no problems.  Don't overthink what you're doing because it really isn't that complicated.

Boomtish, Can't bad mouth the ICB30 seen it was designed for Transcrete Sidewinders in 1974. However, with your brand and Jacons with ICB30 and dual vane pumps, both companies tend to set the relief pressure too low.

What's your pressure setting? As for hoses, providing your pressure setting is correct stick as much hose as possible until your operating pressure is 500 psi below relief setting. We have some Qld pumpers running 8 x 10 metre 3 inch hoses.

I hear Qld Workcover are talking of setting 2 hose minimums, that will be dumb.