Yesterday i had a linejob - 8 stories up, pumping concrete to a penthouseslab into a building from 1910 in the very fancy location of Stockholm. As usual i lined up my hoses in the stairwell, all way up - even though, in this fancy location of Stockholm the stairwell has marble on the walls and stairsteps, and the railing is made in brass. There are also very expencive paintings hanging on every levelwall and Persian carpets on every levelshoulder and lots of flowers - not a sheap wallmartflower(!) in every every levelwindow.

It means that the tolerance for failure is lower on this sort of linejob.

And of course..........what else? One of my hoses burst on the 5:th floor........and it look like a hell of concrete in the stairwell......even the ecxpencive paintings on the wall were spraypainted with concrete - and then the Persian carpets...Shit, shit and hell and Jesus...

It happends when i´ve been pumping about 14 m3 and there where still 12 m3 to pump (or 3,5 hour).

What i do when i´m on work: Do what ever has to been done to finish the pumpjob - i turn of my brain and act like a brainless alligator when catching a pray. It means: Nothing will intervene me and my target to complete the pumpjob - i do not have any caringfeelings about other people at that time - i´m calm but very determinded and i do not listen to any feelingstalk if i step on a toe or two to solve the problem - i run over people (if it´s necessary) until the problem is solved!!!

 But when the problem is solved, i´m carefully explain my behavior, so they understand all the costs it will cause me when the pump is not pumping and i carefully apologize. 

The stairwell was a totaly mess at the 5:th and half the 4:th floor. I raplaced the hose (lots of stairrunning)...and then get the concrete trough that hose before conect it to the line....and the mixertrucks minutecost is ticking and the next mixertruck is loaded, on the road - no retarder in the concrete, in the warmest springday of the latest 100 year. More pressure than that is not easy to find - an ordinary pumpers workingday....

I completed the pumpjob - the cleanupjob and the payment for the Sadam Iran-carpets and the paintings, is a work for my isurancecompany. The deductible is way high - way higher than i can charge for the pumpjob.

The insurancecompany do not pay for the bursted hose - that pumpjob was a revrsejob, a disaster for my economy! Some workingdays is more worse than the usually... But i completed the pumpjob, that´s the most important for my ego.

How do you act in this situation? Are you calm and methodical?   

Sorry to hear about your bad day - I can only say I remember when one time we were pumping a high rise with the pipeline going up the elevator shaft - George Brock one of then best owners in the industry was standing and talking with the Supt when the piple blew - George Looked at the Supt and said "Thats pumping concrete for you" and we proceeded to clean up the mess and do the best we could.  No matter what happens you have to try to do the best you can after the fact.  Show concern and bust your a.............No matter what happens the pump is always the bad guy and it is how you react after the fact and the concern you show that will make or break the situation.  Good Luck !

I feel ya here.  Do what you have to do when you have to do it.  A mess like that is left to the crew that hired you.  Once I start set up ontill I am done washing out, I run the pump.  And if we have a mess like that, I tell my super I am working with to put someone on it.  

Yesterday was my worst day thus far.  Last Min 30 Yard slab pour at 5 am.  Had NO sleep, and had 30 mins to set up pipe.  We were short on angles and the dam labors did not want to do chit.  Once the truck showed up, 22 mins late, it clogged a few times.  Slump gauge said about a 7", looked about a 6.5", and tested at 4.5".  Last truck was hard to pump too.  The freaking pipe clogged up.  Then we could not get hooked back up to the pump.  The pipe had moved and we could not slide it back to where it needed to be.  Then after moving the pump and rerunning the pipe, the hose clogged.  While reversing it and me standing on it, it blew and about knocked a few guys off their feet, I had told them to stand clear of the hose.  After all that, I had to grout there.  Then haul ass to another job to grout and pour beams.  Long ass day with tons of problems.  I feel ya.  While all that crap with the mud was going on, I lost my cool.  And when a big guy like me gets pissed, people get out of my way.  But after it was all said and done, everything was fine.

Almima  I was laughing at your post thats about all you can do,Goose why do you all start out with hard line at the pump why not use Rubber hose then go to steel, you guys run S-tube pumps so theres a lot of kick on the pipe and you don't have a surge chamber like my OLIN  90 percent of my pumps my hose never moves.

Almima what you need is a disclaimer in your contract.

something like the responsebility can never be more than the price of the pump job.

Its like the CMR conditions for international trucking in Europe insurans is never in the price of transportation.

Was it a pea gravel mix?

"SUPERDOFFER"  My pumpcompany is on it,s own and i have no contract to any other company. All pumpjob i do is directly my costumer - there is not any other company involved who want % (money) for giving me pumpjob.

This costumer is just a costumer that called me and want hire my dutys, and i´m pretty sure that i would never get the pumpjob if i asked them to sign a contract that they will pay for the disaster.

Every pumpcompany must have a liability isurance wich cover damages for at least 10 milj Skr (about: 1.432.500 USD). It,s very expencive to use that insurance - but it´s cheaper than pay from my own pocket.

The deductible cost 6.000 Skr (about: 860 USD) then after that i have to pay 20% of the damagescost. I do only have to pay 20% for damages up to 100.000 Skr (14.323 USD), the insurancecompany pay the rest.

That means that this damagecost is way higher than 100.000 Skr, but i do "only" have to pay 26.000 Skr (3726 USD) + 4700 Skr (674 USD) for my 10 m (30 feet) 2"-hose - the isurancecompany pay the rest.

Luckyli i only have had use for the isurance 2 times in all these years i have runned my company.    

No, it was 0 - 1/4" concrete and i pumped it through 110 m (361 Ft) 2"-hose. 

I would run and keep running

If you start out with rubber at the pump then go to steel and have anything plug anywhere, that hose is going to blow.  Right next to the mixer driver and anyone else near the pump.  It's never a good idea to put hose near the pump unless you're running just hose.  There are better ways to take out the surge than put hose in the system.

"Leaddog". The burstpressure on a hose is allways twice as much as pumpingpressure - when the hose is brandnew. My linepumps maximum concretepressure is 70 BAR (1015 PSI) and the weakest hose i can use is a hose that manage 70 BAR. And that hose will burst at 140 BAR.

The hoses i use, manage 85 BAR (1250 PSI) burstpressure 170 BAR - when they are brandnew (!).

I don´t see any problem to use a hose, and then steelpipes in the line - if the firsthose from my pump is a thougher hose that manage 110 Bar (1596 PSI) 220 BAR burstpressure. 

Just don´t use it as a firsthose to a steelpipeline after pumping about 1000 m3 (1094 cub.yard) - replace it to a new one and use it only to a hoseline with 85 BAR-hoses or as a endhose. That is how i do - and it wasn´t an old 110 BAR-hose that burst in the stairwell. 

Almima,

You did your best, and that is more than I could say for myself. All the best.

I would tell my customer to cover everything in plastic because its just gambling to work like you did. If they don't want to do that than let them sign for the responsbility.. Any concrete spoiled is their problem..