I was on a residential job the other day for an addition and my boss asked me to keep it spotless so i pulled with a 39 meter and primed in the hopper with about 8 gallons of water. pumped the job and water washed back into the mixer. It takes a lot of time to keep clean but just wondering if many operators do the same.

Yep,you ought to try stunts like that with big booms.

Here is a little trick I pull ALOT!!...(With a 39m)get your prime water in your hopper,Stick the hose in the drum.Now take a few strokes to get your water into the "Rock Valve" now stop the valve and put the redi-mix chute on the same side as the valve,So that the concrete goes under the valve,This will push the rest of the water into the cylinder.once the concrete gets up to about the auger,Start stroking,Take 7 strokes and tell the driver to spin the drum FULL CHARGE!!.and WAHLAH,your primed out and the little bit of water you put in the drum does not hurt a thing...And I water wash into mixers ALL THE TIME I hate leaving a mess on a job site!!

Priming into the hopper sounds a little scary to me.Too much of a chance to suck that water back into the rock in the middle of a stroke and pack off!!

I have primed into the drum several times! Easy as pie!! As long as the driver is paying attention,I just take a couple minutes to explain to them what we are gonna be doin.They look a little nervous at first but when we are done they are cool with it the next time we HAVE to do it!!

Never tried it. I always wondered about priming into a second mixer to keep mess down, but never into my own hopper. glad it worked, is it something you think you would ever do again?

I have wanted the second mixer but never have it so I am stuck with the truck I have backed up to the pump.But I have done it several times!

I'm with WHO it's easy to prime into mixer i just don't have the hose on.

I aslo prime into the mixer...I do it every day. but I dont like to prime in my own hopper, I think it splashes water and concrete everywere.

more then on the ground.  if you want to avoid the splashing, put the drop hose on the side of the mixer shute.  i prefer to prime into the hopper vs mixer and circulate so the prime water is mixed with the mud in the system.  if hooking up to rubber on the ground, not circulating can cause a plug.  it may take a practice or two on dirt with a small or big boom to not over fill the hopper.  the only worry ive had is if theres a hose wip for what ever reason.

Over here they would lose the head if you tried to prime into the back of a mixer, let alone take your wash out away, yet they still think its ok to wash the chute etc into the pump-not!

It depends on the job, but I prime into the mixer most of the time when I'm on residential and in the city.
If I'm on a new project I usually find a hole to put it in.
And also when I'm on line jobs with hoses, I usually hang the first 2.5 or 3 inch hose from the boom and prime in the hopper and circulate a bit, makes a nice wet prime for the rest of the hoses in addition to the grout I use.

Florida is like that in most places Murf, so i never primed into a mixer or washed out in one, i did one time have a pour that was raising sin about my prime pile at an occupied hotel on the beach, so when i was done, had a kinked 3inch 25 footer hanging off the boom, pumped that back into the mixer and made a big mess. Air came threw, hose whipped and mixer needed a bath.

I am very shocked at you all,there was a very good opportunity for you to make your co. a little easy $$$$$ with a washout bag.no mess no worries.good for primeing & washing.....

How about "Suicide Priming" for ur second job I've pulled it off alot of times! (Priming ur second job with ur left overs from ur first water wash) ANYONE EVER TRIED IT?

you still have to lean up a wash out bag!!! thats the point. and ive heard of people using the same water to prime that they just used 2 water wash but ive never tried.

yard whore 

Actually I have and know several that did.One day that little birdie came by and said,it only takes a second to back over to the wash out area and at least drop the hopper.I fine the risk level dropped big time.

yard whore, never had to.  being a spong sucker, i keep my concrete concrete and then decide what i want to do to the hopper.  Suiside prime sound about right though

It all applies to the aplication around here they say you can't waterwash or suicide prime but you could if you wanted to. Those wash out bags can be nice unless the mixers have messed them up already. Any the guy I work for his trucks barely carry enough water to washout twice. And don't get me started on the mixer drivers.

MANY, only if there is no place to wash on the first and I got a second job.

Most of the companies around here charge a pretty good fee for off site wash's.I do understand what your saying and I always tried to find the wash out place on the second job,back over and drop.It's only my personal prefence to do,would rather have someone call because I did not plugged.

I guess it's all about choice and the cards delt you.

I always pray to the pump gods and in all my years they've done me right!

Sounds to me like playing with fire!! Priming into the hopper is dangerous to the driver of the mixer! Something goes wrong, you get packed off, you get hose whip, you pop the hopper, someone gets hurt! All of that is the operator's problem and then "YOUR SCREWED"! Everyone knows that if something goes wrong with the pump, "NO MATTER WHAT", the first person they look at is YOU the OPERATOR! When I go to a job, the first questions I ask is, where do you want me to set up, where do I prime, where do I wash-out! If I find any of those things to be "UNSAFE", I "DONT" do any of it!!!! I will call a saleman and my supervisior before I'll even set the pump up!!! CYA!!!

Flint your kinda acting like a sissy girl. haha Sounds like you dont trust your self.

grass hopper, it is the machine that dont know the difference i do not trust.

hey flint, are you always givin a prime spot?  i prime on the ground whenever possible but im in metro land and i do my very best not to leave any evidence that a pump was there.  one thing i love about batch plants, 9 time out of 10 i get a veteran mixer for my prime truck who understand the extra percautions needed to be takin if priming into the hopper.  when they come back to see their truck is as clean as before the prime, they are much more receptive.  for the 1, a few seconds to inform the mix-op the dangers involved and percautions  needed.