I watched a wall pour this morning; it made me nervous.

The operator had on a 5" double ended hose + a 5x4 + a 20foot wall pipe. That is just plain TOO MUCH GEAR hanging off of the end of a 47m pump boom.

The fact that the only safety strap was on the 5" tip hose was bad... but he was pouring the wall (I watched him make 2 passes) from the top! He was not putting the wall pipe down into the wall.

Please, it has been a while since I operated a pump; is that the way it is done today??? 

Mystified Bob ;~(

You are right Bob! I have seen this set up before ! Dangerous ! Sometimes that is what the placement calls for. What would the recommendation be for a  placement  such as this to be safe? Clearly loose the 5" tip hose. Would you save a little weight by using a reducing elbow? Last but not least would a short ( 4 ' ) Tip hose and then the pipes be adaquit? Then there is the old Tremi, When used properly and pumping at a slow speed always works like a charm!

Seed,

I know from our communication that you would never be the operator of that machine. (thanks)

A "real" company" would have

1. A very short, 2 to 4 ft 5" hose

2. A reducer with a safety strap

3. A wall pipe of appropriate length... which was replaced by a short hose or pipe when the depth of the wall pipe was not needed.

4. Everything, each piece, was contained with its own safety strap

5. A competent operator that knew the difference and the reason for why it was so.

;~)

I use 5 to 4 reducer 3 foot long 4 inch hose steel braided and a 10 gauge steel pipe (very light I can load it on truck by myself) 18 feet long.  Safety straps to all pipes.

Pete,

The good thing about the 4" hose is the fact that you can lay down the wall pipe and snap it off when not needed and still have a 4" device with which to finish off the wall.  Smarter lash-up than mine.  ;~)

 now that this subject is mentioned, do we as qualified operators have the duty to say something when we see an unsafe procedure or do we just leave it alone and hope for the best.no disrespect sir but if I am watching a pour,which I dont do unless I am the operator,I will say something and get the operators opinion on the situation,If not remidied this rookie aint sticking around and watch someone get beaned.I know in this day we all have to cover our butts for all these unfortunate "liability" issues.Have a nice day

I dont know what brand it was,but my Sc***** has a 215 lb tip rating,so it would be unsafe! I use to try to explain it to customers like this...Imagine a fishing pole with 2' of line off the end,relativley easy to control. Now,double that and put a splitshot in the middle,and try to control the end of that fishing line...Whole new deal. Ive got a new way to deal with difficult customers on safety issues> Let's play a little game,shall we?...... Take the "safe" out of "safeway".What have you got?..."Way" they say! Now take the "F" out of way. "There is no "F" in way" they say. Now we agree!!! Thaes the sting out of being told "NO"

I bet you get some chuckles on that Slinger!

what color was the boom

I would never say.

We just got called to pour 900 coloums. They want us to Start pouring at the bottom and go up not letting the concrete free fall. What would be the best way to do this??? they are about 30 ft tall and 3x3ft. Also what would be a good price to charge them? they want to pay by the coloum not hourly and yardage. what do you guys think? I was thinking weld 2 pieces of 4in pipe and hook it up to a 5 to 4 with a rubber hose after the reducer then the 20ft pipe.

Speedy hit all of the high points.

The guy wants you to get all jazzed with his 900 just like people that want a yardage only charge for pumping when they have a lot of yards to pour.

Every thing you pump is done one stroke at a time, and then only when they tell you to turn the pump on.

If you look at your history (pull old tickets if you must) and check out your income per yard based on what you have done in the past/ at regular sheet price/ while pouring columns it will knock you over. That is expensive concrete to place. Your customer knows this and wants to make you forget by telling you how many columns he has to pour.

One stroke at a time

$xx.xx per hour + $xx.xx per yard + travel + prime charge + fuel sir charge = a successful pump job.

;~) 

As long as I am in truth telling mode; here is another one.

When you price those little afternoon jobs stop giving away the farm. They are LOOSERS. Check your % of labor to income. You are out there for small tickets and big pay checks.

If you do not know how much it costs to pump you will soon need to find out how much it costs to do something else because you will no longer be in the pumping business.

Where is your money spent? Find out!

No one listens...most of this industry thinks they are selling cereal and need to control market share even at losses...or certainly by turning a blind eye.

Unfortunatley it's going to continue to get worse, this market (concrete pumping) will not improve. IMHO it will continue to decline as long as the "controllers" of markets continue to pump for peanuts.

I am ready to start a competing site with Todd and call it "Pumping For Peanuts" the true way from riches to rags. For all the money that was made 25 years ago is pretty well gone for ALL OF THEM. Dont let them tell you the lies. Now with the number manufactures still growing in a contracting market the ole "put em out for free for six months" into the hands of the uneducated will force the markets even further down...and the big boys are going to sell thier cereal no matter what. Until the mentality changes within the industry (and from my conversations with the Big Boys it aint gonna happen) I would look for other places to invest resources and time into other than concrete pumping. If these economic conditions in FL, AZ,GA and Southern CA have not taught lessons, then no one will learn. The Big Guys have turned into Big Guys with a size 16 shoe and a size 2 hat. I think the bigger they get the brains size must decrease, all the blood gets used up in the foot so they can kick ass and sell cereal.

Start checking out other businesses where there is some sort of stable mentality. This industry seems to be run by mental midgets who enjoy misery and stomping prices. Its sad to see markets where the mechanic shops get more for hourly labor than a 300-500k machine out on a job. Sad.No room for error, profit, just room for risk and losses.

There is something I just can't see there.I can see a bid procces on the entire job,footer/caison,wall,slabs,etc.That is for the whole banana.Just being called out for caisons,mmmmm.Put the burden on them to do them faster to save $$$.We had one contractor here that would do pt slab (placing boom) wash pump out,plug back in and do wall and colums.They poured on the same day of each week,now that what I call cooking with gas.You would make better $$ doing 2 house foundations.

It is like a contest you really are better off not participating in. The more you win=the more you loose.

First place gets 1 job (at which he looses money)

Second place gets

*
*
*
*
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TWO JOBS.

It is just like being in the business of trading your silver dollars for someone elses 50 cent pieces. The busier you get, the sooner you are broke.

Back to the subject, on TV one of those build your own home shows, buddy on nation wide TV has his ScH..G Dangling in wires and no personal protective gear, and so on, actually I was suprised how much air time they gave the machine, the owner says that machine was an our late and I am going to have words with this guy, hmmm not watch the wires and so on, so The air time the pump got showed a tacky setup to those who understand and a fly by night pump company, and a typical owner beecking off.

The reason people have no respect for concrete pumpers is that concrete pumpers have no respect for themselves.

If you alow people to pimp you then you are just a HO. If you do not then you are an operating engineer...SIMPLE

Do what you know is right all day every day

Do not do what is expedient or easy

We all set our own standards; whether they are right or not is always up to you