I am new to pumping this year. We arent a rental company so I dont have to deal with as much crap as most of you.  I read about water washing  what is that and when you prime how much water do most of you put in your hopper.  I fill to the top of the s tube and put in 2 bags of pro prime?

OH BOY!!! ...Water wasing is when you "blow" the hopper down getting as much mud as you can out,Then filling it with water and pushing the water out to clean the boom.BUT I would suggest you master the art of sucking a sponge before trying the water wash.It can be a bit tricky and if you dont do it right it WILL screw you!! Let me do some searching and see if I can fid the "Directions" (if you will) to the way I do it.AS for the prime out,Idont have an S-TUBE but I fill up about 3 inches up the cylinder (just under half way up the opening,Take a couple strokes then fill'er up!! and let'er eat!!!

I'm a new member to the site but I have been reading post/ looking at pics for the last year or so, great site Todd and greetings all!!

Ya i know that sounded like a stupid question but thats what i wanted to know. I suck a sponge and and then fill with water and put a sponge in front when I do chip mixes. I figured I would end up with a rock pack putting water in before sucking a sponge

YA practice ur sponges 4 awhile unless ur runnin a little boom, then mabey it wouldnt be so bad 2 try WWing. What ru runnin?

putz 36z

No one on this site will ever make you feel as though you asked a "Stupid" question.That is not what this site is about.If I came across that way it was NOT intended!!

Ask all the questions you need to.There is a BUNCH of years of expierience on here and you will get a good solid answer.

Some people here will curse water washing but I love it,AND the customers love it.As long as you have it down.(It aint rocket surgery,Nor is it Brian science)

You can put all the water you want in front of your sponge,as long as the pump is stroking in reverse you wont pack off!!

thanks for the help.

Well I would prob hold off on the WWing 4 a bit then, But it never hurts 2 at least know how 2 do it u may get into a situation where u have 2. There used 2 be a good video for WWing on here long ago WHO?? might b able 2 find it or Todd. And THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A STUPID QUESTION!!  I think some people are stupid 4 not asking!!

If you look in the video section on this site and search for "Water wash", you'll find these two:
http://video.concretepumping.com/view_video.php?viewkey=8c97020180038fddb8e2
and
http://video.concretepumping.com/view_video.php?viewkey=b9530df88f7f002e78ea

Welcome to the industry. It being your first year really learn the trouble shooting and operating then have someone properly show you how to WW. Because if you don't do it right you will have a bad day quick.

maybe this is a dumb question but why water wash when you can clean the hopper at the worksite. after looking at the videos I think it would be faster to suck a sponge and then clean the hopper. saves alot of water to.

I'm with niklas,have just watched the vid and sucking a ball  is quicker and easier but am intrigued.... what do you do with all the water still left in the pump????

Water washing is kind of a trade of,It takes a minute to fill the hopper but the washout is super fast,Most of what is left in the hopper falls right out of the trap door when you open it.After I open her up I can have it rinsed out in just a few minutes..AND there is no giant DINO-TURD looking pile of concrete left for the contractor to deal with,And it adds very little to the wash out pit or ECO-PAN or what ever.I would rather water wash than suck a sponge ANY DAY!! And like I said earlier the contractors like it too!!

kinda takes the fun out of it tho, when you ve had the biggest bunch of a$$holes to work with and put up with all day just to see their faces when you drop it on the floor and wash out on top of it... there you go boys clean that up!

got to be alot easier suck a ball back than clean all that jammed up rock out when it goes wrong .im a suck 2 balls back man my self but each to their own.eat ya dinner out of my boom pipes.lol

If I showed you how easy it is to do,You would be doin it too,..All the cool kids are water washin'

I have been water washing for 3 years now EVERY day with not one issue!!

no man could go wrong with a pair of balls .lol!!!!!!!

Suckin' balls is for hookers!!!..LOL...Sorry I had too

Hello, New guy! I run a 63meter in Texas. I do the same thing every time! Routines are important in this bussiness. Wnen I finish the pour I A-Frame the boom as much as possible. Then find an area in can pump down the hopper. I pumpthe hopper down about half way! Check the slump of the mud!!! Then i add alittle water to the hopper, close the lid a start to reverse, by this time the other sections have drained with gravity! I put the tip hose about 3 feet of the ground. I use a sponge, soaked in a 5gal-bucket, fillled to the top with water. Put bucket under the tip hose and let the water pull through the sponge before, the sponge take off!!! Then do what it is that you do to get the to the swing 90-! Your pipes should be as clear as chrome! But this is only a suggestion!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck!!

Water washing I do both Now I have a 95% % way to water wash I was tought by a operator who learned the hard way so I am lucky. Ok Pump the hopper down to just above the s tube then fill the hopper to the top with water start pumping do it a A frame only and when you see water coming out of the hose or elbow reverse stroke it in full speed and when you open the gate you should see no more than a hand full of sand stone if you have more or less you are screwed if you have more you will have stone in your elbows most likely near the turret pipe.

If you are operating a 36 z why dont you use the primming port it is alot safer than using your hopper I fill the priming port half way up with slickie and water and if it is a lean mix  be carefull because it can still seperate. Now if you have alot of system off your boom and you are using grout if you have more than 3 sections of rubber at the end fill your primming port up with water that way the slickie and water will be absorbed by the rubber and you wont pack out with grout in the rubber. I had one job wonkie boom set up because of the job 150 feet of steel line and 120 feet of rubber I put water/slickie in front of the grout in the primming port and primmed out perfect and won a $50 bet with the foreman because prior to me working on his site all the pumps would only use the grout and they would be banging the rubber on prime.