im curious if you dont have slik pack how do you prime your boom ive been pumping for about 8yrs. and i have always used prime pacs or grout and i have heard of guys using just water im a little leary of that never tried that method just like waterwash that goes against every thing i learned about pumping any other ideas on what i can use to prime im asking because my shipment of slik pac has not come yet and we're all out i waited to long to order it HAHAHA

Drillers use bentonite to lubricate their bores when drilling deep...and it's fantastic for priming pumps!

If you use water, the key is to keep it from separating the first bit of mud it touches.  I usually prime out a bit faster with just water because I want the mud rolling in the pipe as it is priming so it doesn't get a chance to separate.

Others use strictly water so they'll chime in with some good ideas!

dude just put water in your hopper about half way on the cylinder stroke it a few times and go. i prime wide open but you dont have to. have not pluged yet and vegas concrete it crap. just try it tomorrow you will see. and i have never used prime to just prime the boom seems like a waste of money to me.

yea i always hit is hard to prime dont need to but always have never plugged thanks 4 the input guys keep it commin

I  prime out with water. It's not to big of problem.

Water will do just fine, on my line pump I use Bentonite in the hopper and about two gallons behind a wet wad of news print in the first hose.

I always use water to prime and wash the boom.  got a 32 schwing, fill my hopper with water to the bottom of the cylinders and have the first mixer dishcharge into the driver side (my augor is directional, so when engaged it pulls mud towards the passenger side)of the hopper.  Make sure the stube is on the same side that the rm truck is discharging into to start.  Wait until the mud just starts to come over the stube into the other side of the hopper and start pumping.  After the second stroke (most of the last of the water will dissapear with that stroke) tell the rm driver to hammer down.  He might even need to throttle up to keep up with the pump and full throttle/volume.  The rest is the same.  Never had a problem myself.  Every once and a while, if I stop the pump to soon during prime because I'm trying to keep the mess on the ground to a minimum, it will rock pack, but usually taps out of the reducer without even having tp break the hose.  Good luck, you'll be fine.  Any questions gimme a call.  email me at mdelg02@hotmail.com and I'll give you the phone #.

Once you get used to using water to prime your boom you will wonder why you used pime pacs lol. Just like the other guys i was teached to fill the water up to the cylinders and pump it out full volume. Bentonite awh man i love that stuff for line pumps!

I've never tried it, but I've heard people using dirt.

I've primed more hose with dirt than I care to admit! Cant be just any "dirt" though it's gotta be the kind that makes good mud! Sandy loamy stuff dont work, it settles out and you end up with a bucket of wet sand & dirty water. Anything that can be made into the consistancy of pancake batter will prime a pump, including 'Bisquick', dry wall & mortar mixes... "Quikcrete" sucks! You'd be better off draining the backwater out of the water box into a bucket and priming with that.

 But peeling back a chunk of grass sod and robbing a couple shovels of topsoil will get it out the end in a bind! 

 Now as far as priming with water goes... well sometimes it doesn't go at all!

 I gotta say dont listen 'em. It ALL depends on mix materials and that changes from county to county sometimes! I learned to prime with water but here in the NW you could probably spit in the hopper and still get mud out of the end. Water works in most places and others require 2 full buckets of good sloppy slurry!

i use sand and water to prime, sand in the bottom for easy  cleaning,i use dirt if no available sand. never had a problem just a teamwork between you and the mixer driver.

I was taught to use cement + water to prime my pump. then fill the hopper up to the bottom of the intake and then get the mixer operator to SLOWLY pour the concrete in on the opposite side of the hopper from the intake so that it pushes the grout into the tube without segregating. this worked most of the time but i was still jamming up 25% of the time. Tryed the same method with slick packs and that worked even better but makes an awful mess and was still jamming up occasionally. then i read somewhere on the forums here about using just water. fill up your hopper just above the top of the intake, pump forward 2 strokes to push some water into your pipeline and then dump the remaining water out of the hopper onto the street/ground.  then fill the hopper up FULL of concrete (remember to close the dumpgate first ;) )  and just start pumping. I've been priming that way since november/december '09 now and i haven't had an issue since then.  at the end of the day i pump a hopperful of water through my pipeline to help prevent any buildup and whatever water is left in my pipes is what i prime with the next day. works very well for me. cheers, Deaner    

i use to have problems priming with just water when i only sucked 1 sponge back now i suck 1 sponge 5 gallons of water then another sponge an the pipe is like new an no trouble on the prime  

waters the best way buddy cheep and ez iv primed many pumps with water 2in to 5 inc line

always smash it thru 47m sching w/water.is set up to put water sraight in to deck line via the kungfu put about 8 to 10 seconds of water in, open kungfu fill hoppa,full revs stroker on 7 or 8 bang bang away ya go.smaller pump ya can go a bit slower and less water and if you have reduced line on end slow it down or turn off when it comes down 3rd stage.better if you have boom staight up and down too and don't try with too much line on(<10m).if don't have kungfu then fill hoppa w/water to bottom edge of cylinder drop crete slowly on to rockvalve stoping before crete enters cylinder then change it over fill hoppa bang bang your away.apparenting works with s/tubes but been told they put it thru a bit slower.