Ok here's a little quiz.. Say you have three or more RM trucks backed up to do a pump job and for some unforeseen reason you do your prime wrong which packs your tower and deck pipe solid with concrete that won't move at all. What would you do to fix it? Mean while the job site is starting to panic, supers face is turning red. You hear "someones going to buy some mud!" So you calmly with out showing any fear or worry do.. Yes, I've had this happen.

always carry 2 reducers, then bypass the problem area with a couple of groundline flexis, then sort it out when ur not under pressure.

It's happened to me, I've pulled out the turret pipe, and a deck pipe and cleared them and replaced in 30 minutes with help from some of the crew. I wasn't very clean for the rest of the day, but we got it going, and that's what counts. Some contractors question: 'Where's your back-up pump?' But I always counter that with: 'Where's your spare vibrator?' They soon see the point.

I would wonder why i started the pump with such a bad mix coming from the concretetruck. Or wonder which assh.. was out with this truck the last time and didn't clean the system right.

Well that suck's take apart the turret and deck pipe clean by hand and start over.I would start carrying retarder for the mixers.

what is a rock pack ? something in the concrete truck ?forgive me I am new at this and never seen a pack of anything , but if I did I wouldnt put it in my deck pipe .

I hope you live long enough to learn what a rock pack is but playing close to power lines you may never know. Brian no matter how you clean it out it aint fun I know first hand we don't it two times and got lucky both times the first time was very bad but the mixer was able to tail gate the load, the second time we just finished pumping and they dumped water in the hopper and there was only rock to pump.

The way I did it after figuring out it was in the tower mostly. Was take the 45degree deck elbow off (the one 4' from the tower on Schwing). Then have the RM truck pull up along side of you and use his hose. Take the end off it and stick it in the deck pipe, feed it all the way up and flush out the rock and concrete. Put it back together and re prime. I had to do it last summer because I had a bad prime. Water works great for flushing out clogged hoses also.

Yes water works great to flush rubber hoses, as long as you don't wait to long.

i would dump and washout hopper and cannon(reducer) close hopper door and fill with water and 4 or 5 slic-pacs then slowly pump forward untll it pushes through  and releases the pack .fill hopper with concrete and pump on.

also sometimes it wont push out the pack but once the slicpac covers the rock it will suck back.if not see above. 

mix up a pail or 2 of slick and dump it in the tip and stand the boom up, then you get some slick-um from both directions. Even guys that use water to prime should be carrying some of that magic gel.

Its amazing what a water hose will break up and wash back. Not trying to push the whole pack it just breaks it up and washes out.

don't know about from there but if blocked further up the boom i just sucked back as much as i can even to point of overflowing hoppa then forward again always gets you at least to the end 90s might take a couple of trys but.also i found with scwhings 47m and under that even with dirty pipeline as long as putting it thru quick will get to end 90 or reducer using water though not primer.if concrete looks bad a good primer is only option good luck mate

The reason I packed on this job was..For one thing my pipes were a little dirty because I hadn't started using two sponges and water to suck back. The main reason was I asked the RM driver to put water in my hopper for me when I looked he had filled it up to the agitator. So instead of dumping the extra water I thought I would give it a couple strokes to bring the level down then put in the mud. I must have had too much water in or when switching the R valve it washed the mud apart.

Two words....PRIME PORT!!!

Yea.. Not all pumps have a prime port ofcourse.. I did it like that for years.. Its verry important to switch on the pump at the right moment and not have to much water. Wait untill the concrete pushes the water in to the pumpcilinders. But that you already know i guess. You just were a bit unlucky i guess. Going in to the pipes with a water hose would be my favourite solution to!! Even better when you use a special head on the end of the hose. One you also use to clean your rainpipe but than an industrial version. It 'eats' itself in to the concrete. Thats what we use when a newbeginner comes home with a boom full of concrete... Works great!!

TOO MUCH WATER WILL SCREW YOU EVERY TIME. Just to the bottom of the cylinders is plenty to even prime a big pump. Rock packing sucks ass.

That was after 5 years experience it can happen to you if not careful plus it was a new pump I wasn't used to yet. Now when i prime I let the mud fill to the top of the cylinders that way the water gets pushed into the open jug with no mixing then it pushes through first and the extra water goes to the top with out mixing in to the first part.

Crank it up and gag it til it pukes!!!

As long as you suck the sponge back slowly, you only need 1 and it also helps to put it in a plastic bag...plus it keeps your sponge cleaner.

Sponges in plastic bags, may work in some locations, but not in all. Leaves a little bit of buildup, and if boom is used for mostly slow, small pours, that little bit of buildup can become lots of buildup, 12 inch long chunks of 1 inch thick buildup don't go around elbows very well at all. The clean sponge trick can bite you.

to much water in my hopper with a 3"-3 1/2" slump on a Monday morning wasn't to much fun. I got lucky and found mine pluged at my tip hose, it's a 5"-4 1/2" reducer hose. took about 20 minutes to beat it out and get going again. it was already like 92 outside and that was like 8:30 Monday morning.