did it work...are you here? Hey, I've got tons invested in my Putz.water blast equipment...I was advised by Putzmeister to try using it for emergency blockage removal/clearing. It is supposed to be a "needed" service...what with the high cost of boom replacement pipes. What I'm asking of all you pros out there is simple and honest...could the industry utilize this type of service to keep you guys pumping.

okay in our operation in 4 years running 5-6 pumps I hope I dont anger the pump gods again, we have only had to have pipe blasted once now weve had lockups but only one where the pipe had to be blasted out ,now some of the other companies no names I know they have had issues but unless u can travel the country I personally dont know if you could make a living cleaning clogged pipe now I do not know this for sure its just from my eyes in our area you couldnt rely on just boom parties maybe in a area with a greater number of pumps but I still wouldnt count on it as my sole service

HOW MUCH $$$ to blast out a stone cold, full, 3m boom pipe?

Highpressure, It sounds great but like pudg said, You would need to travel from coast to coast? 

Or??? Maybe there's somewhere that has alot of pumps, really HOT mud and really bad operators?

I would like to see it work. And what does it cost?

my boom had to be blasted.  played super-pumper for two days and was burned the last job of my second day.  by the time i cleaned the cylinders the mud was a rock.  deck, 1st and second had to be cleaned which took about 3 hours.  the tower took almost an hour.  it was  an outfit that does industrial pipe cleaning (12000 psi if i remember correctly)  that was the end of moving without sucking back a spong first.

This guy wont say what the price is but I think that we are looking at this deal from the wrong end.

TRUST ME - there are lots of companies that have a regular habit of setting up booms. Have the pump company owner pay this cat [per pipe] for the ones he cleans out. If the owner is paying better attention to which ones are in good shape than he was to training his operators he could gain the use of those fence posts. Hard times change the economic realities of what a service might be worth. If the price to clean was 1/2 of what a new pipe cost it would be a good deal all round. You would need a badass water blaster; 20,000 psi probably to make it worth while. Who knows? There are some good American OEMs that make those bad boys. May pay to rent one..... just an idea. ;~)

+ the money this guy spent went to Putz; my favorite as you all know.

How "green" does the concrete need to be in order to be removed? Or can these "blasters" remove even hardened/cured concrete? This is all news to me, I'd really like to see one in action?

  I have never seen a boom-pipe turned "fence-post" that was'nt chalked up to being "wore out anyways",??? You can only can only beat on them for so long...

  And yes... $hit happens and every company manufacters its own fence posts at one time or another!  

Waterblasting is how they removed all the concrete above the rebar for a bunch of bridges in TX. It flatass ate that stuff up.

As for the pipe, you can't beat on the high dollar ones; if you do then they are junk.

The badest blaster I saw was 40,000 psi

They are used to clean the bottoms of boats/barges etc. Probably have some you can look at in S - WA

The cost of pipe is becomeing more affordible. I knew a company that had a operator leave concrete in the hopper, cylinders and pipe...OUCH...they thought they would leave it for the next day.....lol to get the cylinders cleaned it was $ 3500.00

It is cheaper to have really good fence posts and replace pipe then it is to try and get them cut out. That is around here anyways. 

the concept of being helpful can make you feel wanted but having a business revolving around saving someone bacon will not work out. one of those pressure units will do hydrolic that if hooked up to a RM truck will turn the barrel as to avoid set up but as i have seen the shop has no intention of using it so why go there. the big buck washers are for stripping paint or preping existing concrete surface for a new coating.

 Eugene, You dont have boom parties? But you may have had a few "line dances" as I reffer to them? It is probably too powerful to salvage hard hose without dammaging it?

 I once attended a boom party on a brand spanking new 42m that had went down on a state job with six sac fire mud! The hardest part was tearing apart and beating on something brand new, the paint chips were flying!!! We saved the elbows, the deck and the main. The rest was white hard "fence posts" that had less than 100 yards through it!!!  Its probably still behind their shop!?!?

Those systems are far too expensive to make any sense.  Bob, I know that in 2007 Putz was selling them (complete, fittings and all) for around $10,000.  I'm sure these days the price is more around 8500.  Still stupid since you can just go to the hardware store and buy a 4500 psi 4 gpm pressure washer for $1000 and get the same job done.  Just fabricate a weld cap that has a fitting to plug in your pressure washer hose, clamp it to the hard pipe and watch the concrete slowly push out.  TooTall, once we figured out this process, I went and got pipes that are years old and pushed them out.  The only problems that you may have is if the pipe is worn down and is beveled at the weld end - because the concrete comes out in a log and catches on the lip.  But, if that's the case, the pipe is probably too thin and going to blow anyways.

I forgot, since the pressure washer is 4500 psi, if you blow a pto box or lose your pumps, just fab up  an adapter from pressure washer fitting to 18 light hydraulic fitting, plug it into your boom pressure line, and fold the boom and outriggers up.  Admittedly, it's extremely slow (10 minutes to fold up a boom) because pressure washers are so low volume, but this eliminates the chaos of having to fold it up with another concrete pump. 

we had a pipeline blasted complete 36m hard for about 2 months a salesman come by said he could do it for $1500 bucks on his slow days about a week later we picked them up good as new ,the pipeline had 400 yds thru it definitely worth it

cp1

There are two ways to clean out a pipe; Blow the concrete out as a 3m long test cylinder which is very possible with a big box store pressure washer, or demolish the concrete with a waterblaster.

the putz. you refer to at 10k is a small one. 4500 psi and 4 gpm is too low a pressure. My rig is 5 times the price, over 7k psi, 8gpm, and can deliver the power at 230 degrees temperature if needed. In regards to "blowing" things out with air or water pressure by capping an end...well, OSHA would have a fit...and it can balloon the pipe, just not safe and can damage the pipe. In regards to pipe being too worn out to clean anyways...that is B.S. It was used up until the day it got blocked. Suddenly its bad? A pipe full of hardened concrete does not have anything to do with the integrity of the pipe. If the pipe needs to be replaced...management should have replaced it "before" the blockage issue. As with being a great pump operator...the same holds true with knowing blast technique. Any pipe can be cleaned out, given the right blaster and technician. I appreciate the wide range of responses to my initial request...thanks greatly, I'll reply to some of the other posts later (in regards to pricing).

Every machine should have the caps and fittings to use the ready mixers water with air until it is exhausted. Yet, with a tight machine you should not put yourself into this position in the first place, horizontal line you dump, vertical you pump, forward or reverse, and if worst comes to worst just fill your hopper up full of water and use the machine what it was made for.

 This shit is getting stupid. To many Indians, not enough chiefs!

since rumors are the talk...

has ZERO water usage on site been discussed in your state or province?  high pressure washers might be required in the near future.

My2cents

One of the ‘sales gimmicks’ that is used to peddle these high pressure washers is how well they clean out boom pipe. My personal finding is that these machines are useful about 2% of the time. Hooking a setup pipe to the backend of your machine will usually get it cleaned out, if not, plan ‘B’ is problematic. Hooking one of these high pressure washers to the pipe is only sometimes successful. Gasket and clamp systems are not built for these pressures. Pre-filling with water is often necessary due to the GPM output of the water pump being used. Twin wall or dual wall pipe is another issue altogether. You wait for action only to see the inner liner protruding from the end of your now worthless pipe.

So, as I suggested earlier, If you can find some fellow with one of these machines that will give you a price on successes and not time spent; why not?  

I have seen the discussions about high pressure cleaners being used to remove concrete out of boom pipes. Standard concrete app 5000psi, if still green /less than 10hrs/ 5000psi at 4.7gpm will do it. If already older than 10-12hrs it will require 7250psi @ 4gpm. if the concrete is older than 2 days the pressure needed to remove the concrete goes up drastically. Concrete older than 30days will need 40,000PSI @ 4.7gpm. All equipment mentioned you can use a high pressure foot valve connected with a rigid lance and a rotary nozzle and remove the concrete by opening the elbows and cleaning the pipe. We done tests where the concrete was 2-3 month old and we needed less than 5 minutes to clean the pipe with 40K. I can send you pictures if required! 

It would be great to see your pics. I'll be operating one of two machines...either 7250psi @ 8gpm or 40k at 6, each with vacuum recovery and filtration to 5micron.