Thanks jdza for the Seattle Bucket wash procedure. After reading your procedure, one of our Operators tried it. He was pretty impressed with how well it cleaned the pipe. No scale or build up. Simple and fast!

Go to the 2nd or 3rd page of the message board and look for the water washing post. I type so slow I don't want do it again. If you still need more info I'll do it.

Is this the post you were talking about????

Ok here goes.

Some people call this the Seattle bucket wash or something like that, maybe it originated there I don't know.

Go and buy a 32 or 33 gal trash can. I get the $13.00 model at Home Depot, it will last a long time if you don't let it blow off the truck! Position it at the back of your hopper somewhere out of the way but within reach of a mixers hose. You want to put it somewhere youcan get too it with the boom A-framed.( I have most of my local mixer drivers trained to fill it up during the pour. Don't put it out if you still have to move or you will have to dump it out.) At the end of the pour, blow out as much as you can back into the mixer or into the job (use whatever you use to keep the concrete from blowing all over. I flip my tarp that I use to cover the back end.) make sure all of the concrete has fallen out of the tip and hose. Turn up the volume and start pumping in reverse, drop the hose into the bottom of the trash can, the water level will slowly start to drop. Remember that pumps are not all that efficient in reverse! OK  keep the end of the hose in the water until it will not suck anymore ( water level doesn't change) the pump will not suck the water over the top of boom until you raise the hose out of the water! then raise the tip hose up to the top of the trash can. About half of the water will fly through the boom into hopper,cleaning the pipe out just as good as water washing, the other half will drain back out into the can. Let it stroke 5-6 times then turn it off. Your done!

I end up with a little over a half of a hopper of crap to clean out so it still leaves a  mess. Bigger than water washing but alot easier and alot quicker. I have actually done this when I had to wait over 2 hrs for a clean up. When it finally arrived I just pumped the stuff back out. Also works for traveling long distances to another job as long as they have a place to put the watery crap.

I have done this 99% of the time for the last 4 or 5 yrs and have NOT had one bad clean out. No build up, no rocking up or anything. It's hard to believe that 15 or 20 gallons is enough to clean it but I have done it with boom sizes from 22 to 52 meters, Rock Valves or swing tubes. If you feel that you didn't get it clean enough, fill the bucket up and suck it through again. The first time I tried it I had a hard time believing it was clean so I went back to the yard and blew a hopper full of water through it and a few rocks came out of it. Hope it works for anyone wants to try it. 

Here is the link to the whole washout thing.

http://www.concretepumping.com/index.php?mode=newboard&act=topic&tid=868

Yeah that made it easy. Thanks

I did this one time and got a separation and a bad rock pack in my elbow, right where it went from the A section to the deck pipe.  I don't do anything now but suck a sponge.  Takes less than 5 mins and on the road you go....

I do fill a bucket with water and suck it up, to clean my end hose, just before I lower the end hose all the way down flat to disconnent and to suck my sponge....cleans the end hose real nice.

Come to think of it, The few times that I did pump the stuff back out it was probably a 50/50 mix. Probably not something to do with anything less than an ideal mix.

Yes I do leave the auger running as I suck it back. You can turn it off when ever you want.

Derputzmeister, I don't know, maybe you didn't bring it back fast enough or not enough water? I always let it suck until it won't suck anymore. If I don't think it got enough water through it, I just let it suck the water that fell back into the bucket up again and after 4 yrs or so I have NEVER had a problem.

Although we were sucessful bucket washing our 32 schwing, a couple days later the same operator tried it on our 47 meter schwing. When he got back to the shop, he pulled a deck elbow and found that the deck pipe was half full of rock, sand, and some slurry. the turret pipe was clean, but the deck gave us a bit of a boom party. I asked what he did different and he said that it didn't suck as much water as the 32. Do you think he should suck up what dropped back down in the bucket? I really want this to work for us. We have a new 61 meter coming soon and they say that there is way to much pipe for the hopper size for sucking back a ball. I'm told that it just runs all over the place.

to mr. pumpwrench,  i have been running a 61 meter schwing for three years, and the best advise i can give you is when the pour is over you need to pump the hopper down about 21 strokes.  you will know the air pocket is out when you get a really strong surge of concrete comming out of the tip hose. to avoid a big mess on the ground fold your tarp over the hopper or it will be very messy.  if your pump comes with a 41/2 inch tip hose always take it off.  never use anything other method of cleanout,  and always use the schwing medium or soft sponges.  never water, bucket or any other lazy method to clean out the pump. this will cause to have a really bad day.  if you follow this advise you will have zero problems and the hopper will not overflow.  this method has worked for me on all big (47 meter to 61 meter) pumps for the last fifteen years.  never plugged up on prime-out when i ran and cleaned out the pump the day before.  works 100% without fail.  be safe and if you have any questions message me.  FRANK

I have always been a 'sponge' guy. If anyone were stupid enough to ask me to run a pump tomorrow............. well when I was finished pumping I would suck a sponge.

That said, I am very interested in other options. This bucket deal sounds doable. It seems to me that the absolute 100% gold plated guarantee would be "both".

Do the bucket deal, and when the water was used up just stick in the sponge (Schwing Ball or Torpedo shaped sponge)...... whatever and when that came back you would have the cleanest boom in history.

I used to work for a guy that made us use water and a sponge and no one ever had a problem. Perhaps a meeting of techniques is in order.

ps We would pour in 5 gal of water and then put in the sponge. BAM!!! clean boom.  ;~)

Actuallu Bob that is not a good way of doing it. If you suck it back to fast you can pack off with rock in the touret or deck. Best method is to suck a round sponge back and then add 5-10 gallons of water then suck another back both should wind up in your hopper or back end pipe. My boom is clean every time and it gurantees you will be ready for a system poor.

Russ

If you do it the way I explained there is no reason to suck a sponge because there's nothing left to bring back!

Trying to waste time to get paid more is one thing, but I can't do that. Time is money.