how many other guys use slik pak to prime. every one I speak to say they have trouble with it .ive used it for the last three years and wouldnt use anything else.I think what the trouble is that they are using to much. if you have backend job with say 150ft of pipe I would use 3rd of a bag in the hopper and just mix it up with the hose .because it is so concentrated if you use a full bag of slik it seems to draw the water out of the concrete which then results in segregation in the line. so less slick more water.

I have used it probably 5 yrs . I split the bag into 2 five gallon buckets, fill them with water and mix..no more than 10 min before the pumping starts ,then pour it in the hopper just before the concrete goes in and try to keep it ahead of the crete. Tell the truck driver to feed slowly at first.. then pump normally. I used 2 bags for a job (that's 4 five gallon buckets) and It went through 760 feet of 5 inch pipe no problem . the other operators i work with try to just sprinkle the bag into the hopper without pre-mixing it in a bucket and they plug up all the time, really nice stuff, almost as good as bentonite..exept bentonite doesnt soak in and will leave a hole in the pour if you don't prime it all outside the forms.

i think that that is part of the trouble that i've been having using that stuff to prime for line jobs... iv tried using a higher water to slick pak ratio but it still doesn't seem to help... is there much of a difference between slick pak and slick pak 2??

here's a good slik pak story: 

friday morning i was pouring a q-deck slab using 125' of 2.5" line. concrete was a 30mpa 10mil (3/8") mix plasticized to a 7" slump. we were having issues getting the system primed (kept blockin in the 3-2.5 reducer) and so the mixer driver asks me if he should throw a couple slick paks in his load. i said "NO!" but didn't have time to explain why to him... well... after some (much) screwing around i figure we're all good to go again i walk to the back of the truck and lo and behold the concrete in my hopper is SO stiff that my auger isn't turning... im like what HAPPENED!? "oh i threw a couple slick paks in my load..." d'oh! see ya later next truck please!!

on the bright side i now have a beautiful 10M slab to park my pump truck on at the plant! 

moral of the story: don't use slick pak on plasticized concrete.

anytime i use slick pack and I'm using small line i pre-mix it 1/2 bag to 5 gal bucket of water and pour it directly into the reducer..so the head of grout pushes it so it won't mix with the grout all it does is slick the line so the mix doesn't loose the cement coating the line, the slick pack does that..about the 3 to 2 1/2 reducer...length is everything..a short reducer has a tendancy to block up. a long reducer usually takes care of that. Not sure what the difference is between slick pak1 and slick pak 2 but my guess is that 2 is more concentrated.

only one way to prime a line boom 100ft two bags of cement, two buckets of building sand, tip first bit of concrete out of truck, gos though first time longer pipe more cement and its cheaper than slick pack and with slick pack its suppose to be made up the night before

Had the same experience with slick pak and heavily plasticized mud, goes from good mud to horsecrap instantly.
One solutions is to mix the slick pak with more water, but then it does'nt lubricate as good with long lines and you might have to pump through 3-4 hoses and add more.
Silica and cement works great for lube with everything.

Slick pacII with a half hopper of water works for me when going threw the boom. After that Its one yard of grout.

Heck,I don't kow.I always put my prime water (schwing) in the night before on wash rack or last washout.If I used slick pack I through it in before leaving shop,stroke in reverse at job and go.Once you learn it's funny side,great stuff.

Primed everything from a 28 meter Whiteman to a sixty one meter schwing and everything in between.  For twenty years.  Used good  old American h2o everytime and has never failed yet.  Hope slick pack aint a sponser on here, but I have never used it.

all you need is 3rd of a bag in night before .you will find next morning that it needs more water.I used it friday with my 16m boom and 220ft of pipe,shit mix aswell and it went straight through.

a third of a pack? you gotta be kidding me. why not just use all water?

Had a job with 500' 4'' pipe the other day. Used 3 buckets of cement/water in the primeport and 3 in the steal reduser at the end of the boom after the customer first put 20 liters of oil in the reducer/pipes.. I said what the fuck!!!!! Ok.. It was his call. He had a good place to dump the first kubic. It went straight through :-o  I must admit it was a very nice concrete but still.. I was quite amazed.

It's hard to believe that people would consider using oil as a lubricant to prime system this isn't the first time I've heard of it. Boy, you think that the hoper wash-out is difficult to deal with....now the concrete recycling yard doesn't want anything to do with that stuff!!

I know a lot of us use oil to coat our hoppers, but that is a very small quantity by comparison. I sometimes wonder about the grease from the S-tube and the effect it would have on a high-end floor finish, but maybe that is such a trivial amount that it doesn't come into play.