I was informed I had a large and important pour for a floor pad the next day and that I should make certain my boom pipes were clean, so I was going to re-try this water wash I attempted at an earlier date (to much demise) except I modified it a bit.

Because I was close to our shop and water supply, I decided to pump out my hopper and draw my sponge back, and dump / clean my hopper as well, then once I got back to the shop I filled up my hopper with water and refilled my water tank to full.

I picked an out of the way spot to set up and unfolded my boom and proceeded to pump the water through my lines until it was coming out the tip. As i was pumping I was also filling up my hopper from my water hose to make sure I had enough water to keep up.

Unfortunately even with my revs and volume low I still ran my hopper too low to push water out the end so....I shut my pump off to let the water catch up and I shot a heavy stream of water straight up in the air about 15 feet higher than the truck. The stream appeared to be coming from between my spectacle plate and the thrust ring of my S-valve ( my pump is a 36m Putz).

My question to you guys that water wash as a formal practice is; does this sort of thing happen to you when you water wash or does something maybe sound out of sorts, like perhaps a thrust ring that is not working / sealing properly?

Sounds like you have a bad seal. When you stop the pump the water flows back in the hooper righ? if it does water washing with concrete in the boom would be hard without having the volume of water to match what the pump puts out. That way you can pump without stopping your pump. I seen a guy stop pumping when water washing with a pump that had a bad kidney seal and rock pack the back end all the way up to the turret good thing it was only a 34M. 

i have a fifty gallon poly AG tank with 1.5 inch outlet, you could set it on your rack and have it filled with the hopper so you might not have to stop. it cost me $120- bucks, i use it when i do people with slow well water so i do not have to wait 20 minutes to fill the hopper. 

Hammah, That is what happened to me the first time I tried to water wash. I shoved all of the cream and sand out of the mix and ended up rock packing my deck pipes and half of boom pipes in the first section. 4 hours later I was good to go again.

You say I might have a bad seal and I was wondering about that. I can actually see daylight between my s-valve and spectacle plate when I look straight down. A guy told me that if you don't have an airtight system that even sucking back a sponge would be difficult and I figured that if I can see down there, then air will definitely be getting into the system.

Thanks hammah.

It is hard to suck a sponge with leaks anywhere in the system. Easiest quick fix, which is only good for a couple hundred or thousand yards is to adjust the cutting ring. All you need to do is tighten the nut on front side of hopper to bring the s-tube closer. I have an extra 100 gallon tank with a 2" outlet to fill my hopper, (full in 2 minutes)

sounds to me like you havent been rotating the cutting ring causing uneven wear or the plate or cutting ring is either worn or a piece has chipped off , tension spring issues would come from buildup in the valve or I have seen on putz and schwings they peel out while you are pumping most times its when you are messing with substandard mixes

The key to a good water wash is speed pump fast and hard dont give it a chance to separate, you want your boom in a A frame position.You will also want your auger off or in reverse if running a Schwing. as soon as you see water out of the end put it in reverse keep it in reverse for several strokes tap your deck pipe and listen for the sweet ring of success. There is not much more to it than that,