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We are having coldest start for winter for years in Finland. Tricky times mates!! You have to be really careful not to freeze your pipes in -15C and 6m/s blowing wind. So far no problems, excluding froexen pumper. All rubber gaskets are really suffering. Busy week behind. I did nearly 70hrs in 5 days. All our 6 pumps have been fully employed lately. Have a nice weekend!

Cool pics.
Winter is cold here in Norway too, had my first hoses freeze this week.
And a colleague got his boom pipe frozen somewhere far, far north in -28C and winds from Siberia.
Good times... at least the hours are good. :D

We have "only" -5 to -10 in the daytime... But I operate in the south , much colder in the north . I will probably pour a bridge starting on Wednesday , about 2000m3 . I hope that the wind and temp decreases...

wish it was like that here, -4 and  someone slips over on the ice at a lafarge plant so they close the whole plant for health and safety!! cant get concrete half the time unless its 2 and rising. So frustrating!

I mean increases , not decreases ! I hate the cold weather... I rather sweat like a pig than freez My ass of !

Haha, i really hate SWEating. ;) Nowadays you can't get your clothes properly selected. Outside you are freezing and inside you sweat. Not so nice combination.. But I must support Vasa that winter sucks. We have only few ours (8-5 hours) of sun shine north here. And if you have two or more pours at day, you can imagine the iceskating ring at back of the pumpmeister. So dangerous! You are tired, hurried and in difficult conditions. I must always tell me that take it easy. Few hours compared to injury, ain't worth rushing. Vasa: Is your brigde pour in tent with massive line or just outside with boom? We did last winter 1000 yards bridge and it was under tent. So fucking much more work to be done. We should ban winter building =)

By the way.. How do you guys in scandinavia keep your water tank not frozen? We have built "central heating" to almost all our pumps. We capsulate some 40 cm of exhaust pipe wit bigger pipe, and weld it tight. Then one inlet flange and one outlet flange pipe to tank. And ofcourse three faucets to system. Exhaust gases heat water really nicely and economically. Too hot water is pain in the ass. You cant see what you are washin from the steam in freeze.

Build a heat exchanger within the water tank and use engine coolant to heat the water. Exhaust is useful for warming the boom pipe prior to priming. A waterproof insulating wrap for the boom pipe - mainly to keep the wind from cooling the pipe, thus the concrete. Sucking back after finishing introduces cold air to the inside of the pipe and can freeze the grout. I've had my ball freeze in the tip elbow, had to dump some warm water on it to get it to release to pull it back, I don't think the pipes were pristinely clean that day, but the ball came back, that's all I cared at that point.

Okay.. I've heard some coolant projects. I wouldn't take that risk myself. Some broken hose, and you are in deep shit.. :) Electric heater would be also possible. Not so usable, in areas that have no electricitet yet..

I just fill it with hot, almost boiling water in the morning, and in the afternoon it's still hot enough for a cup of tea. :D
I've done 2 heated watertank systems, 1 with the exhaust pipe going through the tank and 1 with engine coolant going through it.
Both worked OK, but wasn't worth the effort, time or money.
If I was to start another one I would just throw a piece of 24 volt heating cable in the tank and leave it with that...

The issue with hose burst or chafing is dealt with during installation.  Use quality hose, clamps and fittings, cover vulnerable areas, starp it so it doesn't rub, and have shut-off valves on the engine so that you  can isolate in case of a mishap.  It's no more risky than the plumbing to your heater core when done correctly.

Here's how I coiled my heat exchangers:

I used a 6" pipe to form them as they had to fit in the inspection ports.  I used 5/8" soft (annealed) copper tube as oppose to your standard copper plumbing pipe that won't bent unless you heat-treat (anneal) it yourself.  this stuff is also a little thicker to resist cracking.  I also used a spring on the outside to keep it from kinking.  It was tricky to keep the spring moving as I bent it, but I soon learned to bend only a shrot section tightly to the pipe before moving it and I used WD-40 liberally too.  Twisting the spring to expand it some also helps.  I've got just about 5 complete turns in the coil, the contact area helps heat faster, but it's no necessary to have that much for mainatining the heat at all.  It gets so hot that you can't stand to wash your bare handes.  But does hot water ever cut the semi-set mud on the hopper walls!!

My water tank is up front around the turret which is also the hydraulic oil tanks so there is an added benefit of pre-warming the hydy oil, buyt too much heat is a bad thing too, I shut it off after 30 - 60 minutes or so and the hydraulic oil maintains the heat nicely.  The added benefit of this arrangement is that the oil is also cooled my the heat-sinc action of the water in the warmer months.  The hydraulic oil hasn't gotten much over 100 degrees F, so it should be safe.

Damn, forgot to mention that I also filled the copper pipe with a medium-coarse salt (you can see the bag in the picture) to help resist kinking.  I figured if it got jammed in too tight, I could rinse it out and dissolve the salt, but it flowed out freely.  I hindsight, it's not necessary, but a good safeguard for a better quality job, IMO.  A worthwihle step if available.  Sand works too, just make sure that you have it all out.

Sorry, it was 1/2" copper tubing (inside dia) = 3/4" pipe outside dia, as pipe is measured.

We were told copper reacts with the coolant, used stainless tube and no coil needed, just a 90 degree at the bottom.   Like a big "L"

Schwinger, the heater core is copper, so no difference there.  I researched and found the same myth, and found evidence to refute it.  I went with a coil so as to have a structure that would absorb thermal expansion and any vibrations that it may be subjected to.  On my former pump, I went with a $tainle$$ $teel coil, but the cost was ridiculous.  This was much more affordable, and it was DIY.

My major concern with corrosion is actually within the water tank itself.  There are now 3 different metals in contact with the water - Iron, Copper and Aluminum.  I have 2 5 lb Zinc anodes to weld in to provide a more reactive metal to corrode first.  I haven't welded them in as of yet, but that's near the top of the list.

some of the European Putz's (such as the one shown in these pics.) 32-40m seem to have a much shorter rear outrigger than their North American counterparts, anyone know why this is?

My Schwing came with a factory coolant tank heater. I absolutely love it. Cold water in and 30 miles later or a half hour and its piping hot. A must if you ever freeze up. Pump Jockey you made sense about maybe not sucking back between trucks in the cold introducing cold air in the pipe.

Brian, on the day in question, it was -29C when we finished (-12C when we started)  It was on the third floor and a long reach with a 36M, I sucked back, pinched the hose and swung around to the back of the pump (didn't have the ball up on the pour (would have been frozen anyways) - hydraulics ultra slow, the ball nearly instantly froze - I did get it stuffed in, but it wouldn't suck back, had to thaw it with warm water while reverse stroking, and away it went.  It came back to the hopper, but it could easly have froze in an elbow on it's way back too. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIR759wIjdg

Just another issue we northerners have to deal with in a real winter.  Just glad I don't have to deal with hot mud ready to flash-set on a daily basis in the summer.  A boom party on account of frozen mud must be easier to deal with than set-up mud.