Iam, currious ,supposably 98% of operators stand the boom up to suck a ball,so Iam currious how many of u do and why? 

I dont do it , it works fine in A-frame . I use two sponges with 4-5 gallon between them . Never problem , it's à Putz 46-5 .

dam,

 your still taking heat from some five year know it all?  Tell him to stick it in the 7-6

And older pump I think thats a better idea stand it up straight let mother nature help a little.

For me 2 sections up 2 down fill elbows will water add sponge ball put my reduces back on fill with water and that's it 

If I have a problem sponge sucking air through it then I'll lift all up vertical (refill reducers with water first) but that's not so often

A trick I learned from a guy named Josh Hancock who sadly left the industry...1. Swing boom to rear of hopper with 4th section pointing towards ground about knee level.  2. Remove tip hose and clean manually.  3. Loosen clamp on tip 90 but do not remove clamp, just enough to easily swivel the 90 so that it is pointing open end up.  4.  Take mixers hose or your own and fill the 90 with water until it runs over.  Twist ball or sponge in to the bottom of 90 then swivel the 90 all the way around until its pointing back up as water drips out around the clamp helpign cleanout built up grout in seal. 5. Start reverse pump very slowly at less than 1/2 throttle.  6.  Elevate boom (zboom or rollnfold) until you have at least some fall on each section.  By the time you have the boom elevated you will be very close to having the ball at your sweep.  Water shows up in hopper you know you have the ball back.

Why...the vertical elevation enables gravity to assist your pumps reverse function in bringing concrete back out of pipes...leaving the water to wash the pipe and the sponge merely has to wipe it clean.

This obviously is not the only way to clean out a pump, and Josh was only a 5 or 6 year operator as I recall...but among all the brilliant pump operators I know and have learned from, he probably wasted less time during a complete and proper clean out than anyone I have ever seen.  He was in one word.."EFFICIENT".  I stole his trick because an efficient operator who runs a clean pump gets more hours!

For the guys who dont like you standing her up to suck back, who gives a shit.  Every operator has to do what works for him or her in any situation...as long as their boss is okay with it.  Note on the boss part...their "official" boss that is...not every other operator who has been doing it since they were 6 years old. 

I learned a lot from guys who are just plain old operators...I take the best 2 or 3 tricks i see any veteran operator do so smoothly...and steal them!!!  Thanks to all the senior pumpers who taught me not with their mouth but by showing me what works in a practical application.

Now that Ive said all that...I stand it up to suck back every time the job conditions allow it because I think it does a better job of cleaning the pipes.  Im not a rocket scientist but seems to me that without elevating boom that little 1/2 pound sponge has to pull back at least 2 full sections of concrete.  And Ive never heard any rocks rattling around in my pipes after using this cleanout method.

I don't know why people stands booms up or take off tip hoses. A-frame your boom and suck it back that way. As long as you pump your hopper down and get the air out, you should be golden as long as there no air leaking. Sometimes you might have to turn the volume up just to get it going but turn it down as soon as it starts to move. Your ears here everything when your pumping, so you should use your ears to hear it move back. The only time I stick the boom in the air is when it happens to be packed off from some asswipe dumping a bunch of water in there. Then sometimes it packs off but 90% there's really no problem. I run anything from a 28m-58m putz. And never have a problem. Also here's something that an old timer told me when I first started about priming out. Put your s-tube on the side that the shoot is on and let the concrete push the water into the cylinder on the other side and then stroke it on. I have been priming out with only water for about 4 years now and never have a problem. It's the rocky loads that get me while I'm pumping and nobody's checking loads. It's hard to check while I'm 100-150 ft away from the hopper. But shit happens and I see it as a learning experience. Because you have to figure how in the hell to get it out. It's never the same each time. And some advice to newbies. Always keep your hopper clean so you can get your grate up. I had an very rocky load a couple weeks ago that I dropped the hopper and nothing came out because the s-tube was stuck in the middle and wouldn't shift either way. The only thing that saved me was that I could get my grate up and we shoveled a bunch out and wet up what we had left and was able to getting it to shift and then they started falling out. But then I had to get some good mud in it and fight it to get out. I got it through finally. I don't know how many pumps I get in and can't open the grates. So KEEP YOUR GRATE  AND ANYWHERE WHERE CONCRETE BUILDS UP:SIDES, TOP, CORNERS CLEAN!!!  That way you won't be in a bind. Good luck to all who take my advice. I hope that helps some people. I don't know it all and I don't claim to know it all. But I am good what I do, and I do know that. I've been taught by some of the best operators in the Houston area, and 1 thing that I did when I first started out was listen and watch. Then take what you learn and find a groove that makes you feel comfortable. You are the only that is responsible for your pump and job safety. And what works for one person might not work for another. So just do what makes yourself at ease. Have a routine that you do and always be aware of what your doing. I had a routine when I first started.  And about a year into me pumping, I let my guard down while someone was talking me ear off after I was taping on the pipe to make sure my sponge came back and I wanted to get away from this guy and started to drop my front outrigger,  guess what? The boom was still a-framed!!! I realized that it was going down farther than normal and then looked up. Can you say holy shit!!! I thought it was going over. Needless to say I got it under control. But from that instance, I always make sure I follow my routine and double check everything. I've been rambling on enough know so hope this helps some people. 

Nobody stands the boom up where I'm from.   A frame, put the sponge, start reversing and folding up the boom at the same time, watch for the water. The other methods all work but this is the fastest and cleans the pipes just as good as long as you slow it down as the sponge goes over the top.

 Sucking a sponge is something we teach all of our operators, but it is not our primary way of cleaning our booms. We blow out with water every day, all day. All your ways will work depending on different condtions. Myself and a couple of our operators were sent to Wisconson about 10 years ago and showed some of the contractors that we could do it and they liked it, but I dont know if it ever caught on. Mix designs can also determine if you can do this, but I have done this everywhere I have worked. You can run into trouble no matter which way you do it.

 Just a question. Lets say you shed a liner [dual wall pipe] and your ball wont come back what would you do. I dont care how you clean your boom as long as it's clean. What's your next move. What are your options. I have allready had these problems. I know what I did. The liners when they get to that point are very britle. What would you do if you had a 2" long 3/4" bolt get caught between your cutting ring and wear plate inserts. What if you had a piece of light metal become lodged in your S-Tube or your Rock Valve.

I only stand it up if I get trouble. Z boom I often fold up and put on the truck then suck back.. The bolt between the wearplate and the rock i've had once.. Empty the hopper, get the bolt away, clean the hopper and fill it with water and pump out.. Then sucked a ball just to be sure..

Its a pain in the ass thing to figure out whats wrong because it apears like you have a plugg.. Reason why i found out that it was not a plugg is because you can see on the pipes that there is no pressure comming on them when you pump forward.. You also can't pump back at all..

I do not, a-frame

 Well dipstick you've been there done that. Good job.

I do the same thing Dipstick does. I run an Alliance 32-5 and I always fold the boom back up and place back in the cradle after pumping out. I always fill up my jib elbow until its full with water then stuff both sponges (wet) into the end of the boom then top off with water. Then I turn the volume down to about 3.5 and start back pumping.