z booming inside a building,    5 to 4 reducer,   one tip hose laid on deck,     steady flow of concrete,     in the middle of the truck air gets blown out of hose,     hitting a finsher on his side,     ear and eye hit

truck driver has no clue, paid to drive a truck and put concrete in the hopper and he can't even do 50% of that right !     His batch plant manager said "" i was pumping too fast ""

So much liability in this business,     with others   ( low paid,   low education,   high I don't give a shit attitude,  etc. etc. )  

Gotta love it 

there is gonna come a day when there will be a safety device just as when you open the hopper grate , if the level gets to low in the hopper, its gonna shut the pump off , I hate to see it but it is coming.

Let the hopper go empty, stroke 2 times forward at full volume . let him fill the hopper up, part way and put pump in reverse full volume and blow the hopper onto him. i bet he wouldn't let it go empty again ;) lol

I don't know how you do you're job, but if you are paying attention, you will notice when you are sucking air.  The concrete flow will slow, the pump will sound different... let you're pump tell you what's going on.  As soon as I notice this, I tell the hoseman(whether running a hanging tip hose or running gear)  "WATCH OUT FOR AIR!!"  I will slow the pump down and make sure no one is in front of the hose until the air passes.  pay attention to your pump, the sounds, the feeling, the stream of concrete...just pay attention.

I can tell within 2 strokes if I'm about to blow air. I tell the guys at the end of the hose and they move. Not every job is problem free. The more you run a pump the more you know just from sounds and movement 

just remembered why i don't post,       too many experts,             inside a building with D arm,     only one opening,   two vibrators going, couldn't hear the pump (     using air horn to let me know when trucks were out )

it ain't my first rodeo,          16 years on boom,   another 5 on trailer,     maybe,  just maybe some day i'll get smart enough to walk in some guys shadow !

cheers

I. agree with the one comment on this post you have to watch and listen to the flow of your crete coming out of the end of the hose. If your hauling alot of volume you will notice when it sucks air even if your not even close to the pump the volume will slow right down. i do the same to my hose guys ill usually yell to them that there could be air. slow the pump right down wait for it to pass then resume to normal volume. try and explain to a RM driver to keep the hopper full and they say (well its full the whole time it never sucked air) ya right buddy. but you have to use your ears. 

it dont make sense to hurt some one on the hose end or by the hopper i dont like dumn drivers but dont want to hurt them half the time they dont wear safety glasses or hard hat dont killem guys.

16 years and 5 on line pump. You should know exactly what I was talking about. I work with 5 other pumps going at the same time and vibratory and air horns too. I can still tell if it's gonna shoot air.  Seems like people give you answers but you disregard them and act like they are being  a know it all. Good luck with you common problem, I'm sure you will work it out.