What is the beast way to minimize concrete in the booms hopper when it's time to cleanout. We always have a lot of concrete when suck back a sponge so we need a way to minimize that amount. We have a 3 stage s-tube Elba.

Well there are a few ways but when you are getting close to finishing the job pump out your hopper as you finish or pump out into the barrel of the mixer. Water wash or suck a sponge just be carefull when water washing because if you do it wrong you will be breaking pipe open the next time you prime. I water wash and suck a sponge it all depends on where you are set up and the mud you are pumping and how old it is,the temp of the air/concrete,admixtures in the concrete and so on....

Now for me if I water wash and if there is more than a handfull of stone when I open my priming port then I know it is not clean so I will suck a sponge. Maybe one day there will be pipe that you can see through and you will always know if you are clean or not.....lol

Sucking a sponge is good because you can see it when it returns but I have seen some operators suck a sponge back so fast that when it goes through the deck pipe it becomes a foot ball { in shape } and misses some.

Air is a option to but you have to be trained in it and only use it as a last resort {that is my opinion} I have seen concrete come out with such force that if you were standing in its path you would be dead,dead......dead and the ball shreded when it hit the catcher and still traveled to the other side of the town. 

There is alot of talented operators on this site so I am sure you can get a more detailed reply. I am sorry I just type to slow.....lol

38Z

hey how do u water  wash? i always throw it in reverse after i get water out the end of the boom and have never had rocks in my prime port just water and sand.

I do the same as you when I am water washing as soon as the water comes out the end I give full speed in reverse.

Some wear on the wear bands, some wear on the hockey puck and that bad boy will NOT water wash.

Best shot is pump the hopper down, 1 up - 2&3 down - shake the excess out and suck a sponge. That hopper holds 12% more concrete than a putz style new hopper so volume isn't a problem.

i water wash ... but my booms are a  schwing 39 and a 47  not familiar with Z booms and yeah in my opinion water washing is the way to go but as stated above if your not familiar with how to do it you will be bustin clamps loose