It was a small mat pour,2200 yards. Got there about 4:30 pm for a 7:00 start. Trucks roll in around 8:00. Slick pack prime. I prime out OK , but my partner doesn't. He tries repeatedly to clear it. He's pulled an elbow off at 1&2 and still not having any luck, so I try! I'm an old dog, but I've still a few tricks. I wash out the pump, and fill the hopper with water. I tried twice to push it, and only successfully soaked 3 drivers( hey, I warned them). I climbed on the truck, REVERSED 4 STROKES ( I counted!!!), then went to the turret elbow. I cracked the first clamp and tapped back the gasket to check for pressure. None. I flipped the clamp back over, closing the handle, but not locking it down completely. I then went to the other clamp and opened it. I opened it with the hammer, then started tapping back the gasket. BLAMMM!!! Somehow I knew it was coming! I turned away and was blown off the truck, by air and water! I'm not sure whether the elbow hit me on the truck or off, but we met somewhere! I don't remember hitting the ground, but I remember taking inventory before anyone got to me! I had the wind knocked out of me, was covered in water and separated concrete! I washed off, caught my breath for a few minutes, and went back to what I was doing. ( My call. You know how it is. ) The plug was in the first pipe on the main, and the water wash had created a back plug in that elbow. Shove a little water in... I put an elbow back on and filled the hopper again! First try, nothing! Second try! VOILA!! We're good to go! Except me! With the pic, you'll understand! I cracked a rib, sprained a finger, plus other minor dents and dings, but after 10 days rest, where's my dispatch?

Damn !! your one tough operator, most would have had an ambulance called and a ride off the jobsite .It would have made for an awesome youtube video though. LOL Glad you are gonna recover and can make this post,maybe it will help someone along the way to be just a bit more careful and learn from your experience. Good luck and thanks for sharing the info.

Yikes! That bruise looks pretty nasty. Glad you are doing ok now.

Glad your ok, hope you get back to work soon. You took one for the team that is for sure.

Sorry for you.. But why the hell do you fill the system with water and air when you get a plug?? Sounds like a strange strategy to me.

Dipstick: The air is already trapped in the pipeline! Using the water is the safest and most efficient way to clear a to clear a totally plugged pump. First off, we all know water doesn't compress like air. It has more pushing power than compressed air, and if you can get water to move through a separation plug, 99% of the time it will wash out the plug! If you can get it to flow around most any plug, say a setting up boom, it'll push out the concrete. DONT use a sponge. It'll seal off the water and not allow it to do what you want it to do, lubricate and free up the concrete ! But the elbows create too much back pressure. It means you have to break the large, set up slugs to get them to move around the elbow corners. You pull off the first elbow, from the turret to main and use water to clean out the deckpipe, as you usually only have one elbow in the deck system to deal with. Drain the hopper, flash wash out the pump and the cylinders & put it back together.Try to pump the deck clear, and when thats done put ( you may have to take the bottom turret elbow off , and start there, but I've been lucky, and never had to go that route), put the top turret elbow on and then remove the first to second elbows, and clean them out. Use the pump to pressure clean that straight pipe. Remember that your pump has as much pressure as a small pressure washer, but a WHOLE lot more volume.Then repeat the first two steps, Put clean elbows back on, remove and clean the next set! I f you have a cross-over pipe, remove those 45's. This is really not complicated, and can be done quickly if you have a helper and a little hustle! I've cleaned out a flash-set 52 in about an hour and a half this way

Allow me to clear up one thing here, Dipstick! This is no minor plug! This is plug you can't clear using common methods! This a clean it here and save $10,000 worth of pipe and downtime method! At worst, you go back to the yard with a pump full of separated concrete, rather than set up concrete! This is a "shit has hit the fan and you do anything you can" method! And it's only failed me once, when I blew up a short pipe!

I guess I've just been lucky that I never plugged so bad before. I've always mannaged with eighter put the boom straight up, Maybe suck a ball in adition, or open an elbow where the plug is and get out the seperated concrete. Close the boom and go on.

Again.. sorry for you bad bruse!! Lucky it didn't end worse. Ive been hit by a 5'' hose once due to a plug with compressed air behind it. It wasn't me driving the pump. I was holding the hose. Got blown away about 3 meters.. And I weigh 110 kg!! Man that force is unbelievable. Hurt some ribs but luckaly i felt it coming so I was a bit prepaired.

Hope you get better soon!! Take it easy!!!

I broke one rib and cracked two ribs trying to get the 6inch clamp to clamp down with my foot and slipped landed my left upper side on top of the elbow. I was in so much pain and it was only just 6am in the morning, I kept on going with the pain for 4 weeks!

Lets have a quize with all of us....  (Nothing personal to you boomtish)

What do you think... Is that impressive.... Or unwise...

I hear so many of us do such thing... Risk their health for the boss. But what do we get back for it? I don't go home when I have a bad cold eighter but where is the line?

My answer to you Dipstick is.....If you want a job with little risk, go sit at a desk in an office. Pumping concrete is a risky job and needs to be done. 99% of the time everything goes perfect, but sometimes there are accidents. Just like driving a car. IT WILL HAPPEN AT SOME POINT.

As far as what you get back from the boss for working with an injury. There is nothing to expect from them, if you are still able to do your job with a minor injory that does not affect how the job goes, then keep on pumping. If you fall off you bicycle, you do not go cry in your room. You get back on it and ride faster than ever before. This all depends on the seriousness of the injury.

Hey there, just wondering how the boom got plugged so bad. The mud was fresh because he was just priming out. Did he plug and hold the pressure so much that he packed the whole boom. Just wondering is all. Thanks.

Pink Panter.. Yes I axcept the risks. But do you keep going with a pair of broken ribs for 4 weeks? That hurts quite much you know.. Ever broken a rib before?

First loads of the night were a little bony, and I think the first driver beat him to the draw on primeout. And yes I think he hammered it a little to try to clear it. What would you have done different? And to you Dipstick; I'm NOT trying to impress anybody! Read the title! It means I was doing everything right,and still got bit! Watch out, it could happen to you! Be careful,and be safe!

Damn man, i'm sorry that happened to you. Did you learn anything from it? Was that at A-Lofts in Asheville?

everybody primes differently. I use portland or water. When I prime I am just above an idle and nice and slow. If I feel any pressure then I back it up and try again. Sometimes it has to be done more than once but usually goes through first time. I was always told to never push too hard on prime out. I guess I got stung once with thin pipe and try not to push too hard any more.

They dont build em like you anymore. lol good luck on a speedy recovery.

Working with an injury depends on the severity of the injury and how the operator feels and if the company will allow them to work with this injury. It has nothing to do with trying to impress anyone. At this point it is in the operators hands to decide if he is able to keep working.

that looks like it hurts,bob,wat did the office say?

I packed the deck pipe and turret ,one time on prime. Why? Because the RM driver put way too much water in the hopper while i wasn't looking. What i did and recommend is taking off the 45 at the top of the reducer, then stick a water hose in and wash out the whole pipe. It takes a few minutes but is safe.