Once the blow out kit is coupled up.

How I read a line.

Add pressure concrete starts to move, short lines will start off fast long lines a little slower pending how much air you add.

As the line empties and gets closer to discharge the concrete will speed up if you are running hose as I do then the best method of knowing with out guessing how much concrete is on the floor is to suspend the hose (one or two lengths away) with an object like a bucket or in the case of the blow out video a step. As the ball passes this point you will notice that the rubber will lift as it is lighter. With steel line you would guess by the volume on the floor or ask a creter to tap the line.

As the concrete is discharging it is getting wetter as all the slurry lining the pipes is picked up it will also be moving faster so I dump a little more pressure to keep it under control. Keep the discharge end out of the mud, don’t create back pressure.

At this point I am dumping pressure when the ball is about 6foot from the end all the pressure is dumped at this point shake as much out the end.

Then ground it a small tickle of air pushes the last shovel of create to the end don’t lift the hose tip off the ground until you have dumped the pressure, once done let the slurry run out.

Ground the end once more a tickle of air pops the sponge to the end dump all the pressure then pull the ball out the end.

That’s my method.

 What’s yours?

With all due respect:

It is the position of the American Concrete Pumping Association (ACPA) that compressed air not be used to blow out hose.

If you are in the USA and you blow out hose with compressed air and as a result anyone is injured; you are in for a bad result.

You are going to do whatever it is that you are going to do. Please do not blow out your hoses with compressed air.

If you do not; I thank you, your co-workers familes thank you and your insurance company thanks you. If you do the plaintiff\'s attorney thanks you.

Speedy, thanks for the pep talk.

Please read my posting above.

Safety is, by no ones standard, “The New Holy Grail”. I am disappointed that you and Don feel that way. The reinforcement of safe practices has been around in responsible companies for a long time. It makes good sense and is the cost effective way to operate. To belittle safe practices is counterproductive and shows a callous disregard for your self and your fellow man.

Blowing out with air is a dangerous enough procedure to relegate its use to that of last resort. When it is done it should be done by trained individuals with all possible caution.

As to this specific blow out program; I think that it is first rate in of its self. I would feel better about the entire program if the instructor cared more for the proven use of accepted safety devices like safety glasses or face shields. It goes to ones credibility to dismiss them out of hand. If they are, in his opinion, not important to the overall safety of the job; what else is he dismissing?

As for your analogy; “Disarming land mines and bombs is very dangerous work too…” You are right on. Blowing out with air requires special training, protective wear and the realization that what you are about to do may and can kill you. Bomb squad members train hard and long and are paid a premium for their work. Most pump operators are not bomb squad trained and none are so equipped with the right protective wear. None of them are paid for that risk.

I agree with you that the blow out apparatus that ‘KAL’ uses offers more control, and when used properly better failsafe features than anything I have seen to date. It could well be the difference between a safe blowout and a disaster.

I concur with your last paragraph.

My reticence in accepting this device is mainly due to my natural reluctance to ‘believe ½ of what you see and none of what you hear.’

Bob if you are really interested from the saftey aspect if your company ever decided to allow you to look at other alternitves. Then I would gladly have you accompany on my rig in Aus where I will demonstrate over and over again art of blowing a line.

No good always been so negetive if every one were that way hell the world would stop time reverse and the bloody dinasours would be back.POSITIVE MATE THE ONLY WAY TO BE.

kal

Bob, If you blowout with water down here, you would be hounded off the job and the local City Sheriff would have your balls for environmental pollution. Even having a hose with clean tap water in the kerb is pollution to them .... even if they say the water is safe for drinking.

98% of Australian pumps blowout with air. All truck line pumps are fitted with air as standard, all booms the same. However, the Huncrete buyers have to come to us and buy our 150 litre air tanks to fit to their new booms. Almost all pumps here now come with at lease 250 gls of water and a hydraulic powered 2,500 psi water blaster. There is nowwhere to dump the water washout on most jobs, the mixers won\'t allow you to pump back into the barrel ..... takes time and most are owner/operators ....... not company drivers like Stateside or California with their \"shepard\'s crocks\"

Radio remote air kits are now starting to catch on, Kel has pioneered the system as he is famous for taking on mission impossibles. Now that others have seen how safe and sound the system works. As for the USA pumping Association airless stance ........ maybe, legal worries are the main principal for being airless. 

Ian,

It is a culture thing, I know.

I appreciate the fact that the control of the blowout cap is mobile. Good idea.

And yes, it is a legal liability issue.

Bob,the only way I have blown my line out is by air.We dont have endless amounts of water to waste in Australia due to drought and strict water restrictions.On top of that,heavy fines on polluting water going down drains.My major concern on blowing the line out with water is having a very pissed off concreter wrap a spade around my head because of the tsunami put on his slab.Now that would be more dangerous!You have read the American guide lines hand book.Perhaps there has been a bad track record in America with air blowouts?It all comes down to the operator and being in full control of the air.My line hand always pulls the sponge out of the tip of the hose on all my blowouts!Even 200m lines.I use my own saftey blowout precautions on every job!

You dont have to be a rocket scientist

doug

 dougy

I have blown out with air also. Here is the problem in a nutshell.

IF you are blowing out with air (in the USA) and someone is hurt you are legally screwed.

Many US pumpers feel it is worth the risk. Some do not. Many do it with their small line pumps; some do not. The risk is there, and along with the risk is the sure bet that if it goes wrong, and every once in a while it does, you have a guaranteed legal problem. So everyone does what ever it is that he is going to do.

I have been accused of parroting the ACPA \"line\". The fact is that #1 - I was around when the line was drawn. If you have a copy of \"Concrete Pumping Techniques and Applications\" you will see my name right on the first page under contributors. It is not on the list of Johny come latelys. The reason I am explaining this to you is to try and put this issue to bed. I have, me, seen people killed with air pressure. I have friends that have been seriously injured by air pressure. The ACPA is, in my book, 100% correct with their stance on blowing out hoses with air pressure. That stance, in the safety business, is called \"Best Practices\". I will, no matter what, always and forever ask people to not use air to blow out their hoses. I make no apology for that stance.

For the record: It is the policy of the ACPA that air not be used to blow out hose. For the record: I agree 100%.

Do what you will; please dont do it around me.

Thanks,

Bob ;~)

ps,

I understand how people in Au. blow out; with all respect it is not for me.

I have blown out with air thousands of time with no one being injured.With that said,it still is not a safe practice no matter where you are,remotes malfunction, people screw up,its part of being human,I understand Bobs point and he is right.As much as it is an accepted practice it is still dangerous,many people dont know that 5psi of air can kill it just depends on the volume.Not saying kal isn\'t experienced or a professional but blowing through rubber hoses is stupid.So stupid is as stupid does!

Bob,I understand your point.It sounds like a legal libility over there.Unfortunately 99% of the time over here,blowing out with water isnt even an option.Which is why Kal is trying to develop safer ways of blowing lines.Perhaps there should be somebody who knows how to read and blow lines safely, training others to minimise risk and injury?

Doug

I hesitate to add to this thread as it is going know where. Bob has his opinon and the Australians have theirs and I do not think either will change.

But this last post of Pudg’s has made me start typing.

You say you have used air thousands of times but any body else that uses air is stupid, well I have never used air does that make me smarter than you? Reading between the line I presume you maybe are trying to differentiate between blowing hard line and hose but this whole subject is about never using air on any type of line.

Conditions dictate fast blowouts. You must consider most concrete pumped down here is 3 inch to 4 inch slump and equal to a 9 to10 sack mix State side. Add to this 85F to 100F days and no site disposal for waste water. More often than not, someone will have called for some \"hurry up\" added.

There is no Hispanic help to shift hose and pipe after the job and the concrete placing crew is always 2 to 3 men short on the day ........... and you have a second pour to go to and concrete delivery service is up to sh_t. 

Let there be air !!!! Every pumper is aware of the danger, the radio remote kits will add to the safety aspect of air blowouts. We don\'t live in a perfect world, ops more booms tip over down here than air injuries.   

 40667

I have tried to make it understood that my problem is with the blowing out of hose. There are times, like a high rise or a long push, where air must be used to clear the line (pipe). There are inherent dangers in that and it must be done in a controled environment - with properly trained people who are appropriately clad in the necessary items of PPE/ personal protective equipment. Air is dangerous and can never be taken lightly. It is a life taker. But my most strong objection  possible is reserved for the practice of using air to blow out hoses.

My apology to you for not making that absolutely clear.

Bob ;~)

KAL

My stance has not changed at all, nor will it.

The reason your post were deleted is because they were insulting. Try and get your point across with out the venom and it will stand.

I won\'t ask you to change your opinion and if I could water wash I would.

how ever pudg has indicated (as is the thought of many) that we are stupid well I am asking pudge or anyone with that opinion to give me an effective alternitive given the circumstances that there is no water lines are to long no steels 300\" foot + and shake an break won\'t do sucking a line of that kind of length especially up hill does not work.

I am tired of having the cr.... blown out of me cause of failed coms and inexperienced labour for whatever reason .The remote to me is the most sensible and by far the best way of empting these hoses and for those of us who do blow lines the safest (in my opinion).

KAL

Let me give it one last shot.

Pudg is like most Americans in that we are here and pump here and have local rules and conditions here and HERE, if you blow out hose with air it is stupid. Not that you there are stupid. I/we understand that under the circumstances you do what it takes; which in this case is blowing out hoses with air. Yes, by making control of the blow out cap \'mobile\' you have lessened the risk. That being said it would still not be wise for an American pumper to blow out hoses with air as anything other than an emergency fix to a disaster. It is not an apples and oranges deal; it is just an Australian apples and American apples deal. Our legal system, our dependence on water to clean the lines and our common language seperate us. We all have the same problems; just different solutions... mate (which in the USA means something totally different)

I hope that people that are (in error or necessity) locked into the process of blowing out their hoses with air find some safety in your gadget while the rest of us continue to wash away our troubles the safer way.

Bob I put my post up here not to convert any one , not to get a front because of leagal issues or a countries stance

(I understood that a forum like this was to post our methods if they could help others be a litte safer.)

but to show pumpers regardless of where they are that there is another method of doing what we do and it minimizes our risk by 50%. I have always maintained that blowing a line is the most dangerous part of a pumping operation and that is why I have found one alternitive and have in my last posting asked for an alternitive.