New owner of Reed B50. Any advice or tips from anyone would be great.

good luck hope u have a safe journey with pumping

Get out before it is too late! Just kidding, welcome to hell!

Hehehe like seed said welcome to hell at least winter wont be a prob!

Add some water!

I know a guy that does shotcrete I think there is money to be made!

been there done that, w/ a peagravel pump,(olin the best) the good thing is u probably got reverse,i didnt,as far as advise ,aslong as theres plenty of cement paste in the mix its a  piece of cake , just try to reduce all at the pump if possible.

Art

I've been building pools and pool decks, driveways, footing since i was a kid .Going on my 9th year of pool building. Durring this time we have subbed out contractors that use dry-mix shotcrete (gunite) and also subed out trailer pumps for trench footings. Me personally I have zero experiece pumping concrete in any hose larger than 2".   Over 90 % of my work I anticipate will be shotcrete. When I bought my pump I drove from Michigan to Arizona and got to meet a great shotcrete crew that showed me whats up!(they also used REED B50 and C50's) If anybody knows of CHEWY the nozzleman they know I was taught by some of the best shotcrete guys who have worked together for years. (I know I have to build a team) I know I have to be extremely careful about jobsite safety. The rest I have to learn the hard way. My first few jobs I will have my wheel barrels. "If your going to be dumb you better be tuff" I've understood this to be the concrete pumpers unspoken motto. My confusion comes into expanding my business pass shotcrete and getting into 3" lines. What length? Some say 25'? What about slick pipe? What length of 3" is manageble. What will the REED B50 DO WITH 3" LINE AND 3'4" STONE 6 BAG MIX?  I've seen what it does on a shotcrete hose and it is impressive. Thanks for all the help and suggestions. Especially with pump maintenance on the B50. Thanks Again. 

correction " How will the REED B50 pump 3/4" rock mix 6 bag"

Haven't spoken to anyone about small line pumps and 3" line

Put into consideration that very few companies sell crushed stone, it's all round stone.

I've been told that round stone is preffered in shotcrete mix. Is this true with large rock mixes?

the reed b50 will and can pump 3/4 through 3 inch line but the mix can not be b.s. man. your best bet is to use 4 inch line but it should pump it just fine. i run a b50 and have pumped it through both and have alot of troubles in the 3 inch

art some of the people we try to pump the 3/4 mix for will not change their mix design hell for that matter they wont even add accelarator to their mix or even let our finishers use any water to finish their slabs i know that my pump can do it i've done it b4 with great success but it seems to me that the readi mix company tried to sabbatoge us i mean we was pumping out 10 yard trucks in 12 to 14 minutes.

Art I live in a different market than you. EVERYONE does there own work. You can't compete with out your own system.

So it's more like

Hi I'm Nate the pool guy who builds steel wall vinyl liner pools, installs fiberglass shells, and builds shotcrete pools start to finish. You deal with one contractor. No finger pointing to the next guy. Been doing it 8 years on my own. Plus 3 years prior worked for compaines that did there own pools. Have been trained!!!  

We even put the fence up. You have to here. When most pool guys only do 10 pools. People out West are like dang! How do you make a living? The Answer: plowing snow and salting!!!!!

If I could have bought a compressor and nozzle and had a guy show up with a small pump that would have been awesome. That doesn't exist here in Michigan. The season is too short and with weight restrictions in the spring it is a total rat race battling the rain you couldn't possibly schedule these line pumps with your pool holes. They would turn into a total mess.Lucky enough to get one for a trench footing. And another thing is that with shotcrete paying per yard. Michigan pools are thick 12" walls because of frost. Are average size is 18x36 rectangle. Much larger than your average West Coast pool (According to Pool & Spa News 2008) .Hiring out a gunite company isn't practical.   If you guys really wanted to warn me about safety you just would have told me to talk to BOB. That simple. Not jump on the bandwagon once art started on me pumpnfinish. You first left a comment. Saw arts comment and then started in....Let it go like the email said.At least my email said that.

 I'm in the shotcere business like it or not. . Maybe I'll wear my motocross helmet to make you feel better Art. Thank you for the concern of my safety Art.

On last thing to add so you know where I'm comming from!

I've never seen a shotcrete crew have anyone at the trailer except the ready mix driver. So is he the operator? They have a remote and everyone is in the pool WORKING

No one just chilling out making sure things are operational.

Nope. Start it up and GO!!!!!! The whole crew works.