I run a Putz 36z, and i have been sucking a sponge since I started. I tried water washing one time, and I rock packed in deck and the main section. Can somebody pleasetell me what is the best way to water wash, cause I know it is convenient on some job sites. Thanx

go back a few posts and there is one titled bringing a sponge back i belive, if not its another a few pages ago and it has complete instructions by speey. but you need to pump your hopper all the way down which wil require a splash board then you fill the hopper up with water.... im not to sure on the rest but from what i hear if you dont do it right you will be in lots of trouble.

Water washing is something that is like you say convenient at times, but can be a big bother, when not properly executed, as you have discovered.  

About 3 years ago someone else asked this same question, and someone [i believe by the name Lee] answered the post with a several page reply on the subject.  I printed that post/article and read it quite a few times and was greatly helped by it. 

I went on, added my own customizations to the procedure, and now probably average 5 succesful water washes per week, and like you have cleaned nice clean rocks out of my deck and turret pipes by taking them apart, only once!

So I will give you the procedure that I use and if you disagree with part or all of it I will not be ofended. 

A Frame the boom.  and if possible pump hopper completely dry and continue until I get the second blast of air out of the hose.  Then reverse pump bringing everything back into hopper, pump forward again until hopper is empty, but no air in material cylinders.  Picture now is hopper empty, deck and main and part of 2nd section pipe full of concrete. 

Fill hopper with water. 

Start pumping forward at 50% volume, increasing to about 75% volume by the time the hopper is 1 stroke from empty of water. Then stop pumping.

At this time you probably will have water cascading from tip hose.  [Now the scary part]

With engine at full rpm I pause for a true 5 seconds.  [seems like forever] then continue with 2 more strokes forward, while increasing my pump volume to 100%.  Then immediately into reverse, no pause whatsoever, and listen for the rock coming back through the deck pipe, and when the deck pipe gives me the "clear as a bell" sound.  Fold boom and get on with life. 

I have tried numerous variations of this process and I have rock packed in the turret, or on the deck several more times, but I learned a trick from a post here on this website, and here it is. 

When rock packed during a water wash, the problem, is simply washed rocks making your life dificult.  All you need is to lubricate all sides of each rock, and it will start to act like concrete again.   This can be done by refilling your hopper with water.  Then add to the hopper 2 or 3 bags of Slick Pack, or Slick pack II.  that will make some pretty thick water.  Lower boom to flat so that the pressure from the trapped water is off of the turret. pump forward until you pressure out, reverse pump for 2 or 3 strokes, then forward again.  I have never had to hit it more than about 3 times and thing start moving in the turret. When the rocks have moved from the turret, stand the boom straight up pump forward several strokes, [try not to make a water fountain directly over your truck]  then reverse pumt to jerk the whole mess down out of there and be done.

Hope this is helpful to you.  If you want to talk to me in person feel free.  541-936-2367

OK,Water washing as I see it! I generally only waterwash because of one problem or another.Either I cant washout on this job, or I have a hot load that I dont want to chance getting the ball stuck! NO I DO NOT USE AIR EXCEPT AS A LAST RESORT!! I have the strongest possible resource right here,and unless it wont stroke it's all I need! In 4 minutes I can fill my hopper and wash! And if you look at it like this you see why! If I water wash,and screw the pooch doing it ,all i have is a bunch of sand and rock in the pipe!MUCH easier to clean out than set up concrete:Now my water wash technique is much like what you've already read: A-frame 4&5 section boom's,2-up and tip down on 3 section boom's( If you dog-leg 3 section boom's vacumn will prevent you from sucking back) and empty the hopper! Ive found you don't necessarily have to air pump out the boom,but it's good insurance. Reverse the mud back to the hopper then forward stroke to empty. Put your agitator in reverse or stop it completely to prevent a rockpack at the rockvalve. fill rour hopper with water(Schwings to the bottom of the rubber is enough,Putz's about a foot+ above the S-Tube).Set your volume to 3/4 and throttle the same.If your pump won't stroke without the agitator running NOW put it in forward and then start pumping until you see water(dirty is ok as what you see is only the beginning) and throw it onto reverse.I always count 8 strokes as it is more than enough for everything Ive ever run. Now I go back and tap the pipe! I know it's clean but it makes me feel better,and I put my agitator in reverse.I do this so my Schwing agitator pushes the rock into the hopper corners and helps break up the buildup. I've only screwed up once this way(28m dogleg position) so the basics are pretty much the same for everybody !

Thanx man, I'm gonna go ahead and give it a shot tomorrow.

Suck up a bucket. It's way faster than sucking a sponge or water washing and totally foolproof. Concrete will only seperate when there's pressure against it, if your in reverse the whole time it won't happen.

Never heard of sucking up a bucket? Can you explain that procedure? Thanks

Lee Horton was pretty much the water washout master. He told me he went weeks without ever opening his transition 90 (Putz). I must say that I have never even tried it............ no guts. I like a big-ass sponge soaked in hyd oil or water and screw it into the tip elbows. It worked for me 100% of the time. But the water wash guys that know what they are doing have the easier path.

ps

No tip hose, not a recomendation just a personal preference

Ok here goes.

Some people call this the Seattle bucket wash or something like that, maybe it originated there I don't know.

Go and buy a 32 or 33 gal trash can. I get the $13.00 model at Home Depot, it will last a long time if you don't let it blow off the truck! Position it at the back of your hopper somewhere out of the way but within reach of a mixers hose. You want to put it somewhere youcan get too it with the boom A-framed.( I have most of my local mixer drivers trained to fill it up during the pour. Don't put it out if you still have to move or you will have to dump it out.) At the end of the pour, blow out as much as you can back into the mixer or into the job (use whatever you use to keep the concrete from blowing all over. I flip my tarp that I use to cover the back end.) make sure all of the concrete has fallen out of the tip and hose. Turn up the volume and start pumping in reverse, drop the hose into the bottom of the trash can, the water level will slowly start to drop. Remember that pumps are not all that efficient in reverse! OK  keep the end of the hose in the water until it will not suck anymore ( water level doesn't change) the pump will not suck the water over the top of boom until you raise the hose out of the water! then raise the tip hose up to the top of the trash can. About half of the water will fly through the boom into hopper,cleaning the pipe out just as good as water washing, the other half will drain back out into the can. Let it stroke 5-6 times then turn it off. Your done!

I end up with a little over a half of a hopper of crap to clean out so it still leaves a  mess. Bigger than water washing but alot easier and alot quicker. I have actually done this when I had to wait over 2 hrs for a clean up. When it finally arrived I just pumped the stuff back out. Also works for traveling long distances to another job as long as they have a place to put the watery crap.

I have done this 99% of the time for the last 4 or 5 yrs and have NOT had one bad clean out. No build up, no rocking up or anything. It's hard to believe that 15 or 20 gallons is enough to clean it but I have done it with boom sizes from 22 to 52 meters, Rock Valves or swing tubes. If you feel that you didn't get it clean enough, fill the bucket up and suck it through again. The first time I tried it I had a hard time believing it was clean so I went back to the yard and blew a hopper full of water through it and a few rocks came out of it. Hope it works for anyone wants to try it. 

That's the nice thing about doing it this way. Your always in reverse and there is no chance of it seperating. Size doesn't matter. Also, my gaskets are not in great shape. I know it's hard to believe but it's almost foolproof. You won't believe it until you try it yourself. I have actually pulled off elbows at different points just to see if I was getting any build up. Nothing. Prefectly clean! The nice thing about it is how fast it is. The mixers love it because you don't tie them up for a half an hour waiting for your hopper to fill up. Some are a little bummed to be sent away to clean out somewhere else instead of into the pump but I don't care!

There used to be an article on this from a guy running a 46 Putz. Since that was the pump I was running at the time I decided to try it. Now I'm running a 34 Schwing and I done it on everything in between. The article was in the old knowledge base section of an older webpage of Todds. He may be able to find it.

The bucket trick is new to me I will have to try it sometime.  I use to suck the ball but sometimes we have mixes with lots of cement and the ball and concrete get's stuck.  Also I hate opening the pipe and walking in all that concrete.  Right now I have two pumps working on jobs where there is always a water truck.  pump the concrete down to bottom open door and wash hopper done by time water truck reachs pump. Fill hopper with water and pump at least 50% speed. stop when hopper empty fill again pump again at full speed when empty kick in reverse untill bubbles drain water and go.  I never open pipe. if only enough water for one hopper must open pipe and clean out rock.  One other trick i have used is to push ball.  Was in lighting storm and had to fold up and leave no cleanning possible drove pump to water source cleaned hopper openned pipe wash and then put in ball fill hopper with water pump water slow hang tip hose off side of truck until ball comes out. haul ass