I would like to hear from as many of you as possible weather it be short, or in exhausted detail. What I would like to know is.... a)Specifics about when all else fails and you have to manually remove pipe and free plug. b)What tools or technique do you use. c)Have you noticed a difference in the amount of time it takes to remove different types of plugs ie* foreign material, rock packs, separation etc.? IF so please explain. d) Have you ever been able to "lightly tap" with a hammer and free a stubborn plug? IF not, how do you go about it?

Worst? Not sure they can catgerize that.

Placing boom job,got grout out then the big rrrrr.Took both the operator on the ground and me.Carpenters removed a pipe about 3 floors down,forgot to put gasket back on,wheeeww.Hot mix on deck,doing slab,shear wall,colums on same day.When your 20 up you "ain't" got allot of time,that's a fun day.

Oh,that headache is back just thinking about it.

i can definately relate on that one many. 2003 24th floor afternoon columns and walls down to the last 4 columns (24 columns and 3 walls) and then it happens....concrete QC girl lets a 2.5 hour old 5000 high/early mix through and it made it to the 90s in the turret before it flashed. spent the next 32 hours changing pipes and the pump but we did not miss a pour.sorry bout that openhorizon as far as clearing a plug i personally dont spend alot of time trying to back up and push out a plug its been my experience that usually ends up in packing off the entire boom or multiple pipes anyway. had a piece of blade from inside of a mixer truck break off and end up somehow making it to the tip to third 90s and wedging between them i laid the boom down and tapped the pipes till the ring went away and i found tha mud. reverse stroked it three strokes pulled it apart removed the blockage reassembled and went back to work.i figure if ive gotten a plug its gotta be for a good reason and id like to see what that is, rather then forcing the issue and creating a bigger problem than i started with.

I had a 2 foot piece of angle iron from the batch plant (suspect 1) get out to the third section before we broke elbows apart.  Two hours til we were going again. Never been able to work with that contractor since. 6 years ago.

well when i was still an oiler the pump that i had been working on went out of town with me or the operator..... when it returned home we had a 900 yard deck to poor the next day.. well all is good until we go to prime... it made it to the third section before it stopped... the boys that ran our pump before us happened to suck a ball back on a 58meter schwing a little to fast...leaving the third half full....well 2hours later with slurry all in my operators eyes we were pumping.... super shitty day

Thanks you guys. You sound like real pump operators. I have someone telling me that blockages are not that bad, and all you have to do is tap lightly with a hammer, and it will get the blockage out. Dude says that there is no way that it could take over 10 minutes getting out a blockage and they are simple fixes and that there is no reason you should have to take the tip section pipe off to clear it, if that is where the blockage is. ANy more examples are would be helpful.

getting a super poor mix from a reputable comp. (well known for bad loads) and pluging 450' of 2-2.5" system on a pea gravel pump, shook it all out by hand, cleaned the entire pump manualy, rejected the load, and before i left i get a call, theres another truck waiting outside, they ordered another pump but he didnt nhave enough system on so he left , i was told go for round 2, i advised it was a bad load as i had already checked it and was told todo it anyways, guess what happened,

i made 375' of prime, unloaded half the truck before it seized up and wouldnt budge, another 2 hrs of beaking and shaking,

that and the time i blew a deck pipe w/150' of 3" system,  2 hrs in the rain before i could wedge it free and replace it, my first time i ever blew a pipe, was that a learning experience.

Well the hosie I had on a job the other day told me he had a blockage in the 5"-4" reducer. They removed the reducer and found a dead cat in there. They think he made the trip in the concrete truck from the plant where he was sleeping in the barrel.

Hey open

 Dude says that there is no way that it could take over 10 minutes getting out a blockage and they are simple fixes and that there is no reason you should have to take the tip section pipe off to clear it, if that is where the blockage is

oh really,next time have him show you exactly how that's done.I want to learn that trick.This is why most companies have in place a "5 minute rule".If you have a problem and not fixable in that time call the office and get help coming.But I was only down 10 min,in all reality it was 30,time flies when your having fun.

"lightly tap... " not really recomended for twin wall as it can break the inner liner if your not careful, use the water system on the truck or try rodding it out as a first option. always make sure youve a spanner for the pipe brackets in your box.

And never lose your cool!!!

 Well it wasn't really "a" blockage...  On the 7th floor of a placing boom job pumping columns. I was on the boom and they sent out relief so the guy running the pump could take his pump to do another job. But the relief was an inexperienced dispatcher. I was planning on swapping places with him after we got some nice wet blow down mud through the system. We got down to the last few yds to pump and I told him to add water and get it nice & wet for blow down. We started to pump again and as soon as the wet mud hit the boom I knew we were in throuble.( I knew by the way it sounded that it was waaay too wet) I called him & told him to turn the pump waaay down but DONT turn the pump off. But he turned the pump off and the entire system settled & separated! Mr.dispatcher added fifty gallons to 4 yards, 32m + 100' of vertical & 200' from the pump to the standpipe all of it Rocked Off. Wouldn't pump, would'nt move with air either direction, had to break & shake the whole damn thing!!!

 Shook out and bolted up the last stick of pipe at 2:00am, started pumping at 7:00am on the same job, same system! Wasn't the first time I slept at the yard in my pick up. 

hey open, who ever told you that cannot be a pump operator.... he says to just tap on the pipe? what if the pump has dual wall esser pipe? on my 61 it takes more than 10 minutes to fold the boom to a position just to get te where i think the plug might be

Plugs in the boom aren't that bad. Just use gravity and the pump. Position the section the block is upwards, the reverse it a couple of strokes, then point it downwards and pump hard and fast.
You might break a couple of gaskets, but it's better to try this first than to break down the system and beating it out.

I think vacuum in the lines are almost as worse as pressure from plugs. Always fun pumping downhill...

I was running a 47M Schwing,Behind a guy that sucked a ball at a high rate of speed.I was doing a wall when all of the sudden the ole girl grunted,Backed it off and tried again.Did this a couple times...NO WORKIE!!.So I had to take the reducer off of the 3rd section..(I had a stick a wrench that was the wrong size and a 2 foot piece of 1 inch pipe) Got the reducer off and guess what I found?? That's right boys and girls some concrete pieces the exact shape of some DECK PIPE! A bout 4 pieces,Cleared it out put it back together and we were back to squirtin'...NOW keep in mind I was about 1/3rd done with the wall when this happened..I finished the 80+ yard wall,And the I WATER WASHED.When I busted the hopper open guess what I had found once again YOU GOT IT..17 more deck pipe pieces of concrete! I have NO IDEA how I finished the job with out taking the boom apart SEVERAL times BUT the pump gods were smilin'on me that day!! The whole plug incident took me about 30 minutes and a few strands of hair..I hate not having MY TOOL BOX!!!!!

Hey Pump Noob that's what you call a 'boom pipe pressure test', Gag that thing til it pukes! (Minus the reducer of course!)

Had a chunk of medal about 5x5 one inch thick in my reducer, wouldnt pump but would stoke back. wouldnt pull a ball, opened the ass end figured out it was in the reducer washed it out looked with a flashlight seen it, had to take the reducer off to get it out, with the boom draining all over the place. put it back together, pump on.

Could go on all day about chunks of crap that make it threw the grate but not the pipes. But than someone always has to say that came from the pump not the batch plant.

Now that could be a new topic,strange things delivered from the plant.

Wrenches,hammers,mud flaps,crusher parts,animals,a full bottle of bud lite.

Scariest thing, a pair of blue jeans. 5 of us watched to see if a body was gonna come out.

Pumped a oppossum out of a tip hose I could hear it moven thru da pipes. had 2 back it up and hit it a few times.

 YardWhore I have also pumped a critter or two. For some reason those stupid opossums like crawling into placing boom system? It's like putting a 'rabbit' ahead of the grout!

 Hey Many I once had a brand new welding glove plug me up, a few yards later I plugged again, sure enough it was the other glove!

Funny thing but 20 some years ago there was a challenge on a job and the winner got the contract.It was an expansion at the then Staplton Airport between O'Brian and Pumpco.I think Tim was on a titan or elba,he snagged a welding hammer in the turret,we lost.

And the pump churnes