Thank you brother, I’d been wanting to do this video for a awhile, just needed a day in which I wasn’t in a hurry either to get to another job, or home for dinner. 😁

Love hearing this 👌👌👌

@@canadianconcretepumper1979 love that there is guys like you out there willing to provide free and helpful information!!! All the senior guys above me always answer with “I don’t know” whenever I ask a question about stuff on the pump or how to setup the job or whatever… They all also say “oh nobody taught me anything on these pumps, I got a 5 minute rundown and I had to learn on my own.” Then I got to learn the hard way on my own to reverse a few times when the line as a clog before removing a clamp…

The best type of comment! 😁😁😁 I’m glad you’re finding the channel helpful 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Yes, it was John Beacom (check spelling of last name) from Gastaldo’s whom taught me that one many years ago. I, like yourself, swear by it. Bark mulch is my absolute favourite for dumping underneath of the large bearing, so much better than sand, in my opinion. Doesn’t harden up whatsoever. It’s funny, for the most part they like us to take down our washout piles, but I always still ask because inevitably if I rake it down without first asking, the builder inevitably calls two days later complaining that it should have been left in a pile as it would have been easier for his machine (which just magically appeared on site) to pick it up. But yes, same as you, my default is to take is down as thin as possible. My favourite is if I’m in a wide open area, I’ll suck back a trash can full of water into the hopper and let my washout self-level (just don’t try this in the city and have the slurry water run-off into the neighbours blueberry garden….. or so I’ve been told…) 😂😂😂

It definitely does seem to extend the life of the cups. And the best part, it’s absolutely free!!! 😁😁😁

I know at larger companies lifting the grate for anything is a big no-no to the point in which they actually sometimes have them bolted down. One of these days my back is going to NOT thank me for all the years of lifting that grate 😂😂😂

We’re spoiled in that we run mostly 3” and smaller diameter line. If we were lugging around the 4” and 5” hose like they do in Ontario, we’d likely be rock’N the 10’ lengths as well.

You lost barrels and s tube because the water hose blew?

@@DerekCastleSr. I’m assuming he means “done” as in already cleaned out.

I began doing this religiously after running out of water mid-washout with our old line-pump 20-something years ago (had to get the barrels and S-tube cleaned out with a pressure washer back at our yard). Learned a lesson that day indeed. Totally agree. There’s so many different ways of achieving essentially the same thing in this trade, a lot of it really is just situational.

@@DerekCastleSr. Done, as in already washed out, no material left in the barrels/swing tube, no big deal to power wash the hopper at the yard.

It does actually have a manual changeover button (the newer Putz rigs have a more easily accessible changeover leaver). Neither style work however once the hopper grate safety switch is tripped and the accumulator pressure dumped.

I learned that lesson my very time sucking back the sponge. It was in my reducing cannon when I busted open the trap door. Lesson learned! 😂

I’ll often do the same if I’m travelling to another job site in the same day. Days end however, I always like to open up the back end to make certain there’s no buildup in the S-tube (we do a lot of slow pours).

That’, good idea for sure. We keep them one our high-pressure pumps which have the extended discharge outlet (makes it difficult to get in there with the water nozzle). Definitely saves on time and water usage 👌👌👌

Typically speaking, yes. The material cylinders need to be fully submerged in either concrete or water to produce the vacuum required for pulling back half a boom system filled with concrete + a sponge. I have seen cases where it will still pull back even with the hopper level below the material cylinders, but I certainly wouldn’t count on it.

It has slowed significantly here in the last couple of months. Our current federal government has done seemingly everything in their power to slow the economy. I suspect that things will not pick back up until at least fall of 2025, when hopefully the current clown-show in office is not re-elected.

CPMA standard since I believe around the early-mid 2000’s all were required to have the hopper grate safety cutout switch. That being said, not all manufacturers were/are CPMA certified. It’s definitely something you want to have on a concrete pump. There’s been a number of extremely gruesome incidents and fatalities from machines either not having the switch, or having had it bypassed.

Yes, many wise veterans have mentioned the exact same to me. I believe the rock-valve hopper is more “self-cleaning” as there’s less stationary components inside of the hopper as compared to a Putz.

We do so many slow/tedious pours with hot mixes, sand/dirt is seemingly the only way to avoid buildup underneath of the large bearing. I pumped 800 cubic meters in 9 hours with this thing last Saturday, I had forgotten what a treat washouts can be when the mud is kept flowing all day long.

That’s the one thing I don’t like about auto-greasers, they can lead to complacency/negligence.

@@canadianconcretepumper1979 We have a few customers who won't run them on the fleet exactly for that reason. It's hard to find good guys that you know you can trust 100% to grease it everytime.

I was surprised at how many others have since mentioned to me that that they do the same and also swear that their piston cups last longer. I do believe there is something to it.

we empty it out every time we wash out at the end of the day

You’re absolutely right! I’ve been told that it’s especially important with the Schwing as they can be more prone to pulling water in through the rod seals.

This one was a factory installed option from Putz. Bloody expensive these hose reels are too!!!

I’m going to say around 60 gallons. My water tank holds 145 gallons and I can washout twice in a day before needing to refill it.

Lol! It’s so true!!! 😂😂😂

I actually only change out the water in the box maybe once a week. In my opinion, the practice of dumping it daily (unless ambient temperatures dip below freezing) was/is more of a Schwing thing as they can tend to pull water from the box in past the rod seals and contaminate the hydraulic oil. Just my opinion. Either way, definitely no harm in dumping it daily, I just haven’t found it to be necessary practice with our Putzmeister pumps.

Good morning to you sir!

I prefer lifting the grate as I can get a nice straight shot up into the barrels with the water nozzle. We do a lot of slow pours in which the piston heads as well as the ends of the cylinders get caked up pretty good, so it’s helpful to be able to get the water right up in there.

The method you suggest would likely add years to the life expectancy of my back however 😁😁😁

Truth be told, most of our residential work (aside from foundations) is poured using 2.5” or even 2” hose. Commercial we typically run a 3.5” or 4” for boom work and 3.5” for line work. We’re fairly spoiled here with our mixes/materials.

Best advice I could give would be to develop a routine of what works and not deviate from it until such time as the situation calls for it or until you gain enough confidence experience to start tweaking things to gain efficiency. Always stay humble no matter how long you’ve been doing this, it’s a constantly evolving profession and the minute an operator thinks they know everything is the minute they begin to regress. But the most important one item of advice I could give (aside from the obvious use dunnage under your outriggers and stay away from power lines), ALWAYS recirculate when waiting on mud. 23 years and I’ve literally not once had a boom party and it’s 95% attributable to the fact that I recirculate religiously (the remaining 5% is just luck that I haven’t tossed a fan-belt or tensioner with nuclear hot mud in the pump) 😂😂😂. Just be diligent.

@@canadianconcretepumper1979 thank you

Putz sells em, so does conforms. I like the Putz version better. The conforms rod seems loose, almost "wiggly". Scott's looks like the Putz version

As Greg had stated, you definitely want to get the Putz version. The ConForms unit relies on an O-ring for sealing, which gets sloppy and leaks. The Putz unit is near bulletproof.

They don’t wipe the pipes clean nearly as well as the rubberized round sponges do. Also, they do not seal air as well (especially when brand new). The biggest reason however is that with the foam cubes you can rinse and wring them clean for 10 minutes straight and they seemingly still become rock hard after over a weekend. In my opinion, the rubberized round sponges are just quicker/easier/more efficient. in most every way, in my opinion. I’ve seen the rubberized round balls last more than a year on several occasions.

Thank you for supporting the channel brother 🙏🙏🙏

There certainly are ways to washout faster, but this video was intended to depict cleaning and greasing everything 100%. If I’m heading to another job the same day, I will expedite the process somewhat, but at days end like this, I will prioritize getting things perfectly clean and greased versus trying to save a couple of minutes time. Being in a rush/cutting corners during the clean-out procedure can and will come back to haunt an operator down the road. Pumping ain’t a race. Being in a mad rush leads to bad things in this industry.

Some of the high rise mixes we pump here exceed 10,000 psi. Washout process is essentially the same, just takes A LOT more elbow grease/jackhammering 😂

^^^this comment wins!!!^^^ Pump-on brother 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Every concrete pump operator I've ever met claims to be the best in the world

@@dave-th8dx I understand. Those guys are idiots. I however am the best in the world based on my years in the industry, I have mastered every machine, mastered working on all machines including welding and fabrication, I’ve worked for several manufacturers to the point where they call me for advice, plus I’ve been on the cover of the concrete pumping magazine. 3 times. I am truly the best.

I know right? And it’s not like it’s any more difficult or even slows things down in comparison to doing it the other/(wrong, in my opinion) way.