Loading…
22
Ran a 6 inch trash pump in 40 feet of water and it kept losing prime, took me 9 hours to figure out
Last Tuesday we were doing a dredge line repair out at the Port of Stockton and the pump kept losing its prime every 20 minutes after I'd bleed the line. I was sure it was a worn impeller or a bad gasket somewhere, so I pulled the housing twice and swapped seals that looked fine. Burned about five hours chasing that before I sat back and watched the discharge hose on the barge, and it had a low spot where it was looping over a cleat. Air was collecting there and backing up into the suction side. Once I rerouted the hose so it ran downhill the whole way to the water, it held prime for the rest of the shift. Nine hours total for something a rookie would probably spot in five minutes. I used to think hose routing was just about keeping the deck tidy, but now I lay it out before I even touch the pump. Anyone else get humbled by the simple stuff on a job like this?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
hernandez.gavin1mo ago
Did you ever have one of those days where the fix was so dumb you almost felt mad at yourself? I had a close one like that with an air compressor on a framing crew years back. It kept tripping the breaker and I tore apart the whole panel looking for a short, testing every outlet with a meter. Turned out the extension cord was just too thin for the run and it was heating up under load. Swapped to a heavier gauge and it ran fine all day. My old boss just shook his head and said I was looking for a ghost in the machine when the answer was laying right there on the ground. Now I always check the cord first before I even open a panel. That hose loop sounds like the exact same kind of lesson, the stuff that looks too simple to be the problem is usually the problem.
4