Serious question, has anyone else had a 4-inch suction line blow a gasket on a Friday afternoon?

Happened to me last week on the Willamette, and the only spare I had was for a 6-inch line. What's your go-to emergency kit for a weekend job?

4 comments

4 Comments

brian_hart1mo ago

Oh man, tell me about it... I swear my equipment checks the calendar. My go-to kit is basically just a prayer and whatever mismatched parts are rolling around in the truck bed. Last time, I had to use a cut-up inner tube and about a mile of hose clamp... looked terrible but it got us to Monday morning.

pat_harris1mo ago

Ugh, that's the worst. It feels like every major equipment failure happens right before a shutdown. My kit's pretty basic now. I keep a set of common gaskets and hose clamps in a waterproof box. Doubled it after a pump seal blew at 4 PM on a holiday weekend. Seems like machines just know when you're most vulnerable.

casey26819d ago

Pat, I feel you on the machines knowing when you're most vulnerable... it's like they can smell the weekend coming. I had a similar thing happen with a coolant line that burst right before a holiday shutdown last year. Now I keep a spare box with a few different sized hoses and some extra zip ties in an old ammo can. That pump seal at 4pm on a holiday weekend is brutal though, that's the kind of thing that makes you start prepping for every little thing.

tarar381mo ago

Man, I used to just wing it. But a busted coupling on a Sunday made me pack a full set of spare gaskets, no matter what.