That sand pump blockage cost me 14 hours and a new impeller

Ran into a killer problem last week on a job down near the port of Houston. We were pulling fine silt for a marina dredge and the suction line just kept choking up every 45 minutes. Spent a whole day thinking it was tooling issues or wrong pump speed, chasing our tails. Turned out the local supplier gave us a batch of hydraulic oil that was way too thick for the cooler weather we had that morning. By the time I figured it out, we had already burned 14 hours and smoked the impeller bearings on the pump. Had to overnight a new impeller from Baton Rouge for $640 just to get back running. Anyone else ever get burned by something as dumb as the wrong fluid viscosity?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wyatt25d ago

Man that oil viscosity thing is a real trap. Had a similar issue on a dredge job down in Galveston last winter where we used the same oil we ran all summer and it turned into molasses at 6 am. Pump cavitated like crazy for three hours before we realized what was up. Now I keep a viscosity chart taped to the inside of the service truck door and always check the forecast before startup. Saved my impeller more than once with that trick.

shanem3725d ago

That viscosity chart idea is simple but smart, I honestly never thought about checking the forecast before.

the_alice14d ago

Molasses at 6 AM? That's some wild stuff.