That trick with the booster pump after a long run saved me 3 hours

I had a job on a canal near Baton Rouge where the sediment was so thick the cutter was just churning water. My regular pump couldn't keep up and I wasted a whole morning messing with the suction depth. Then I remembered an old guy telling me to hook up a booster pump inline on the discharge side to push the slurry faster. I jury rigged one from a spare hydraulic pump I had in the truck and it pulled through the clog in about 20 minutes. The material came out way thicker and the whole job finished a day early. Now I keep a booster kit in my trailer for any site with heavy silt or clay. Anyone else ever had to rig something up on the fly because the ground didn't match the survey?

2 comments

2 Comments

rodriguez.felix26d ago

Man I used to think booster pumps were just extra hassle, something only guys with too much money on their rigs messed with. But after a job near the Mississippi where the silt was like concrete slurry and my main pump kept cavitating, I tried hooking up a little backup pump on the discharge side. Totally changed my mind. It cleared the clog in maybe 15 minutes and the material came out way denser than before. Now I always keep a spare pump and some adapters in my truck bed. Saves so much time when the ground surprises you.

davis.ruby26d agoTop Commenter

That 15 minute fix is wild, @rodriguez.felix. Did you have to mess with the pressure settings at all or did it just balance out on its own once you got it going?