Rant: The old 4-inch suction hose on the Lake Erie job was a total nightmare compared to the new 6-inch.

We were pulling sludge near Cleveland last month and the boss finally swapped out the old 4-inch hose for a 6-inch one after three days of constant clogs. The bigger diameter just handled the thick, chunky material way better and our pump pressure stayed steady instead of spiking every ten minutes. Anyone else made a simple hose size change that saved a project from going off the rails?

3 comments

3 Comments

ninaross4d ago

Cannot BELIEVE you had to deal with that for THREE days @evannelson. We had the exact same thing on a river cleanup - swapped to 6-inch and it went from fighting clogs every 15 minutes to smooth sailing all day.

beth_baker692mo ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? I've seen plenty of jobs run fine on a 4-inch line if you know how to manage the flow and slurry mix. Sometimes a bigger hose just means you move more material but also need a bigger pump, more water, and it's a heavier setup to move around. Maybe the real problem was the pump setup or the sludge mix being way off spec, not just the hose size.

evannelson2mo ago

Wait, you guys were running a 4-inch hose on sludge? That's like trying to drink a milkshake through a coffee stirrer. How did you even get anything done before it clogged? The pressure spikes alone must have been killing your pump. Makes you wonder why they didn't start with the bigger hose in the first place, right?