Old dredge hand told me to stop running the pump at full throttle all the time

Last summer I was working a job on the Mississippi near Baton Rouge. This older guy, must have been 30 years in the business, walked up while I was running the pump wide open like I always did. He just shook his head and said 'son, you're churning mud not moving it.' He showed me how backing off the throttle by about 15% actually lets the solids settle and get pulled through better. Cut my cycle time by almost 20 minutes per run. Has anyone else had an old timer show them a trick that went against everything you thought you knew?

2 comments

2 Comments

iris_jones893d ago

Ngl, I gotta push back a little on the 15% throttle number. I've run pumps on the lower Mississippi near Baton Rouge too, and that old timer's advice is solid but the exact percentage depends a lot on your material. If you're pulling heavy clay or silt, backing off too much can actually let the pipe plug up and cause a blowout. I've seen guys drop their throttle by 10% and suddenly the suction drops off, they start cavitating, and they end up spending an hour clearing a blockage. Honestly, I'd say start with 5% first, watch your vacuum gauge, then adjust from there. That way you don't mess up your cycle if the mud's thicker than usual.

morgan9153d ago

That 5% starting point is smart because it keeps you in a safer window. The vacuum gauge is the real indicator there, not a hard rule. If you see it dropping fast, you know the material is too thick and you need to bump the throttle back up before you lose suction entirely. I'd add that keeping an eye on your discharge pressure at the same time helps too, because a sudden spike there means a plug is forming before you even hear it cavitate.