That vacuum truck hose cracked on a $900 job in Arlington

Last Tuesday I was finishing up a big cleanout on a old farmhouse chimney in Arlington. I had the vacuum truck running for maybe 20 minutes when I heard this pop sound and saw debris getting sucked up weird. Turns out a section of the hose had a hidden split near the connection point, and it started blowing soot all over the client's driveway before I could kill the vacuum. I panicked and just shoved some duct tape over it to finish the job, but now I'm wondering if I should've stopped and swapped hoses entirely. Has anyone else had a hose fail mid-job like that, or am I the only one running on tape and hope?

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clairem382mo ago

...and honestly, duct tape is probably doing more harm than good here. I mean, I get it, you're in the middle of a job and panicking, but tape isn't sealed against the suction and pressure those hoses see. It just masks the leak and can make the split worse. You're lucky it didn't blow out completely and send soot everywhere, or worse, damage the vacuum motor from pulling in air where it shouldn't. Your mileage may vary, but I've seen guys tape up a crack only to have it fail again on the next job and cost way more in cleanup time. Swapping hoses might feel like a hassle, but in my experience, it saves you from that second round of "oh crap" when you're trying to wrap up. Take that for what it's worth.

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