Found a trick for clearing silt in low-viz conditions with a garden hose attachment

I was working a pier repair job in Norfolk last month and the silt was so bad I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. We tried the usual methods like stirring it up slow but nothing worked. Then I grabbed a cheap pressure washer nozzle from Home Depot for like $15 and attached it to our surface-supplied hose with a quick coupler. I aimed it down at the bottom and blasted a steady stream at a 45-degree angle to push the silt away instead of stirring it up. It cleared a 3-foot radius in about 2 minutes and saved us from blowing the job timeline. Has anyone else jerry-rigged tools topside to fix bottom issues?

2 comments

2 Comments

sandra69310d ago

Man I've been there. We had a job up in the Puget Sound last year and the silt was so thick you could taste it in your mouth through the reg. I used a garden hose nozzle too but I found that a fire hose nozzle from a marine supply store worked even better for like $30. The trick is keeping that stream at a low angle like you said. If you go too steep you just churn it up worse. I also put a small concrete weight on the hose to keep it from floating up and losing the stream. That cleared a solid 4 foot circle for us in about 90 seconds and we finished the weld repairs that same day.

stella61410d ago

Ha, sounds like you basically invented underwater power washing. Hope nobody mistook that hose for an actual fire hose in an emergency.