Old timer told me to run the dredge pump at half throttle on a mucky bottom. Big mistake on the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge.

I was working a job on the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge about 2 months ago, clearing out a tight spot near the refinery docks. This guy named Earl, must have been 70 years old, came by and said I should drop the pump to half throttle to keep from sucking up too much mud and clogging the line. I figured he knew what he was talking about since he had been doing this since the 70s. So I throttled down and ran it half speed for about 45 minutes. Next thing I know, the suction head is buried in muck, the vacuum gauge is pegged, and I got a solid plug from the cutterhead all the way to the discharge. Took me the whole afternoon to break that line down and clear it out. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from an old hand that just cost you a shift?

2 comments

2 Comments

wadeg9217d ago

Oh man, that Earl story sounds just like a guy named Pete I ran into down in Plaquemine Parish back in 2019. He told me the same thing, said to drop the throttle to keep from blowing a seal on the pump. I was maybe 30 minutes into it when everything just stopped moving. The line was so packed with silt and clay I had to use a pressure washer to break it loose from the inside. Took three hours and I was cussing that old timer the whole time. It’s funny how they’ll swear by something that worked on the old rigs but dont account for how much stickier the bottom is now, especially around all that industrial runoff near the refineries.

alicea2617d ago

Man that's rough. Old timers mean well but they don't get how much the muds changed.