That old timer on the Missouri River job who schooled me on pump pressure

Guy must have been 70, looked at my gauge setup and just said "you're burning out your seals running it that high." He was right. Dropped it 15 PSI and the dredge ran smoother all afternoon. Anyone else have an old hand call them out on something basic?

2 comments

2 Comments

adamcoleman1mo ago

Same guy ever tell you that running too cool of a fuel mix can gum up the injectors too? An old timer on my first job caught me doing that and saved me a weekend of headaches.

nathanking1mo ago

Cool fuel mix"? Wait, you mean actually running too lean and cold on purpose? That's wild. I always thought you wanted the mix hot enough to burn clean. Did he explain how it gums them up exactly? Like the fuel doesn't atomize right and just turns to varnish in the nozzles? That sounds like a nightmare to clean out. I'd probably just scrap the injectors and start over if that happened. Good catch by that old timer though.