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That time the main pump seized up on the Ohio River job
We were pulling gravel near Cincinnati when the pump just stopped dead. No warning, just a loud grind and then nothing. I checked the suction screen first, but it was clear. Turned out a piece of steel rebar from some old construction had gotten past the cutterhead and jammed the impeller. We had to winch the ladder up and spent about four hours pulling the pump apart on the barge. Got it cleared, but we lost half a shift. Anyone ever have a similar issue with hidden debris in a river channel?
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the_ben25d ago
Bad luck? Come on, that's a design problem waiting to happen. If a cutterhead lets a chunk of rebar through to the pump, the protection system failed. It's like blaming a flat tire on the nail in the road, not on the fact your tires are too thin. Good design plans for the junk you actually find in a river, not just the easy stuff. That pump should have had a better way to handle or stop that debris before it got jammed.
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