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Found out my suction line was costing me 2 hours a day
Been running a 12 inch cutter suction for about 3 years now. Last week I finally checked my suction line wear with a gauge I borrowed from a buddy. Turns out the interior was worn down way worse than I thought, losing about 15% vacuum. That meant my pump was working harder and moving less material. Simple fix with new piping and now my cycle times are way shorter. How often do you guys check your suction line condition?
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drew_park2mo ago
Ngl that's a solid catch. I run a 10 inch ladder pump and I've been burned by the same thing. My suction line wore down to almost half the original wall thickness in one spot near the cutterhead. I started doing a quick check every 3 months with a simple ultrasonic gauge. It takes like 10 minutes and saves me from those days where you think you're moving dirt but really you're just spinning your pump. The funny thing is I also added a pressure gauge right at the pump inlet and that thing tells me way more than I ever expected about what's happening in the line.
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Losing about 15% vacuum" that's exactly what got me. I used to think checking suction line condition was overkill. Figured if the pump was running, things were fine. But I lost a solid week of production last year because I ignored the wear. Now I check with an ultrasonic gauge every few months too. It's a no brainer. Saves way more time than it costs.
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Heard about this exact problem from a guy I ran into at a trade show last year. Said he was losing close to 20% efficiency on his dredge and didn't catch it for almost six months. Your story lines up with what he told me. He ended up switching to a different kind of pipe with a hard lining on the inside, said it doubled his normal wear life. But take that with a grain of salt because his operation was a little different from yours. Either way, catching that wear early is huge. I'm thinking I should borrow a gauge from my buddy now too.
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