nora54•25d ago

That dredge super from Sioux Falls told me I was running my cutter wrong

I was on a job near Lake Sharpe last month and this old timer with 30 years experience walked up. He watched me for maybe 5 minutes then said I was digging too deep and killing my pump efficiency. I argued at first but he showed me his numbers - 20% more material moved per hour with half the fuel burn. Tried his way the next day and my production went up by 15 yards per shift. Has anyone else had some random operator just drop knowledge on you like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

lee_butler25d ago

You know I used to be one of those guys who thought I knew everything about running a cutter. I figured deeper always meant more production because you're scraping more material. But then I ran into a guy on a job in Kansas who showed me the same thing. He had a pressure gauge hooked up and watched it for two minutes before telling me I was choking the pump with too much material at once. I was mad at first but I tried his way and my yardage actually went up. It's humbling when you realize you've been doing it wrong for years and some random stranger fixes you in five minutes.

wood.zara25d ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? I mean, you're talking about a few minutes of tweaking on a pressure gauge, not some huge rebuild. Sounds like you were just pushing it a little too hard, which happens to everyone.