The difference a month of maintenance made on my dredge pump

I ran my pump for three weeks straight on a harbor job near Newport last fall, then let it sit dirty for a weekend and got a 15% drop in flow rate right away... cleaned out the impeller and wore rings after that and everything picked back up fast. Has anyone else noticed how quick just a little grit buildup can mess with your output?

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felix_lane991mo ago

My buddy runs a small dredging outfit down in Louisiana and he told me a story that fits this perfectly. He let his pump sit for like two days after a job, didn't flush it out or anything, just hosed off the outside and called it done. When he fired it up next week the flow was barely half of normal and he spent a whole shift tearing it down to find packed sand in the wear rings and behind the impeller. Said it was a HUGE lesson in how fast that grit can cake up, especially with saltwater mud mixing in there. He cleans it after every shift now, no exceptions, and his output numbers stay way more consistent.

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ray3631mo ago

Absolutely. That saltwater mud is like glue once it dries, turns into concrete in the tight clearances. Half the battle down there is just staying ahead of how fast that stuff sets up.

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