Changed my mind about using a 4-inch versus a 6-inch suction line on a river job

I was working on a channel cleanout near Baton Rouge and figured the smaller line would be fine for the silt. My boss said to go with the six-inch, but I set up the four-inch anyway. After two days, we were barely moving material and falling behind schedule. I switched to the six-inch line on day three and we cleared the target area in eight hours. Has anyone else had a job where the bigger hose was the only thing that saved you?

3 comments

3 Comments

lily5711d agoMost Upvoted

Ever think the smaller line would save you time?

drew_jones3111d ago

Yeah, that bigger line makes all the difference with wet material. Had a similar mess with slurry in a settling pond once.

cole54911d ago

Honestly, sometimes the bigger line just adds cost and hassle for no real gain. I've seen guys like @drew_jones31 push for the six-inch on every slurry job, but that extra diameter can kill your pump's vacuum if the material isn't thick enough. On that Baton Rouge silt, a four-inch with higher water flow might've worked if you'd just given it more time to break things up.