Ran the pump at full throttle for 2 years till a guy from Louisiana set me straight

I was running a 10-inch dredge on a job near Mobile and wondering why we kept losing prime. An old timer from the bayou told me to back the throttle down to 70% and let the slurry flow natural. Has anyone else been running their pump too hard out of habit?

2 comments

2 Comments

evaperez29d ago

Swapped out pump impellers on a three inch myself for years thinking it needed to scream to work right. An old timer on the Trinity River showed me the same thing - back it way down and let the gravel do the work. Changed my whole setup. Now I hardly ever lose prime and the pump lasts way longer between rebuilds. That full throttle habit is tough to break though. Feels wrong running a diesel at half song when you're used to hearing it roar.

rowan_hayes28d ago

Honestly, I get what you're saying but sometimes I wonder if we overthink this stuff. A pump is a pump, right? Sure, backing off the throttle might save some wear, but is it really that serious for most guys running weekend jobs? Maybe the old timer just wanted you to stop burning his fuel. Ngl, I've seen guys run pumps wide open for years and they still work fine. Probably depends more on the pump and what you're pushing than some magic setting.