That clogged suction line took me 6 hours to clear

Ngl, I spent a whole Saturday digging out a sand plug near the cutterhead on a Job 500 series dredge, and it turned out a piece of poly pipe was lodged sideways. Took me 6 hours of wrenching and swearing before I finally snaked it out with a rigid cable. Anyone else have a nightmare clog that seemed simple but ate up your whole shift?

2 comments

2 Comments

keithharris14d ago

I read somewhere that sand plugs in cutterhead suction lines are basically the worst because the sand settles rock hard and you can't just blow it out with air. Had a buddy who spent a whole shift on a 10-inch line that looked like a simple clog, but it turned out a chunk of old rubber gasket had wedged itself in there and created a dam. Took him and the night guy another 4 hours to cut the damn thing out and splice it back together. Always the small stuff that gets you, never the big obvious problem.

karen_hart14d ago

Man, I gotta call that one into question a little bit. I mean, yeah, sand plugs are annoying but calling them "the worst" feels like a stretch. I've seen guys clear a sand plug in a 6 inch line with a pressure washer in like 20 minutes, not a whole shift. And that rubber gasket story, sounds more like bad luck than the sand being the real problem. It was the gasket that caused the trouble, not the sand itself settling hard. I bet half the time people just don't try hard enough to break it up with water or vibration before they start cutting. Four hours to cut and splice a 10 inch line, that's a lot of down time for something that might have been avoidable with a little patience.