Remember when dredge pumps needed a full rebuild every season? Not anymore.

I used to swear by the old piston pumps we ran back in the 90s on the Mississippi near Baton Rouge. Every year we'd tear them down, replace seals, and hope they held till fall. Last summer my partner convinced me to try a hydraulic submersible on a river job in Kentucky. I was dead set against it, thought it was too fancy for real work. But after running it for 3 weeks straight with zero maintenance downtime, I had to admit I was wrong. Has anyone else made the switch from mechanical to hydraulic and stuck with it?

3 comments

3 Comments

carr.luna14d ago

My crew on the Ohio River near Cincinnati made the switch last spring after our mechanical pump seized up mid-job. We rented a hydraulic submersible for the rest of the project and it ran five straight days without a single hiccup. Did you have trouble convincing your older guys to trust it at first?

ruby_bell4714d ago

Oh wow, I actually just read about this in a trade magazine my uncle left at the shop... they were talking about how the new hydraulic setups have a self-cleaning impeller design that cuts down on all that sediment buildup. I remember my old boss insisting on the mechanical ones because he said hydraulics were too leaky and complicated to fix on the fly. But from what I've heard, the newer models have really simplified the seal system and it's way less of a headache now.

lilyt2314d ago

@ruby_bell47 yes omg my boss was the same way, swore by mechanical everything. but i helped a friend swap out an old unit for one of those new hydraulics with the self-cleaning thing and it was honestly so much smoother than i expected lol. the seal system update really did make a difference, barely had to touch it after install.