I always thought a slower pump speed was better for fine silt, but a job in Mobile Bay proved me wrong.

For years I ran my cutter suction dredge at 60% pump speed in silty areas to avoid stirring up too much. Last month on a channel project, the foreman told me to crank it to 85% and keep the ladder moving faster. The turbidity cloud actually got smaller because we were moving material out quicker instead of letting it hang in the water column. Has anyone else had to completely flip their approach on pump speed for different soils?

2 comments

2 Comments

sanchez.mary22d ago

We had a similar thing happen on a river job with clay mixed in. The slower pump was letting the clay break apart and cloud up for hours. Pushing more volume fast actually cut our turbidity fines because the bigger chunks didn't have time to turn to soup. It goes against the old school thinking for sure.

sanchez.sean21d ago

That part about the bigger chunks not having time to turn to soup really hits home. It's like @sanchez.mary said, the old way just lets things fall apart. You see this everywhere, right? Sometimes going slow and careful just makes a bigger mess because you're in the problem longer. Hammering through fast can clean things up better, even if it feels wrong at first. Makes you wonder what other "rules" we follow that actually make our jobs harder.