The difference a proper spoil line makes is night and day

We were running a 10-inch cutterhead on a river job near Memphis for about three months. For the first two, we were fighting constant downtime because the spoil line kept clogging every other day. The boss had us running a 300-foot line that was too narrow for the material. Switched to a wider diameter line last month, and we've gone three straight weeks without a single clog. Production is up by almost 40 percent. It's amazing how one wrong spec can tank a whole job. Anyone else had a simple fix like that completely turn things around?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_wren3d ago

We had the same thing on a sandbar job. Switched from a 10-inch to a 12-inch discharge line and it was like flipping a switch. The extra inch of clearance lets the bigger chunks pass through without hanging up.

lee.casey4d ago

That river silt around Memphis is a real beast for clogging. Your old line was probably only 8 inches, which just can't handle that volume. Getting the right pipe size is the most basic rule for a reason.