Vent: Overheard a crew boss in Mobile say they're cutting pump maintenance cycles in half

I was grabbing a coffee near the port yesterday and the table next to me was talking shop. One guy, sounded like a crew boss, was bragging about stretching their pump overhaul schedule from 2,000 hours to 4,000 to keep a job on budget. That's a huge jump. It made me think about all the gear I've seen fail early because someone pushed the intervals too far. What's the most hours you guys feel comfortable running a main dredge pump before a full teardown?

3 comments

3 Comments

eva_moore2d ago

Heard a similar story down in Galveston last year... they pushed a pump to 3,500 hours and the impeller basically disintegrated. That kind of stretch is just asking for a catastrophic failure. Really feels like they're trading a small budget win for a huge repair bill later.

maxl931d ago

Tell wader71 that's how you learn the hard way.

wader711d ago

Yeah, that's the thing, @eva_moore. I mean, I'd probably be the guy who pushes it to 3,501 hours just to see what happens, so maybe I shouldn't talk.