dianahayes•9d agoProlific Poster

An old timer on the Mississippi showed me a pump trick I still use

I was working a sandbar job near Memphis about five years back and our main pump kept clogging with river grass. This retired operator named Frank, who lived on a houseboat nearby, came over and watched for a bit. He told me, 'Son, try running your cutter head in reverse for thirty seconds before you shut down for the day.' We tried it that evening and it cleared the intake line perfectly. Has anyone else found a simple fix like that for keeping a pump clean?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray1369d ago

Honestly, how often does that even happen? Most pumps I've seen just need a regular clean out, not some special trick. Seems like making extra work to run it backwards every single day. Maybe it was just that one spot on the river.

ninas679d ago

Yeah, @river_allen is right, that daily grit adds up fast.

river_allen9d ago

The manual for my old Grundfos pump specifically said to reverse it for a minute after each use to clear the impeller. It's not about a dirty river spot, @ray136, it's about sand and grit settling inside when the pump stops. Running it backwards spins that stuff right back out the intake. If you don't, that grit just sits there and grinds away every time you start it up the next day. It only takes a second and saves a lot of wear and tear (and money on parts later).