julia_lee•22d agoTop Commenter

Blew a hydraulic hose on the 8-inch dredge near Baton Rouge last Tuesday - patch job or full replacement? The contractors on site were saying just wrap it with tape and keep going, but my gut said that's asking for a blowout down the line. I swapped it out since I had a spare from the last supply run, cost me about 45 minutes of downtime but I figure that's better than a full breakdown mid-job. What's your call when a hose gives out on a deadline - quick fix or swap it? Has anyone else run into this debate with a foreman pushing for a patch?

2 comments

2 Comments

Forty five minutes of downtime beats four hours of cleanup and a trip to the hospital any day. Why do foremen always act like tape and prayer is a permanent fix for a burst hose?

the_kevin22d ago

Oh man, I get what you're saying but I gotta push back a little on that "forty five minutes" part. A proper hose replacement on most rigs is more like 15-20 minutes if you got the right parts on hand and a guy who's done it before. Tape and prayer buys you what, ten minutes max before you're hosing down the whole site again? Foremen pull that nonsense because they're scared of the paperwork for a real fix, not because it saves time. You ever seen a taped hose fail at 200 psi? I have, and it's not a cleanup situation, it's a "where's my safety glasses" situation.