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20 years running a dredge and just learned I was overfilling the hopper this whole time
I was out on the Mississippi near Baton Rouge last month and a younger guy from a different crew pointed out my discharge rate was dropping off way faster than normal. He showed me that packing the hopper to the brim actually slows the whole process down because the material compacts and blocks the flow underneath. Anybody else have a basic habit they picked up wrong from day one?
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claire4432d ago
@phoenix_campbell88 yeah taking a half load sounds like admitting defeat after 20 years of just packing it FULL. Might as well give it a try though if this old dog can learn new tricks.
Funny how the younger guys come in and just casually spot something you've been doing WRONG for two decades. Makes you wonder what else I've been messing up without even knowing it.
Honestly the compaction thing makes so much sense now that I think about it. All those times I thought I was being efficient by cramming every last bit in there I was actually making more work for myself.
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