Three years of wrong suction settings wasted my fuel

I was running my cutterhead at max RPM for three years on a job in Mobile Bay until a senior operator watched me for five minutes and pointed out I was just recirculating material. Switched to lower suction and my production went up 20% that same day. Anyone else have a moment like that where a small tweak made a huge difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

perez.cole15d ago

You mean like my buddy who was running a dredge pump wide open for two years until someone told him to back off the throttle? He said his production jumped 15% and his fuel bill dropped like a rock.

kellymurphy15d ago

@perez.cole That's honestly incredible. Hearing stuff like that always gets me a little fired up because so many people just assume more power equals more output. Your buddy probably saved a ton of wear and tear on his pump too. Running that thing wide open for two years with no issues is lucky, but backing it off clearly paid off in the long run. Real solid advice that more operators need to hear!