Working the Columbia River last spring, a sudden silt shift nearly clogged the pump.

Now I always keep a high-pressure water lance on the deck ready to go, not stored below. What's your quick fix for a surprise silt plug?

3 comments

3 Comments

ivanbrown7d ago

Yeah, keeping that lance on deck is the only way to go. I learned that the hard way too, fighting a plug with the backup pump while my main one was choking. My quick fix is a short section of two-inch hose with a threaded cap on one end. If the strainer starts to load up, I can pop it on a discharge outlet and blast water backwards through the system. It's ugly, but it has cleared a partial plug more than once when I couldn't get to the source.

sethp2616h ago

Forget the backup pump, that reverse-flush hose idea is clever. How do you make sure you don't blow a fitting or hose off when you hit it with that much pressure?

schmidt.reese7d ago

Honestly though, is a silt plug that big of a deal? Seems like a lot of extra gear for a maybe problem.