Spent a full day chasing a pressure drop on the old 'Mississippi Queen'

The main pump on our cutter suction dredge kept losing prime, and I spent nearly 10 hours checking every valve and hose. Turns out a tiny, hairline crack in the suction line flange, right at the waterline, was letting in just enough air to cause the issue. It was so small you could only see it when the sun hit it just right. Has anyone else had a similar headache with an air leak that was hard to spot?

3 comments

3 Comments

ellis.mia24d ago

Those hairline cracks are a special kind of pain, and @amy483 is right about the simple fixes too.

amy48324d ago

That "tiny, hairline crack" story is a bit dramatic. Most of the time, it's not some magic sunbeam find. It's usually just a bad gasket or a loose fitting someone didn't torque right. I've seen guys waste a whole shift looking for a ghost leak when the problem was a simple o-ring they forgot to grease during the last service. Overthinking the small stuff causes more downtime than the small stuff itself.

eric72321d ago

Tell you what, I once spent a whole afternoon convinced we had a major valve issue. I was ready to order a whole new part. My buddy walks over, sprays some soapy water on a hose clamp I had checked twice, and a tiny bubble pops up. The clamp was just a quarter turn loose. I felt like the smartest dumb guy on the river that day.