Unloading Time for a Pneumatic Sand Truck

[dustinw]

I'm not a trucker, I'm actually an engineer working at product development firm. Right now I'm trying to develop a camlock connector for pneumatic sand trucks that will outlast the aluminum connectors that are currently available. From what I understand these wear out quite quickly and can be hard to obtain. My question is, how long does it take to unload say 50000 lbs of frac sand from a pnuematic sand truck? If you can tell me best and worst case, that would be quite helpful for me and possibly for you in the future if you haul sand !!

Thanks!

[Okieron]

it varies with the length of hose and the pump and or trailer type. I could empty 45000 in about 15 minutes with 10 ft of hose and as much as 45 min with 20 or 30 ft of hose. the aluminum one do wear out. anything with a bend is gonna wear out faster. I used to keep 2 or 3 90's on board because you cold blow thru them in a few weeks and when your in the middle of no where its not fun !

[wallyhh]

There are a lot of variables involved. The length of hose and how straight,how big the bin is you are filling and how high you may have to pump, how wet or dry the material is, how full the bin you are filling is and whether or not they have an assist blower. Have unloaded in as little as 35 minutes, and can take over an hour.

[dustinw]

Thank You, very helpful

[rookietrucker]

The type of material is a factor, the more course the sand is, the more wear on these connectors. It's not just on the connectors either. The product lines and everything connecting takes wear. Think of sandblasting and the effect it has. You just don't see it until the part goes faulty and it's taken apart (because it's internal damage). Gorilla tape and steel putty is your friend in these situations, til you get back to the shop.

[Powder Joints]

Material and lenght of push control most of the time aspect. As far as carrying metal pipe or tubing, this is something I have never seen. I use a 4" or 5" reinforced rubber hose. The 5 inch unloads in about half the time. I haul ash, cement, sand, 3/4"gypsum rock, lime, limestone. Ash and cement unload at a average of 1000 lbs per minute, sand is abouit 500 lbs per minute. lime and salt depends on mosture content how sticky the material is. Average is about 25 minutes per trailer. each trailer holds 27500 lbs. Ive been doing bulk for aprox 20 years.

[dustinw]

Thank You, this helps quite a bit. Another question, how often would you unload your sand, would this be once a day, multiple times a day. And would you do this 5 days a week, 7 days a week?

Thanks for your responce.

[Peterbilt_Trucker]

I can speak from pulling a pneumatic dry bulk hauling salt, we unload sometimes 10 times a day 45 minutes each unload. 5-6 or sometimes 7 days a week..

[Powder Joints]

Thank You, this helps quite a bit. Another question, how often would you unload your sand, would this be once a day, multiple times a day. And would you do this 5 days a week, 7 days a week?

Thanks for your responce.

Just depends on what your doing. When I worked for Apex my day went like this, go to Frazier Park load II/V cement, then off to Upland unload, over to Colton and load block cement goto SunValley unload. Head for Simi Valley load #60 snd and take it to Anahiem, then head home to Mojave now 2 hours away.

Currently I load in Trona CA Flyash (54000 lbs), then head for Tehachapi and top off with II/V Cement (10000lbs) and take it to Elk Hills reserve (Taft) unload into pools of ised drilling fluid. I alternete between flyash which unloads in 25 minutes, salt inloads about an hour depending on level of the tank, and soda ash which bottom dumps about 20 minute.

Hope this helps. Salt can be the most labor to get it to start unloading.

[jit4747]

Im hauling sand currently. I have the question of is it better to run top air or the fluffers for tank pressure...im running about 15 psi on both line and tank pressure... its taking me 55-hr and half for 50,000 pounds...is this normal? Any help would be highly appreciated