Waterhauler,you have been a great help...Thankx will up date

Well after hitting the streets for 2 days i think i found someone that will give me a shot,,i expect a call to go drug test in the morn.

Way to go, that didn't take long. If you'd like to, let us know who it is and a little bit about what they're like.

Got a call from the big boss tonite,he said all he had to do was run my DMV report and he would call me tomarrow with a drug test time. He said i'd be on the 7pm to 7am shift "works for me " 4 days on 2 days off.
Can you tell me a little about what a shift is like? how many runs? How many miles you drive a day? Things like that...
I'll fill you in on the Co after the drug test and i get a few days under my belt,,i can say it's not one you listed.
Again thanks NoFearSpear

I live in Dallas and have been out of truckin for only 8 months and I have 10 years exp (6 verifiable) and I signed on with a temp service for work but they dont have work. hmmm... Anyway I am being looked at the same way no recent otr exp my last 2 years were local and know cant get a job much less short runs to Houston or something. I FEEL THE PAIN TOO GUYS!! I do and my husband is hating me he doesnt understand how it could be this hard out here and says get out of trucking...How its all I know!!

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"Keep it between the lines"........

That's cool, sounds like you're just about all set. Now get ready to learn the fun of using Kolor Kut, working nights, opening and closing lease gates on your way in and out...wait, I should've told you all the bad stuff BEFORE you went out and got a job hauling water LOL

There are definitely some differences in how a shift may go based on what company you're working for, but let me see if I can give you a good run down, even including some rather minor details. (Of course, you'll be riding with a trainer for the first few days to get the hang of hauling water)

After you show up at the yard, everyone will be chatting about what wells are producing how much and who needs to go where when. The pusher has been putting this plan together for about the last hour and sooner or later he'll tell you something like "Okay, take truck 107 and head out to the Johnson B pad." Head out and pre-trip your truck (don't know what that's like when driving OTR, but an oil field pre-trip often consists of making sure it cranks up when you turn the key. I check my oil, start it up, check my tires, lights and mirrors and hit the road, feel free to be more thorough if you like) and get your clipboard, hard hat and cooler bag loaded into the cab, along with your tickets, Kolor Kut, guage line and rag for wiping it off. Make sure you've got all the fittings you'll need and that you've got a couple of three inch hoses and a couple of four inch hoses.

Now you're ready to leave the yard and head to the well site. You may or may not have gotten decent directions. You'll be driving off the beaten path on small, rural roads most of the time, keep your eye out for roads where you can tell big trucks have been turning. Look for worn edges of the roads and places where dirt and rocks have been drug out into the street and they'll tip you off to many of your turns. You finally find your lease road. Most of them have locked gates, so you pull into the entrance of the lease, hop out of the truck, unlock the gate and pull in. While you're doing that you can look at the lease sign somewhere near the gate to make sure you're at the right lease. Notice the colors and text on the sign, the color and style of the gate. Most leases operated by a given production company (Encana, XTO, Devon, etc.) will look pretty similar, and being able to notice what they look like might help you spot one from a distance as you're rolling along at night trying to read the lease signs. Depending on what waterhauler you're working for, you'll probably find that most of your work is done for just three or four production companies.

Anyway, pull on through (stop, close and lock the gate behind you if this is required) and proceed slowly down the lease road. Make sure you know what the "speed limit" is on the lease you're on, 18 wheels throw up a lot of dust and you'll end up with people complaining. As long as you're not going too fast, you'll be okay, just try to be considerate if you're particularly close to other homes. Follow the lease road down and you'll end up at the tank battery. If there are multiple wells on the lease you're at you'll have to do some detective work to find out if you're at the right spot, because a lot of wells don't have lease signs up at the well itself. A couple of cheap tricks: each well has a panel over near the separators that's constantly scrolling through information. Take a peek at it and eventually it will show the well name and number, then you can follow the flow pipe to see which set of tanks belongs to which well. There are frequently four or six tanks or more on one pad.

I know, all this sounds weird and I might be making it more confusing than it needs to be, but I think over time it will help.

Now you get to climb up the catwalk and guage and Kolor Kut the tank. If you're lucky, the tank will have outside guages, but you need to check it with the guage line until you know the well to make sure the outside guages are accurate. Drop your guage line down into the tank until you reach the bottom, pull it back up and see where it's wet. That's your top guage. In that tank, there's saltwater (production water) and there's probably some product (oil or drip...but then some people use the word drip to describe junk, not product) sitting on top of the water. DON'T PULL PRODUCT. EVER. GET GOOD AT KOLOR KUTTING AND PULL WITH A SIGHT GLASS (CLEAR NIPPLE) AS NEEDED. DON'T PULL PRODUCT. Put some Kolor Kut on your guage line starting at your top guage and going down, then dip it in the tank again. Pull it up. Wherever that Kolor Kut turns from poop brown to bright reddish pink is where your the water begins. You'll have, say, a 7'6" guage with a 5' Kolor Kut. That means you've got 2'6" of product and 5' of water.

Anyway, now you determine if you're going to pull a load or not. You may have to call dispatch or your pusher, or it may be up to you. Get to know what size tanks yall deal with the most so you'll know how many barrels are in a foot for each of them. Most tanks go as follows, and I'll reference the height of the tank because that's what we notice. 20' tanks are usually 20 barrels per foot, they'll hold 400 barrels. 15' tanks are 20 barrels per foot also, holding 300 barrels. 9 and 10 foot tanks are common, they both generally have the same diameter, and are both 33 and 1/3 barrels per foot. You'll also run into 8' 210s. They suck, they only hold 210 barrels, so you need it to be nearly full to get a load from it. They are 26.25 barrels per foot.

You figure out you do have a load, so you back up to the dike, engage the PTO to get the pump running (let the clutch out very slowly when engaging the PTO) and hop out of the truck, grab whatever fittings you need, hook up your hose to the valve on the tank and get to pulling. If you're pulling with one hose it will take about 20 to 25 minutes, double hosing will get it done in 10 to 12. This is your time to fill out your paperwork and you can probably listen to a song or two on the radio once you make sure everything is going properly and you're getting loaded.

Once you're loaded (110 to 150 barrels, depending on your trailer and the company you work for) unhook and get ready to roll. You're headed to the disposal. There are a lot of different disposal set ups, you'll see that in training. They all accomplish the same thing, one way or another you hook up a hose or two and unload your truck. Now it's time to head back out and do it again!

I know that's all really long winded, but I hope it will help. Depending on a lot of factors, you'll be getting anywhere from three to eight or nine or ten loads in a shift and you'll be driving probably between 150 to 250 miles in a night. There are lots of variables here, but this would be even LONGER if I explained more LOL

Working nights sucks after awhile. It has plus sides, less traffic, less DPS, cooler in the summer, get to see the stars out in the middle of nowhere, see all kinds of critters roaming around. It also has plenty of problems. Trying to stay awake, especially on your Mondays. Trying to sleep during the day. When your days off roll around, you really only get one day off, because you sleep one of them away adjusting back somewhat to normal hours. Everybody handles it differently, try different sleep schedules to see what works best for you. I don't stay up all night long on my days off, but I try to stay up till midnight or two and sleep till ten or later just to not get too far off of my work schedule. I don't care if you're the new guy and under pressure to get some work done, if you're starting to nod off while driving the truck, pull over, call your pusher, tell him you're going to take a thirty minute nap, set the alarm on your cell phone, sleep a bit, see if it helps. You're going to have to fight through being tired, but if you're starting to fall asleep, park it for a bit. I know you know this, I just want to reinforce to anyone else out there reading this.

Don't forget to grab a few items before your first day of work. Go to the dollar store and grab a cheap flashlight. Later, buy a flashlight that will mount to your hard hat, comes in handy. Also buy a little pocket sized notepad for writing down guages, gate combinations, directions, etc. Try to get one that's got the pages glued in, like a regular book. If you get a spiral bound one, the pages will start falling out after awhile. Get a cheap package of pens, I prefer the gel ones or whatever they are, they write better. Get some gloves. I hope you've got some steel toed boots, you'll need them. The company should give you a hard hat and safety glasses.

Don't know if you smoke, but a lot of guys smoke out at well sites. Signs say not to do it, but a lot of guys do. You probably won't blow up if you smoke in the cab or even around the trailer while you're loading. If you smoke up on the catwalk, where the vapors from the product in the tanks are hanging out, you will likely blow up. Rockin B blew up the Tomlinson in Hood County about a year ago because a guy was smoking up on the tank deck. Luckily he wasn't seriously hurt. DON'T SMOKE ON THE CATWALK.

Man, that's way too much info, just trying to give you some helpful info. Just came in from work, guess I'm a little wired. Feel free to ask any questions you have, if anything else occurs to me, I'll add another reply

Or......You could get a job hauling frac sand and learn to be bored stiff while you're at work....like I am.

I love frac sand hauling...gives me a LOT of time to read and nap.

The money's great too!!!!!

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Big Red



Freedom wasn't won with a registered gun.

Well ,went and took the drug test,,,should be getting a call next week prob Tuesday with a start date,,,think it takes a few days to get the test back..,..will give a full report when i start. Man,i cant say how much you helped Waterhauler!!!!!
NoFearSpear

Big Red, I've thought about looking into hauling sand before, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy sitting around for hours on end waiting until they decide they're ready for you. How often do you get stuck sitting around? I've also heard varying accounts on how it pays, perhaps you could clear that up.

NFS, glad I could help, and I look forward to hearing an update from you soon!

Sorry about the links and phone numbers.