Fly ash

[Darin Younce]

Not sure if I spelled this correctly but I had an interview this morning with a small local company that hauls Fly Ash. The weight is 60 tons
and was a concern for the owner and me being that I am a noob. He did say that he was impressed with my interview and really liked my attitude
and would let me know by next wednesday. I am very surprized that he even took my app in the first place. He said that he would ride with me
until he and I were both comfortable. The loads will be about 1 hour 15 minute each way four times a day. ( thats a total of 2hours 30 minutes driving each load ) I need to get 4 loads a day in a 12 hour window. He said it is very doable and most of his drives have no problem with the exception of a couple that either do it way too fast or way too slow . My day will start at 3:30 am and end at 3:30 pm. The pay is pretty good overall with the over time ( 60 hours, with some saturdays
at 9 hours for atotal of 69 hours) . he said around 42 grand a year with the overtime. Actually the pay is 11 per hour which sounds very low but as you otr truckers know if you added up your total hours on duty versus
your total pay you would probably be paid fairly low per hour also. If not for the overtime I would probably think twice but then again I feel fortunate to find a possible job within 15 miles of my house and can be home every night and weekends .

[Jackrabbit379]

What in the world is fly ash? :shock:

[Darin Younce]

Well , I was told it is burnt coal ash . I believe it is used in some cement mixes and I am sure other things as well.

[Jumbo]

It can also be used as a type of fertilizer. It sure is dirty to work with. To start out that wage doesn't sound the worse, especially for just starting out.

[Mackman]

Well , I was told it is burnt coal ash . I believe it is used in some cement mixes and I am sure other things as well.

It is used in cement mixes. I pulled a couple loads of that when i run dry bulk for Venezia.

[Jackrabbit379]

Ok. That makes me feel better. I just couldnt imagine what fly ash would be.

[Darin Younce]

Thanks Jumbo, I am very satisfied with the salary being that I am new
to this , heck that seem like good pay for someone with experience as well. I need to add that he said with more experience I will make more .
P.S. I just read that Fly ash is also use in drywall .

[Jackrabbit379]

It also might be used in fly paper.

[TK THE TRUCKER]

Will you be pulling a bulk tanker or dump trailer? Around here I've seen many loads of fly ash brought into the landfill with dump trailers. 60 tons sounds like the gross weight to me, truck trailer and load. That would be one hell of a net weight 8) 8)

[Darin Younce]

Pretty sure it is a dump ( did not think to ask ) . Given the time the owner wants me to make a trip there would not be enough time to unload a tanker. I went to see my former instructor today for some advise and he asked the same thing,he said it would take up to an hour to unload a tanker of fly ash.( funny thing , the only indorsement I got was tanker because it was easy to pass , didn't even study for it) . I have been a bit worried about the extra weight( it is 60 tons gross) but my former instructor said it was not that bad . He said to allow at least 4 extra seconds above the usual 12- 15 seconds they teach you in school to look ahead and so-forth. He also said to be mindful of tires and brakes.
Sounds like good advise to me.

[steelhauler2007]

Isn't that what you get when you cremate a fly. Seriously flyash is a by product of a coal burning plant.Used in cement,fertilizer,and oilfield production.Just be careful that you don't breath in the dust.It isn't good on your lungs.I would suggest to wear a mask if around any of the dust. If you are dumping it,shouldn't be a problem.If it is being blown off from a Pnuematic trailer,watch the dust.

[Darin Younce]

Thanks Steel, yep got a couple of good mask if needed ( done paint and body for years for hobby) . Hope this job works out. I went to maverick ( I believe you are with them ? ) and really liked them but during orientation when Curt ( training manager) told about seeing his Daughter
being raised on a camcorder I started getting cold feet . I still sorta regret leaving because maverick seemed like a great company .
Now that I think about the time away , I probably should have given it a shot. I feel really bad because I have never in my life started something without seeing it thru. Anyway I hope the best for you Maverick drivers , I met a bunch of nice guys there all seemed to be helpful. BTW , do you know of a driver in the MAV IC division that goes by the handle "BIG COUNTRY" Man he is the funniest guy , He's a black dude but talks like a hillbilly ( like myself) . He's about 5'10" and weighs about 340 but solid as a rock .

[yoopr]

Do you have a walking floor for your trailer or do you ramp it?

[LadyNorthStar]

Avoid it if it ends up being a tanker. Fly ash sucks to load and unload. Real pain in the arse if the hoses plug up.

[Mackman]

the fastest i could unload a fly ash with a dry bulk tanker was 1hr 25mins. The hose dont plug up that much just dont try to unload 2 hoppers at once. By the way for a dry bulk tanker you dont need a tanker endorsement. Loading is a pice of cake as long as there is no line.

[Darin Younce]

Thanks all, I am confident it is a dump , heres why! The owner said I needed to make 4 runs in a 12 hour period. the drive time on each load will be 1 hour 15 minute eachway for a total of 2hours 30 minutes. This alone will take 10 hours not including loading or unloading ( 2.5 hours multiplied by 4) . If it takes even an hour to unload a tanker , this would put the time up to 14 hours, not including loading. Add just 15 minutes for each load time and now I would be at 15 total hours. He said that he had a few drivers doing the 4 loads in 10 or so hours but said he really didnt like that because he knew they had to be speeding . I assumed it would be dumps and never thought to ask but as I said it would be pretty much impossible to haul 4 loads in 12 hours and spend all the extra time unloading a tanker.

[special k]

This summer I hauled fly ash for my neighbour for a few days. He gets it from a coal fired electrical plant and takes it to a cement plant. They loaded us from overhead silos and it took about 20 min to load because it came out of a single tube and you had to creep the truck ahead to load it equally. Really dusty when you load and unload. We sprayed down the box first thing in the morning with diesel and didn't have any problem with it sticking for the rest of the day. The thing you have to watch is that the higher the moisture content is the heavier it is. In the morning the flyash is much heavier than the afternoon. I was always heavy the first load of the day and light the second and third loads. They put water in the flyash to keep the dust down in the plant but if you're box has too much moisture on it or they wet it too much you get to do a lot of shoveling to empty your box after you dump. We had liners in ours so it wasn't too bad for sticking. Our trips were almost the same as yours but 3 a day was enough for me. I guess I'm getting lazy in my old age LOL

[Darin Younce]

Thanks for the heads up , How heavy did you actually haul ? These are suppose to gross out at 60 tons.

[special k]

I was pulling a 4 axle which is legal for around 44 tons payload. In the morning we'd be around 46 or so and in the afternoon we'd be around 38. You could compensate by loading less but it's pretty hard to be exact.

[Darin Younce]

Thanks again SK, I will keep that in mind if I get this job. I was driving down HWY 431 in KY today and an ambulance passed me, a few miles down the road I saw a coal truck rolled on its side. He had just made a right hand turn , probably too fast but not sure could have been something else. Been looking at other options like getting a ton truck and hauling cars , seems like there is some money in that but will see what happens.