Quote:
Originally Posted by ohiomohawk
There is alot more to driving a tanker than I thought. I took a bath in methanol today. I connected a hose to the tank and had a hard time getting the ears to fit tight, I then had to get the right fitting to connect 2 hoses. My trainer is watching as I try to figure out what fitting goes where. I know I looked like an idiot while trying to figure out the correct fitting to use.
I walked the hoses out after we were done pumping and I disconnected the 2 hoses leading to the pump from the tank and took a bath in methanol (actually about 1 gallon). I did fine on the driving end but once we started working on unloading all hell broke loose. He gave me a little lecture on proper fittings after we got back to the terminal.
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Maybe I should not second guess your trainer...but I am going to. Wysrob was correct!
He (your trainer) should not have been standing back, letting you guess at the fittings. He should have been right in there with you, showing you the proper fittings, showing you how to inspect the gaskets for wear and plemishes and most importantly, the proper gasket material for the product you are to pump! (all can cause leaks. leaks are bad)!! The wrong gasket material can be bad in so many ways, a spill being the smallest problem. Some products will leach the "black" out of those black rubber gaskets, and that black will contaminate the product! The entire tank you are pumping into! You need to know what gasket material is to be used. Rubber, hypalon, or teflon.
Pumping is pretty straight forward, once you learn the system.
A trick to use, to clear the lines, so you do not take a bath while unhooking the hoses.
Once the product in your tank is gone, shutdown for 10 minutes. Just shut everything in! After allowing any heel to drain into the sump, open everything back up and resume pumping. Once you have pumped the heel, disconnect the hose from your tank FIRST! Close the internal valve, close the product discharge valve, crack the cam ears open, and slowly pull the hose away from the discharge outlet! Hold the hose above your head for three seconds or so, then slowly start walking the hose towards the pump, which you should still have running at speed.
If you have more than one section of hose, you can start rolling the hose into a loop as you walk towards the pump. This helps to keep all the product in the hose, moving towards the pump. Once you have a hose connection cleared past the top of your walk (the connection has gone above your shoulders at least), you can disconnect the empty hose, capping it as you disconnect it. Finish walking the hose to the pump, and after 3 or 4 seconds of the pump sucking at the empty hose, you disconnect the hose from the pump inlet. Now you can take the cap or plug, or simply use your gloved palm, and squeeze off the air going to the pump. This will surge air through the pump, and you can clear your discharge line.
Before shutting the pump down you do two things. First plug the pump suction line, then close any customer valve in the discharge side, to keep product from back flowing, once the discharge line is clear.
Now you start dismantling your discharge line, beginning at the customer's end, capping the hose and the customer's connection at the same time. You disconnect each hose, plugging and capping as you go along, holding each connection away from your face, and using care to contain any fluid, to the interior of the hoses. Work your way to the pump again.
I get cardboard from the customer, each time I pump, to lay on the ground under each hose connection. If you have a drip, better to let it drip on cardboard, than the ground. If you have a bucket, you can move the bucket onto the cardboard easily. Throw the cardboard away when you finish racking up your hoses.
It all takes time to learn. But once you learn, it makes life easy!
Methonal is a bad product to be spilling, especially onto yourself. Did the trainer get you into a shower ASAP? That should have been done immediately. Methanol burns way to quick, to be fooled around with.
Keep up the posting young lad!