What Is Concrete Pumping?

What Is Concrete Pumping?

When undertaking construction projects, it becomes important to manage your time correctly. Concrete pumping plays an important role in any project that involves material, to move the mixture around a lot faster than using manual labor.

Concrete pumping involves transporting mixed batches of fresh concrete to specific locations on a construction site. This could involve small residential projects or renovations, or for large-scale commercial properties. For any project that requires concrete in large amounts, concrete pumping is the best option to save effort and time.

The two main concrete pump types include boom pumps and ground pumps.

Ground Pumps

These pumps are used at ground level, where concrete feeds into the pump and flows to the area where the concrete is needed. If for example, concrete is required for a residential project and it is not possible to get a concrete truck close enough to the site where the materials are needed, a ground pump is the best option to reach the site where the concrete will be used.

The ground or line pump is available in the following types:

Stationary Pumps

Trailer-mounted or stationary pumps feature a pump that mounts onto a trailer. A truck is required to tow or transport the pump to different job sites. The stationary pumps do not come with a boom and a placing hose or separate pipelines is needed to transport the concrete.

Truck-Mounted Static Pump

Static pumps mount onto a truck bed allowing an employee to drive the pump to a job site. These concrete pumps also don’t have a placing boom, which means they need placing hoses to transport the concrete to where it is needed.

Truck Mixer Pump

These are all-in-one models that feature concrete mixers that come with attached pumps, allowing the user to directly pump the concrete out of the mixer.

What Is Concrete Pumping?

Boom Pumps

Boom pumps are operated with remote control and often feature an extendable arm that reaches over obstructions or houses. The boom pump is also used when concrete is required on higher levels such as the second floor of a home or apartment buildings. Click here to get more information about concrete boom pumps.

This type of pump can be driven to a job site, while the placement boom directs the concrete to where it is needed without having to use extra hoses. The boom pumps offer user-friendly features making these pumps the most popular and versatile on many different types of construction sites.

The boom pumps feature articulated sections that come in different types of folding configurations:

RZ: These pumps are also known as multifold pumps that feature a combination of Z and roll-and-fold sections.

Z and ZZ: The sections on this type of pump fold back-and-forth similar to an accordion. These sections fit through narrow spaces and under and over obstructions.

Roll-and-Fold

The roll-and-fold pumps feature sections that fold or curl into each other. These sections work better in wide-open spaces since they require a certain amount of space to unfold.

Concrete pumps have provided a significant benefit to the construction sector, helping to save time, labor, and money.