Battle Gear

I came into work Monday morning intending to start some testing with the concept pump, right after sipping a cup of coffee while putzing around on the internet until 8 o'clock, per usual.  8 o'clock came and I was informed that a pump we had been running an endurance test on had erupted.  I quickly realized why I hadn't heard the normal buzzing of the pump on my way in to work.  It was not because the test was finally finished.  The pump was finished.  It hurled the ceramic slurry it was pumping all over the lab, which then began to flow outside.  I don't know the volume of the tank, but I'm sure a few pics will give you an idea of the sloppy mess that I would be tasked with cleaning up.

 The tank all covered in gooo!

The wall too

I can't show the pump, but you get the idea.  We haven't figured out what went wrong yet, but the splatter patterns tell us that a valve was likely closed and the pump started building pressure.  That pressure eventually has to go somewhere, so it found a way out.  All over the floor too.

This stuff is a ceramic compound that gets super thick and clumpy when it starts to dry.  It's almost like a clay.  This was sure to be a mess so I needed some battle gear.

 Duck boots

Coveralls

Now that I was all suited up, hazmat style, I went to work.  The first thing on the list was to get it out.  I had to get majority of the floor cleaned up before I could go to work on uncovering the pump.  Against my better judgement, I opened up the gate, grabbed the water hose and squeegee and started washing it out of the lab.  This stuff was pretty thick so I wasn't so sure it should go down the sewer drain, but that's what I was told to do.  So on with the show.

I knew this stuff was going to go all over as I continued adding water.  So I built a blockade!

My blockade, ahem! Containment barrier.

Eventually enough people got upset seeing me wash this crud down the storm drain and called the professional in.  I didn't argue one bit as most of the responsibility went from my hands to his.  A guy came with big truck capable of sucking all the crap out of the drain and cleaning off the lot.  Afterwards he blasted the pipeline with high pressure water to be sure that it wasn't clogged up.  The good news is no one was upset about the whole thing and no fingers were pointed.  Oh man if this shit happened in the US?  This would not fly.

Anyway, they had someone else come in and clean up the lab the next day.  I haven't been down to look at it yet, but I've been told it looks a lot better.  Perhaps I'll be able to do the testing I had planned sometime next week.