Lost hopper and more.

i hope thats a small pump not a boom pump.

Why and how did this happen?

I am gonna go out on a limb and say lazy operator not recirculating or not wetting the mud up before a move

Throw some suger in there. 

This was not the operators fault, nor was it the pumps fault. I was told I could have and use this picture as long as I did not explain what did happen. Believe me this was one of those things that never happens but did that day. owner, operator, contractor and pump manufactures did nothing wrong.

That only leaves ready mix. Bad mix or something?

Let me take a wild guess and say it flashed

Lets just say it was environmental

know  wich concrete you are pumping

some concrete types must be processed within one hour

there are other reasons to leave a concrete pump with a hopper of mud in it, say your trapped in a flash flood, fire extream lighting, tornado, earth quake and maby somebod shooting at you. lol you know normal stuff these days.

looks to me like the operator sucked the pig back and thats all he had time to do , hearing todds explanation, I have been in chemical plants when there was a leak or emergency and only had time to suck pig back and turn engine off and get to stepping, I actually one time opened the bottom door and left it stroking in reverse while I went to the cab to turn the engine off , saved me a lot of work and heartache, but I won't judge because I don't know the whole story.

 It's good it was'nt the operator's fault, but it still has to be cleaned out, and bad concrete or not you have to know what is in your pump.

I hadn't thought about "environmental" issues. Shows how narrow minded I can be! I too have been in chemical plants or refineries but so far have never had to leave the pump and leave the area. 

every time we have a lightning shut down,  i always fear this is what ill come back to

Hope the pump was insured . All I see is money .

When in Doubt, Wash It Out!!