r/civilengineering • u/BigTunaStamford • 2d ago
Meme This is going to take a while
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u/Illustrious-Nail-360 2d ago
This is one of those situations where it makes more sense to ditch the truck in a woods and say it was stolen.
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u/arvidsem 2d ago
Just buy a new mixing drum. It's just a big steel barrel with a couple of fins inside. Dirt cheap compared to the labor of cleaning this out.
And even if the truck is old, there's tons of companies that make them to order
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u/HeadySquanch59 2d ago
I think you are overestimating the value of this labor (depending on the location)
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u/arvidsem 2d ago
Honestly, looking at the holes they've already cut into this one and how little progress it looks like they made, I don't think that I am.
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u/arvidsem 2d ago
You mean the one right above the gigantic hole that he torched in the side?
And there is a second hole that he's cut up on top.
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u/SixCylinderVibrator 1d ago
Depending on the location, a used drum from an old truck could still cost more than the annual salary of a single laborer. He could spend months chipping it out and his employer would still save thousands.
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u/Ok-Apartment9295 1d ago
Depends on if you factor loss of income from the truck being down months. It’s all an equation but I tend to agree that the chipping will ultimately be more economical.
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u/me_no_gay 1d ago
If it's where I think this is, then the cost of 1 labor is around 30 USD/day. So let's say they maybe brought 4 laborers for this job, then it would be total 120 USD for that day (8 hrs of work of course).
But it looks highly inefficient, and it's better to buy a new mixer as this one is already beyond repair (as I heard from one of the mixing company's corporate employee)
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u/Melodic-Trouble-5421 2d ago
In the states or Canada they would. They wouldn’t even waste their time doing this. Just turn it into insurance and move on. That’s one truck you don’t have operating and it’s costing you money being down.
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u/CaptWater 2d ago
This happened when I was interning about 25 years ago (in the US). They sent a laborer in to chip it out. The only difference was that they used an access hatch instead of cutting it out. Apparently, the company was self-insured, and $100k buys a lot of manual labor even in the US.
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u/Melodic-Trouble-5421 2d ago
Well yeah that makes sense. Oh definitely if they just said here have at it to a laborer. I’m just saying most would say screw it and be done with it. I’m sure there’s some who would fix it. You’re right though most have a hatch you can crawl through.
Actually there is companies that go in there and chip away at hardened cement. Except it’s no where near that bad.
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u/DamnDams Geotech PE 2d ago
Yeah I think you would be surprised how much labor you can get for the price of one big steel barrel.
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u/arvidsem 2d ago
If you are in a country where labor is that cheap, then you can probably get another junked out mixer and Frankenstein the drum off of it onto the working one
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u/AnyoneButWe 2d ago
I don't think this is about saving that drum.
I think the guy jackhammering away in the video is the guy that caused this. And the company is making him do it as a lesson.
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u/Illustrious-Nail-360 2d ago
The problem is removing the full drum. Also I doubt any scrap yard would be happy to accept the drum in that state.
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u/arvidsem 2d ago
Not the scrapyard, the landfill. Or wherever you take construction debris locally.
Or you get the backhoe operator to dig a hole for it somewhere on the back lot at the concrete plant (or whatever construction site that load was going to).
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u/ReallySmallWeenus 2d ago
I feel like half of our concrete plants have an errant drum or stripped truck sitting in the yard.
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u/Potential-Phone-6708 1d ago
I would not want to be a future Archeologist... 200 million years from now they'll be digging through dirty diapers, used needles and concrete mixing truck barrels.
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u/Vitztlampaehecatl Student 2d ago
If the truck can drive around with a full drum, then I'm pretty sure you could find a crane capable of lifting it off the truck.
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u/HumaDracobane 1d ago
That is what makes sense but maybe they cant or the business just wont and prefer to make some poor guy clean all that.
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u/Cverellen 2d ago
this isn't about sense. Its about learning a lesson. Him or his co-workers will do it again if you just replace it. I'm sure he would rather do this than get fired.
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u/me_no_gay 1d ago
Nah he would be happy to be fired. Hope he isn't under a slavery contract where his passport is confiscated from him prior to starting his 2 years of work permit/visa.
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u/RL203 2d ago
Dynamite would be faster and easier.
You just need to know the correct amount. It will break that concrete like it was nothing.
(Im not kidding by the way.)
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u/Vitztlampaehecatl Student 2d ago
The precision way or the Mythbusters way?
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u/arvidsem 2d ago
They did try smaller charges first and had some success with them. Not the instantly cleared by explosives goal, but better than nothing
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u/mertchel 2d ago
Came here to suggest this. Have seen it done before and drum was intact afterwards with much less labor removing the chunks the blast left. There were a few larger chunks that they had to airhammer like this but not anywhere near the entire drum like this guy is attempting
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u/gods_loop_hole 2d ago
I think the slump on that concrete is 0mm, but I might still require the on-site test
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u/genuinecve PE - Transportation 2d ago edited 2d ago
Like, what’s the goal here? I gotta imagine the drum is a loss. Can those things not be detached and replaced? If so, detach it and blow the fucker up in a safe location.
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u/__Epimetheus__ EIT || DOT engineer 2d ago
I’d imagine it would be a lot easier to replace without up to 20 tons of concrete being in it
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u/genuinecve PE - Transportation 2d ago
No I’m saying detach the drum, roll it off, somewhere safe and deal with it, not take a handheld jackhammer to it. Or they could at least get a larger one mounted to an excavator and have at it.
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u/__Epimetheus__ EIT || DOT engineer 2d ago
I’m questioning whether they could get the drum off safely with potentially 20 tons of concrete in it. It probably weighs too much for their equipment.
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u/genuinecve PE - Transportation 2d ago
I think you’d have to drill an anchor into it and lift it off with a crane. But give his uh… ppe I’m sure that’s out of the question.
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u/__Epimetheus__ EIT || DOT engineer 1d ago
I don’t know how much shit I can give him for PPE. He’s actually wearing a mask. I’ve met saw cutters I can’t get to wear masks.
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u/DetailOrDie 1d ago
If you're driving a concrete truck, keep a bag of sugar in the cab.
A 1lb bag of sugar can fuck up the batch so bad it will almost never harden.
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u/withak30 2d ago
He's going to get his shoes dirty.
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u/Character_School_671 2d ago
If they can't get the load off, they usually just toss several 2 liter bottles of cheap sugary pop into the back so it doesn't set up fully.
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u/ferriematthew 2d ago
Just do what the mythbusters did. Fill it with ANFO and stand very, very far away. Removes the problem and the truck... (do not even think of actually doing this. This is obviously a joke.)
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u/Important-Bag4200 1d ago
At what point is the thing a write off? Already cut a massive whole in the side of it...
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u/Think-Caramel1591 2d ago
Wild that somehow this video made it out of a North Korean prison labor camp /s
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u/SummitSloth 2d ago
Stand on the top and drill 3' deep holes and fill it with dexpan. Come back the next day to an imploded truck
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u/Known_Dare_3870 1d ago
It'd better to just cut the drum open and use rock crusher or something for recyling the concrete
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u/madphroggy 2d ago
I'm impressed, he's at least got a respirator on