Hello Listers,
Your questions about Pumps and my Tirolessa sprayer get me excited. I have been collecting and
trying different systems for more than a decade.
I will try to keep this brief but it is a huge subject.
PC is a great material that can be pumped by many different systems. To decide on a system, start
with your goals. Determine if you need to pump into molds, spray or pump and spray.
These comments are focused on PC and not stucco or shotcrete. For Stucco and Shotcrete , I would
have slightly different suggestions.
If you are mainly pumping to fill molds, I would suggest looking to Spaceman and Mikey for guidance.
Both have had first hand experience with using various diaphragm trash pumps. This will be one of
the least expensive ways to pump the material. I pumped a bunch of foamed concrete with a 3" dual
diaphragm pump. The volume was dramatic. I could shoot a 3" diameter stream of material more than
15' out the end of the hose. Keeping up to producing that volume required a bunch of equipment. If
you are doing an infill between shells, a trash pump could also be a good idea. I would not think of
a diaphragm pump as a good choice for spraying with because of the surging. There are ways to smooth
this out as a Band-Aid but a different style pump would be a better choice.
One of the most promising uses of PC that I have seen is the layering of PC against a mold or
framework by spraying. Again, Spaceman and Mikey come to mind as well as Bob Merrill. Bob, really
brought home the idea to me. Spraying a thin layer of PC around a structure then adding layers as
the one below dries. This method has allowed Bob to use PC in a wet NE Washington because he has
allot of surface area drying. If he tried to do blocks, he could only build a couple months a year.
The hand sprayers like Spaceman has shared or my sprayers are a great choice for spraying PC to
build up a structure or also plastering like Mikey has done with a shipping container. Most of you
know that my sprayers are at www.mortarsprayer.com The big news, that you are the first to hear is
we will have an expanded line up very soon.
On a larger scale, a rotor/stator, also called a screw or progressive cavity pump is a good choice
for slick wet mixes like PC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_cavity_pump
This is a favorite style of pump of the guys that spray fire proofing. A pump like the Imer is a
good choice. You can also find larger volume pumps from the fire proofing industry. I am cautious
about using R/S pumps with heavy sanded mixes because of parts wearing. Many people do use them for
this and keep spares on hand.
Although you can pump/spray PC with a rotor stator pump if you want a pump with a wider range of
pumping materials a squeeze pump is a wonderful choice. I have owned and tested more than 7 so far.
These ranged from a tiny 1" all the way up to a 4" 40 yard per hour squeezer. My all around favorite
is a 2" Blascrtete squeezer. With it, I can pump and spray everything between papercrete to
shotcrete.
Because it has been my hobby for so long, I am happy to help with any pumping or spraying questions.
If you need any specifics, please don't hesitate to ask.
Best regards,
Nolan
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