What would you do?

[Shane]

Here's the story...

Tonight we were cleaning the buildings of a very large shopping center. We have been on the project for four days, and planned on seven to complete. This place is huge(multiple stories) so we rented a 60ft boom for seven days. I have a great crew and we are, well were ahead of schedule. We were kicking some serious butt. Then out of nowhere I get a radio call from my ground guy "HE TURNED OFF THE WATER, HE TURNED OFF THE WATER". I respond "What?? who?? TURN OFF THE MACHINE, NOW!" Right then my pressure dropped, no water, and no response from my ground guy. Keep in mind my helper and I are 60 feet up and over the roof and can not see a thing on the ground. Finally we get on the ground and run around the building to my box truck. My ground guy already shut down the machine but it took a while because of the distance(he also dropped his radio while running). Anyway, I get there and he tells me he was on the other side of the building near the water supply double checking for kinks and whatnot when a night manager from one of the center's restaurant's stops him and asked "are you with them?" pointing towards us, then "well I don't have approval to let you use our water, so I turned it off until I talk to my boss". WTF! First, the water belongs to the shopping center(our customer), this jackass thought because the spigot was near his door it must belong to them. Secondly, he could not wait five minutes for me to come down and straighten this out? To make a long story short. After a lot of words were said(mostly by me) and phone calls were made, we turn back on the water, and start the machine. NO PRESSURE!! I feel somebody should pay for repairs. What do you guys think?

[814jeffw]

I would say try to get something out of the guy if he is responsible for any damage caused to your equipment. BUT, your probably gonna have more in trying to get your money than what you'll actually get. Try and get the property owner to lean on them some.Good luck.

(The person must have a miserable life)

Jeff

[One Tough Pressure]

I say run the machine with no tip and bleed the air out. Unless you already had problems, a short bit without water is not gonna kill the machine, but not a good habit to get into.
I run 2 tanks and many times have run one down to losing pressure before i switch and have had no loss of prssure issues after repriming the pump.

[HotShot]

This is what I would have started with

[MMI Enterprises]

Did you use that classic line from Fast Times on him??? Not sure I would have been able to contain myself.

[Shane]

Back in business, got the pump repaired and we will be reimbursed. The property manager agreed with us that the guy overreacted. Time to move on, the lift is two grand per week so I need to get my a@# to work and off this computer. lol

[MMI Enterprises]

besides the pump he caused down/idle time for you workers that likely costed you too..and what about the lift?. wouldn't ya have had a early return credit on your week rental?

[John Orr]

This might be a good time to point-out the value of having a back-up machine. My rig is 8gpm/3000psi with heat, but I also carry a 5gpm/2400psi cold machine - just in case. Before my rig, I used to carry a spare pump.