Dealing With a Water Pump

We had a large project that took years to complete. We were a subcontractor, but even subcontractors had to list someone with TxDot as the supervisor. That was my job, and it meant more than one crew, and multiple locations. 

During the project, I would shift people to overcome downtime due to rain, and to pump water from an excavation. That's where Bob came in. 

We had a headwall for a box culvert partially completed. The footing was poured, but the walls weren't formed. I took Bob to the locations, with a water pump, which we placed near the excavation, and he connected to hoses already in place. I left a can of gasoline, and some oil, and went to check on another crew. 

After over an hour, I needed to go check on Bob, and see if the water was pumped down below the footing. It usually took about an hour, and if everything was as it was supposed to be, I could place some hands on site to start tying the reinforcing rod for the walls. Everything wasn't as it was supposed to be. 

I found Bob pulling on the pull rope, and trying to start the pump. Exhausted wasn't a good description. It was Summer, his face was red, and his pulls on the rope showed he was out of steam. 

I asked Bob if he ever had the pump running. I pretty well knew he hadn't. The water was still at the same level as when I left over an hour before. He told me it wouldn't start. 

"Does is have gas?"

"Yes. I filled the tank."

"Did you check the oil?"

Bob got that look where you already know the answer.

He immediately checked the oil, and found it was a little low Since he had put a short 2 x 4 under the pump to keep it from sinking, it had placed the pump a little out of level, and the low-oil shut-off had prevented the pump from starting.

Within a minute, we had added a little oil, leveled the pump, made sure the pump was primed, and the water was soon dropping in the excavation.

So, we lost an hour, and after that, Bob pretty well knew to check the oil before attempting to start a small engine. He already knew that, but for some reason, Bob wasn't really there that morning. That would happen every now and then, but usually he was a good hand, and was good to have on a crew.