Showerthought: River bottom muck after rains is slowing my dredge to a crawl.
Lately, the stuff we're sucking up is so thick it keeps binding in the pump lines. How do you handle this kind of heavy material without burning out the motor?
Nature's serving extra thick mud smoothies through your dredge. That consistency is perfect for stopping pumps dead in their tracks. Maybe send a complaint to the river management.
Yikes, my friend's dredge pump seized up from mud like that last year. He tried everything (even a crazy home remedy with a pressure washer), but what @mary_hunt67 said about flushing lines actually saved his gear later on. That thick sludge is no joke, and it sounds like you're in for a long day.
Flushing lines wastes water and slows the whole job down. Just run the pump harder to push that thick stuff through, it's built to handle pressure. You'll finish faster by powering through the muck.