Hauling sludge and the smell

We haul sludge from dannon. WE have dry pumps. Pulls vacuum inside the trailer to load the sludge. Pressures the trailer to unload. Depending on what we're unloading in to.

Any of you hauled it. Knows how it stinks.

We've recent been told we can no longer use our pumps. Because of the smell that's sucked from the trailer and out the pump through the exhaust system in to the atmosphere. Makes no sense to me as the trucks only spend 20 minutes. And leave. There by the created smell dissipates in to the atmosphere. And is gone.

The tank, however is a 24/7/365 stink pit. THAT smell never goes away.

I was thinking of buying my own trash pump from harborfreight. But apparently any trash pump will plug up once the sludge level is low enough that instead of liquid, we're getting more of an oatmeal type of load.

The trailers have valves. The lids are never opened. The valves are used for releasing pressure or vacuum. The load/unload pipe extends out the back of trailer.

I haul 60,000 lbs. With the pump i can load fully in 20 minutes. Without the pump. I"m now close to an hour and and only 80% loaded. And THAT'S if the tank level is high enough to gravity load the trailer.

Needless to say. Without the pump. My days are pretty long now. And get even longer if i have to do 4 short hauls instead of 2 longer hauls.

I know i'm not the only one hauling stunky loads in this country. So, some of you must have OR know of methods that are being used for places that don't allow use of your pumps. Or are we ALL basically screwed and confined to the ever long loading times without a pump.

I'd like to get my days back to the normal amount of hours where i spend more time at home instead of at work.

HOW ARE UUUUU ALL BATTLING THE SMELLS FROM LOADS????

I don't know how long my company has been hauling for dannon. And why it's suddenly a big deal. And i certainly have no desire to extend my day by 2 or 4 hours. Because i can't use the pump.

 

Paid by the load.

A 10 hour day would give me a good hourly wage. I'm getting screwed with these 13 and 14 hour days. Not to mention HOS violations if we were on ELD. The 11 and 14 are allright but there'd be nothing left to work on regarding the 60 or 70 rule.

 

I'm not understanding it either.

Light smell from the trailer valves for an hour. Heavier smell from the pump exhaust for 20 minutes. 24/7/365 smell from the tank that can't move. Not to mention the 3 manhole valves they got in the ground. Them valves REALLY stink.

 

The boss has our back, but dannon is the boss.

Other then gas haulers. i don't think many tanker gigs pay by the hour. If that were the case. We'd have a lot of mo fo's screwing around and not working.I can't imagine anyone paying by the hour. Considering how lazy drivers are.

Besides, what hourly wages there are. Aren't worth a crap. I average $25 an hour. If we can find a way to get back to using the pumps. Right now, I'm working for $18 an hour. Without the pumps.

 

I"m just starting out in the tanker world as a trucker career. Around these parts. It's by the load. From what i've seen so far. So far the only hourly i've seen are the gas haulers. I know one company that pays by the load AND by the hour. But he has a flat rate book, so to speak. You don't get paid by the clock hour. You get paid by the load hour. If you take longer then what it's supposed to take. the rest of your drive time is on YOUR clock.