Solve: Refilling the Roller
BY Sandy Lender
Is your roller running out of water too often during the paving shift?
When a spray nozzle is plugged or when the scraper bar is not held against the drum properly, you will get poor water coverage on the drum.
It costs time to refill water tanks again and again. Letting the roller run with dry drums is not an option, so you must pay laborers to drive water trucks around the job site and refill frequently. Stop the madness.
Check the spring to ensure it holds the scraper bar against the drum correctly. Photo courtesy John Ball of Top Quality Paving & Training, Manchester, New Hampshire.
When the water spreads across the drum properly, it lubricates the drum to prevent material pickup.
Solution: Look at the position of the scraper bars.
Are the scraper bars positioned optimally against the drums? Ensure the springs have proper tension to hold the bars in place to spread water across the surface of the drum properly. If the scraper bars are loose or positioned off the drum during operation, you’re wasting water. You’re probably getting poor performance with material pickup as well. Solve this problem by replacing broken springs and worn scraper material, and then positioning bars to trough water optimally.