Tried using a garden hose for a silt job versus the proper eductor

We had a small job clearing silt around a dock piling in Seattle, and my buddy swore his garden hose with a nozzle would work fine. After thirty minutes, we had moved maybe a cubic foot of muck and the water was just a brown cloud. I went and got the proper eductor from the truck, hooked it to the air, and cleared the whole area in ten minutes flat. The suction difference was like night and day. Anyone else have a 'makeshift tool' story that went hilariously wrong?

4 comments

4 Comments

the_willow2mo ago

Ever try to use a shop vac hose as a poor man's sandblaster? I hooked one up to my compressor with some duct tape, thinking I could clean an old bike frame. It just blew dust everywhere in a weak, sad puff. The real sandblaster nozzle showed up later and it was like a laser beam compared to a feather duster. Some tools just can't be faked, you know? What's the worst time you tried to rig something up instead of getting the right gear?

mary_west1d ago

Did you at least try different tape or wrap it tighter before giving up? I did something similar with a shop vac and an old dryer hose to try to blow leaves out of a gutter, just turned my whole yard into a dust cloud and the hose flew off and hit me in the face. Those half-baked lung setups never work, but you always gotta try once before you admit you need the real thing, right?

kelly6382mo ago

Yeah, it's like @the_willow said, some tools just can't be faked. I see it all the time when people try to save five minutes by using the wrong thing. You always end up wasting an hour and making a bigger mess.

piper_kim2mo ago

That "some tools just can't be faked" line hits home. I used to be the guy who thought a little ingenuity could beat buying the right tool. Tried using a putty knife and a heat gun to remove floor tiles once. It was a sticky, broken mess that took all weekend. Renting the proper floor scraper got it done in an afternoon. You really do learn the hard way.