The Pneumatic Tanker Thread

Nooo!!!! Shhhh!!!! We don't want our secrets to get out!!!!!

Seriously though, the reefer folks have one, the flatbedders have one, car haulers, so why not?

 

What product are you unloading, and what are your tank and line pressure gauges reading?

What ratio PTO do you have? I assume the blower should have a rated operating speed/range.

Also, what's a Guppy?

 

As Rockin Chair said, your blower speed will depend on what ratio your Pto is, and what kind of blower you have. Some of our trucks run a Tuthill blower, others run the Gardner Denver, but all run the same ratio Pto. The Tuthill needs to turn faster, so with Lime, those run at 1200 engine runs. The Gardner Denver we run at 900 for lime.

With my setup, which is the GD blower, I run 900 for lime, and about 850 for cement, no matter the height of the silo. If going into a pig with cement, I run 800. I keep my pressures at 14-16 psi. Usually, if the baghouse is clean, I unload 26.5 tons of cement in 40-45 minutes in a silo. In a pig, about 30 minutes. Lime is usually 45 minutes to an hour, depending on conditions. The hotter the lime is, the slower it comes off, generally speaking. And most places we take lime to have some really screwed up piping systems. (40-60 ft vertical, through a 90 degree, then horizontal for 100ft, then a 90 up another 40 ft into silo is our worst)

But unlike some others, I do not stand there unloading with a stopwatch in hand. I get it going and hop in the truck and doodle on here, or do paperwork.

 

Lemme guess...paper mill?

 

Nope. Co-gen power plants. I'm actually at the very one I was speaking of....

 

Great idea for a thread!

I haul frac sand. With a Chelsea PTO and a Tuthill 1050 blower. I unload at 1300 rpm, with my 13 speed trans. The trucks with 10 speeds run 1200 rpm. Can unload 50,000 pounds of 20/40 in about 25 minutes with 20 feet of hose.

 

There's actually frac sand to haul??? LOL Our sand guys have not hauled sand in well over a year. Rumor is it's going to start up again around here in the next couple months. I did the gas well thing for a bit, wasn't my cup of tea. But the money was insane at the time. Honestly though, at the end of the year, I do better working local. 3 loads a night, usually home by 10am, very little waiting around to unload. Most nights I don't see more than three people, if any..


On another note, those Tuthill blowers seem to work really well in sand, not so much in cement.

 

10-4. Yeah, the sand has its ups and downs. We have managed to stay alive with it, but the small company I'm leased to has a direct contract with a frac company. They've used us exclusively for about 12 years now. We bend over backwards to keep them happy, and they treat us good. Rates are down from a couple years ago though.

Sounds like you've got the gravy train on your local gig.