Can't keep pressure in pneumatic

I appreciate the wisdom you share.

Its obvious that my bulk experience is limited to powders. I did not think about things like rocksalt and other soluable forms of product that can go by tanker. I had no idea.

Be that is it may, I ENJOY learning new things or actually adding on. If a solution can be found.

 

I’ve only been doing this for a year. Our outbound loads are some form of salt, be it granular feed or food grade, or rocks or cubes for water treatment. One of my early loads of granular food grade I plugged up bigger than life and learned I didn’t want to do it again. Lol.

My first load of rock salt went to a hospital in KC and I experienced the issue that the OP is talking about here. Pressure would drop, I’d jiggle the hopper valve to break the chunk loose, and continue unloading. After having to do that every couple minutes I decided to try full open and regulate with the proportioning valve. Took some experimentation but eventually I got it to hold about 9psi steady.

Our loads back to the shop are calcium powder and those unload like a breeze.

 

I did that once when new long ago. Big tall silo humming and actually made a "Gulp" when I put the pipe on it. Wow. Its hungry.

Filled tanker to 15.

Opened all the discharge air and then all three pots. WHOOSH! whoo hoo be empty in no time.

I hear it rattle up the pipe reach the top and blower started coughing. Increasing in tempo and intesity.

Im standing there wtf is going on with that #### thing (My first plug up warning...)

I shook hoses and silo pipe for like 2 hours.

NEVER again. Such ... bone head moves then.

 

That is nice.

Milk used to gurgle the same way into the humming dairy pump.

I keep going back to milk days in my stories, but little did I know then it was one of the most profitable and happiest trouble free trucking (Within reason... besides necessary State Regulated activities) I have had in this life. I understand that way of gathering milk is gone forever today. Wages were about 500 a week net in 80's money which would be about 1500 today.

 

Haha cement being difficult that's funny

 

It is in monsoon rain.

I had a load in Virginia one awful day cats and dogs rain all the morning. Rained harder while trying to unload into 50 feet of hoses to silos on the ground.

From what I understand it took several drivers hours to empty that one hose where the water got into it and turned that cement into concrete plugs. It was a very bad day all around.

If all the days to deliver a load so that a ready mix can deliver to contractors locally standing knee deep in water... its futile. Would have been better for a sunny day so we can do it right. But no it does not work that way.

 

You are unloading pebble lime, which does a really lousy job of holding pressure because there are big gaps around those big chunks.

But as the others have said, check your trailer for leaks everywhere - especially the dome lid gaskets and hot hose gaskets. Also, when you close the discharge line valve to pressure up the tank, does the line pressure gauge read zero?