Cement, fly ash and those types, unloading. Top air?

Im not sure what you are trying to ask.

You understand how to unload a pressurized bulk tanker with say Cement as a product into the ready mix's silo.

That leaves me with very little to address. If you are referring to the special shakers at the pots on the very bottom, those are special purpose. Activating them is a last resort option to fight plug up down stream once the turbo blower starts that classic Coughing of a metallic kind saying that the product is trying to plug up the hose and silo pipe you are blowing in.

The procedure would be to close the pot (Shut off product flow), And then open the empty pot to force air from tanker into the hose to break plug up in progress in addition to walking the hose to find the site of the plug with a rubber mallet to beat it loose. Or bang on the building's vertical stand pipe really hard to knock that plug out.

Shaker in the pot will be fired up on the empty so that its going to sing and viberate down the plugged up product.

Once tank pressure falls from 15 to around 8, reconfigure the valves to begin a rebuild of tank pressure to 15 with a clean standpipe blowing pure air and no product. Hopefully that turbo is no longer coughing or showing any sign of a blockage.

Close the empty pot off. Reopen next product pot, continue the unloading process.

 

I always ran just enough top air to replace what was flowing out. Full throttle on the rattlers. It's my understanding if you ask 10 people how to unload a pneumatic you'll get 15 different answers.

I learned how to run a tank on a '72 Butler with no top air so when I got ahold of a new Heil it was definitely a luxury.

 

You can also open the blowdown and suck the plugged up product back into the empty pot. I've made trailers dang near jump off the ground.

 

That was something my company whom trained me said not to do. Ive thought about that a time or two. Believe me.

I had one failure at Rockville Fuel and Feed off I-270 one fine evening. Blowing cement peacefully into the silo 100 feet up. COUGH. WTF?! (By the time I was able to generate options and decide...) KABOOOM echoing... She did jump into the air came crashing down. Tractor too. The whole thing moved that way 3 feet. Chocks and all.

Factory boss ran out his side door white as casper the ghost... waving arms like a windmill shut it off for the love of god pleause.. now quickly... My feet became trees into the ground wont move. Stupid legs...

Hit the blow down.

MOst people do not understand the power of a 2 inch hardened steel pipe blasting 15 psi out of the tank directly into a brick wall 4 feet this way that I was parked next to. Fortunately it was poured cinder behind that veneer.

The trailer instantly and properly plugged from the silo way up there all the way to and pushed cement across the catwalk hose into my exhaust turbo, filled that and tried to drown the mack engine in cement powder. (THAT was interesting... she started loping. COUPG CHPUG Pugh cough RATTle....)

Legs still wont move. Trailer screaming by now..... Boss man recovers power of spoken english words and proceeds to formally tell me that I am kicked out, the horse I ride in on not welcome. straight back tot he company yard shop and don't come back.

What did I do? Nothing. Your trailer's check valve broke clean through. Im sick of your company doing this to me again....

 

The only time I've used top air is with pebble lime. It seems that was the only way to keep the tank pressure steady. But for cement and ash, basically any powder, I don't use top air. I've done it, and found it to be a pain. You have to babysit it while unloading, and I don't like to babysit.

I unload using aerators, usually I'm sitting in the truck while unloading, reading the newspaper. 26.5 tons into a 80 ft tall silo with 20 ft of hose usually takes me about 40 minutes.

 

Airslide means a special fabric is between the lading and the metal wall. You feed it air and boom it slides right out.

 

You're doing it the right way, if you want to unload as quickly as possible. Keep your tank pressured way up using the aerators only, and just just enough discharge-line air to keep from plugging up.