Dry bulk cement

It can be dusty at times. Loading is probably the worst dust you'll experience. Especially if you're loading at any plant near Allentown, Pa. Those plants are ancient and poorly maintained.

Unloading normally isn't bad unless the customers bag house is junk.

I do three loads a day, been doing it 10years or so. Haven't had any ill effects yet. But I do occasionally throw a respirator on if it's bad.

I worry more about hearing loss. The blowers and the trailers are rather noisy. Use hearing protection!

 

Hercules, Stockertown, PA had two 'Quonset hut' shaped arched buildings tall enough to have cranes inside. One collapsed and after they shoveled off the dust the other one became 12 feet taller...leaving after dark on rainy nights you could tell they opened the stacks.

You could see the particulate falling with the rain and the surface of the car felt 'sandy'...that was the early 70's after air pollution controls started.

Now growing up, in the 60's when you shopped down town, no matter the color you could always tell a car from Bath, Nazareth, Copley, any town where the cement mills were working BEFORE the clean air act by the grey dusty look. Homes near the plants looked that way too..

 

A respirator. That's about it. And I mean a real respirator, not one of those paper masks.

I have one I keep in the truck, but I rarely need it. If you're doing the job properly and not blocking the trailer up when unloading, and the dust collection systems are working properly, the dust shouldn't be an issue. Most of the places I deliver to are in stone quarries. And the dust that settles on the truck is usually from the dump trucks passing by.

But, as I said, some of the places I load at, a respirator is a good idea

 

Amazon. I just typed respirator in the search box and a bunch popped up

 

Still amazed that I don't have lung problems. Over two summers me and the other 'college kid' got the chore of shoveling over every airslide that ripped. They were old [58, 59, 60] fruehaufs similar to airslide railroad cars.

Instead of the traditional hoppers it resembled a double conical tanker with a central outlet. each side held an fabric covered [think firehose like] metal frame sealing a 1/2 length air chamber that was also the sloped floor of the half. There was a half high bulkhead across the center and when the fabric ripped, anything that didn't drop over the bulkhead needed to be shoveled out.

We were given paper dust masks and big aluminum grain shovels. They kept the dome overhead open, closed the center and put a box fan blowing out on top of the far dome. We'd spend a whole morning shoveling. and the whole next day blowing grey/black stuff from our noses.

OP amazon may be wonderful but there should be a safety supply store in your area.

Go and have a respirator fitted and make sure the cartridges are the appropriate type [or stack of the right type] of filters. Don't skimp on replacements. Like all the adds we see for cleaning CPAP equipment, Keep it clean and if it is not on your face, it is put away to keep it clean.

Inappropriate respiratory protection is more harmful than none as it makes one think they are making themselves safe when the equipment isn't sealed and the filters are not able to stop the fine particulate.

Expect to spend for the correct protection; then feel the first handful of of dry cement and see how fine it is and know it is worth every penny

 

The only time you should be exposed to dust is when you open the blowdown valve after you finish unloading. There should not be any dust during the loading process, assuming the loader put the spout into the hole correctly.

And you can cut down on a lot of blowdown dust if you stop the blower with the blowdown valve closed and one of your hopper valves open, that way the tank ressure will blow into the silo.

Also, putting a sock over the end of the pipe downstream of the blowdown valve will help trap lots of the dust.