Grain elevators kill a lot of people, here on Fark.

/all the more joke fodder...

All we are is dust in the wind...

I blame Count Chocula. The sonofabiatch has been spreding vicious slanderous lies. My Cereal does not cut the roof of your mouth.

One man was tragically injured

Why is it smrt people haven't figured out a way to curb this by now? Line the things with rubber or something. Maybe section off the interior like a pie or change the shape and put them underground. Oh, and place a few step ladders in corn mazes for the stupid while they're at it.

"Cereal killer" would be a good Photoshop contest.

Well, Mr. perfect, hundreds of ideas have been tried, but mostly they interfere with the operation of the silo. I remember an explosion-proof elevator built near my childhood home back in the '50s. No explosions, but they couldn't get the grain out. Water sprays help, but then you have problems with rot.

natazha: Well, Mr. perfect, hundreds of ideas have been tried, but mostly they interfere with the operation of the silo. I remember an explosion-proof elevator built near my childhood home back in the '50s. No explosions, but they couldn't get the grain out. Water sprays help, but then you have problems with rot.


I thought as much about using water; you don't want everyone tripping ballz on ergot, man. I would think if it were spread out in thin layers that would help and being underground would add to the safety, too. Vacuum it out when needed. I imagine it's probably at least twice as expensive to do that, though.

FTA: An official Atchison city statement noted how: "Rescue operations can be difficult because workers are often scattered throughout the facility, making them difficult to locate."

Hey Atchison city official dude, you might want to think about maybe not phrasing it quite that way when you're talking about an explosion site. *shudder*

Milk trucks are being dispatched as we speak.

Nitrogen. Flood the empty silo with nitrogen.
Might cost a bit, though...

Are you sure the explosion wasn't caused by a Klingon?

Was it the Keebler Liberation Organization?

chaddsfarkprefect: you don't want everyone tripping ballz on ergot, man. .

Speak for yourself man

Oh, the humanity!

/Damn, it's dusty in here...

TheShavingofOccam123: Dust. Too much dispersed in air and you get a massive explosion. I believe a dust explosion can be self-initiating due to a build-up and discharge of static electricity in the dust particles themselves.

Keep it clean and these things tend to be reduced in number.

this. operating with proper procedures minimizes the risk.

/harvest gets busy and people get careless

protus: One man was tragically injured

[content9.flixster.com image 413x366]

That was a silo accident.

Toucan "Son Of" Sam unavailable for comment.

/thinks this is Fark, someone has to get that

chaddsfarkprefect: natazha: Well, Mr. perfect, hundreds of ideas have been tried, but mostly they interfere with the operation of the silo. I remember an explosion-proof elevator built near my childhood home back in the '50s. No explosions, but they couldn't get the grain out. Water sprays help, but then you have problems with rot.


I thought as much about using water; you don't want everyone tripping ballz on ergot, man. I would think if it were spread out in thin layers that would help and being underground would add to the safety, too. Vacuum it out when needed. I imagine it's probably at least twice as expensive to do that, though.

underground is potentially worse: think about coal dust, coal mines, and explosions. Above ground is far safer. Vacuums are good (housekeeping is important) but remember that vacuums are a source of static AND spark... the second you turn it on to use it, could be your last second on earth.

grain-elevator-explosion is still second place to bus-plunge as far as old-timey newspaper headline tragedies.

I vastly prefer grain escalators.

How many more people have to die before vegans see the senselessness of their mania?!?
You never hear about meat lockers exploding.

#flyoverstateproblems

chaddsfarkprefect: Why is it smrt people haven't figured out a way to curb this by now? Line the things with rubber or something. Maybe section off the interior like a pie or change the shape and put them underground. Oh, and place a few step ladders in corn mazes for the stupid while they're at it.

None of these suggestion would actually help much, except perhaps for the underground thing which would probably be unworkable for a number of other reasons. There have been Grain-elevator explosions for some time, if there was an easy way to prevent them it would long since have been implemented universally. Figuring out why it happens is easy. A fine mist of burnable substance suspended in a oxygen rich atmosphere makes for a wonderful fuel-air explosion. We can't do anything about the oxygen and non-combustible substances would not work very well as a food source, so our best approach so far has been to prevent sparks and excessive amounts dust build-up. It is not easy.

Wanted for questioning

Were there Amber Waves of grain...?

Oh my God! That's half the town!

Back in black & white days, our high school chemistry instructor demonstrated a dust explosion to the class. He had one of those lab stands with a bunsen burner on the top level, a funnel full of flour on the bottom one. A long rubber tube was attached to the funnel, the teacher stood back about 8 feet, ready to blow the flour out of the funnel.

This was an old turn-of-the-century high school with really tall ceilings. I think the teacher probably put too much flour in the funnel, because when he blew through the hose, shooting the flour upwards in a massive white cloud, it hit the bunsen burner as planned, but what wasn't planned was how big that ball of fire would be as it roared up to the ceiling and spread across the entire room. In a few seconds it was over, but the heat and flame from the explosion burned the paint off the ceiling.

I've always wanted to replicate that on the 4th of July out in the yard, using a shop vac, a propane torch, and a pound or two of flour, plugging in the the shop vac from a long way away.

This has got Taliban written all over it. We should invade somebody.

Nick Nostril: This has got Taliban written all over it. We should invade somebody.


BOMB IRAN!

Iran is a developed country.

Modern grain elevators are much better at dust control, greatly reducing the risk of explosion. Many of the elevators in operation throughout the nation, however, are 50 years old or more. There are mitigation techniques that can be used in older elevators, such as a light, food grade oil that is sprayed on the grain as it is being offloaded, but that adds cost and isn't a perfect solution. My wife does the books for an antiquated grain elevator that is due to be decommissioned this year because it is difficult and expensive for it to keep up to modern standards for acceptable dust control. Grain is a very competitive market, and the added expense makes that site less profitable (it's just one site owned by a very large company). I would guess that it was built in the 20's or 30's.

I was in Atchison last June 28th, visiting some friends who had moved there.

Interesting town; I was immediately marked as a tourist because I was not fat, and within 24 hours of my arrival , everyone in town knew I had ridden up from Corpus Christi on a motorcycle.

It's funny because "cereal" sounds like "serial"!

Not one Killdozer reference? For shame...