Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | On a sad note, a local farmer lost his life just last week in a grain bin incident. I don't know the details but it seems he was working alone and got trapped in the bin. His wife was not able to contact him and called for help. Local Fire Departments and other Emergency crews arrived but were not able to save him. Even though we are all aware of the dangers, these kind of accidents seem to reoccur.
Don't go into those bins!
I'm glad to hear the grain Vac adapter worked for the OP. We had to use one some years ago when frozen corn plugged the center sump on a fairly large bin. This bin like many others has a lever for the center sump as well as another lever for all the outer sumps. The idea being that the center dump is used until the bin gets about empty and then the outer sumps are all opened together.
We could have just opened the outer sumps and continued to use the auger but our fear was that the bin would be unloaded unevenly and possibly cause damage. Instead we removed the auger and set it aside. We happened to have a long piece of large PVC pipe that would fit inside the auger tube and reach the center. With the outer sumps still closed we shoved the PVC pipe into the auger tube as far as possible. We made a temporary adapter to mate with our grain Vac suction hose. We opened the outer sumps and started the Vac. We then slowly pulled the PVC pipe back out until we got grain flow. This meant we were pulling the corn from the sump closest to the plugged center sump. This was a bit slower than using the center sump and auger but it was workable
We unloaded the bin this way until the grain level was very low. We then removed the PVC pipe and reinstalled the auger. It was then safe to enter the bin through the side door. We broke up the frozen chunks above the center sump and finished as usual. Our problem was that the safety grate over the center sump had a grate with small openings in it. We had been advised to cut out every other grate by the installer since legally they could not do that. We had forgotten to do so.
We now use one of those Pyramid shaped blockage tents placed over the center sump before filling. Best of course is to avoid the problem in the first place by avoiding spoiled or frozen grain.
Don't enter a plugged bin!
Edited by tedbear 5/15/2025 06:14
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Unplugging Soybean Bin
