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Faunsdale, AL | Never wore a gas mask until this year. We have one for ammonia, just never needed it. Well, I can tell you, a mask can get you killed.............
As in, you go somewhere in a toxic atmosphere you wouldn't go without the mask and then you find that it leaks or something! In my case it was up a silo ladder and some ammonia got in mask and started burning my eyes. What do you do, you can't take the mask off, might be worse outside or might be better, can't tell, nothing for it but to climb back down half blind. If you were in silo with mask on, with the silo gas, I don't think you would have any warning before it would affect you. Might not be able to get back out.
Best to do all work in the silo immediately after last load goes in, or wait a few weeks for fermentation to finish and then run blower.
Or if you can't do that, run the blower a long time. But remember, if you disturb the silage to level off etc, you may release the gas faster than the blower can move it out of the silo. Had a crew of experienced employees go into one of ours this year to level off and pack a partially full silo when we got rained out. I should have let them go in the afternoon before when the rain first came in, but was hoping we would be cutting the next morning.
Even with the blower running, there was still enough of something in there to burn their legs and ankles through their pants, so they came out. Shouldn't have gone in to start with, because they said they could see a layer of yellowish gas laying on the surface of the silage........YIKES!
Run the blower, leave doors open to any enclosed space around silo unless it might allow the gas to come into another space you are trying to ventilate for safety. | |
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silo gas safety equipment
