# Indiana Grain Bin Collapse And Fireball



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

AgWeb.

Regards, Mike

https://www.agweb.com/article/farmers-face-catastrophic-loss-after-viral-grain-bin-collapse-video-naa-ashley-davenport/


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

About 30 minutes from me. I don't know the people but I know where the grain set up is.


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Saw that this morning on agday. That fireball was pretty large


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

Wow. Never knew grain dust was explosive.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

paoutdoorsman said:


> Wow. Never knew grain dust was explosive.


Under certain conditions yes, if it's in a confined space its as powerful as a commercial explosive or can be. All the grain legs at our local Cargill have rub monitors and sensors on the bearings to monitor temperature. Even the smaller leg we have here at the farm has explosion panels that are meant to give way rather than blow the leg apart in case of explosion.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

paoutdoorsman said:


> Wow. Never knew grain dust was explosive.


Shoot, yeah! We had an old rice elevator explode in SW Houston a couple decades ago, killed at least one guy, because it blew the entire top off the elevator-- those big 100 foot+ high concrete grain bins, and he fell to his death when it blew the top off the bins...

It sat there for about 10 years before they finally imploded what was left and sold the site for other businesses.

When I was in high school in 9th grade science class, we had a cool little dude, recent college graduate named Jimmy Petrash for our science teacher... One day he made a grain bin explosion for us in class...

He took an old Christmas cookie tin, and poked a hole in the bottom just big enough to thread a piece of plastic tubing through, then stuffed a plastic funnel that was small enough to fit inside the closed Christmas cookie tin onto the end of the hose, and then dropped a tablespoon or two of regular kitchen baking flour into the funnel, and put a lit tea candle inside the tin beside the funnel... then the quickly put the lid on the tin, put the other end of the hose in his mouth, and blew a quick puff of air through the hose and funnel to blow the flour dust into the air inside the can... WHOOM! The lid of the cookie tin blew off with a big fireball just like that underneath it, and went sailing across the room! We thought we had the coolest science teacher EVER!!! LOL






When the particles of flammable dust become airborne, they basically become a "fuel/air explosive"... when one particle of the dust and air is exposed to the flame, it bursts into a tiny little flame itself as the particle of dust combusts... it subsequently ignites another tiny particle within range of it's heat, flame, or infrared radiation, which itself bursts into flame, igniting other particles around it... it's a classic chain reaction that consumes most all the particles in rapid order, and the heat and flame they release creates a "fireball", and the rapidly heated and expanding air creates a shock wave or pressure wave that can be incredibly destructive, ESPECIALLY inside a confined space like a grain bin or elevator... even in the open it can be quite destructive (see the "MOAB-- mother of all bombs" or "daisy-cutters"...)

Cremora (coffee creamer) bombs work on the same principle and are a lot of fun...






Later! OL J R


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

luke strawwalker said:


> Shoot, yeah! We had an old rice elevator explode in SW Houston a couple decades ago, killed at least one guy, because it blew the entire top off the elevator-- those big 100 foot+ high concrete grain bins, and he fell to his death when it blew the top off the bins...
> 
> It sat there for about 10 years before they finally imploded what was left and sold the site for other businesses.
> 
> ...


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

The word is that the explosion destroyed the leg and the weight of the leaning grain bin caused the concrete to buckle around the pit. The bin was a super cheap generic because the guys did want to spend the money on a GSI or Brock with stiffeners and the old Chevy truck was parked underneath after things started to go south for a reason.


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

Wonder what sparked the exposion? Static from all the grains sliding out???


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

paoutdoorsman said:


> Wow. Never knew grain dust was explosive.


If you want to experience the explosive power, throw a hand full of flour on an open fire --- from a distance.

Ralph


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Could be anything. Wiring pulling apart, truck wiring or building wiring damaged, unrated electrical components etc.



PaMike said:


> Wonder what sparked the exposion? Static from all the grains sliding out???


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

haybaler101 said:


> The word is that the explosion destroyed the leg and the weight of the leaning grain bin caused the concrete to buckle around the pit. The bin was a super cheap generic because the guys did want to spend the money on a GSI or Brock with stiffeners and the old Chevy truck was parked underneath after things started to go south for a reason.


They had insurance on that old truck?


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

PaMike said:


> Wonder what sparked the exposion? Static from all the grains sliding out???


The bin got into the overhead power lines on the way down causing the arc to start the explosion.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

haybaler101 said:


> The bin got into the overhead power lines on the way down causing the arc to start the explosion.


That's unfortunate....and poor infrastructure design.


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