Ideas wanted for moving/blowing sawdust

   / Ideas wanted for moving/blowing sawdust #1  

weedsportpete

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May 24, 2002
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182
Location
Weedsport, NY
Tractor
BX2200
We are thinking of switching our horse bedding from wood pellets to sawdust, and the biggest questions we have are about how to store it, where to store it and how to move sawdust in and out of the storage area. I know there are companies that blow in insulation, and I've heard of one sawdust vendor that 'blows in' the sawdust, but I don't have any details on that. Is it as easy as using a good shop vac with a long hose to move sawdust from one area to another?

We have a threshing barn - the upper, main floor has one large door in the middle of the long side of the barn that you can drive up to (and in) and I'm thinking about storing the sawdust up there somewhere, in a big box built out of plywood. The horse stalls are in the level below; we already have a trap door used to throw down hay bales and bags of bedding, but maybe we'll need another way to get sawdust down.

There is a ventilation shaft (actually there are four in the barn) extending from the bottom floor up through the main floor, up the walls and out the roof (they open up into cupalos(sp?) ), and I though of opening one up and building the sawdust box around that shaft so that the sawdust naturally falls down the shaft - I'd put some kind of door on the bottom that we can open to let sawdust fall out, and then shut when we got enough sawdust to fill a wheelbarrow.


If we built the sawdust container next to the ventalation shaft, the container would not be next to the drive-in door, and unless the sawdust supplier had a blower, we'd have to unload by hand and move it over to the sawdust container (about 15 feet).

If we got a big shop vac and a lot of hose, can we easily move sawdust around such that we would not have to unload it by hand? Is a shop vac and hose suitable for moving sawdust? how long a hose can we use before it gets to be too much to move? Could we use the same setup to move sawdust from the container to our wheelbarrows downstairs? or would blowing into a wheelbarrow be too messy? Maybe just a shute with a door would be good enough, but I"d have to build it.. It would be great if I had a long hose and I could blow it into each stall...! Would that be a commercial machine costing big bucks??

I'll appreciate any responses..

Thanks,

Pete
 
   / Ideas wanted for moving/blowing sawdust #2  
Hi,

In the time that my father bedded hogs on sawdust, they came with a truck with blower, something just like a hay blower. The last time i was at home when we got sawdust in bulk, was more than 10 years ago, and back then, the operator had to feed the blower manually with a shovel, whilst standing inside the truck box. A forage blower or any fast rotating device will do.
I said, that was the last time i SAW one unloading at our home, about the same time when we changed the pig housings and didnt bed pigs anymore. We used sawdust for horse bedding untill about 3 years ago.

Just one thing i'd like to say to you, as a fellow horseman: We could see an increase in hoof rot and infections, as soon as the home grown straw was up and we started to bed on sawdust again... When we understood what was happening, we stopped using sawdust for bedding completely. since then, hoof infections have decreased by app. 70%

When we asked around, there was someone that could confirm that certain moulds that live in pines, can also survive in horse hoofs. that was the confirmation of our suspicion. Now we bed either straw, or short chopped flax. I am in the process of building a big bale straw chopper, so we can bed all horses on short chopped straw instead of long and tough to handle straw, or the handy but expensive chopped flax.
 
   / Ideas wanted for moving/blowing sawdust #4  
I used to work in a shop that had one of them dust collectors that
sat on top of a steel 55 gallon drum. It had an intake to suck up sawdust,
then the output went thru a cloth bag to filter fine particles.
Big stuff stayed in the drum till it got full. Then it went into the bag.
I was planing lumber one day and got tired of emptying the drum every 2 minutes. So I removed the bag and got some round duct work pipe and ran it outside to the sawdust pile. Then when the drum got full the rest was blown out to the pile and I didn't have to full with it.

I would suppose if you wanted to blow sawdust like blowing insulation you
could do the same thing. Just make sure the pipe you use is smooth on the inside.

Pooh Bear
 
   / Ideas wanted for moving/blowing sawdust #5  
Harbor Freight sells a "2HP" dust collector that woodworkers like. I think it goes on sale for about $150. Just use the blower and ducts hooked to the inlet and outet. 6" sewer and drain PVC (the thin stuff) makes good ducts.

Our next door neighbor just stores his sawdust outside in a 3-sided bin. He usually has a tarp over it to keep it relatively dry.
 
   / Ideas wanted for moving/blowing sawdust #6  
I've been very pleased with the dust collector purchased from Penn State Ind. Penn State Industries

While doing your shopping please notice the warnings regarding build up static electricity with plastic pipe and the danger of fire.

Another thing to consider that was mentioned to me is that if you plan on letting the sawdust go through the blower then you would be wise to have a steel impeller rather than aluminum. Abrasive action would work on the AL much faster than the steel.

Or just call the "Big Bad Wolf" and have him huff and puff.:D
 
   / Ideas wanted for moving/blowing sawdust #7  
I probably have the perfect item, and can't sell it. I got tired of listing it on ebay, and decided that as soon as my list of projects gets shortened, I am going to build a leaf pickup unit for it and pull it behind the Steiner. I already have another one with the p/u unit on it, so I have a pattern. Then I will sell the other (it doesn't have electric start) and recoup some of my cash outlay.
If you were closer, I would think you might be interested in it, but most of the ones I have seen for sale have been up north. I thought somebody from around these parts might be interested, but I guess they are all poor like me.
David from jax

eBay: Giant Vac leaf blower / truck loader for those big jobs (item 250037269128 end time Oct-15-06 13:26:42 PDT)
 
   / Ideas wanted for moving/blowing sawdust #8  
Is there any worry of spontaneous combustion with a large amount of sawdust stored in a confined area?

MarkV
 
   / Ideas wanted for moving/blowing sawdust #9  
MarkV said:
Is there any worry of spontaneous combustion with a large amount of sawdust stored in a confined area?

MarkV

We used to store sawdust on a compartment in the barn roof, closed with plywood, with 3 breathing openings covered with the finest size of wire mesh you can get. (just slightly bigger than a flee net, the type that you use to sieve out small gravel out of sand used to make plaster)
We never had any indication to the phenomenon you describe. A local milk powder factory blew the rooftop into a neighboring pasture, when the dust milk exploded. I think sawdust isnt fine enough to explode just like that, milk powder is lots and lots finer than sawdust
 
   / Ideas wanted for moving/blowing sawdust #10  
Are you thinking sawdust or wood shavings? Dust would be bad for the horses lungs. Shavings is a bit of a different to handle than dust.
 
 
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