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Taking Care Of Your Silo

Your V-Mac silo is designed for use with dry animal feed - any substance which adds viscosity to the feed should be avoided as this can cause animal feed to stick and/or “bridge” within the silo. Product underneath the “bridging” may flow out and then stop, giving the indication that product is stuck in the silo. When Product is released, the weight of the drop of the product within the silo can damage the structure of the silo.

Product bridging can be caused by a number of factors:
►Sticky or viscous feeds which contain molasses
►Product delivered hot
►Product with a high, moisture content
►Irregular shaped product that doesn’t flow freely
►Where product has low throughput through the silo

To avoid bridging occurring you should:
►Ensure the product specified by your supplier does not have any of the above properties.
►Your silo should only be filled so there is no more than 4 weeks supply of product contained or until the maximum use by date stated by the product manufacturer.
►Your V-Mac silo should be emptied to below the inspection window on the cone and inspected before any delivery to ensure that new product is not being filled in on top of poor flowing
material.
►Your V-Mac silo should be completely emptied every 16 weeks and inspected to ensure that there is no product stuck to the silo wall or cone, if there is it should be brushed out.

Moisture in your silo
The filler and breather pipe are designed to create an air flow in the silo roof space to minimize the temperature difference between the air in the silo and outside, thus reducing the level of
moisture in the silo.

V-Mac silos are not designed to store warm product. All product must be fully cooled before entering the silo. Warm products will generate excessive amounts of heat/moisture, lead to particles of product sticking together and causing flow problems.

If product is delivered in an excessively warm condition due to the way in which it is manufactured, the latent heat given off by the load in the silo cannot be fully dispersed either through the silo wall or via the breather pipe. In such situations, this can cause a condensation effect, which can cause serious damage to the product and to the silo if not resolved.

It is important that you check your silo regularly and ensure that any feed that is stuck to the silo walls or cone is cleaned out.

Cleaning the silo:
If you are cleaning a meal silo you should always wear a dust mask.
►Your V-Mac silo may have an inspection hatch on the roof of the silo. To access this hatch, a ladder can be inserted into the ladder guard on the top of the silo. (Normal health and safety
considerations should be followed when working at height).
►There is an access hatch on the cone. Simply unscrew the bolts and remove the panel. It is important that the hatch should only be removed if you have checked that the silo is empty. Opening the hatch when animal feed is in the silo could lead to the contents falling down on you.
►If meal sticks to the inside of the silo it can be removed by brushing it out.
►The cone inspection hatch can be replaced by bolting the hatch back in place.

V-Mac Silo Operating Instructions:
►Your V-Mac silo is filled via the standard filler pipe on the side -this is the 4-inch pipe.
►The Meal supplier connects the filling hose to this pipe and blows the meal into the silo.
►Excess air is exhausted through the breather pipe which is normally situated beside the filler pipe. During the filling process it is normal for dust to be exhaled through the breather pipe - this is normal. It is vitally important that the breather pipe opening is not constricted in any way

Emptying
►To empty the silo, pull the lever on the cone. To close the silo, pull the lever back into position.

View the V-Mac Silo Bin range here

Important Information
Your silo may have bracing between the silo legs - these braces are designed to provide additional support and to help stabilize the silo. Under no circumstances should bracing be removed or adjusted. If the bracing gets damaged in any way, contact McAree Engineering immediately on 00 353 (0) 47 89333.

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Taking Care Of Your Silo

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