[EBEAR]

We had 2" in 20 minutes but fared better than lots , as much as 4" , hail and a plow wind in places .

 

[Slashnburn2]

Jesus.

 

[Don Boles]

Ever been anything in those bins?

 

[NVW]

Never seen a bin crushed by wind, rolled across country yeah.

 

[Combine Pilot]

I have done a lot of flow studies on some ventilations, and have always felt that part of the problem with grain bins was the shape of the top of the bin. the shape was perfect for the Bernoulli effect. The shape and lid would be susceptible to a vacuum which would aid the collapse of that shape.

 

[EBEAR]

Yup I don't know exactly how old they are but they have been used for a number of years . I'm no good with links but I will try .

 

[bjtjjl]

Where were we those bins at?
We had up to 2” and some hail in one spot. Assuming same storm but way east of here

 

[EBEAR]

About 3 miles straight east of Benito .

 

[Don Boles]

Should have a 100% poll, which bin was empty?
A plow wind 5 years ago this fall.
Doubt it was as aggressive as what hit those bins though.
It did peel the shingles off the west side of my house roof though.

 

[Steelin81]

It’s amazing the power of a plow wind. We had one go through a worksite a few years ago, the electricians on site had a 40’ sea can that was full of supplies. The wind pivoted it about 45 degrees from where it sat. It took a lot of working with a 250 hitachi track hoe to get it drug back into place. A few miles away a fella had 6 or 8 hopper bins beside a steel quonset, the end bins stayed standing and the middle ones were all laying up on the shed

 

[MF cowboy]

View attachment 165467
Should have a 100% poll, which bin was empty?
A plow wind 5 years ago this fall.
Doubt it was as aggressive as what hit those bins though.
It did peel the shingles off the west side of my house roof though.

The bins are placed a bit close together are they not?
Most people say leave some space between them like 5 to 10 feet so the wind can go around each bin so you don't create a wall.
Not sure if it matters or not?

 

[Don Boles]

The bins are placed a bit close together are they not?
Most people say leave some space between them like 5 to 10 feet so the wind can go around each bin so you don't create a wall.
Not sure if it matters or not?

They are close and I remember when they were setup the distance ”suggested “ spacing was certainly greater than that.
But Wheatland (now Meridian) doesn’t get too excited about it, they realize the vast majority are setup like mine and the extra work and concrete involved to more spacing would not excite buyers given the risk odds.

You got me thinking, those bins are set up in an exactly east/west line, the wind was very close to exactly North West.
The less the wind is crossways to a line of bins the less spacing would have an effect and a parallel wind would only affect the first bin.
Depends on how violent the wind is of course and all bets off in a tornado.
That comes with extremely remote odds though.

 

[alta66]

so no one is going to bring up what the chief bin has that the westeel's don't? Has no one learnt the butler lesson?

 

[radar]

so no one is going to bring up what the chief bin has that the westeel's don't? Has no one learnt the butler lesson?

Do share your wisdom of the different bins and wind??

 

[Don Boles]

You mean like outside stiffeners and smaller diameter?

 

[alta66]

Do share your wisdom of the different bins and wind??

You mean like outside stiffeners and smaller diameter?

Stiffeners for sure. I would argue that size was only part of the difference and the unstiffened part was the main issue. We had two bins go over in a tornado last summer. One a 14 diameter old rosco and the other a 15 diameter wide core westeel. The 14 diameter was salvageable other then the roof and top ring out of 7. The 6 ring wide core is garbage top to bottom. I'm not saying that a stiffened bin is the end all be all but I'm not sold as I once was on wide core westeel's either.