Sweeping the Grain Bin

Just want to share my story so you stay safe . When I was 6 my brother who was 9 and I always climbed to the top of a small 6000 bushel grain bin . One day he said we should jump in at the same time and see who hits the grain first . The bin was half full and grain was being taken out by the auger . We both got in the door at the top of the bin but I chickened out . We had no way of knowing a crust had formed and there was a pocket , he jumped and the next thing I knew is he was completely covered in grain . The last thing I saw was his hand sticking out above the grain before I took off down the ladder to get help . It was too late by the time help arrived , he suffocated. I still feel some guilt even though I was told there was nothing I could of done for him . It was no ones fault , just a farm accident . This happened in Delta , Oh in October of 1965 on my dad's farm . Still feeling the pain .

I get a little jealous when I see you guys having so much fun LOL - Thanks for the video Cheers

Did this at a seed corn company one year...ended up getting a nice sinus infection despite wearing a dust mask. Glad for the auger, tho, that works a treat.

Ah the good ol days. I did that every morning and afternoon. One time the auger grabbed the rope then climbed up and pinned my hand in the auger. Luckily I had strong enough gloves to keep my hands safe

i wanted you to be safe....but also wanted to see you drop down in there

this video is satisfying. swept alot of grain in my day. thats a clever way to do it

The pit in the center is called the center sump. Theres a metal gate connected to a rod underneath the floor and you can open and close it from the outside. Very dangerous if your foot goes in when the auger is on. He installed a sweep which yes pivots from the center and keeps you from shoveling 95% of the grain. It rides just above the floor so it doesnt damage it. Any grain bin with whats called a full floor is flat. The metal floor has tiny holes which an outside fan attatched to the bin cools, dries and preserves the grain. Some bins are angles toward the center and they require no sweep or full floor but gravity to empty the bin

Great video I feel lucky now because we now have power sweeps in all the bins so no more manhandling the sweep anymore.

Wow! that is a lot of work.Have you tried using a sawdust vacuum used in woodshops for sawdust,woodchips? It has a LOT of suction and is real fast. Great video and commentary. Keep up the great work.

I feel cheated! I so wanted to see that bin completely empty, but you stopped the video short of that. Now we will never know how it ends. Did he get the bin empty?? Did something unforeseen stop him from finishing the job?? My OCD is killing me right now. I might never have another sleep filled night. Gee thanks, lol.

I don't know whether you know it or not but wow that little sweep auger is working taking its little bit of grain to the whole at a time you can also be shoveling drain into the hole at the same time and that will make things go a lot faster

Why is this in my recommended tab? And why did i just watch all of it at 3am?

I wish I had knickle for every bushel of grain I shoveled before they even had sweeps and center sumps we had to shovel it twice from back of bin to opening when I was a kid.

It's even more fun in the middle of the summer!

Thanks for showing us where our food comes from not just wrapped up all pretty for us. FARMING AIN'T EASY.

I work at a plastic manufacturer and often have to do this with regrinded material in the silos.. it's a back killer

stay safe, i work in grain bins all over the u.s. installing temperature cables

Don't miss that any... our bins were a bit bigger with extension on the sweep auger.... bean dust would about kill my eyesight.... wheat dust was no problem for me... I didn't might strawbales either.... just couldn't handle beandust

Good job thanks for sharing.

Just got done making grass bales for my cows in farming sim 17 decided to take a break and i see this video. This looks fun and its not worst than my job sorting frozen pallets then stocking the products in the aisles and clean inside the freezer at minus 35 degrees for 6 hours coming out every hour to warm up for 15 mins and let the freezer get back to temp lol. Wish there was a switch to turn off the freezers so i can mop inside......