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Preventive maintenance is crucial when it comes to silos. Failing to complete preventive maintenance is a leading cause of costly, dangerous silo failure. Addressing minor issues as soon as they arise helps keep the costs of silo ownership low as major repairs, emergencies and structural failures are more expensive up front, take longer to correct and inevitably result in unplanned downtime. So how do you know how to prevent major issues when maintaining your silo?
While you can, and should, regularly examine your silo exterior for any signs of cracks, obvious damage or changes, professional silo inspection is the only way to identify essential preventive maintenance needs. Professional silo inspection covers more areas of the silo than an in-house inspection. Trained silo inspectors or silo engineers examine your silo(s) in-depth to look for serious issues and provide preventive maintenance suggestions that can help keep your silo in the best shape possible.
We offer three different silo inspection levels to meet the needs of any industry. From basic and augmented to comprehensive silo inspection or any level supplemented with our AI inspection service, our silo inspection components include examining key areas of potential failures, such as foundations, walls and roofs.
Prevention is the most effective method to ensure the integrity and continued operation of your silo. Regular maintenance and inspections can increase the life of your silo and ensure the safety of those working around your structures. Through inspection and maintenance, you increase the useful life of your silo, reduce unplanned downtime, and uphold production goals. What's more, the lack of silo maintenance is a leading cause of failure. The costs of keeping up with preventive maintenance are significantly lower than the price of major repairs or construction after a structural failure.
Regular silo inspections and routine silo maintenance help you increase the useful life of your silo, reduce unplanned downtime, and uphold production goals. In-house examination of the silo exterior is a good start in making sure silo walls are sound, but it should never replace a professional inspection.
Silo walls undergo an enormous amount of stress horizontally and vertically during their normal useful life. This stress can result in cracks or, for stave silos, offset stave joints. Cracks can allow moisture intrusion into the silo and cause additional issues inside. They can also signify delamination, which can compromise steel reinforcement integrity and lead to structural failure.
Determining the severity of exterior wall damages is an easy task for professionals. Yet, there can be limitations due to site hazards or other obstacles that can make visibility a challenge. Artificial intelligence (A.I.) supplemental inspections, offered exclusively by Marietta Silos, remove any guesswork when it comes to exterior silo inspection.
Drone capture technology allows faster, more accurate exterior inspections by obtaining images and videos of the entire silo or bulk storage container exterior. These images are then run through A.I. algorithms that can detect even small defects (smaller than 0.1 mm) and map the precise location onto the captured silo image for future examination.
Learn more about Artificial Intelligence, 3D Damage Tracking Silo Inspection in our video or view our full library of videos on silo inspection, silo maintenance, and silo restoration on 
Time, weather and usage are all contributors to the degradation of silo structures. How often you keep your silo topped off and what kind of material you store can also impact how your silo performs. To keep your silo utilization high and your production goals on target, it's just as important to prevent material flow issues and compaction as it is to address visible damage like cracks, spalling or rust. It's important to observe your silo or storage dome frequently for signs of damage or changes in performance. This helps ensure you catch warning signs early on to address issues before they reach a critical level. However, an in-house silo inspection, cleaning, or repair should never replace professional services. Doing so increases safety risks and can lead to missed or exacerbated issues that may result in structural failure, possible environmental damage, injury, or loss of life.
When it comes to the proper intervals for silo inspections, best practices recommend professional inspections at two- to five-year intervals to help identify any issues that could lead to silo failure. Silo inspections should include examining the main aspects known to be potential areas of failure. These inspections should consist of the foundations, walls, cones, discharge configuration, floors, shelves, tunnels, and roofs.
Experienced silo inspectors or silo engineers can only identify many serious issues during an in-depth examination of silos that are empty and free from material buildup. Therefore, when combined with silo cleaning, however, a professional silo inspection can thoroughly examine the inside of the silo structure, including roof beams and beam pockets, cones, floors, shelves and tunnels for signs of wear or damage.
Sticking to a regular silo inspection schedule with a trusted professional silo inspection company pays for itself. Thorough inspection and silo maintenance, you increase the useful life of your silo, reduce unplanned downtime, and uphold production goals. What's more, the lack of silo maintenance is a leading cause of silo failure.
View our video, How Often Should I Have My Silo Inspected, or view our full library of videos on silo inspection, silo maintenance, and silo restoration on .
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