Concrete silage walls.

FIAT 450

FIAT 450

Well-Known Member
Well lads. Was cleaning out the pit today getting ready for silage and noticed 4 silage walls with broken bottoms. These 4 walls are about 5years old. The ones beside them with the brush on them are there since 92. Should I be looking for the makers to replace these or am I braking up the wrong tree.
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Def make a phone call . They shouldn’t have a crack never mind be breaking up after such a short time
 
Could they have been overloaded causing too much stress on the toes making them crack? Is it always just silage that is stored here ?
 
Given the lean in them I'd say perhaps the footing isn't quite what it should be?
 
Ozzy Scott said:
Could they have been overloaded causing too much stress on the toes making them crack? Is it always just silage that is stored here ?
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Ya grass silage on that side and maize on the back. Don't think it's caused from overloading we don't drive on them and what more the walls that are there since 92 are still perfect. Floor under neat is ok
 
If they are 8ft, what's the highest you have built a pit of silage to the toe side and have you put much wet silage in there. Ever pit beet in them?
 
Ozzy Scott said:
If they are 8ft, what's the highest you have built a pit of silage to the toe side and have you put much wet silage in there. Ever pit beet in them?
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They are about 6 ft I'd say. About 8 or 9 foot on the toe side would be height of silage at a max. No silage this year was 74dmd and never had beet clamped near them
 
Would be surprised if you got much satisfaction from the manufacturers to be honest. I work a bit in the precast industry. Those walls are a disaster in a silage pit in my opinion and we would never make them for such a purpose. I see other precasters marketing them for pits though. Silage effluent and concrete in general don't work together long term but 5 years is certainly a bit new for them to spall like that. Who made them do you mind me asking? I would guess there was no GGBS in the mix which is a necessary prerequisite nowadays in all silage pits as far as I know and should be mandatory if it isn't already in all concrete destined for farms in my opinion. The theory is that the GGBS (more commonly known as slag) gives the concrete a little more durability long term although it does inhibit early strength gain.
 
Nashty said:
Would be surprised if you got much satisfaction from the manufacturers to be honest. I work a bit in the precast industry. Those walls are a disaster in a silage pit in my opinion and we would never make them for such a purpose. I see other precasters marketing them for pits though. Silage effluent and concrete in general don't work together long term but 5 years is certainly a bit new for them to spall like that. Who made them do you mind me asking? I would guess there was no GGBS in the mix which is a necessary prerequisite nowadays in all silage pits as far as I know and should be mandatory if it isn't already in all concrete destined for farms in my opinion. The theory is that the GGBS (more commonly known as slag) gives the concrete a little more durability long term although it does inhibit early strength gain.
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I didnt know there was slag going into concrete, interesting.

Sugar beet is the job to eat walls and flours. Would reduce the contact 10mm each year to dust
 
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Nashty said:
Would be surprised if you got much satisfaction from the manufacturers to be honest. I work a bit in the precast industry. Those walls are a disaster in a silage pit in my opinion and we would never make them for such a purpose. I see other precasters marketing them for pits though. Silage effluent and concrete in general don't work together long term but 5 years is certainly a bit new for them to spall like that. Who made them do you mind me asking? I would guess there was no GGBS in the mix which is a necessary prerequisite nowadays in all silage pits as far as I know and should be mandatory if it isn't already in all concrete destined for farms in my opinion. The theory is that the GGBS (more commonly known as slag) gives the concrete a little more durability long term although it does inhibit early strength gain.
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Do you mind me asking what kinda walls would suit a pit? Was always told L shaped walls are better than A ones. Was told A walls aren't certed for pits. All walls are always covered with plastic to protect them. I'd have to go through the accounts to get a invoice and name of the people we got them from but either way I'd prefer not to put there names on this
 
FIAT 450 said:
Do you mind me asking what kinda walls would suit a pit? Was always told L shaped walls are better than A ones. Was told A walls aren't certed for pits. All walls are always covered with plastic to protect them. I'd have to go through the accounts to get a invoice and name of the people we got them from but either way I'd prefer not to put there names on this
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To be honest, as you are located in Wexford, I could probably guess where they came from so no need to tell me or name and shame them.
If I am being deadly honest, I wouldn't touch precast walls in a silage pit as the joints are always likely to give bother at some stage no matter how well they are sealed day 1.
Silage pit walls should be cased and poured in-situ with readymix in my opinion. Just my opinion mind and I would presume the reason that some used precast walls was that they were faster to erect in a rush job or else perhaps thought that they might be moved in the future? Other than that I cannot see any benefit to the precast, as they would certainly be more expensive (and I am telling you this as someone who is in the business of trying to sell and supply precast concrete!)
If I was going for a precast wall for such a purpose, then the wall needs to be an inverted T shape actually in my opinion. It would come in an L shape with rebar sticking out the flat face for an in-situ concrete pour on site. No L shape or A shape wall will have the strength required in my opinion. Modern silage loader when out near the edge of the pit will induce a huge load on that wall never mind the actual weight of the silage itself and the corroding effect of the effluent.
Speaking from experience at home, even with concrete that had GGBS in it, 40 N, silage effluent is seriously corrosive stuff over a period of time and will eat away at the concrete cover to the rebar.
 
Ozzy Scott said:
I didnt know there was slag going into concrete, interesting.

Sugar beet is the job to eat walls and flours. Would reduce the contact 10mm each year to dust
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Slag is seen as being 'Green' cement as such, it is more environmentally friendly. Almost all civil projects nationally are now specifying a minimum % of Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) in the concrete mixes as it reduces the carbon footprint of the cement used. The long term benefits are increased durability. The short term negative is reduced / inhibited early strength gain so it takes the concrete longer to reach its target strength.
 
Nashty said:
Slag is seen as being 'Green' cement as such, it is more environmentally friendly. Almost all civil projects nationally are now specifying a minimum % of Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) in the concrete mixes as it reduces the carbon footprint of the cement used. The long term benefits are increased durability. The short term negative is reduced / inhibited early strength gain so it takes the concrete longer to reach its target strength.
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I always considered such walls only suitable for piling material up beside them, not packing in silage and going up higher again. Probably in the main lads get away doing this as the precast they have is of a higher quality than needs be
 
Nashty said:
To be honest, as you are located in Wexford, I could probably guess where they came from so no need to tell me or name and shame them.
If I am being deadly honest, I wouldn't touch precast walls in a silage pit as the joints are always likely to give bother at some stage no matter how well they are sealed day 1.
Silage pit walls should be cased and poured in-situ with readymix in my opinion. Just my opinion mind and I would presume the reason that some used precast walls was that they were faster to erect in a rush job or else perhaps thought that they might be moved in the future? Other than that I cannot see any benefit to the precast, as they would certainly be more expensive (and I am telling you this as someone who is in the business of trying to sell and supply precast concrete!)
If I was going for a precast wall for such a purpose, then the wall needs to be an inverted T shape actually in my opinion. It would come in an L shape with rebar sticking out the flat face for an in-situ concrete pour on site. No L shape or A shape wall will have the strength required in my opinion. Modern silage loader when out near the edge of the pit will induce a huge load on that wall never mind the actual weight of the silage itself and the corroding effect of the effluent.
Speaking from experience at home, even with concrete that had GGBS in it, 40 N, silage effluent is seriously corrosive stuff over a period of time and will eat away at the concrete cover to the rebar.
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Ya the reason for those walls was so they could be moved as the farm changed over the years which has happened a few times since the pit was erected. I priced a bigger set of L walls and they were almost the same price as shuttering and pouring a wall. It's something I may consider for next year what way to go the floor in the pit is at its end of life now. Was going to do it this year but the virus broke out and no guarantee on concrete or men back a few weeks ago so decided to leave it till next year.
 
Nashty said:
Slag is seen as being 'Green' cement as such, it is more environmentally friendly. Almost all civil projects nationally are now specifying a minimum % of Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) in the concrete mixes as it reduces the carbon footprint of the cement used. The long term benefits are increased durability. The short term negative is reduced / inhibited early strength gain so it takes the concrete longer to reach its target strength.
Click to expand...
How long would it take? Normally if you put down a slab of concrete you would try have nothing on it for a few weeks would it be much longer with slag?
 
FIAT 450 said:
How long would it take? Normally if you put down a slab of concrete you would try have nothing on it for a few weeks would it be much longer with slag?
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Wouldn't put silage on a pit for 6 weeks minimum after pouring it personally. Would probably give it 8 weeks with GGBS in the mix. This is more than the recommended but better safe than sorry.
The real downside to GGBS is in the precast industry where you are trying to demould a unit from a mould every day or every second day at worst. Time is money in the precast industry so the point I was making was that there was much less of a likelihood of there being GGBS used in the manufacture of a precast wall than there would be if the wall was cast in situ with ready mix as the extra time to get the early strength gain wouldn't make a difference.
 
I am having a problem here with wet silage by the walls and the cattle won’t eat it am I doing something wrong or does any 1 else have this problem ??
I know I posted before about it but it’s a pain in the ass .
 
Do ya put a sheet up along the wall before ya fill the pit and allow for an overlap in on the pit.i always put a new cover on the bottom and 2 older covers on the top.
Crows pecking at them is my problem
 
Are the walls sloped out? If they are level all the way up the air can get in if the pit shrinks
 
podge 23 said:
I am having a problem here with wet silage by the walls and the cattle won’t eat it am I doing something wrong or does any 1 else have this problem ??
I know I posted before about it but it’s a pain in the ass .
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Have you a pipe along the wall?
 
podge 23 said:
I am having a problem here with wet silage by the walls and the cattle won’t eat it am I doing something wrong or does any 1 else have this problem ??
I know I posted before about it but it’s a pain in the ass .
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its either rain water coming down or running into the silage and sitting there
have you a pic?
 
No I don’t put up a sheet,I did before and it was all getting caught in the silage then bringing it in .

Yes there is a pipe about 12” in from the wall .

Yes the rain water runs down the walls and when the pit shrinks it could drop 2 or 3 feet below the wall l,and then the silage is sour.
 
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