When your company gets in a pinch and needs help ASAP with vacuuming activities, Great Lakes Power Vac (GLPV) is your resource. Just after Memorial Day weekend, Beacon Transport contacted GLPV to vacuum spilled iron powder from one of their semi-trailers.
Beacon’s truck was transporting totes of iron powder, two of which were damaged. One tote had a hole in it and leaked iron dust onto the trailer floor. The other had tipped over and spilled iron powder inside the trailer.
Beacon contacted GLPV to vacuum the iron from the two damaged totes and the floor of the trailer into new totes. GLPV took on the task, scheduling the project at its shop for the next morning. Beacon’s truck arrived at 8:30 a.m. with the damaged totes, as well as new totes to transfer materials into.
GLPV’s expert crew had a Supersucker® vacuum truck and a cyclone separator set-up and ready to go when Beacon’s truck arrived. Using this grounded and bonded equipment with static dissipating hose, GLPV vacuumed the iron from the damaged totes and the floor into new totes.
Along with two damaged bulk packs on the semi-trailer, there were five other full bulk totes of iron powder. GLPV used a forklift and a pallet jack to move totes around on the semi-trailer, and to unload others in order to gain access to the tipped-over tote. This was the only way GLPV could get access to the damaged totes.
GLPV crews were able to remove the bulk tote with a hole in it from the trailer onto the ground, allowing the crews to vacuum at ground level. GLPV vacuumed spilled iron powder out of the tote and from the floor of the trailer from the tipped over tote, while keeping the tote inside the trailer.
As GLPV vacuumed the material, the powder traveled through the vacuum hose into the cyclone separator and then into an empty tote below the separator. GLPV used a cover from one of the damaged totes to create a fill hole on the new tote that the material was transferred into, minimizing the chances of outside dusting and waste. After the transfer was complete from the damaged containers to the new ones, GLPV covered the new containers. The totes were loaded back onto the trailer, and Beacon was able to complete its delivery.