Cement Pigs Vs. Silos

CEMENT PIGS VS. SILOS

Portable cement pigs are horizontal bulk storage containers kept onsite for on-demand access to cementitious materials. Generally, cement storage pigs have been the go-to storage method since they don’t require a pad site to be built compared to portable cement silos. However, most cement pigs, commonly known as a ‘cement guppy’, still require some base to avoid rollovers or sinking into the ground. Cement Storage Pigs usually need two people to set up and it can generally take around 5 hours to ensure all the bridging is done correctly. Bridging is usually done by placing railroad ties to provide stable ground for the ten legs. Constant attention is required to provide a safe operation when using cement storage pigs because of the tanks shifting weight of cementitious material. Constant vigilance is necessary to prevent the cement storage pigs from sinking in and breaking valves or, even worse, destroying the air system. Unlike portable silos that sit upright, cement storage pigs can only operate one function at a time, meaning they can only fill the receiving silo or have material filled up; they cannot do both simultaneously. This means most projects will require the renting of two cement storage pigs to avoid downtime. When it comes to Cement Pigs Vs. Silos, pigs can cost double the amount to rent compared to portable silos since most jobs require multiple.

PORTABLE SILOS

Portable cement silos stand upright and are generally placed on a base that will remain on the job site until the project is completed. Most portable cement silos require a steel reinforced cement pad with metal plates cast into the concrete to provide a solid base from the shifting materials and wind. Installing a pad can be costly as concrete alone is around $1,200, not including labor. Typically, once a silo is in place it will remain there until the project had ended because the support pad and a crane are needed to raise and lower the silo. One big difference between cement storage pigs and portable silos is that silos receive and feed material simultaneously. This eliminates a bottleneck effect regarding material and limits the amount of labor to monitor once in operation.

Unlike a cement storage pig, when the job is done, you have to remove the sunken railroad ties by removing the steel reinforced concrete pad that holds the silo and this can cost up to 2.5X the amount to tear out and haul away the construction waste. Both portable storage silos and cement pigs can hold up to 150 tons of cementitious material and feed into most batch plant silos.

SILO CITY SILOS

Unlike most portable silos that require an expensive pad with engineering and labor costs, our silos are self-contained. Silo City portable cement storage silos offer a base already on the silo. There is no need for expensive cranes as our silos can be unloaded from our trailers and operated in less than thirty minutes. Silo City Silos require less space than typical cement storage pigs. Three silos can usually fit in the same footprint as one cement storage pig. When it comes to air permits, we all know they can vary from state to state. Our silos utilize fewer points of connection, making it easier to obtain air permits. Silo City Portable Cement Storage Silos are fully customizable to your needs and can even come with a dust control system. Filling up one of our silos causes less dust while feeding and filling, all simultaneously. Our portable silo offers two filling stations so multiple deliveries can occur during operation resulting in less downtime, labor, and overall cost.