Tell us about your silo or tank
Two fields and you are done. We usually call back the same business day.
Silo, Tank and Vessel Cleaning and Demolition
Hardened build up, bridged material and blocked outlets cleared without sending a person inside on a harness. Remote machines and confined space crews for cement, grain, fly ash, chemical and process vessels.
- Build up, bridging and rat-holing cleared from silos and bins
- Remote machines instead of people inside the vessel
- Full confined space regime: permits, gas monitoring, rescue standby
- Tank, vessel and silo demolition when it is time to remove them
- Australia wide, including regional plants and terminals
Call 02 8015 6345 and speak to someone who has run these jobs.
The most dangerous job on most industrial sites
Silo cleaning kills people. The classic sequence is well documented and it repeats: material bridges over the outlet, someone goes in on a harness to poke at it from above, the bridge collapses, and the person is engulfed in seconds. It has happened in cement plants, grain terminals and processing facilities across Australia.
Almost every one of those incidents involved a person inside the vessel. So the safest silo cleaning method is the one that keeps people out of it, and that is what remote and mechanical methods are for.
The same thinking applies at the other end of the asset life. When a silo, tank or vessel is being removed rather than cleaned, remote machines let us break out linings, internals and structure without putting a crew inside a confined space full of unknown residue.
What we clear and remove
- Cement, fly ash, lime and clinker build up
- Grain, flour and feed bridging in silos and bins
- Hardened material in hoppers, chutes and transfer points
- Blocked outlets and rat-holed material
- Process vessel internals, linings and residue
- Tank, silo and vessel demolition, including full removal
- Sludge, scale and hardened residue in industrial tanks
How we keep people out of the vessel
Wherever the design allows, the work is done from outside through existing access points, using remote equipment and long reach tools. Where entry genuinely cannot be avoided, it runs as a full confined space operation: permit, atmospheric testing before and continuously during, forced ventilation, harness and retrieval systems, a dedicated standby person and a written rescue plan that has been rehearsed rather than filed.
We will also tell you honestly when we think a job should not be entered at all, even if that makes the price higher. There is no version of this work where a schedule justifies putting someone under an unstable mass of material.
Understanding the material before we start
Cement build up behaves nothing like grain, and grain behaves nothing like chemical residue. Before pricing we want to know what is in the vessel, how long it has been there, how hard it has gone, whether it has been wet, and what the atmosphere inside is likely to be.
That drives everything: the method, the controls, the disposal path and the price. Where records are missing we sample and test rather than assume.
When the silo has to come down
Demolishing a silo or tank brings its own problems: residual material, structural behaviour as sections are removed, and often asbestos or hazardous coatings on older structures. We plan the sequence with engineering input, clean and make the vessel safe first, and remove it in a controlled order with the recovered steel weighed and credited back against your price.
What a typical job looks like: blocked cement silo
A cement terminal has a silo that has stopped flowing. Material has bridged above the outlet and hardened, production is diverted, and the site wants it cleared without anyone going inside.
- Assessment first. Material type, moisture history, how long it has been static, existing access points, structural drawings.
- Isolation and permits with the site team, silo taken out of service and locked out.
- Atmospheric testing at multiple levels before anything opens.
- Remote and long reach equipment set up at existing access points, working the bridge from a safe position outside the vessel.
- Material brought down in controlled amounts rather than all at once, with monitoring throughout.
- Outlet cleared, walls cleaned back where build up would rebridge quickly, everything documented with photos.
- Debrief with your team on what caused it, because a silo that bridged once will usually do it again unless something changes.
Frequently asked
Can you clear a silo without anyone entering it?
In most cases yes, and that is always the preferred method. Where entry cannot be avoided it runs under a full confined space regime with rescue standby.
How do you price this work?
Off the material type, volume, hardness and access. We would rather assess properly than quote blind, because silo work priced from a phone call is how people get hurt.
Do you handle grain as well as cement?
Yes. Grain, flour and feed bring their own hazards, particularly dust explosion risk, and the controls are different to cement or fly ash.
What if there is asbestos in the structure?
Common in older silos and tanks. We hold Class A and Class B licences within the group, so it is handled under the same contract rather than stopping the job.
Can you remove the silo completely?
Yes, including cleaning, make safe, structural removal, foundation removal and steel recovery, with the scrap value credited against the price.
Head office in Sydney, yard in Brisbane, crews travelling to every state and territory. Kiln, silo and vessel work is planned around your outage dates, so location is a logistics question rather than a reason to say no.
Silo blocked, or ready to come down?
Tell us what is in it and how long it has been there. We will give you a method that keeps your people out of the vessel and a price that reflects the real conditions.
Call 02 8015 6345 or use the form at the top of this page.
Perfect Contracting acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Traditional Custodians of the country on which we live and work. We pay our respects to the Traditional Custodians and Elders past, present and future, and honour their connection to the land and ongoing contribution to society.