A sweep auger will also provide controlled flow for a diverse range of stored materials, which means that it can be adapted to store diverse materials over the years - rather than having to engineer a silo for a specific product’s physical properties, as with conical-bottom metal silos. The latter can include spiral stairs that wind around the silo (if it is big enough) and caged ladders to provide access to the inspection door at the top.īy equipping this type of silo with a sweep auger, the material at the bottom can be unloaded first according to the “first in, first out” principle. Important accessories for these large metal silos include wind rings, which stiffen the silos for wind loading and bolster their structural stability during filling and discharge, as well as industrial access equipment. All this metal is usually hot-dipped galvanized to protect it from the elements. While welded construction is available, flat-bottom metal silos are usually built using carbon steel body sheets that are bolted onto a frame made of structural steel stiffeners. Most often, they store grain, meaning that you’ll find them at breweries, feed mills, flourmills, and port facilities, for example.

Metal silos with flat bottoms are used to store materials for extended periods of time. Knowing the difference between them - not only in terms of configurations but also applications - can be helpful to anyone who’s setting out to source metal silos. But there are three main types of silos that are typically used in industrial settings. Metal silos aren’t all built alike, especially when they are custom fabricated.

Steel grain silo