Zathrus~SPARTA~ Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 (edited) Eventually.... I would think people would figure out that using a backhoe or bulldozer to conduct demolition on a large smoke stack is a really bad idea. This guy got lucky in how it broke in half as it fell across him. The one I saw previous to this.. did not end as well as it was a reinforced concrete grain silo that was about 200 feet tall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRrz2BLFkQw We really do have the technology to do this without being stupid. Yes I say stupid, because when it is possible to do this without having anyone anywhere near it... seems kind of dumb risking your life to do it right up close and personal. Granted... I am sure cost always comes into play in these situations... while the explosives may not cost anymore than the rental of the bulldozer or backhoe... the guy certified to use the explosives for demolition is expensive. I can remember long ago... people would buy the explosives, and do it themselves, usually another farmer who had training during WWII on how to do it. Of course that is not possible in today's world. Explosives are very tightly controlled. Few are insane enough to try and make their own with gunpowder.... and you would never be allowed to buy enough to actually make much of one. So essentially you are stuck with going through an expert demolition company that are certified to do it. This is better for everyone's safety as they know what they are doing. In addition, because they know what they are doing, they use relatively little explosive compared to what you would expect needed to drop an entire office building for instance. That makes them very expensive to hire unfortunately. I have seen smoke stack demolitions by expert explosive demolition... it is a beautiful thing as you can see below. Or this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0xxxclpNME Of course... sometimes the structure fools even the experts. However experts are prepared for that event. In this one, you see it begin to sway... indicating it wanted to just fall over, you quickly hear them hit the emergency explosives that take out significantly more structure on one side to force it that direction in that event. With poured concrete stacks like these, they usually have to lay them down as they do not like to begin pancaking downward like brick smoke stacks.... but they can be a pain in the ass to get started. The largest one, you will notice they had to use 3 charges on it to finally get it falling where they wanted. Edited November 25, 2015 by Zathrus~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
custard~SPARTA~ Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Google Fred Dibnah a steeplejack and legend. Victorian chimneys taken down old style no explosive in site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathrus~SPARTA~ Posted November 26, 2015 Author Share Posted November 26, 2015 (edited) oh it can be done. Many have done it. But it can only be done at very high risk to the those at the stack. Because building demolition can be very unpredictable... but stack demolition is even worse for unexpected events. Stacks have a tendency to do nothing and then suddenly in an instant fail completely with the entire structure coming down with little if any warning. ANY unexpected weakness in the structure of a stack will kill you. Because manually doing it... your taking it right to the edge of falling at the bottom of its structure with you inside its fall zone. This is an absurdly unnecessary risk. ANY mistake on your part... or unknown weakness in the stack is going to kill you because there is no margin for error and no way to escape. This, from an engineering point of view produces a horrific risk potential... that is impossible to reduce. A potential so high I doubt you would get an engineer with any sanity to do it considering what is available today produces relatively little risk compared to a manual demolition. Dismantling it from the top down manually has been done also... but has proven far too time consuming and expensive. So... in my mind... there is no logical reason for risking life and limb to do it... seems wrong to me. Edited November 26, 2015 by Zathrus~SPARTA~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts