Back in '09 at the old Trenton plant, we had a full ladle boil-over during a big pour.

It was a hot August afternoon, and we were pouring a set of 12 big pump housings. The metal looked good in the furnace, but when we tapped into the ladle, something was off. The slag must've been way wetter than we thought. About halfway through the third mold, the whole surface just erupted. Molten iron and slag went everywhere, mostly hitting the sand floor thank god, but it shut the whole line down. My foreman, Joe, just yelled 'kill the crane!' and we backed off. We spent the next two hours with rakes and shovels cleaning the pit, letting everything cool. The real fix was checking the slag dumpster for rain covers after that. Anyone else have a close call from wet slag?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_eric3d ago

Man, that sounds wild. So when you say the slag was wet, was that just from rain getting into the dumpster, or could it have been something else, like moisture in the slag pit itself? I've seen guys not let the ladle linings dry out enough after a repair and get a nasty steam pop, but a full boil-over is next level.

troy9773d ago

Consider the slag might have been wet from the pit liner failing, @the_eric. I've seen that cause a slow leak that builds up over time.