DIY motorized grain mill motor question

[TallDan]

No issues yet! It's a farm duty motor from work. We build concrete equipment, so they see worse than grain dust. Time will tell I guess, but after only about 10 batches it's awesome.

Concrete dust may damage the motor, so maybe you're not concerned about that, but grain dust can explode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEShlfxB1Ik

 

[FB12]

Concrete dust may damage the motor, so maybe you're not concerned about that, but grain dust can explode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEShlfxB1Ik

Wow, that would not be a good thing! I do have a plate dividing the compartment, but it doesn't seal off the motor completely. I'll have to change that. Does anyone know of this happening, ever, to a homebrewer? I'm certain I'm not the first one to have a motor near the bucket. :smack:

 

[TallDan]

Wow, that would not be a good thing! I do have a plate dividing the compartment, but it doesn't seal off the motor completely. I'll have to change that. Does anyone know of this happening, ever, to a homebrewer? I'm certain I'm not the first one to have a motor near the bucket. :smack:

No knowledge of it happening to a homebrewer, but grain silos have exploded violently many times. Consider that the motors likely only would spark on start up, which in most cases is not when you would have a lot of grain dust present.

They also do make "explosion-proof" electric motors. If your motor happens to be one of those, you might be fine.

Either way, it's probably worth making some small changes to your compartment design to reduce the risk of it. Looks like it would be pretty easy to do, you just need to keep the dust contained, so even a flimsy plastic divider would get the job done.

 

[FB12]

Thanks! Better safe than sorry. I think I'll add a dust chute into the bucket just to be safe. Easy enough!