Yes I always wanted to do that type of work but here in buffalo they leveled all of our melt shops from republic steel to Bethlehem steels second largest plant totally destroyed they had no electric arc furnaces but did have B o f furnaces open hearth furnaces and five blast furnaces closed in 1983 thanks to the gripper Ronald Reagan so I’ve ended becoming a locomotive engineer now forced to retire from work related injuries from a faulty controls stand that shorted causing smoke inhalation and get this it’s the second time but I miss it loved running trains but good things must come to a end 30 yrs railroading it’s in the blood
@@Des2tuff it's not for just anybody, I started in the mid 80's and made a career out of it. It can be very dangerous. It's a great career though, give it a chance, most positions at SDI are easy and slow paced, others can be very demanding. I can promise you this, you'll go home proud each day and get paid for it. Please be careful in any position.
One error: the electric arc doesn't jump from electrode to electrode. The current passes from each electrode into the steel then to an adjacent electrode. If the current could pass directly from electrode to electrode, then it would arc all the time even when the electrodes are up out if the furnace.
last I checked about three years ago also to comment on this melt shop in butler from a guy that worked in the eaf area they raised the walls of the furnace so there are less splash outs when you get a wet charge and the total hold capacity is 200 tons but only run 150 at a time to keep it hot as they say in the video, but yea its mean, and when they raise the electrodes they call it an sdi sunrise as they are glowing very brightly as my neighbor that works in the cold roll mill states when I asked about the furnace, I will say for one sdi seems to do right they are always on the up and up building new plants and expanding the last couple years.
It must be fun to operate one of these. You must feel like the devil controlling the fires of hell when you lower the electrodes into the furnace and start all those bangs and explosions as the arc starts!
No, it is not fun. I worked at Roanoke Electric Steel, the old name, in the Melt Shop, that you just saw. Fun, not hardly. It was not only the steel that was dangerous, but all the White Hats were also. If the White Hats could, they would throw the workers in the steel just to keep it at a certain temperature. They did not care for the employees, all they wanted is to make tonnage. Working there was like being in hell.
heh I have neighbors that work at this facillity in butler Indiana, I am surprized that this actually made the discovery channel as it is so close by but it is one of the largest operations in north indiana with them owning iron dynamics and a mill in colombia city indiana 40 miles away as well.
Wondering why these workers don't wear a breathing apparatus because of the high level of air-borne metal vapors in the air. Do they have routine blood work done? Also wondering why there is not a super exhaust fan above the arc furnace to evacuate away the smoke and vapor concentrations out of the building. Anyone in the know about this (like current or former furnace workers) please feel free to answer me. Thanks for any answers that come my way.
It looks bad but it is actually not that bad. The furnace roof is connected to duct work that leads to a bag house that collects emissions from the furnace. But if the baghouse draft is too strong it will decrease efficiency and increase refactory cost. So it is a balancing act. Also OSHA does testing for airborne particulates. But there is very little heavy metals in the airborne dust. It is mostly CaO(lime). If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Aaron Davis Dear I read your comments, Would you like to share, how much negative pressure should be inside furnace that will do fumes suction properly without effecting on the cost of production process.
I've done work there... they pull literally tons of shit out of the air and reclaim it. There are also systems that put a mist into the air to catch airborne particles, then they fall to the ground and are cleaned up. But yeah, it's still a dirty place.
Anyone know who many active, running steel mills like this the USA still has running? SOOOO many of them have been closed down in the past. It's a REAL crime. Thanks for this video. It's very informative and intimidating. One false move on someone's part and you're toast. How long do the carbon rods last? How often do they need replacing? How often do you have to re-brick the crucible? Thanks for uploading.
Well I am from the area of this facillity in north indiana, we have at least 7 steel making facillities I can think of right off hand, they are mini mills like this though meaning they remelt old steel with a furnace like this or an induction furnace, we have no giant blast furnaces as far as I know which would be what they use around east chicago and the Garry US Steel, they run about 4 blast furnaces and 3 coke batteries as well as finishing facilities, and that is the largest in the northern hemisphere as far as the size of the facillity goes, there are bigger though in asia. but I would say less then 300
ramjetrabbit welcome, there are certainly at least a few dozen left in the usa, but I cant yet pinpoint exactly how many today but as of the steel.org page as of November 1, 2010 there are 120 installations that make or produce steel products, with the largest concentration in the Midwest and South East USA and around Penn.
well the mass steel but we still make stuff, we are not out of the buisness entirely yet, and we still have some forging facillites though not in north indiana, well there is accugear and a forge in portland indiana, but mostly just mini mills like this though to call them small is an understatment, I saw the columbia city mill where they make the rail road rail, its a large factory too, while comming back on us 30 and saw both Gary US steel, and the arcero mittle mill at the belt harbor which has the largest amount of blast furnaces in the nation if not the entire west as far as I know, that is while I was comming back on the north shore limited at indiana dunes park from anime central in rosmont outside of chicago two weeks back. dont let that fool you we still have big mills and in the timken mill in ohio the company that make the famous roller bearings for railroads and othe special steels has the largest jumbo bloom caster in the world making for larger batches of steel and more continuous runs of steel, and we have the largest conterblow forging hammers and isometric presses in the world as well, though the chinese just cant let us be and have as of later this year an isometric press that has 1000 more tones pressure then our largest, its like they are doing it on purpose like when you are trying to run a race and get ahead of someone so they speed up just a little and stay just out of reach on purpose almost close enough you can touch them but not quite.
