westwood
Member
- Location
- West Sussex
Old 6 tph grain dryer is getting very old so what size continuous flow grain dryer would be ideal for 1000 acres? Looking to future proof the system with enough wet storage as well. Combine is a class 750.
Grain dryer size?
- Thread starter westwood
- Start date
grainboy
Member
- Location
- Bedfordshire
Evening have a 13 ton hr Svegma for sale, dismantled and in storage at present,
How many tonnes a day can you cut ?
Divided by 24 and that’s the kind of size in t/hr I would say is sensible
Depends on a lot of factors like how much wet storage you have etc
It depends on lots of other factors. I have a 25 t/hr Svegma for 2200 acres of combinables and it’s not enough. 100t of ready wet storage and another 200t nearby on floor. It requires a full time operator and fork lift to work through it all on long hours. Had an easy run this harvest but it’s not uncommon to put 20-25,000 litres through the drier burners. Combine output is 35-75 t/hour into a 40 t/hr elevator.
I’d rather knock up another on floor drier than spend ££££ on gutting my existing intake and drier as there is no opportunity to go any bigger without major re engineering. Drier capacities are usually quoted as for taking 5% moisture out of feed wheat. That capacity drops very sharply when you do other crops or even milling wheat that requires a lower temperature. IMO you want at least 50% of your max intake rate as drying capacity.
Can you expand your wet storage? Are your drying hours restricted by labour or neighbours? Can you automate your existing system? Does the current uncertainty over the future of farming justify such investment? Outsource the drying and storage to a third party and rent out some of the buildings? Can you get a few more years out of your existing set up until you’ve got a better idea of the future? Just trying to stimulate thoughts around the problem.
I’d rather knock up another on floor drier than spend ££££ on gutting my existing intake and drier as there is no opportunity to go any bigger without major re engineering. Drier capacities are usually quoted as for taking 5% moisture out of feed wheat. That capacity drops very sharply when you do other crops or even milling wheat that requires a lower temperature. IMO you want at least 50% of your max intake rate as drying capacity.
Can you expand your wet storage? Are your drying hours restricted by labour or neighbours? Can you automate your existing system? Does the current uncertainty over the future of farming justify such investment? Outsource the drying and storage to a third party and rent out some of the buildings? Can you get a few more years out of your existing set up until you’ve got a better idea of the future? Just trying to stimulate thoughts around the problem.
We harvest 1250 acres and have a 2011 Kentra 30t/hr drier and 60t/hr handling system. The capacity figure is taking 5% out of feed barley. The reception pit holds 100t+. We try to use a low heat and use the maximum area of the drier for cooling so our outputs are slower. If taking 2% out of wheat, the drier will stop with the combine (lexion 580+) and with a 2 hr head start in the morning will clear any back log.
The salesman was suggesting a smaller model, but harvest is now relatively easy.
The salesman was suggesting a smaller model, but harvest is now relatively easy.
- Location
- S. Staffs
Whatever you think you need now, it probably won’t be enough in a few years time, so try and make it expandable in future or go bigger from the start.
- Location
- Sedgefield
I'd look at on floor dryers
Or how about a mobile dryer to add capacity
Our dryer is 25 years old and although the dryer can keep up with the combine, the elevators can't so our limiting factor is the handling system
We have 750 acre combinables
This year we tipped a fair bit in the wet storage area and had pedestals to manage it til we caught up ( up to 500 ton capacity)... And can get up to 150 ton in the pit area if needed
And outsourced the rape drying... Luckily have 2 Frontier rape stores within 3 miles of us so made sense ( our rape harvest was kind of the same time as the wheat)
If our dryer goes pop I think we would look to get a mobile and/or drying floor before investing £100-£150k in a drying system
Or how about a mobile dryer to add capacity
Our dryer is 25 years old and although the dryer can keep up with the combine, the elevators can't so our limiting factor is the handling system
We have 750 acre combinables
This year we tipped a fair bit in the wet storage area and had pedestals to manage it til we caught up ( up to 500 ton capacity)... And can get up to 150 ton in the pit area if needed
And outsourced the rape drying... Luckily have 2 Frontier rape stores within 3 miles of us so made sense ( our rape harvest was kind of the same time as the wheat)
If our dryer goes pop I think we would look to get a mobile and/or drying floor before investing £100-£150k in a drying system
- Location
- Sedgefield
What you save in pedestal running costs you’ll spend on an underused drier. You’re only moving the cost and some of the store management elsewhere in the system.
Running an oversized drier is fine but your electric costs will rise as well as the capital requirements even if the burner fuel is the same or a bit less. Good to have spare capacity though.
@Will7 Did you price up the salesman’s recommendation? I’d be interested to know what price premium you paid over something designed to only take 5% out of wheat at 120oC at the same t/hr. 25% difference?
Running an oversized drier is fine but your electric costs will rise as well as the capital requirements even if the burner fuel is the same or a bit less. Good to have spare capacity though.
@Will7 Did you price up the salesman’s recommendation? I’d be interested to know what price premium you paid over something designed to only take 5% out of wheat at 120oC at the same t/hr. 25% difference?
I can’t think of a single farm I’ve worked on in my career where they’ve got that right. Most were obsolete in terms of capacity within 5 years of building despite being above spec at the time. That’s the weak point of a continuous flow system. What if by 2029 when BPS finally goes you’re part of a joint venture machinery gang with the biggest combine in the world shoving 100 - 150 t/hr in the doorway for 3 days before clearing off somewhere else for a week or two?
If any more stores are ever built here (unlikely) they will be drive on floors that can take an artic lorry and have an alternative use if policy changes and the village edge site gets used for industrial or storage.
SilliamWhale
Member
Yes but when we have Brexit and the BPS is gone we will get better harvesting weather!
We run a 12t mob drier with a 6t hopper, will have a new wet shed/ general purpose up soon and I use pedestals in the stores. Simple but effective with minmal depreciation compared to a fixed integrated system. A continuous flow dryer with elevators etc reminds be of a herringbone parlour, cost a lot of money to buy and install and once in depreciation is frightening. Will be looking to renew the dryer shortly and might get a 3 phase one with 16t capacity, nice to have the option of increasing drying capacity easily.
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yellow belly
Member
- Location
- south west lincolnshire
extensive low imput low cost livestock sheep and cattle as they were in the 1930s
I can’t exactly remember as it was a verbal discussion, but from memory we are talking thousands rather than 10s of thousands.
A smaller drier required a larger wet tip area, or wet bin. The wet bin was to add £20k+, or the larger reception pit was more shed, concrete and intake conveyors. This set up was designed with expansion in mind
This is why I specced the smallest large model, rather than the largest small model so it could be enlarged should the requirement arise
A base drier set up is a once in a career farming investment, so it needs to be right.
I have spoken to neighbours re a JV, and I am the only one who is prepared to invest in infrastructure hence they say it can’t work as they are still running corn into 60 year old handling systems which can’t cope with high capacity combines
Thank you. That sounds very wise. Was the grain infrastructure the only main obstacle to a JV? For export grade grain you’ve got Lingrain and Frontier at Boston. For quality grain there’s Union and @Woldgrain Storage.
Woldgrain Storage
Member
- Location
- Hemswell, North Lincs
The key to driers is to make sure they are only obsolete (size wise) once they are fully depreciated, which is crystal ball stuff really.
We are all CF, with no drying floors.
We have a Cimbria (new in 2010), a Brice Baker (new in 2012) and a Perry (new in 2015) which all run on Kerosene. We are in the process of converting to mains gas.
Ewerby would be well within our current operating radius of 65 miles.
We are all CF, with no drying floors.
We have a Cimbria (new in 2010), a Brice Baker (new in 2012) and a Perry (new in 2015) which all run on Kerosene. We are in the process of converting to mains gas.
Ewerby would be well within our current operating radius of 65 miles.
No, I think I was the problem!!! I will not sway on excessive working hours nor blackgrass hygiene. My day to day role was to be the “assistant manager” running around sorting out everyone else’s problems. Also the spreadsheet showed me no financial gain for me, in fact the opposite.
I run as an efficient operation as I can here and did not want to be absorbing others inefficiencies just for the sake of an enormous shiny combine, so I will upgrade from @Brisel old combine to another large secondhand one.
What I would have gained is back up given I work on my own.