- Location
- S. Staffs
No but we had two 9 tonners running, alternate fill and empty,kept a man pretty well tied up with one trailer. (Usually me!)
Grain Drying
- Thread starter Overby
- Start date
ollie989898
Member
- Location
- Worcestershire
thinking about a big fan cooling a trailer while the next one is warming up
rob h
Member
- Location
- east yorkshire
I've seen a farm fans batch dryer stacked one on top of the other.top one drying bottom one cooling.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Thinking more about it, my old Almet isn’t the limiting factor, it’s the cooling bins that slow me down. There are two of them and they hold a total of 20 tons of wheat. I have to wait till evening or early morning for the final cooldown before conveying out into non ventilated longer term storage/shovel loading bays where it keeps fine. The cooling bins have flat floors which means that unless I hand shovel them out they retain about 2 tons so their effective capacity is only 16 tons.
The Almet, at 3 tph could probably shift 30 tons per day which is good enough for this small farm but I’d need more cooling capacity, or.....maybe a chiller on the intake of the present cooling bins to allow effective cooling in the middle of the day. Only takes the cooljng bins about 1.5 hours to bring the hot grain down to ambient. An automatic shutdown on the Almet in the event of discharge back up and a bigger wet grain intake would also mean I could leave it alone for longer.
The Almet, at 3 tph could probably shift 30 tons per day which is good enough for this small farm but I’d need more cooling capacity, or.....maybe a chiller on the intake of the present cooling bins to allow effective cooling in the middle of the day. Only takes the cooljng bins about 1.5 hours to bring the hot grain down to ambient. An automatic shutdown on the Almet in the event of discharge back up and a bigger wet grain intake would also mean I could leave it alone for longer.
- Location
- Darlington
Or move it a bit warmer and use fans and pedastals for that final bit of cooling?
SilliamWhale
Member
Has anyone got a good rule of thumb for what temperature to put grain in the shed for pedestal cooling? I think it has to come out of the dryer at at least 28 degrees and needs to all be sub 20 asap
- Location
- Darlington
For me it depends on ambient temperatures, if I'm drying in the mid 20s I've seen me put it in in the high 20s using the fans to keep the air moving until temps drop. I do think fans and pedastals have been the best investment I have made in my grain handling operation.
blowing when ambient at anything below the grain temp will cool it
i try to avoid temp differentials of over 6 degrees as you can create condensation
most nights though august are ok to get it sub 20 pretty fast
shakerator
Member
- Location
- LINCS
The best investment I have made for on floor drying has been a frequency invertor.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
To run fans at variable speed?
shakerator
Member
- Location
- LINCS
yes
So just tick over for cooling , or low revs for small bulks of grain (I have a heat exchanger in front of fan too)
the electrical savings are huge, if you research the fan/pump affinity laws and power required
- Location
- Darlington
When I look at the wizardry that is air source heating it I think there could be some big changes coming in grain drying soon
- Location
- Lincolnshire
There is much more that could be done to make grain drying more efficient. Heat recovery and removal of the water from the exhaust air by condensation could make it a very low energy input process indeed.
But I feel that it’s only central storage cooperatives that will have the scale and expertise to justify the capital needed.
- Location
- Darlington
It will probably filter down but not very quickly.
This company are doing some pretty big installations in the UK for both drying and cooling - Calibrate Energy
The numbers involved will make your head spin.
- Location
- Darlington
shakerator
Member
- Location
- LINCS
how about just 16% and a ban on scandalous mill “rewetting” to improve the grind !