Propane / diesel batch dryer

[Warp Land Farmer]

What are the pros and cons to each fuel type? Looking at a 2nd hand propane Opico but know little about them. Thinking having one at the right price is more of an insurance policy than a main line solution to wet crops. Thanks for your advise.

 

[Right-arm fast]

We went for propane as it always burns cleanly, it can't be stolen unless they pick up the tank and take it, doesn't need to be gravity fed or pumped to burner, no dirty fuel problems. Downside I believe it's very slightly dearer per kW than gasoil, safety/tank location - gas regulations. Ours is a liquid feed to burner wouldn't change unless gas oil was half the price per kW. Have no experience of diesel fired.

 

[spikeislander]

Gas isn't as clean as you would think and can still give trouble. I would go diesel without a shadow of a doubt. It's cheap on farm already and has given us no problems.

 

[Matthew Britton]

We are diesel too for the same reason.

 

[Happy]

We went for propane as it always burns cleanly, it can't be stolen unless they pick up the tank and take it, doesn't need to be gravity fed or pumped to burner, no dirty fuel problems. Downside I believe it's very slightly dearer per kW than gasoil, safety/tank location - gas regulations. Ours is a liquid feed to burner wouldn't change unless gas oil was half the price per kW. Have no experience of diesel fired.

Diesel dryer will be way cheaper to run than LPG one at the moment as you need to use 2.5 times more LPG than diesel.

 

[DieselRob]

If you ever have a problem with the burners you will be able to fix or find someone to fix a diesel burner a lot easier than a lpg burner, or that's the case round here anyway

 

[Right-arm fast]

Diesel dryer will be way cheaper to run than LPG one at the moment as you need to use 2.5 times more LPG than diesel.

I stand to be corrected but I don't think that is true it would never stand up at 30 - 35p/l. I've no idea the cost of propane at the moment.
We've had no problems, with the burner or fuel in 8 years. It hasn't had much in the way of maintenance, if any as it hasn't needed it.

 

[Happy]

I stand to be corrected but I don't think that is true it would never stand up at 30 - 35p/l. I've no idea the cost of propane at the moment.
We've had no problems, with the burner or fuel in 8 years. It hasn't had much in the way of maintenance, if any as it hasn't needed it.

Figures from Mecmar
http://www.mcarthuragriculture.co.u.../fuel-selection-for-mobile-batch-grain-driers

 

[Warp Land Farmer]

Can you change a propane burner to a diesel burner?

 

[Clive]

big advantage of propane is some specialist oil crops can not be dried with diesel

there was talk OSR going the same way a few years ago but its not happened yet

our dryer is Kero / diesel though

anyone know the equation to work out if kero or diesel is cheaper based on price and energy ?? feel the goal post have maybe moved since fuel prices dropped so much ??

 

[Right-arm fast]

From my college days:

Specific Gravity/weight, kg/l
Propane: 0.51
Diesel: 0.85

Calorific Value, MJ/kg
Propane: 50.31
Diesel: 42.8

Therefore 1litre of propane contains 25 MJ of energy
and 1 litre of Diesel contains 38 MJ which is 1.5 times that of propane.

Cost versus energy
Diesel @ 50p
Propane (to get the same energy) @ 35p/l x 1.5 = 52.5p


The only time we measured the gas usage was when we dried some grain for a neighbour. Its in a file will try and dig it out

 

[eagleye]

Had gas for about 10 years then diesel after that for 20 years, diesel more convenient if you run out theres lots of options to get supplied. Only two for Gas here and each one has there own tank etc.
As Clive says diesel taint is always a risk for a food crop and more critical to keep fuel clean and nozzles changed. Price is not that big an issue really (of the fuel) Gas burners can be expensive to replace compared to diesel/kero - kero lower calorific value so you need to burm more

 

[B&B Pig Man]

@MGE90D

 

[2wheels]

we ran kero in a diesel burner. less smoke and taint than diesel, cost similar.

 

[Lincsman]

big advantage of propane is some specialist oil crops can not be dried with diesel

there was talk OSR going the same way a few years ago but its not happened yet

our dryer is Kero / diesel though

anyone know the equation to work out if kero or diesel is cheaper based on price and energy ?? feel the goal post have maybe moved since fuel prices dropped so much ??

I am told Kero needs to be 8p/Litre or more cheaper than diesel to be cheaper, but will burn a larger volume of it obviously, the burner should sort it out automatically.

 

[MGE90D]

Diesel is cheaper to run but lpg driers a lot cheaper to buy. If it is just for backup then you might be better off with the cheaper machine to buy. www.mcarthuragriculture.co.uk
Have got a number of GT driers coming back in March. PTO, Electric, and automatic options.

 

[Happy]

Diesel is cheaper to run but lpg driers a lot cheaper to buy. If it is just for backup then you might be better off with the cheaper machine to buy. www.mcarthuragriculture.co.uk
Have got a number of GT driers coming back in March. PTO, Electric, and automatic options.

Good answer when trying to sell both new diesel machines followed by gas trade in ones too

 

[Right-arm fast]

There's very little difference in the running costs if any. I'm pretty sure we have been buying propane at 35p/l since we brought our dryer new in 2008 as i can't remember it being any other price. The cost of gas oil at one point in that time was in the 60s and 70s p/l. Last year propane was 30p/l. Don't know what it is now. I'm not sure some of the mecmar info on costs is 100% in their sales blurb. One big plus for gas oil is that all farms have a plentiful supply for me that's where it ends.

 

[MGE90D]

Good answer when trying to sell both new diesel machines followed by gas trade in ones too

Haha Thats fair enough but its still true. Mecmar do LPG or diesel on the same drier so can accurately compare with no interest in spinning it either way. We also sell continuous flow and drying floors too so are able to pretty open about different systems.

 

[Right-arm fast]

The products of combustion coming off a diesel flame are hotter than the products coming off an LPG flame. Its hard to demonstrate on paper but if you compare a gas burner and diesel burner on the exact same drier the ratio is more like 1l of diesel to 2-2.5l of gas.

I'm not sure I follow this.
Not saying its incorrect for a minute, but an awful lot of propane gas is used to run power stations and heat homes businesses by burning it in a burner to either heat air or water. Gasoil and kerosene burners are just as readily available so why use the propane if it costs so much more.
If you want to heat X tonnes of wheat in the drier it takes X amount of heat on any given day taking in to account ambient temperature, humidity, and moisture content of the wheat surely? Also logic says that you/we buy fuel for the energy content so all the fuels have to be reasonably similar in cost per MJ or BTU what ever unit, other wise you wouldn't ever use propane as it would be costed out in every application not to mention that you say it doesn't burn as hot as well ? I have the figures for drying some wheat but I just haven't got how much moisture we took out at the moment so pretty meaningless.