Occasional use grain dryer set ups

[SASKFARMER3]

So quiet my brother's house is less than 250 ft away it runs all the time in fall only thing from my side of the yard is the sound of augers starting if you listen quietly.

I would buy another one only three more screens bigger. But then we need two legs.

Wouldnt uses air pump as it needs major power.

[poorboy]

not much to look at. but it works. been wanting to make something better for years but keeps getting put off.

use it as a continuous batch. gsi dryer. i like it. holds 450bu. load in wet is a 7", load out a 8". which only operates the load/unload time at half the speed its capable of. but will dry down 18to19ish to 14 wheat in about 25 to 30 minutes then a cool down of 15 minutes, then load in/load out cycle in 24 minutes. so roughly 1.25 hours a batch.

Your system is simple, just like I was hoping to set up. Trying to figure out which hopper bins to attach to the dryer. Your dryer system looks so small next to that row of big bins. Suggests that you use air on the bins and only use the dryer a little bit, which is exactly what I am looking to do. Chuckle at your swing auger reaching right over the dryer to fill the wet bin. Wet bin looks like it can only fill the dryer, nothing else.

Thanks for posting the pics.

[poorboy]

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Automatic system. Its tied to fill augers and unload augers and can be run 24/7.

Canola under 20 and wheat we have done.

Into bag as if you screwed up easy to deal with.

Never a problem yet.

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We use swingaway auger to dump 13 in and bigger tractor for tough grain.

8 in supercharged to load dryer and wet bin has air.

8 in super charged to empty and 10 in to load cart for bag or conveyor.

Is the dryer running in auto batch mode or continous flow?
System looks nice. Is the plan to eventually tie it into those new 55,000 bushel bins that you are ordering?
How many bushels of wet bin and how many bushels of dry bin do you have currently? Dryer looks to be 12-1500 bushels/hr taking off 5% in wheat. Must keep one guy busy moving grain away from the dry bins.

Thanks for the pics.

I am really, really hoping that the sun drys it all for me.

[poorboy]

Bigger is better, faster, easier, doesn’t matter what the scale is

That is true, but unfortunately my budget is small. Debating which piece of the puzzle to start with. Bigger dry hopper or bigger wet hopper as I only have one 7500 bushel hopper and a few 4000 bushel 1620 fertilizer bins. Locate the dryer in a brand new spot easy to get to and grow in the future or locate close to some existing 5000 bushel flat bottom bins and hope to reach them with a few augers to fill right from the dryer. In looking at my old Vertec dryer, it is going to need a lot of new wiring and work to make it usable.

Perhaps it is simpler to freeze the crop in air bins and dry next spring when the weather is warm out (if it does not get dry on its own this fall). I have no experience at all with tough grain in air bins stored till april.

[SASKFARMER3]

Our cart is used for scale and we know what's in each bag. Bag site is just outside the yard so easy to get back but the guy is busy.

[BreadWinner]

Poorfarmer do you have NG or propane?
First use your existing hopper bins, they will work fine. We have ours located behind our straight row of bins, out of the way. Look at it like a opportunity, your not the only one so maybe some custom drying will help pay for the setup.
If your dryer is too far gone start looking for a continuous batch dryer, 180-450 bushel. Make sure you know how much power you have available and how much the dryer needs. 3 phase or single? Do you need augers? You can buy used and put electric motors on them. There is a few used dryers on Kijiji if you need to find one.

[poorboy]

Poorfarmer do you have NG or propane?
First use your existing hopper bins, they will work fine. We have ours located behind our straight row of bins, out of the way. Look at it like a opportunity, your not the only one so maybe some custom drying will help pay for the setup.
If your dryer is too far gone start looking for a continuous batch dryer, 180-450 bushel. Make sure you know how much power you have available and how much the dryer needs. 3 phase or single? Do you need augers? You can buy used and put electric motors on them. There is a few used dryers on Kijiji if you need to find one.

I have natural gas in my yard, but think it can only provide a million btu’s. Old vertec uses propane. Long term it would be nice to have natural gas, but not sure what that would cost.

Only single phase power that is capable of running 15 hp of aeration fans. My old vertec used a tractor for the fan and then everything else on the dryer and wet bin was electric and automatic. Dry auger used a gas motor that was throttled back and wired to shut down with the dryer. It sort of worked, but was Mickey Mouse.

I have purchased a 100kW genset a few years ago to power aeration fans at bins that are scattered all around the farm and hopefully it could be used to run an automated dryer. Large single phase power service here comes with a $400/month service fee. I only really hope to use a dryer for 5-7 days a year on average.

Perhaps looking to get a larger natural gas service and purchasing a used natural gas generator in the future.

Biggest use for a dryer here will be to start threshing sooner after a rain. Years ago I had a hard time getting my continuous flow dryer set because wheat is 18 at noon, 16 by 4 pm and dry by 9 pm. Because wettest wheat was in the bottom of the wet bin it comes out last, so I would just get the dryer going on 18 moisture and by then the next stuff coming into the dryer is like 16 and the afternoon air has warmed up and started to lose humidity. Such a pain to use for 1 day that it never gets used. I just wait a day for the sun to get it too dry. I also have lots of crop share landlords, so have to clean out dryer between owners.

Problem with not using the dryer at all is I could have had 7 more days of harvesting done on what was #1 wheat instead of having it sit out in the weather the last 2 weeks.

Would an autobatch drier work easy and on its own for days when wheat starts at 18 moisture and gets to dry or almost dry by the end of the day?

With remote bins and genset power it is not really effective to drop the 18 moisture wheat in an air bin and run the fan (and genset) for 2 weeks to dry the 18 wheat.

[BreadWinner]

We run our 1116 GSI off of a 200 amp service with a 7hp and 10hp electric auger motors. It is propane and works great. NG will be about 1/2 the price of propane but takes a bit to get hooked up and inspected. You can set the dry time up or down depending on the moisture as the grain changes through the day. It has automatic moisture controls if your smart enough to use them, I am not. We have 2 wet bins, 1 for really tough and the other to use when it gets a bit dryer. We added the 2nd after a couple years.
Get a plan and get at it quick, you can always bin in air bins and dry a bit later. A dryer wont make you money but will save your but on a crappy year.

[BreadWinner]

You could always get your neighbors together and start a small coop and pool your resources to get it up and going. Maybe each has part of the puzzle to get it going.

[Guest]

electricians are always amazed when they come to our yard , but we are running 2 shops , lights and block heaters in two pole sheds , a house , a greenhouse, a 250 bu superb automatic grain dryer, up to 4 fans at once and 2 bee incubators off a 200 amp service . have never tripped main . even got the guy wiring new shop to check main to see if it was welded shut .