Grain vac vs auger?

[dalek]

Never really seen grain vacs around here but I have to upgrade some handling. I have 6 bins for now, handling 5-6 different crops with most being just temporary storage if the elevators are moving slow or assembling specialty beans until I can find a backhaul truck. Most of the bins don't have floors or sweeps, would a vac be better than retrofitting?

[farmaholic]

How long do you keep your grain around? Hopper bins beat the shit out of everything. Maybe you don't need long term storage? But it sure is convenient compared to slow noisy grain vacs.

[pourfarmer]

I'd rather run a sweep then a vac.

[farmaholic]

Vacs are still heavy work. But no dust is nice. Slow. Sweeps are too dusty. Kinda brutal. But they probably less labour intensive than those heavy vac hoses.

Get hoppers!! With aeration.

[farmaholic]

Vacs are still heavy work. But no dust is nice. Slow. Sweeps are too dusty. Kinda brutal. But they probably less labour intensive than those heavy vac hoses.

Get hoppers!! With aeration.

[hobbyfrmr]

Sharpen the bottoms and get aeration. Then at least an 8 inch auger. Shop around for good lease rates or else borrow while interest rates are low.
Its 6 times more money than you wanted to spend but the hopperbins will keep their value, aeration allows for conditioning and cooling grain, which gives you and extra 6 days early harvesting.
It used to kill me to think of spending money (because I had none) on hoppers as a "luxury/convenience". Now I would never go without. You can fill/empty and refill, truckers can load without you, grain cleaners can clean without you its just easier all around.
Second choice back to original question, 8 inch auger and bin sweep. n95 dust masks

[fjlip]

I know guys that don't own a shovel, all hoppers, an investment that hardly loses value. No back ache, no dust, 10" auger 100 bu/min, life is good. Way safer investment than stock market, lol.

[farmaholic]

I've "dug" enough grain out of bins in my life. I don't want to do it anymore and I don't want my kids to have to either. It's not like it was even "worth" the effort some years. Lol.

[Guest]

and the first ones we bought are worth 2.5 x what we paid for them at an auction sale today . I agree way better than stock market

[helmsdale]

Long story short, i'd take a 8" auger with mover, and e-kay sweep ANY day over a vac.

[Tucker]

I have an 8" auger with a mover and an E-Kay sweep and a little Rem vac. I let the E-kay go around the bin twice and then clean up the bottoms with the vac later. I'm not sure where my shovels are anymore. I know I used to have at least half a dozen kicking around... All the new bins bought have been hoppers but I still need to use a bunch of the flat bottom ones every year.

[farmaholic]

Another positive of grain vacs is they can be pretty effective in dealing with grain bug infestations. Don't run them at capacity, it's a pretty rough ride and they can actually be separated and blown out the exhaust. But "good" farmers never get bugs, right?

[TOM4CWB]

DaleK,

Belt Conveyors can't be beat if you do not grow CANOLA. Seed and peas/beans requires a belt conveyor.

Batco makes great short belt loaders for load out... with hopper bins and fertilizer handling... Peas and Beans on our seed farm... these belts for loading bins and trucks from hopper bins CAN't BE BEAT. NO grain Damage. FAST. easy clean up.
An underfloor auger/Full floor air/unload system for flat bottoms can be installed to feed the Belt conveyor into truck.
WE do have a vac. Big power tractor needed for decent capacity Vac. Vac very good for killing rusty grain Beatles!!

Cheers

[tweety]

That's a good method tucker! Especially for those 10 to 20k bu bins.

[MBgrower]

Doesnt take a lot of effort to clean out flat bottoms with central cleanouts.and sweeps. Id never use a vac in a 20k bin. Only use mine on small bins without undermount pits.