What is everyone's opinion on installing heating units on air dry bins ??

Question

We have four 48' diameter air dry bins. Each bin is 60,000 bushels and have two 10hp. centrifigal fans on them. We are considering adding heating units to help with wetter grains/ speed up the process some what. Do we install them on both fans per bin or can we get by with one?? Will this even be cost effective or is it a waste of time??? (Approximate cost is $6000/bin) What is everyone's experiance ??? Thanks

Answer

I have multiple air dry bins. One of which is a 48’ Dina bin. We have a weather station, plenum sensors, dual temp moisture cables, 5 in the 48’. 3 high speed 30Hp Kego fans. Enough Hp to push air thru the entire column of grain. If you look at the grain as a column of water vapor and how much CFMs are need to push dry warm air, pressure creates heat and that much Hp creates pressure, thru the grain. Heat will work but not likely without a stirator. He would end up with hot spots and ultra dry corn. Your already 12k into appropriate cost of 25-30k to have a full air dry system. I do not sell these systems, and don’t quote them. I do have five years experience with them and love the system.

Answer

We have 48’ diameter 50,000 bu bins.  We only have single phase power, so we went with two 15 horse (max for single phase) axial fans per bin with super low temp burners on each fan.  These burners basically lower the air humidity to the level I choose so drying can still take place in less than ideal conditions.  We also have temp and moisture cables and the system automatically turns fans and burners on and off.  This system will only dry about 2/3 of the way through the bin, depending on how wet the corn is going in.  We really need 3 phase power with 25+ horse centrifugal fans with the super low temp burners on each fan to dry most efficiently.  Lack of 3 phase is our bottleneck.  Depending on grain moisture going in, 10 horse fans, even with burners, probably won’t get the job done.  Just not enough ***.

Answer

I believe you need 1 cfm/bu to add heat efficiently and even at half full and 2 - 10 hp fans you wouldn't have that much airflow. For an expert opinion, you might try contacting the stepsgms.com company and ask the owner (***) about the cfm. His product might be useful because anytime the fan is on and the relative humidity is too high (70-75%) you are adding moisture that has to be removed again. Exactly why you need the heat or a way to turn the fans off. Also, check out this extension publication from the University of Arkansas: https://www.uaex.edu/farm-ranch/crops-commercial-horticulture/Grain_drying_and_storage/Docs/FSA%201075%20Selection%20Performance%20and%20Maintenance%20of%20Grain%20Bin%20Fans.pdf

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What is everyone's opinion on installing heating units on air dry bins ??

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