Grain Cooling: A Case Study

For harvest 2010 Bob Rowe purchased a grain cooling system for one of his new purpose built grain stores at Manor Farm, Gussage St Michael. Mr. Rowe’s store consisted of two 9m x 40m bays which were to be filled to a height of 4-5m by an overhead conveyor. A single run of perforated 450mm twin wall duct was placed centrally in each bay.

The duct was reduced down to 200mm at the back wall and then a short section of 200mm pipe was run through the concrete wall to the outside of the shed. An Evans and Pearce VBW9, 2.2kw fan was used to ventilate the duct and cool the grain. The VBW9 fan is fully reversible but in line with Evans and Pearce’s advice Mr. Rowe chose to draw the hot air from the crop and exhaust it out of the fan and the building. Each run of grain ducting and fan was responsible for cooling and conditioning 850 tonnes of wheat, which Mr. Rowe feels they have done admirably.

“Crop temperatures are down to around 10°C and the wheat is flowing freely on the face” commented Bob Rowe, who is very pleased with the system’s performance so far. “You need to ensure that the ducts are installed and covered properly at the beginning, which requires some attention to detail, but after that it really is very simple to use”

The fans were run continuously for the first month, in line with Evans and Pearce’s advice. This ensures all field or drier heat has been removed and maintains the air ways through the crop. The fans were linked up to a Crop Cool differential controller to ensure optimum running conditions were achieved through October and November.

The system cost about £2.50/tonne to purchase and install and running costs have added another 25p/ tonne to this.

Please phone or visit our website to find out more on our full range of ventilation equipment.

“We always try to tailor the solution to the farm rather than push “off the shelf” systems and Manor Farm is another example of how our unique knowledge of grain ventilation systems enabled us to design and implement a bespoke system to meet the individual requirements of the site”, says Rob White of Evans and Pearce.

“We always jump at the chance to get out and about and onto farms and welcome calls from anyone needing advise and guidance in designing a system for crop conditioning and drying”.