GrainsWest Fall 2019

Tech 2019 grainswest.com 37 HOT AND DRY Jason Lenz farms in west-central Alberta near Bentley and, like many farmers, faced a wet, snowy harvest in 2016. He didn’t own a grain dryer and custom options were limited. So, he thought outside the box and rented a flameless heater. Most commonly used to heat large buildings on construction sites, flameless heaters hook directly to grain bins and pipe air in at the desired temperature. Despite not being a traditional agricultural product, Lenz saw the machine’s utility and knew it could be used on his farm. “What makes this thing really work is that it’s zero per cent humidity,” he said. “That’s the hard part to believe.” Using diesel power, the enclosed, single-axle tow-behind unit agitates hydraulic oil in a flameless, sparkless, low- pressure environment. The oil is cooled and circulated, not burned, providing a clean, pollution-free discharge to the target environment, according to Darcy Fraser, power and leasing manager of Nexsource in Sylvan Lake. “It works the same as a normal grain dryer with fans blowing hot air, but it’s a drier heat,” he said. “Farmers were looking for alternatives to the standard grain dryer. We tried the flameless heater on quite a few farms. They were quite happy with how it was drying.” Because of the unit’s portable nature, Lenz was able to drive it around his yard to any bin site and connect to two 16-inch ports that hook to large collapsible tubes. As the engine revs, the temperature can increase to more than 80 C. Bins need to have a hopper bottom or a side-mount fan to be compatible. As the unit pulls in outside air, exhaust exits through a top pipe. Lenz believes this method is superior to natural air drying, where outside humidity in his area is sometimes as high as 60 per cent. He found his cereals dried quicker than he predicted, taking 5,000 bushels of wheat at 17 per cent down to 14.5 in 30 hours. He also discovered he was moving less grain around. His overall bill to rent the unit for a month was $5,250 and it was an easy calculation once he looked at what he was drying. “On a 5,000-bushel bin of malt, all you have to do is dry one bin to keep it at malt quality to pay for that unit,” he said. He added the diesel is exempt from carbon taxation, which removes another cost of production on a unit he won’t necessarily need every year. “There are more and more guys using them all the time. For guys who don’t have an actual grain dryer setup, it’s a very viable option and cost efficient.” Unlike typical grain drying units, a flameless heater doesn’t require a generator set to power it and is generally a considerably smaller financial investment. It may cost a farmer between $5,000 to $10,000 per month to run a flameless heater, whereas grain dryers are permanent structures that often start at $250,000. A flameless heater setup, depending on BTU, may range from $75,000 to $110,000, Fraser noted. He added a heater would also have a healthy lifespan since it’s only used a few months out of each year. “With proper maintenance and care for the units, they should last a minimum of one to 15 years,” he said. Despite its typical use in the construction industry, flameless heaters have found homes on some Prairie farms. They are being used as a viable alternative to a stationary grain dryer.