5 Ways To Spot a Mobile Grain Drier Bluffer

Are you talking to the right people?

Buying a new grain drier is a big, long-term investment. Poor advice is costly when it results in buying the wrong kit for the wrong reasons. Drier evaluation isn’t something you do everyday and getting to the bottom of what’s what can be tricky.

We strive to provide the best advice based on our years of technical and practical experience. Here are 5 ways of spotting a mobile grain drier bluffer.

1. “The bigger the better!”

Not true. For example, a bigger fan and burner does not equal a faster drier, it does equal higher running costs. Getting stuck into the datasheets comparing numbers is easy to do but can be misleading. It is important to consider the machine’s performance as a whole and not just individual components in isolation.

2. “This drier will do (insert number here) tonnes per hour”

Drying speed depends on well over twenty variables including crop type, moisture content and ripeness. Hard and fast figures just aren’t possible so beware estimates presented as facts. Performance figures are very open to manipulation and optimistic exaggeration!

3. “Oil burners will taint crops”

They can do if they are not setup correctly. Setting them up correctly is really easy and we train all our operators how to do it too. However, being oil fired (diesel or kerosene) will generally save you a bundle of money over LPG.

4. “PLCs and touchscreens are more advanced”

The main benefit of control panels with PLCs and touchscreens is that they are cheaper to manufacture. This type of electronic equipment doesn’t particularly like moisture, dust or vibration. Maintaining it over the 20 year service life requires a lot of specialist equipment and knowledge. Not to mention my touchscreen phone never seems to last very long in the yard before it is being sent back…again.

5. “They are all made in the same factory anyway”

No they aren’t, I have been there. Only Seedarmanufacture Seedargrain driers and they don’t make driers for anyone else.