Free heat. When it comes to drying grain, pro-
ducers love the sound of those two words.
An early winter across much of the Prairies last year spawned the need for Allan Callaway’s innovation.
Wet grain harvested in the face of falling snow was clogging up the granaries on the Callaway farm near Davidson, Sask. this March. An unused 10 x 15 metre greenhouse was warm, even during the coldest spring morning – free heat.
Callaway attached two large, flexible ducts to a three horsepower grain dryer fan mounted inside his empty greenhouse.
Diverting heat
Feeding a pair of perforated dryer tubes set in a V-shaped configuration, mounted inside the hoppers of a 13 metre grain trailer, the air is first heated in the greenhouse and then passed through the grain.
Once dried, the grain was hauled directly to the elevator.
Air temperatures inside the greenhouse can reach 25 C on cold, sunny days in winter and over 50 C in the heat of summer.
