Grain drying requires facts, not opinions
I am a retired farmer with an electrical technology education and 10 years of experience applying laws of physics before returning to the farm.
In the letter to the editor, “Opinions not the same as scientific facts,” on page 12 of the Jan 27 Western Producer, Alex von Dewitz, BSc., DVM, is very concerned about “opinions” and “ideas” becoming as legitimate as science facts. This frequently occurs in research claims and very few of us are even aware of it.
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For several decades both farmers and researchers have believed that because moisture is removed from grain in a field during the daytime, that when grain is being aeration dried in grain bins the moisture is also removed during daytime. Science and mathematics define what is naturally occurring all around us. How moisture is removed from grain is determined by correctly applying “physics.”
Only the flow of heat energy from within warm grain into cooler air flowing by the grain will result in moisture being removed from the grain. The moisture in grain can only flow in the same direction as the heat energy, which is causing it to flow.
When grain is drying in a field, if the actual grain and air temperatures in the field are observed, researchers will discover that the grain temperature is higher than the air temperature. Weather station accuracy is required.
The farm use of batch dryers was occurring more than 50 years ago. When the grain was being heated by hot air flowing by the grain, there was no indication that moisture was being removed from the grain. But when the heat was turned off and only cold air flowed by the hot grain, the entire dryer would become engulfed in fog, which is moisture being removed from the grain.
During the night, the warming of cool air entering a bin as it flows by warmer grain to the top of the bin increases the air temperature to grain temperature at the top of the bin. Warmed air can hold more moisture.
Moisture continues to be removed from bin-aeration-drying grain during the night, even if there is heavy dew on the ground. On humid nights the low outdoor air temperatures during the night drops moisture (dew) from within the air onto the ground before the fan pulls the air into the bin.
Research results by Ron Palmer also proved that moisture is only removed from grain during the night when aeration fans are “on” 24 hours a day.
Any researchers or professors claiming that bin grain drying occurs during daytime are giving us their unproven “opinions” instead of proven facts by correctly applying the laws of physics.
Fred Willis,
Saltcoats, Sask.
