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Thumb of Michigan | I always like to follow then advice a friend of mine gave me one time. He had been in charge of drying corn at a couple of different facilities. He had to keep corn in condition year around, so had a little different outlook than I did. Anyway, here goes:
1. DO not turn the fan on when the first kernal hits the floor in the storage bin. DO everything you can to have the fan going before the second kernal hits the floor, though.
2. DO NOT turn the fans off too early. If he had a bin full on Nov 1, for example, he'd run the fan until Thanksgiving. Turn them off on Turkey Day, no need to listen to them. Turn them back on the next day. Run them until Chrtistmas. Turn them off Christmas eve. He was always afraid of bothering Santa's reindeer. Turn the fans back on on Dec 26. Run them until New Years eve. Turn them off, who wants to listen to the fans with a hang over? After that, he would run the fans once a week based on the weather. Always for at least a couple of hours, sometimes more. If he was running the fans from the bottom up, watch the roof of the bin. If the snow melts off when running the fans, you have a problem. If you're running the fans from the top down, thats a good time to "sniff them" without having to crawl up the ladder.
3. He (and I) both liked to move some corn around a week or so after harvest is done. Move it right back into the same bin if you have to. Move it to town is better.
4. Neither of us ever had heat tapes. They work great as long as someone remembers to read them. Something we've liked to do instead is to get a static pressure reading right after the bin is filled. Take a reading once every week after until the bin is emptied. , document any trend. If the static pressure is climbing (upward trend) on your weekly checks , you have a problem. I never tried it, but thought using static pressure might be a way to tell when to turn them off as well. Get a reading when you turn the fans on, I guess you might be able to shut them off when the static pressure quits dropping. Just a guess.
Edited by pat-michigan 4/16/2009 13:06
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keeping corn in good condition
