January/February 2005 Grain Journal

The three new Delux grain dryers installed at two Wheaton Dumont Cooperative Elevator locations in 2004 received a thorough workout during the fall.

“We’ve had a tremendous amount of rain since harvest began around Oct. 1,” says General Manager Orval Kohls. “We’re still taking in corn and soybeans (early December). The fields have been so wet recently that combines have been getting stuck. The corn has been fairly wet. We took in a lot at 25% moisture, though it’s been running 18% to 20% lately.”

Prior to the 2004 harvest, the cooperative had utilized a 21-year-old dryer at its Wheaton, MN location. However, Kohl notes, that dryer had become slow by today’s standards, and parts for it were no longer available.

So in 2004, Wheaton-Dumont installed a Model DPX- 12T dryer at Wheaton and a second DPX-12T plus a DPX 127 dryer 20 miles to the northwest at La Mars, ND. Delux Mfg. Co., Kearney, NE (800-658-3240), rates these two dryers at 2,160 bph and 1,750 bph, respectively, at five points of moisture removal. (Because of the nature of this year’s harvest, Kohls prefers to cite numbers for 10 points of removal, roughly 1,300 bph and 1,000 bph, respectively.)

Kohls says his employees are particularly impressed with the dryers’ quiet operation, with blowers housed inside the grain columns, an important consideration at Wheaton’s in-town location. He estimates propane consumption at between 7 and 9 cents per bushel.

The dryers include modulating heat control and energyefficient burner design for fuel economy. Safety features include an indirect vaporizer in the plenum chamber away from the flame and easy access to clean critical components.

Installation was performed by Ross-Ko Construction, Hawley, MN.