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Grain dryer id from pic


acem

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Farm Fans AB8B I believe 

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It looks like the same one my dad had, was 80 bu. I think. He had a 1700bu overhead bin feeding the dryer, set up to run continuously. Worked out good enough for dad’s farm, usually stayed ahead of the combine filling the wet holding bin. Then ran into the night until the holding bin was empty.

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Dad had the AB120, also used about a 1500 bushel holding bin. Taking 18% corn down to 15%, running on auto around the clock was just about a perfect match to his 815 running daylight hours. When he went to the 1460, he had to take a long break in the afternoon to let the dryer catch up.

If you plan to bid on this one, better take a drive over to look at it first, make sure the bottom isn't rusted out and warped. We had to hold the clean-out strip up with a few bottle jacks.

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Ace I think you can get away with less drying capacity where you live than I can in my climate. Just going by what people are saying about drying something in warmer weather than colder weather 

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Farm Fans AB 8(B?) sounds right. Yes about 125 bu. My father bought the floor model at the 1974 PA Farm Show. Had a sticker on the panel door; 25 th Anniversary of FFs.
 

Originally bought it for drying small grains but later found out the temperature could not be set low enough. My recollection is that when he talked with someone at Farm Fans, they said they could engineer a smaller burner orifice for him.

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I believe  its an AB80. I run a AB120 which has 6 sections. That one has 4 sections so its not as long as mine. The AB means automatic batch, meaning it automatically loads a batch,drys, cools(if you want it to), dumps,then goes through the cycle again as long as there is corn in the wet bin. We can pick around 3000+ bushel a day of 25% moisture corn and the dryer will be empty the next morning and ready for another day. Had ours since 1980. I think the model number corresponds with how many bushel it holds for each batch, as in ab120 holds 120 bu.

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It could be a natural gas or a propane. Kind of costly to convert from one to the other, but well worth it if going to natural gas. Just could be another cost you didn't consider if it not the way you need it. Also single phase or 3 phase power

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Farm Fans built decent stuff as far as I know but they have been gone for a good while. There is pretty good support around here because there are so many still in use. Don’t know if you would have any support in your area. Most parts are off the shelf. Motors, motor starters, bearings, pulleys, etc are all common. The batch timer , ignition board and flame sensor are going to be harder to get but I think someone is making them or something to retrofit. GSI may have bought them??

 I think dugit has it correct- Auto batch 80 bu. Capacity depends upon so many variables but it would be rather limited by today’s standards. Good luck. 

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7 minutes ago, 12_Guy said:

Farm Fans built decent stuff as far as I know but they have been gone for a good while. There is pretty good support around here because there are so many still in use. Don’t know if you would have any support in your area. Most parts are off the shelf. Motors, motor starters, bearings, pulleys, etc are all common. The batch timer , ignition board and flame sensor are going to be harder to get but I think someone is making them or something to retrofit. GSI may have bought them??

 I think dugit has it correct- Auto batch 80 bu. Capacity depends upon so many variables but it would be rather limited by today’s standards. Good luck. 

GSI owns them actually. They at one point were still building them and GSI dryers both. I Assume they were the same with different badges

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Dad’s was a Spirit of ‘76 model, the control box door was painted white with a commemorative sticker on it. A neighbor bought it at dad’s retirement auction and it burned up a few years later. 

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This was our old AB120 we ran for comparison. Ran it from 2014 thru 2021 harvest. Ours had the updated timers. The originals are NLA. There are a few other parts in the control box that are NLA but can be worked around to some exitent

 

20181024_142458.jpg

20171010_162042.jpg

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That's a big propane tank besides your dryer!

I'm interested in it. I normally dry in the bins but sometimes when the moisture is high it would be handy to knock it down to 16-18% before putting it in the bin. 

1500 bushels is a pretty good day for me cutting rice. It's a slow process. Especially since all my equipment and help is getting old...

This appears to be sitting on the ground at the auction. Is there a door or some access to the inside where I can see the bottom?

I don't know where this came from. It's at a local consignment auction and I know all the local crop farmers...

Thx-Ace 

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4 hours ago, acem said:

That's a big propane tank besides your dryer!

I'm interested in it. I normally dry in the bins but sometimes when the moisture is high it would be handy to knock it down to 16-18% before putting it in the bin. 

1500 bushels is a pretty good day for me cutting rice. It's a slow process. Especially since all my equipment and help is getting old...

This appears to be sitting on the ground at the auction. Is there a door or some access to the inside where I can see the bottom?

I don't know where this came from. It's at a local consignment auction and I know all the local crop farmers...

Thx-Ace 

Laugh at this then. There is another propane tank the same size next to the tank you see in the picture. Its just out of the picture. They are 1000 gallon tanks. So 2 of those.

If 1500 is what you are pulling off then this type of dryer will definitely work for you. We were pushing roughly 3500 bushel a day of roughly high teens low 20s corn .

If interested. On my phone i still have pictures of when I sold our old one like yours last year. I could post them and point out different things to get you a idea what you are looking for. 

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Just now, Reichow7120 said:

Laugh at this then. If you look closely at the second picture. There is 2 propane tanks There is another propane tank the same size next to the tank you see in the picture. They are 1000 gallon tanks. So 2 of those.

If 1500 is what you are pulling off then this type of dryer will definitely work for you. We were pushing roughly 3500 bushel a day of roughly high teens low 20s corn .

If interested. On my phone i still have pictures of when I sold our old one like yours last year. I could post them and point out different things to get you a idea what you are looking for. 

 

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Didn't mean to double post sorry. 

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4 hours ago, Reichow7120 said:

Laugh at this then. There is another propane tank the same size next to the tank you see in the picture. Its just out of the picture. They are 1000 gallon tanks. So 2 of those.

If 1500 is what you are pulling off then this type of dryer will definitely work for you. We were pushing roughly 3500 bushel a day of roughly high teens low 20s corn .

If interested. On my phone i still have pictures of when I sold our old one like yours last year. I could post them and point out different things to get you a idea what you are looking for. 

How much propane do you use?

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1 hour ago, acem said:

How much propane do you use?

Lots and more.  LOL

But seriously any dryer will go through the gas.  Friend of mine has a much larger continuous flow dryer. In wet corn about 1000 gallon per day. That’s probably 15000 bushels per day     

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