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Post by Oatking on Jul 12, 2023 18:25:38 GMT -6
Do any of you guys have info on which size diesel generator is needed for a gsi grain dryer. Hoping a single phase will work . Looking at this option because , to bring in three phase onto the farm yard was over a hundred thousand.
If anybody has done this could you tell us the pros and cons and what you did right or anything you would try different.
I have plenty of hoppers for wet and dry set up , I just need to get power and a propane tank set up for the drier.
I don’t have natural gas close by.
Any help would be appreciated .
I also like the fact the generator could be used in an emergency situation for the house.
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Post by garyfunk on Jul 12, 2023 18:46:55 GMT -6
Our gsi 1116 is single phase.
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Post by meskie on Jul 12, 2023 20:13:16 GMT -6
I can sell you a 480V 3 phase genset that is set up as single phase right now. 180KVA hooked to a 3306 cat in a shack. That is if our electrician makes it here to trench power to our one row of bins. It ran 4 10hp and 1 15hp fans without any trouble.
Lots of new dryers come with a phase converter factory installed. So the dryer can run the 3 phase motors with single phase service.
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Post by victory on Jul 12, 2023 22:23:30 GMT -6
I'm guessing the genset can only produce either 3 phase or single phase at one time. How much work is it to change over?
I am currently running rotary phase convertors.
Are you willing to post a price for the genset meskie? And a picture? How many hours are on it?
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Post by meskie on Jul 12, 2023 23:00:06 GMT -6
The guy we bought it from had it supposedly wired it for both 3 phase plugs and single phase. It was wired wrong so we just converted it back to single and were going to get somebody out to get it working on 3 phase and single as you can run more amps like that. To switch you just need to change a few wires around. It has 20,000ish hours on it. Runs perfect. I will have to see what my brother was thinking for a price on it. I can grab a few pictures tomorrow of it.
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Post by kenmb on Jul 13, 2023 7:11:10 GMT -6
1hp=1kva will get you close. Plus the generator should be double the size of the biggest motor you need to start.
5 motors at 10 hp each a guy will find a 75 kva generator will be a good size but one 50hp motor needs around 100kva generator to start that motor.
If running a 3 phase genset you will always have single phase, you just connect to two legs instead of 3. A 480v genset would use a three phase 480v to 120/208 transformer to step down and then feed the 120v loads off that by connecting line to neutral or run single phase 208 to some 230v motors by connecting line to line. Or you can connect a single phase transformer to two legs of the 480v output and step down from 480 to 120v.
Lots of details to get into if specifics are known but generalizations like these are a good starting point.
So for that dryer you need to figure out how much hp of motors will run at a given time. Then convert that hp to kva and will have a good idea how big of genset is needed.
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Post by meskie on Jul 13, 2023 14:02:03 GMT -6
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Post by serffarmer on Jul 16, 2023 22:14:13 GMT -6
What size of dryer are u getting oat king? The amount of power needed will depend on how big your going.
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Post by Oatking on Jul 17, 2023 6:45:40 GMT -6
What size of dryer are u getting oat king? The amount of power needed will depend on how big you’re going. 1116 gsi . I have a 600 amp service to the farm. I have to plan with the electrician how to set this up . I got a quote for three phase and it was almost a 100 thousand . 600 amps cost me 27000 . However not done all the service work. Out of the 27 hydros portion was 10 grand and they subsidize it if you use a dictated amount of power . My cost was like 900 bucks from the 10000 total . Pretty fair program from mb hydro . This dryer set up is all new to me and a little over whelming to start . It’s tough to try and control your total cost but get one big enough you will be happy with in a years time. I have no choice but to use propane. Our natural gas line is a mile away from the farm but our r m of Morris and hydro has no reason to extend it for some time. I know my neighbours line a few years ago cost 80 grand for a bit more than a mile hook up. I can buy a lot of propane for 80 k! If I had a boy who wanted to farm maybe then! Just curious , if a guy every sold his farm, how much would a gas hook up be worth?? Payback is everything ! |
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Post by garyfunk on Jul 17, 2023 6:55:01 GMT -6
Our 1116 is hooked up to 400 amp service. Have a bunch of aeration fans in that yard as well.
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Post by kevlar on Jul 17, 2023 7:14:19 GMT -6
Are you sure on that $80,000 for one mile? Seems high. Colony here put a line in that must have been at least 15 miles, don’t remember the price but it was a fairly extensive project. If your yard is set up that if you sold and someone was wanting a farm yard, I would think you would recapture most of the cost to put it in. That is unless the “greenies “ go nuts and any fuel that burns gets banned. Not having to deal with keeping propane tanks full would be nice.
There’s also phase converters that you could consider, we’re in the process of switching our old dryer to electric ( been several years now, downside of hiring friends 😂lol) and he’s going to see if going that route would be better. Kenmb could likely help a lot more there than I could.
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Post by victory on Jul 17, 2023 7:35:20 GMT -6
I have rotary phase converters and they have worked well, but I think it would have been smarter to go with a diesel generator. It didn't cost me much to get an underground power line trenched in 27 years ago, but there have been substantial electrical bills a lot of months that would have paid for a generator many times over. I have done a fair bit of custom drying over the years. Not so much anymore. A lot of guys are getting their own now.
In Alberta the prices seem about the same to get a gas line trenched in. The cost is far above what it actually costs to put the gas line in, even if the government did it! It seems that they don't want more dryers on the line. I think this may be because they will then be forced to upgrade more of the mainlines to keep up with increased demand. A few years ago a neighbor of mine was quoted $35,000 to get a gas line trenched to his yard. The mainline was already crossing the quarter he was setting the dryer up on. The mainline was not more than 300 yards away on flat, open land. No trees. Just doesn't make sense!
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Post by kenmb on Jul 17, 2023 9:08:29 GMT -6
I have heard a few different scenarios over the years, one was a guy local asked about getting power or gas brought in (don't remember which) and got a price of around $40,000 so said too much. A few months later the utility said they will do it for $5000. This is probably 15 years ago and I suspect the thinking was that if they get a guy hooked up then the utility will make it up on the energy sales vs if no connection. This sounds a lot like what Oatking had occur.
Now, as noted, the infrastructure is getting loaded up so perhaps such deals are less likely to occur now.
Running a generator makes sense in many cases. They are another item that breaks down, needs maintenance, has quirks and there is no happier day on a job when a guy can switch off the generators and get back to utility power, but generators have their place. Capture the waste heat off the rad and maybe exhaust to gain some efficiency.
Worked with our local golf course this winter who had bought a rotary Phase converter to run a 20hp pump off single phase line, the vfd made a lot more sense to me so they went that route - $2700 for a vfd and that also does motor overload protection and start/stop switching so you get a lot of stuff Iin that one black box.
A guy needs to do his due diligence. Maybe 600 A is more than enough. Don't know. I have seen many posts where guys run 200 or 400A to their new shop because they got money to blow. They total up the stick welder, MIG welder, plasma torch, air compressor, lights, press, and what ever other electric device is under the roof then assume that two guys can use every single piece of equipment at the same instant, then double it again. And now you have a 400A shop service. If I did that at my job I would be laughed off the site.
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Post by serffarmer on Jul 17, 2023 12:36:41 GMT -6
I have that same dryer. When we first set it up all we had at bin yard was a 200 amp service single phase. We were told we would be able to run a few fans while dryer is running by the sales guy but really just plan on the dryer using 200 amps. If somebody cranked on a fan at same time as a dryer auger kicked on it was tripping breakers. Had a few fans going and forgot to shut them off one time and cranked on dryer and blew up something in the transformer at the main pole. That got old fast so have an 800 amp service in now. We are on propane also. Sask energy wanted 300 grand to go a mile 15 or so years ago. The main line was maxed out so that’s why it was so much or so they said. Made it a pretty easy decision to stay with propane unfortunately. Just need to tell your electrician how many things u need to run at the same time as dryer and he will be able to tell u what u need for power pretty easily.
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