Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Grain vacuum.... Not so much

Not everything works out according to plan on a farm...  Especially when inventing new things on budget.  This time (yes...  I say  "this time"  because there have been so many times) I am referring to the new grain vacuum we are trying to build.

So...  The story.  We need an easy way to use the grain resting on our new grain bins.  Buying a new piece of equipment is not possible right now... So we are improvising...  Or trying to.  We are trying to build grain vacuum.  In theory it will allow a single person to suck grain out of the bin into plastic trash cans for use. 

In theory

Test number one at the farm went very well...  With only a few adjustments  we had it filing buckets with oats quite well.  We decided to make a few changes and try it on the real grain at the grain bins. 

That was today....   Didnt go so well. 

The longer pipes necessary to reach into the bin created more air resistance,  and worse ...  The wheat is heavy!  Too much moisture.  In fact...  The bins are very humid when we opened them and grain is clumping together .  We tried modifications to get more airflow,  more suction,  but after a couple hours....  Gave in.

Plan B: buckets ...  When all else fails use buckets. 

So we managed to bring back a thousand  pounds of grain.  The pigs are very happy tonight!  But the vacuum...  Needs more thought....

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