The Official Farming Thread...

[Likesaws]

It’s a day for fans I guess lol

Is it a regular metal bladed fan or a fancier one with fins that can move ?

Does it appear to be spinning as fast ?

Have you checked amps on startup, just after it’s up to speed and before you shut it down when it sounds dumb ?

It’s a possibility that it heats up and the bearings in the motor get loose or something and it’s drawing more juice and or not running as fast.

A good electrical tester can tell a lot here. Rule out wiring issues. I spend a few hours troubleshooting this on the dryer today. Turns out the DC side of my VFD is failing and it’s struggling to run the main fan as full speed so I slowed it to 57hz instead of 60 and it’s happy as a clam. For now. I’ve a new VFD on the way. Hopefully this one limps through the 12,000bu in the wet bin so it’s at least not sitting there heating up.

View attachment 472435

Not sure if you’re asking, but it looks like the center feed wire has a loose connection or something going on between the connections and the top of fuse. Use thermal image or a cheep infrared thermometer and look for excessive heat.

 

[jblnut]

Not sure if you’re asking, but it looks like the center feed wire has a loose connection or something going on between the connections and the top of fuse. Use thermal image or a cheep infrared thermometer and look for excessive heat.

Thank you. I wasn’t real clear on that was I

The 15hp motor is nameplated at 38a and it was drawing close to 56a on all three legs. Those are 60a sloooooow blow fuses in there and they didn’t pop. The VFD shutdown with an angry message about overcurrent and under voltage but not before melting some wiring and making a stinky mess in that disconnect.

That box has since been replaced with a 100a rated non fused box. I don’t know why the fused box was there in the first place as the VFD has more protections built in than those fuses provide. Heck I’m not even sure why there is a disconnect there lol.

Anywhooo ….. the DC side of the VFD was only putting out around 275v and should be closer to 400v and is therefore struggling to put out more than 190v AC to the motor. That’s making it cranky and it’s drawing way too many amps. So I lowered the VFD from 60hz to 57hz to spin the motor just a little slower and the volts are holding around 207 and it’s back around 34a again. New VFD will be here in a few days so it can be used for the last week or so of corn drying to make sure it’s gonna work before being idle for 11 months lol.

In other news I got up close and personal with some things on the combine we forgot to address this summer. The feeder stopped working and upon inspection I had a moment of “well crap, I knew I forgot to fix something this summer before we needed it!!”


Old hub vs new hub. Good grief I can’t believe I let that slide by the summer inspection

 

[JimBear]

Is it a regular metal bladed fan or a fancier one with fins that can move ?

Does it appear to be spinning as fast ?

Have you checked amps on startup, just after it’s up to speed and before you shut it down when it sounds dumb ?

It’s a possibility that it heats up and the bearings in the motor get loose or something and it’s drawing more juice and or not running as fast.

Standard fixed blade.

I can’t believe it’s the bearing since once shut down & immediately fired back up it works fine.

A hot motor losing juice “should “ act the same on restart if it was just turned off.

Cousin is an electrician & he is stumped by what I am describing. Hopefully it rains & we can dig deeper.

I guess over time one leg could be petering out a bit & just not cutting clear out.

It doesn’t seem to be losing rpm’s but it will have to be checked with a tach.

A small amount of drop in rpm’s will change the airflow but I would think it would be very noticeable for it to quit moving air.

 

[jakethesnake]

Fancy transfer setup

 

[jakethesnake]

Front tank has the dryer. Not finding enough corn that doesn’t need to be run through. Transferring to rear tank for storage.

 

[Likesaws]

Thank you. I wasn’t real clear on that was I

The 15hp motor is nameplated at 38a and it was drawing close to 56a on all three legs. Those are 60a sloooooow blow fuses in there and they didn’t pop. The VFD shutdown with an angry message about overcurrent and under voltage but not before melting some wiring and making a stinky mess in that disconnect.

That box has since been replaced with a 100a rated non fused box. I don’t know why the fused box was there in the first place as the VFD has more protections built in than those fuses provide. Heck I’m not even sure why there is a disconnect there lol.

Anywhooo ….. the DC side of the VFD was only putting out around 275v and should be closer to 400v and is therefore struggling to put out more than 190v AC to the motor. That’s making it cranky and it’s drawing way too many amps. So I lowered the VFD from 60hz to 57hz to spin the motor just a little slower and the volts are holding around 207 and it’s back around 34a again. New VFD will be here in a few days so it can be used for the last week or so of corn drying to make sure it’s gonna work before being idle for 11 months lol.

In other news I got up close and personal with some things on the combine we forgot to address this summer. The feeder stopped working and upon inspection I had a moment of “well crap, I knew I forgot to fix something this summer before we needed it!!”
View attachment 472440

Old hub vs new hub. Good grief I can’t believe I let that slide by the summer inspection
View attachment 472441

Disconnect should be there to protect the feeder to the VFD. ( why it was fused) Also required as a service disconnect for repairs.

 

[jakethesnake]

There’s that red one with the Deere head I know yall been looking for it

 

[jblnut]

Standard fixed blade.

I can’t believe it’s the bearing since once shut down & immediately fired back up it works fine.

A hot motor losing juice “should “ act the same on restart if it was just turned off.

Cousin is an electrician & he is stumped by what I am describing. Hopefully it rains & we can dig deeper.

I guess over time one leg could be petering out a bit & just not cutting clear out.

It doesn’t seem to be losing rpm’s but it will have to be checked with a tach.

A small amount of drop in rpm’s will change the airflow but I would think it would be very noticeable for it to quit moving air.

Is it possible the area under the floor is filled with enough fines that after a little time they all float up and plug the floor holes ?

We have a small section of the bottom sheet directly across from the fan that is removable so we can take it off and blow some stuff out. It’s unreal what blows out of the floor each year.

 

[jblnut]

Dang it !! The clean grain elevator hath sprung a leak. Looks like a previous owner made a halfarsed repair already.


A roll of tile tape made for a decent infield patch that lasted the day.


There is nothing as permanent as a temporary fix …… naw, this needs a proper repair in a few days when we finish corn. Combines gonna get shoved in the shop and lots of stuff is going to come apart.


Munching up stalks for bedding. Gonna bale around 400 acres this year if Mother Nature cooperates. A few neighbors want some as they’re gonna be short so I told them if they chop and rake what they want plus an equal amount of acres chopped and raked for the stuff I’m going to keep I’d bale them for the net wrap and diesel cost to run the baler. Not sure if it’s a fair trade but chopping stalks takes time away from other things I need to do so it saves me time.

 

[Wilhelm]

Locals are getting done with next years wheats.

 

[jakethesnake]

Dang it !! The clean grain elevator hath sprung a leak. Looks like a previous owner made a halfarsed repair already.
View attachment 472759

A roll of tile tape made for a decent infield patch that lasted the day.
View attachment 472760

There is nothing as permanent as a temporary fix …… naw, this needs a proper repair in a few days when we finish corn. Combines gonna get shoved in the shop and lots of stuff is going to come apart.
View attachment 472761

Munching up stalks for bedding. Gonna bale around 400 acres this year if Mother Nature cooperates. A few neighbors want some as they’re gonna be short so I told them if they chop and rake what they want plus an equal amount of acres chopped and raked for the stuff I’m going to keep I’d bale them for the net wrap and diesel cost to run the baler. Not sure if it’s a fair trade but chopping stalks takes time away from other things I need to do so it saves me time.
View attachment 472762

I’ve got a bent clean grain auger underneath the green one. Not too sure how one of those bends. Flighting looks like new

 

[jblnut]

The last bin to be filled is the 12k bin by the steer barn. It’s almost as full as it can be lol. We have everything else about this full as well. Gonna take the peaks off the rest of them in a few weeks and haul a few loads to town to fund some prepay inputs. Overall we’re pleased with how things yielded with our best ever crop of soybeans and a decent average on corn. A few fields averaged in the 240’s but most were around that 190 which is pretty good for our incredibly variable soils.


I trained the new guy in on the stalk chopper and let him loose for a little while and I took a nap in the buddy seat. Gotta make a few hundred acres of corn straw, haul manure and do tillage and we’re done farming for 2025. Should be a few weeks of fun if the weather cooperates.

 

[jakethesnake]

Last picture is supposed to show how clumped up this stuff gets in the tank. Nasty stuff

 

[JimBear]

After my cousin checked everything out & made some calls.

Someone sent him a chart & said that fan was losing static air flow over time because of the moisture of corn & quantity of corn in the bin.