Bulk tipper T French & Son, based in Cumnock, Scotland, began to offer crop storage when they were approached by several grain merchants.
“The large part of our work is deliveries and collections within the agricultural sector. Our farming customers asked about crop storage, and as we had the space within our yard, we decided to build a large grain store to accommodate their storage requirements. Ensuring that our customers’ products remain in optimum condition while stored at our facility was an important consideration for this project”, explained Liz-Ann McMenemy, Director of T French & Son Ltd.
The new storage facility measures 78mx60mx9m, with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes. Given the size, an efficient cooling system was required to rapidly reduce grain temperatures, and a modular approach was needed to cope with the movable concrete walls.
“The FloorVent appealed to us as it can be quickly installed or removed depending on what type of products we had, and the Barn Owl Wireless system would handle both the remote and on-site monitoring and automatic control of cooling fans”, added Ms McMenemy.
The FloorVent system utilises the same high airflow, perforated tubing as the company’s Pile-Dry Pedestals but uses underfloor ducts. Fans are placed on the outside of the building to vent hot air to the exterior and minimise the risk of warm air being drawn back into the grain.
Barn Owl Wireless allows store managers to monitor crop store temperatures from anywhere in the world. Using wireless crop temperature sensors, the data is transmitted to the web portal, meaning users can check temperatures, humidity and even CO2 readings for all their stores.
T French & Son Ltd opted for 48 FloorVents, 48 Pile-Dry Fans and 28 Barn Owl Wireless sensors to cater to the changing store layout. The fans are connected to the Barn Owl system and controlled automatically. In this mode, the system uses a choice of control programmes and zonal cooling to only turn fans on when it is efficient to do so.
“It’s hard to find a cooling system that rivals FloorVent. It offers a balance of versatility, installation cost, and performance that other systems struggle to match,” said Joel Capper, managing director for Martin Lishman Ltd.
“We were thrilled when T French & Son approached us for a FloorVent system, and we were even more excited when they opted for a Barn Owl Wireless System to accompany it. Individually, the products work very well, but together they create a trouble-free storage solution that can quickly drive down grain temperatures while using less energy. Plus, with rising electricity prices, the energy cost savings will become even more apparent.”
“The wireless crop sensors have been very reliable, and the online portal is easy to operate. Joel from Martin Lishman was very helpful during the installation, speaking to both us during the planning stage and the electricians during the installation stage, which made the process incredibly smooth,” concluded Ms McMenemy.
For more information go to www.martinlishman.com