Hyy­tiäi­nen’s farm

AIMING FOR BETTER EFFICIENCY, ECONOMY AND EASE OF USE

When it came time to purc­ha­se a new dryer in 2018, far­mer Arto Hyy­tiäi­nen opted for a gas oven due to its supe­rior efficiency and cost-effec­ti­ve­ness.

“Thanks to the lar­ge drying capaci­ty, it has been pos­sible to opti­mi­se the thres­hing cycles, and the lar­ge single-batch capaci­ty has resul­ted in clear time savings,” says Hyy­tiäi­nen.

Des­pi­te Ulti­ma’s remo­te moni­to­ring capa­bi­li­ties, the new dryer was built in con­nec­tion with the farm’s busi­ness cent­re and old dryers.

“The ori­gi­nal idea was to uti­li­se their drying and sto­ra­ge capaci­ty, but after the new drying faci­li­ty was built, only the sto­ra­ge capaci­ty has been nee­ded. Auto­ma­tion has made ope­ra­tion rela­ti­ve­ly easy and straight­forward,” Hyy­tiäi­nen con­ti­nues.

HYYTIÄINEN’S TIPS FOR THOSE CONSIDERING A GAS OVEN

“The gas dryer is a sig­ni­ficant invest­ment. I was surpri­sed by the robust­ness, height and labour inten­si­ty of the foun­da­tion work for the pac­ka­ge dryer. It is best to lea­ve the ins­tal­la­tion of the dryer to the experts; with their help, the job went smooth­ly,” Hyy­tiäi­nen says.

The­re are two options for acqui­ring gas equip­ment: ren­ting or purc­ha­sing. “We purc­ha­sed our own tank, as the pay­back period was suf­ficient­ly short in our case. It is a good idea to find out the ins­tal­la­tion costs for the tank, gas pipes and oven in advance, as it is qui­te a preci­se job. The gas tank does not need to be impos­sibly lar­ge, as it has an auto­ma­tic refill noti­fica­tion sys­tem.”

Hyy­tiäi­nen conclu­des with a few prac­tical tips: “Even though the oven and its tech­no­lo­gy are desig­ned for out­door use, it is advi­sable to use com­mon sen­se and, whe­re pos­sible, pro­tect them from the weat­her to avoid main­te­nance down­ti­me. Heat chan­nels should also be trea­ted with heat-insu­la­ting paint.”

TECHNICAL DATA FOR THE HYYTIÄINEN FARM

• 400 hec­ta­res of farm­land 
• Ant­ti 85MF3 vacuum dryer comple­ted in August 2018
• Volu­me 728 hl
• 1,500 kW gas fur­nace
• Domes­tic Oilon modu­lar liquid gas bur­ner
• Ulti­ma cont­rol cent­re with auto­ma­tic humi­di­ty mea­su­re­ment and remo­te cont­rol
• Opti­vol auto­ma­tion for small batc­hes
• 6.8 cubic met­re lique­fied pet­ro­leum gas tank purc­ha­sed from Kosan Gas Fin­land