Another Pelco Boiler

[kcl1s]

Hi,
Heres a little info on our Pelco model 2520 boiler setup. We found the Pelco distributor website after seeing one at a tradeshow. The distributor put us in contact with forum member 'burnsalot'. He invited us to visit his Turkey operation to see a Pelco in operation. He was most helpful and answered all our questions. We left his farm sold on the Pelco. We are using the boiler to heat a one acre greenhouse range. This is our first season using the system. We estimate that the boiler will supply 75% of our total heat load with the existing propane unit heaters picking up the rest. The total cost of the new heating system was $75,000. In the past the greenhouse used on average 30,000 gallons of propane in a season. We estimated a $21,000 yearly fuel savings with $2.75 corn and a ROI of 3.5 years. With corn at $4.00 the savings will drop to $14,000 and a ROI of 5.3 years.



The Grain bin will hold about 900 bu. We pickup about 650 bu at a time at the local elevator. It looks like we will need loads every 10 - 14 days in the cold weather. Our first load was corn but after talking with burnsalot we decided to get some barley to try and it is burning fine. Seems to produce about the same heat although their is more ash. At $1.50 /bu savings we will deal with the ash. I just checked with the elevator we have been using and they have sold all their barley so we will have to check with other elevators in the area. We will also be investigating more storage for the farm- the local farmers tell us they are lucky to get $1.75 /bu for their barley at harvest time.



Greenhouses make great solar collectors and usually need to be vented when the sun is shining even in cold weather. We shut the Pelco down on sunny mornings and start it up again a little before sunset. Removing the clinker and starting the fire takes about 10 minutes. We start the boiler on low feed (1%) and go back an hour later and set the feed rate for the night. We have been using rates between 30% and 65%. We tried using higher rates on a few cold nights but we were getting smoke and no increase in heat output.



Heat distribution is by way of 8 - 300,000 btu heat exchangers (boxes with orange pipes in photo above). The pelco 2520 is rated at 1.5 million btu so we only run 6 of the 8 heat exchangers at a time depending on where we have plants. Water is circulated through the system any time the boiler is running. Greenhouse temperature is controlled by switching the heat exchanger fans on and off. Our environmental controls have 3 stages of heat. The heat exchanger fans are controlled by stage 1 and the propane heaters will come on as stages 2 and 3 if the boiler can't supply enough heat. If the Pelco should shut down for any reason the propane will take over automatically.



The heat distribution system was designed by Rick Jones of St. Joseph Heating Solutions http://stjosephky.com/index.htm. The boiler system has a Primary loop with 2 pumps located under the boiler to maintain a 200 gpm circulation thru the boiler. The pumps in the photo above are in the distribution loop and supply the head needed to push the water thru the heat exchangers. The distribution headers are 2" and 3" CPVC and are rated for the 180 deg water temps. The pipe is expensive but installation went quick with just cut and glue joints.

Keith

[fwbroke]

Awesome info and pics ...
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�Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.� MT

[gambler]

That looks like one heck of a heating unit!!
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Former corn burner
Burn on!!

[burnsalot]

Thanks for the photos. Your system makes mine look small.
Very nice job on the install.
Is the barley still working OK?
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Pelco 1520

[kcl1s]

Thank everyone for the kind words,

burnsalot- barley is still working great. We have not had a really cold night yet (low of about 28 deg.). We are getting a little less than a full wheelbarrow of ash a day with the barley as apposed to half a wheelbarrow with corn. At first we were trying to find a way to remove the ash with a front end loader but have found we can scoop the ash into the wheelbarrow and dump it in 2 or 3 minutes. That's quicker than I could get the tractor out of the shed.

burnsalot- Do you get your grain from on farm storage or from an elevator. With our bin and truck size we have to get down to 250 bu before we can get a load. In cold weather that may give us less than a 4 day window to get the load. The elevators around here are pretty independent and only load certain grain on certain days of their choosing. I think that may end up being a problem for us. Another reason we may be looking at larger storage for the farm- what do you think?

Keith
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Pelco 2520 -3rd year- burning barley

[burnsalot]

Yes we have a 10,000 bushel bin on the farm and I think we are going to add more space.
On farm storage is very nice to have. It is a matter of how much money you want to spend and will it pay back over time.
You might want to look at getting your own truck. You could store grain on the truck and shop around for grain that is a little farther out from your farm.
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Pelco 1520

[kcl1s]

Burnsalot- Yeah we're already in the trucking business. We have a tractor and 53' box trailer to ship our plants to the city. A while back my brother (our truck driver) had bought a 32' dump trailer and had wet lines put on the tractor to do some side hauling so we were all set there. We can haul 650-680 bu on the trailer.

We think we have found another source for barley at an elevator about 5 miles farther away than the first one we were using so we will see how that works out.

After the first of the year I am going to take a crash course in grain storage. There is some info on the web but I think I am going to have to do a lot of the research the old fashion way (phone and face to face). Since we don't grow any grain we have a lot of things to work out.
-find a farmer that will sell direct to us (done)
-find a friendly scale operator to weigh the truck empty and loaded each trip
-put money out to buy grain almost a year before we use it
-learn about how to care for stored grain
-See if the payback time on the bin makes it worth the effort

Thanks for the reply
Keith
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Pelco 2520 -3rd year- burning barley

[Ahshucks]

That is a beautiful setup! Perhaps the dealers of storage tanks can be of some help in the setup and instruction of caring for your grain. If it is this year's grain, you may need blowers to keep the grain cool and stop it from heating.
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Profit/Turnaround Expert: http://webpages.charter.net/rennhack1/index.html

[vacornfarmer]

Great setup there kcl1s

p.s. I'm burnsalot's "fuel man". He has it way too easy.
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-JR
LDJ 165K boiler

[kcl1s]

Ahshucks- I figure the grain bin salesmen would be my first stop. Not much luck contacting them during the holidays. Maybe after the first of the year.

vacornfarmer- "burnsalot has it way too easy" ... I guess that's why he can spend so much time on the forum

Keith
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Pelco 2520 -3rd year- burning barley

[tallcorn]

Keith, what do you raise in the greenhouses and what county are you in?
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Countryside 3500P (pedestal version) used 6 yrs, 24/7 during days requiring heat. All original motors. Burns moldy corn, and pellets equally well. Burn it if you got it.

[vacornfarmer]

[kcl1s]

Tallcorn- We grow bedding plants (marigolds, petunias, impatiens, begonias, pansies, etc.) in 4" and 6" pots. Right now we have a half acre of spring pansies and will fill the other half in Feb.

We belong to a grower network of about 35 greenhouses. We all grow for a company that supplies all the Home Depots in the DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia market area. Its a pretty nice setup. The company 'Bell Nursery' does all the potting of the plugs (baby plants) and ships them to us. Basically we babysit the plants for 8 to 12 weeks and then ship the finished plants back to the company and they distribute the plants to the Home Depot stores. We will grow about 45,000 flats of plants in a season. Best part is we start filling the houses in Dec and are one by the first of July then get 6 months off.

We are located in Caroline co. MD right in the middle of the peninsula. It used to be a pretty rural area but lately it is looking more like the suburbs around here.

Probably a lot more info than you wanted

Thanks
Keith
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Pelco 2520 -3rd year- burning barley

[kcl1s]

vacornfarmer- Is that cell antennas? I know of one local landowner that is getting $1000 per month for life for letting Verizon put a tower in his back field. The last few that have gone up around here they have tried to disguise as trees.
Now that looks REAL..... right!





Keith
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Pelco 2520 -3rd year- burning barley

[fwbroke]

I understand this is how tyson deals with it's chickens. The birth 'em but hand them off for someone to grow them to 5# and then takes them back and splits them into parts.

great info thanks for sharing. Which part of the weather is the most difficult to deal with, no sun, real cold, too much rain?