If anyone has ever expressed doubts as to the outstanding build quality, robustness, reliability and return on investment of Svegma’s industry leading continuous flow driers, they should perhaps reconsider. BDC Systems Ltd supplied two new Svegma driers for Weald Granary, to replace those installed 35 and 34 years ago respectively, for last year’s harvest.
“There is no question that our old Svegma driers had served us well,” said John Smith, Weald Granary’s managing director. “Located outside of our grain store they had been exposed to the elements for over 30 years and had many hundreds of thousands of tons of grain and maize go through them. It was no surprise that they reached the end of their lives!”
On reaching the decision to replace the Svegma driers, Smith looked at alternatives from a renewable and alternative fuels perspective.
“We have a very compact site so renewable energy was not an option because of the storage space and labour required,” explained Mr Smith. “We wanted a drier that we could switch on, deliver instant heat and which we could just walk away and leave to get on with its job.”
Working closely with the team at BDC Systems, Mr Smith decided to replace Svegma with Svegma as the design and its track record of reliability and durability was certainly proven.
The main bodies of the Svegma driers (1 x 6m, 61tph and 1 x 3m 30tph) were replaced like for like and the burners upgraded as the originals were obsolete.
The existing dischargers on each of the old driers were still in good condition and did not need to be replaced – further evidence of the Svegma’s excellent build quality and durability.
Not everything above the discharge sections needed to be replaced, some parts had life left in them, but due to the labour involved with removing and refitting the handling equipment, it made economic sense to replace everything in one go.
The drier-filling conveyors, gantries, supporting steelwork, access platforms and ladders to interconnecting silos were taken off and then put back in place. Both driers previously had turboclean fans and a fresh set of galvanised units were installed with the new drier bodies.
The proven design meant that the main body dimensions were identical and made changing components of the drier relatively straightforward. In addition, it was possible to reuse all of the handling equipment’s brackets.
“The new Svegma driers were installed just in time for harvest ’22 which turned out to be one of our driest and hottest so we only ended up drying 500t of wheat. But the driers had their baptism of fire in October when we needed to dry 1,500t of wet maize which came in at 30%,” continued Mr Smith. “As usual they did their job and did it well!
“The BDC team who worked on this project will most probably be, like me, well into our retirement by the time the new Svegma driers need replacing.”
