With the start of a new growing season soon, Virginia farmer Keith Harris knows there is at least one challenge he won’t have to worry about for 2018:  the loud, whining noise of his grain dryer running around the clock during harvest season.

Harris decided he needed a new dryer in 2017 to meet increased capacity needs. He upgraded from an axial style 16-foot portable dryer to GSI’s full-heat, continuous-flow Quiet Dryer capable of drying over 1,000 bushels per hour at 5-point moisture removal. 

The new dryer provided a 50-percent reduction in noise compared to portable grain dryers with vane axial fans.

Harris Farms, located in Heathsville, was the first farm in Virginia to install GSI’s new Quiet Dryer, which uses a commercial strength blower with fewer blades, less open design and heavier duty construction to provide a softer, more pleasing sound compared to axial fan dryers, without compromising dryer capacity or efficiency.

“My dryer is located 450 feet from my house,” noted Harris, a sixth-generation farmer who farms with his father and son. “During two months of harvest season, it runs 24 hours a day. With our old dryer, you couldn’t get away from the noise or even have a conversation nearby.  Now, I can be in my house with the door open and hardly hear anything.”

Harris noted that his neighbor has also noticed the difference. “He lives three-quarters of a mile away through some woods,” he said. “He always heard our old dryer running. With the Quiet Dryer, noise is no longer an issue.”