Olav Anderson’s Homemade, Wood-Fired Corn Dryer

By Lois Ohison
Published on September 1, 1983
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The firebox, made from an old gas tank, is connected to the grain bin with welded sheet metal.
The firebox, made from an old gas tank, is connected to the grain bin with welded sheet metal.
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Kernels being dried.
Kernels being dried.
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Steel fencing is used for support.
Steel fencing is used for support.
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Inventor Olav Anderson alongside his homemade corn dryer.
Inventor Olav Anderson alongside his homemade corn dryer.
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The unit that houses the electric blower.
The unit that houses the electric blower.
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The draft protrudes from the front door.
The draft protrudes from the front door.

A corn dryer is standard equipment on most Midwestern farms, and especially in the state of Minnesota. After all, the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” is famous for its moisture-laden produce, and for its early cold rains and unexpected snow flurries, which make harvesting the crop at the earliest possible date a top priority for Minnesota growers.

Well, Olav Anderson’s farm is no exception to the rule. In fact, the at-harvest moisture content of the corn he raises on his 160 acres near Westbrook, Minnesota often runs as high as 25%! And, since grain buyers won’t touch his produce until it’s been dried down to a moisture content of at most 15% (otherwise, the kernels would spoil rapidly in storage), that Corn Belt farmer knows he must run his crop through a dryer.

However, whereas many folks would be likely to spend $3,000 or more to get a ready-made unit that guzzles costly propane, Mr. Anderson built his own grain dryer from scratch. [EDITOR’S NOTE: The farm equipment source we checked quoted us a price of $9,500 for a 525-bushel-capacity corn dryer, the smallest it had available!] Olav’s version not only cost just $65 to make, but also runs on dead wood gleaned off his land. And although he wouldn’t mind sharing his plans with MOTHER’s readers, Olav says he never really had any. He admits to having looked at a few commercial models at first, just to get a notion of how they’re made, but after that he relied on common sense, the materials he could scrounge, and enough time to tinker his way toward a final design.

Anderson’s Corn Dryer System

The system is composed of three main parts: a large corn bin, which holds (and moves) the grain while it’s being dried, the firebox in front, which receives the material that’s burned to create the heat, and a connecting unit, which houses an electric fan used to move the hot air into the bin.

The basis for the dryer’s firebox was an old 2,000-gallon gas tank that Mr. Anderson purchased for $25. He cut the used container in half and reshaped it, as shown in the photographs accompanying this article. (That funny-looking “hump” over the box is composed of a couple of 55-gallon barrels that were cluttering up Anderson’s yard. The mound’s purpose is to catch the last of the warmth before it escapes through the flue.)

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