KC Supply Co. Inc. • 800-527-8775 • http://www.kcsupply.com
KC Supply Co. offers two models of GVS, Ltd’s Port-A-Probe vacuum grain bin sampler to make it easier to perform high-volume sampling of stored grain for monitoring quality and marketing identity-preserved (IP) grain.
The Model 9HES is a heavy-duty sampler powered by a 9-hp Honda electric-start gas engine and Sutorbilt positive-displacement vacuum pump. It allows the user to sample grain in small farm bins, larger flat storage structures and tanks more than 120 feet tall. The 325-lb. unit is transported easily on the back of a pickup truck, and the frame has two wheels for easy maneuvering into place.
The Model 5.5H is designed to sample bins up to a height of 60 feet Its recoil-start Honda engine drives a smaller positive displacement vacuum pump and has the same moveable cyclone receiver as the Model 9HES.
Either model can be modified for hydraulic use.
“The Port-A-Probe is a strategic tool for grain sampling and puts management in control of maintaining grain quality,” says Jeff Lavery, president of KC Supply Co. (800-527-8775), one of GVS’ nationwide dealers. “It helps deliver quick and accurate analysis of grain quality, which makes IP marketing feasible.”
Here are what some users of the Port-A-Probe have to say about the product:
“We utilize the Port-A-Probe to check grain quality in our big bins and flat storage structures. If we have a temperature cable in a bin that will not show a decrease in temperature after aeration, we will use the Port-A-Probe to sample the grain adjacent to the cable, to confirm grain insect activity, or if the cable is giving false readings. It saves us time and money by giving us the information without emptying the bin.”
“The first time I used one was in 2002, when I first came to Attebury. They bought a Port-A-Probe, and I probed 14 barns with one of them. The storage had anywhere from 18- to 48-foot-depth grain. We could run that hose down a barn 216 feet, drop it about 6 feet above the ground, and still collect our samples. I like using it, because it does have the power to probe down to 40 feet. It sucks the grain 216 feet back out and then another 60 or 80 feet back to your collection bottles.
“The two we have, one of the originals when they first came out and one we bought in 2008 or 2009, are both very good probes. Right now, we have one at our Lubbock. TX facility, and we’re getting ready to probe three big steel tanks with 60-foot-tall sidewalls.
“The number one reason we chose Port-a-Probe is because competitive products were not intrinsically safe. You can set it outside on the ground, run your hose up into the bin, do your probing, and test your samples outside. We didn’t have as many people in the buildings or in the grain bin, which is what you’d normally have with the competitive probe.
“We also like the fact that you don’t have to handle your samples, carry them around, and lower them. We’re also saving on manpower, especially compared to the old probe. Using the competitor’s probe, you didn’t need to have extra manpower for the probing but you needed help getting all of your samples down to the ground and everything else.”
“We have been using the Port-a-Probe since we installed it at our facility about nine months ago. KC Supply recommended it to us, and it’s been working great. The product provides a more accurate and complete reading of the bin, because it’s able to go all the way to the bottom of the bin. So, we’re able to take multiple samples from the top to the bin floor.
“It is just a really good way to get a core sample of the bin, and it is very easy to use. I would recommend this product to other potential users who are looking for a reliable, easy-to-use product for better grain management.”
“We actually had one of the very first prototypes back in the late 1990s. We still have it, and we’re still using it today.
“One of the main reasons we chose the Port-a-Probe is because with the other probes, you had to carry the motor and everything clear to the top of the pile with a flat storage. With the Port-A-Probe, you just take up some aluminum poles and drag a hose in, and the motor stays outside the building evenly on concrete. It’s just so much easier, and you can probe 100 feet down with it.
“It’s a really good tool for our customers, especially in the bunkers, because we can probe and see what we’ve got as far as grain quality is concerned, because we’re there to do the fumigation. We don’t charge that much for the probing, because we consider it more of a service for our customers. So we haven’t paid attention to the ROI, but it’s been a very good product for us. In fact, we just bought a new one last year. We were doing so much probing that we needed two of them.”
Reprinted from Grain Journal March/April 2018 Issue
