Stirator in dryer bin

Moving a grain bin to my farm that has a DMC stirator. I can leave the stirator for the previous owner to sell or I can buy it and leave it in the bin. Currently I dry corn outside of the bin with a batch dryer, but it might be nice to have another alternative to dry corn someday. My questions are: 1) I know corn can't be in the way of the stirator when operating, but can you pile dry corn or beans on top of the stirator when storing corn or beans through the winter/spring/summer? Sometimes I fill the bins to the lid. Will that bring it down? 2) Are they a nightmare to keep running? 3) What does an 18 foot - 7 ring stirator bring on a farm or consignment sale (just the stirator in a pile at the auction)? Owner wants $500. Any comments appreciated. Bin has an air floor and burner. Thanks.

if it came form the bin your are buying I would get it, you not going to by new for that cost and if you ever dry corn you will want it, use mine every year even if I only level beans or dry corn down. you can also use when unloading as it will re level the grain and less use of fighting a bin sweep and getting it started.

I depended on a Sukup stirrer for about 25 years. I buried it once. I can't remember what happened when I drew the grain out, but it wasn't good. I never did it again.
I have heard horror stories about both the Sukup and the DMC. But I think they are like any machine- only as good as the maintenance it gets.
As far as auction price- there is no demand- probably scrap price.

The DMC stirrator is a much better unit that the older Suckup ones. It is much easier to maintain. The $500 is cheap for a working one. They are about $5000 new. Plus your bin is already drilled for it. I have them in just about all of my smaller bins. They make storing grain for longer periods of time a much safer thing. You can get rid of wet spots that may heat. Also they are nice to level the bin while unloading. As for covering them up with grain. It is not a real good idea to cover them clear to the roof. in the center. You can easily pull the mounting frame out of the roof when you unload. It is not a good idea to over fill a bin like this anyway. You can NOT get any type of good air flow through grain piled clear to the roof. Do you really need the extra few hundred bushels of storage that you get piling clear to the roof????

What I like about the DMC stirators is they are simple. There is a Mercury switch that runs the gear motor that moves it around the bin. The up right augers will move forward and tilt the frame just a little as they stir the grain. When they tilt the frame so far the mercury switch turns the rotation motor on and it advances until the frame tilt is back to flat. Very simple system. The mercury switch has a thumb screw on it that you can adjust so you get the advance you want. In deep grain you want it to advance just small amounts so it will not break an auger and will stir the deeper grain better. In shallow grain you can make it advance faster as it does not have as tall of column of grain to stir. ONE caution!!! Never fill the bin completely and then turn the stirators on. You will tear them up doing that. Put two rings of grain in and turn them on and let them run the entire time your filling. They will level the grain and blend the corn so it is more uniform. This is really true if your dumping corn warm out of a batch dryer. If your cooling there can be damp spot form where ever there are any air obstructions caused by trash/fines/etc. in the corn.

We had a stir-ater set up in our first bin,, we hated it from day one, at the time we were drying in that bin a batch at a time,,since then we have gone to a continuous flow dryer and make sure it's right when the grain goes into a bin.

The guys tried those stirator set ups around here most are in the junk pile. they are petty much useless when you have 2or3 thousand acres to get out,and no time to fool with them

just sold my stirrator on auction last week. $5 with the bin sweep too.

I have a Sukup stirator with only one down auger- since 1976. Sukup is a bad brand, DMC much better, but get multiple augers on them if you want it to work right. JD Seller"s advice is spot on- being able to stir a bin is great, many times needed, even if corn is dried in an external dryer. That"s how I use mine now- haven"t used the bin dryer for years. Piling grain to the peak is always a disaster....hard on equipment, and creates excellent condition for spoiling. Always level any bin after filling to minimize hot spots.