Cool crane work at work today.

[STINEY]

We switched over to natural gas last summer for our corn dryer (and everything else while we were at it). Trenched a gas line 2 miles across our fields, bored under 1 road and bored under 1 building.

Whole thing paid for itself in 1 season of drying costs. Saved enough over propane to pay for the install plus some.

Today the old propane tank went away. Two cranes and a flatbed lowboy semi trailer. The tank ended up being centered lengthwise over the rear tires of the lowboy. That seems like a bunch for 12 tires to take, not to mention the 25' overhang off the back.

Glad its not me driving!

[DanStokes]

Tanks! Tanks a lot!

And here I was looking for pics of a bird.

Dan

[STINEY]

Boirds? Someone say Boirds?

Your Velcome!

[pdub]

[Huskinhano]

Pretty impressive savings! Yep, the price of natural gas has gone way down. You're going to see a lot more convertions! I was reading one company's web page that converted OTR diesel to natural gas. Prices started at $6K to $12K and they said pay back could be as little as 6 months. With the advent of fracking, it's just unleashed a tremendous amount of oil and gas.

This is at the end of my road, 3/8 mile away. It lights up yard at night.

[DanStokes]

We don't have natural gas in the sub - darn it. We have electric heat but we don't use a ton of it as it stys pretty warm here (compared to MI). I'd like to have NG for the shop heat but it'll have to be propane - have the heater.

Dan

[oldsman496]

Fracking needs LOTS of water and that's in short supply in a lot of areas due to the drought conditions. look for prices to rise a bunch if this weather continues. cool pics and definately cool cranes.

[STINEY]

The crane is back today. These guys are like monkeys hopping around up there....... wonder how many times some of them have fallen already? (not here but at other similar jobs) One was doing the Macarana dance while waiting for the trusses to be lifted into place.

[SuperBuickGuy]

The crane is back today. These guys are like monkeys hopping around up there....... wonder how many times some of them have fallen already? (not here but at other similar jobs) One was doing the Macarana dance while waiting for the trusses to be lifted into place.

That building would be just about the right size for a hobby barn....

[milner351]

I wish that was my new shop - look at the size of that building - it might take all my 185,000 btu cleanburn could do to take the chill off in the winter - is that your new equipment showroom?

[STINEY]

We have to mop daily to keep the drool from puddling up too bad. That would be both us AND customers...

Its divided into 3 main bays of unequal size, with 2 smaller section bumping off from the front on either side.

Predominately it is for equipment setup. The stuff has gotten so big that we have had to resort to sub assemblies indoors, and finishing assembling the subs outdoors due to the heigth and width not fitting the old building. Nice in summer, sucks bad in February, which is when the setup guys are the most busy.

The next largest section is an indoor wash bay with water reclamation system (epa approved even). Combines especially need to be thouroughly cleaned every season (and before annual servicing/rebuilding) and again, that SUCKS in February. We currently wash with a 2" hose, the new system will be the cats meow.

And the last third is equipment storage/showroom. Nice to show customers stuff in February that isn't covered in snow (though outdoor showings CAN on occasion accellerate the purchasing decision)

The 2 bumpouts are for a office area for the setup information with restrooms, and the other is "Pappys' Shop", of which the old one had to be torn down to make room for the new stuff. Pappy is one of the owners, the other 2 are his sons, and they want to suprise him with his new digs upon completion. He suffered a debilitating stroke a year ago and has been unable to participate in the business like he is used to doing. At 86 on a normal day, he kept at least 2 twenty-year olds hopping just to keep up with him.

The building is 120x240, this summer has been an endless parade of stone trucks for fill and cement trucks for the foundation. Just the last couple of weeks its been a lumber parade.

[SuperBuickGuy]

more than 1/2 acre enclosed.... yep, almost big enough - maybe it'd be big enough with a second story for the small cars

poor John, getting cold and all; perhaps move to a warmer climate - I hear where Blazerteam lives isn't as bad as Michigan

[STINEY]

UPDATE to building project at work......holy huge doors Batman!



Its too long for my camera! Right half.....




And inside of the left side. That door is 40'x16', check out how many springs it takes to balance it.



And the door to the left of the big door. Looks puny in comparison. I didn't snap any pictures of the wash bay in the center part of the building, its ginormous as well.

[milner351]

Sweet mother of buildings batman. Is that all metal on the inside? It might be quite an echo chamber.

[STINEY]

Sweet mother of buildings batman. Is that all metal on the inside? It might be quite an echo chamber.

Its poly panels on the lower sections, then metal all the rest of the way up and over.

We have been acting like little kids in there.......ECHO echo echo......hehe. I want to ride the doors up and down, boss said "uh, no."

Wait till you see the steam cleaner & water recycling system, they are not installed yet but the cool stainless awesomeness of the pieces of them are there to drool over.

If they were up and running I'd try to talk you into stopping by on the way to Columbus and steaming off your truck frame!