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Getting a 10-inch unloading auger stuck inside a flat-bottom grain bin prompted Beric Haukaas to come up with a better system for getting the bin to unload itself.

Beric Haukaas of the family-run company Haukaas Manufacturing of Mortlach, Sask., demonstrates how the Bin Door Insert he designed works to improve unloading of flat-bottom bins. -- Lee Hart photo

Haukass, who along with his father Greg farms at Mortlach, Sask., and operates Haukaas Manufacturing, came up with the design for a bin door insert. Their Bin Door Insert (BDI) is one of the products they’re featuring this week at the Agri-Trade exhibition at Red Deer, Alta.

The steel insert (different models are available for different makes of grain bins) easily clips to the lower half of the opening of the existing grain bin door. A detachable chute is slid into place to unload the bin, and can be easily removed so the bin door can be closed.

With the insert and chute in place, the producer lifts a lever which opens a slide on the insert. Grain flows onto the chute and into your unloading hopper, sitting outside just below the bin door.

“Rather than shove an auger inside the bin, the idea is for the grain or canola to flow out of the bin into the hopper of an unloading auger,” says Greg Haukaas. “By operating the lever on the insert slide it is easy to start and stop the flow of grain as needed.”

Since different makes of grain bins have different sized doors, Haukaas Manufacturing has developed models to fit many of the Westeel, Twister and Butler grain bins. They are designing one for Sukup bins.

“We’ve even been able to work with farmers to adapt the BDI for wooden bins,” says Haukaas. They have plenty of information and diagrams on their company website and are also pleased to talk to producers about individual or unique bin configurations.

The inserts retail for about $265 and the chute retails for $49.50. While each bin has its own insert, only one chute is needed per farm. The BDI can be ordered by phone or online and they are shipped by bus to any location in Western Canada.

“The nice features of using the Bin Door Insert are that you won’t get an auger stuck in a conventional opening, it is easy to start and stop the flow of grain and, particularly if it is being used on aeration bins, if forms a better seal over the bin door opening so grain or canola doesn’t blow out,” says Haukaas.

-- Lee Hart is a Grainews field editor based in Calgary.