Automatic vs Auto Protect: Choosing a Fan Mode for Long-Term Storage
Automatic and Auto Protect both run fans only on suitable air. The difference is how much they run. Here's when to use each.
SiloSense IQ ·
Once hot grain has had its Forced Run and field heat is out, the job changes. You’re no longer trying to pull a lot of heat out quickly — you’re keeping grain cool and steady for months. Aeration Manager offers two modes for that stage: Automatic and Auto Protect. Both only run on suitable air. They differ in how hard they work.
Automatic: run whenever the air is right
In Automatic, the fan runs whenever outside temperature and humidity are inside the limits you’ve set for that silo and season. On a long run of cool, dry nights, that can be a lot of hours.
Use Automatic when:
- Grain is still warmer than you want, and you want to take every good cooling hour.
- A cooling front hasn’t made it all the way through the silo yet.
- It’s early in storage, or after a warm spell has pushed grain temperatures back up.
Watch for: lots of hours on dry air can take moisture out of grain that’s already at target. Your humidity limits are what stop that — set a sensible minimum humidity if over-drying is a concern.
Auto Protect: low-intensity maintenance
Auto Protect is built for grain that’s already cool and at a good moisture. Instead of running every suitable hour, it runs short 30-minute bursts with an hour’s rest in between, aiming for about 3¼ hours a day — and still only when outside air is within your limits.
That’s enough to refresh the air in the grain, stop pockets warming up and keep conditions even, without the power cost or drying effect of long runs.
Use Auto Protect when:
- Grain has been cooled and is holding temperature.
- Moisture is where you want it and you want to keep it there.
- Storage will run for months and you want to keep power costs low.
A typical season
- Harvest: Forced Run to push field heat out — 10 hours by default.
- First weeks: Automatic, to take the good cooling nights and bring the whole silo down.
- Long-term storage: Auto Protect once grain is cool and stable.
- Warm spell or hot spot: switch back to Automatic (or a Forced Run) until temperatures settle.
You can change mode at any time from the dashboard, and turn a silo to Off or run fans manually whenever you need to.
Limits still apply in both modes
Both modes use the winter and summer limits you set for each silo — minimum and maximum outside temperature and humidity. If a fan is waiting, the dashboard shows which limit is holding it off, so it’s never a mystery why a fan isn’t running.
How SiloSense helps
Aeration Manager gives every silo its own mode and limits. With SiloSense IQ sensors in the grain, you can see when a silo is cool and steady enough to move to Auto Protect — and spot when it needs Automatic again.
Request a demo to see the modes on a live site.