Gravity Feed into Pioneer Hopper?

Hi there,

I am most likely going to be purchasing one of the LL Pioneer Top Vent stoves this Spring. I would like to do something similar to what CoaLen did with his PVC gravity feed, but take it directly into the Hopper of the Pioneer. Here's some pics of CoaLen's setup: COAL BIN Pics. I'm wondering how exactly this would best work. Has anyone rigged up anything like this and has pictures they could share? I'd like some way to "seal" it so the falling coal into the hopper doesn't create any dust in the basement.

Just to get into the specifics a bit more of my plans (feedback welcome)...I currently have a large coal bin in my unfinished basement, but I'd like to finish the entire basement and want to minimize coal dust. So, I plan to remove the coal bin, buy bagged coal that will be stored in my garage, and have a "hopper" up in the garage with a PVC pipe in the bottom. This pipe will tie directly into the hopper of the stove. This will make it so I do not have to constantly shovel and transport coal from the bin to the hopper down in the basement, which should keep dust to a minimum.

With the hopper in the Pioneer holding 110 lbs. of coal, and the hopper in the garage probably holding another 200-300 lbs of coal at least (depending on how big I build it), I'm thinking I can go at least a week+ at a time without loading more coal (just ash removal).

What are your thoughts?

Did exactly what you described and has been running since beginning of November. I have a Keystoker Baywindow (which has a small hopper approx. 60#). When I installed my chimney i decicied to put in 4 inch pvc to supply hopper, have a 55 gallon poly barrel(which is on my deck which is covered) pvc comes out the bottom approx. a 12 foot run to hopper. The hopper didn't even require a cover it doesn't create any dust (coal movement is very slow), pipe is on a 45 degree pitch where it enters hopper at top. Barrel gets filled once a week holds about 400#. Stove is in a finished basement and don't here any complaints about dust and dirt. Coal is stored in my 2 ton bulk bin where i allow it to dry pretty well before loading barrel.

roadking wrote:Did exactly what you described and has been running since beginning of November. I have a Keystoker Baywindow (which has a small hopper approx. 60#). When I installed my chimney i decicied to put in 4 inch pvc to supply hopper, have a 55 gallon poly barrel(which is on my deck which is covered) pvc comes out the bottom approx. a 12 foot run to hopper. The hopper didn't even require a cover it doesn't create any dust (coal movement is very slow), pipe is on a 45 degree pitch where it enters hopper at top. Barrel gets filled once a week holds about 400#. Stove is in a finished basement and don't here any complaints about dust and dirt. Coal is stored in my 2 ton bulk bin where i allow it to dry pretty well before loading barrel.

That is cool, sounds like a great setup. Would love to see some pictures if you ever have the time!

My friends