Nearing End-O-Season on LI.

ablumny · Post by **ablumny** » Sun. Mar. 22, 2009 12:18 pm

Heating season is winding down on Long Island and we are about done with our first season of coal and the DVC-500. I look back when I was about to pluck down a ton of dough on a pellet system and was talked into coal. Glad I made the choice.

Ive been shoveling rice towards my bin chute every week for the past two months as the level drop and I learned fast that Rice doesnt flow as I thought it might. That or my bin design sux. Anyway, in August 08 I got 3 tons. Here's what I have left this morning:
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Not bad for a two story 1800sq ft Colonial I think. Insulating our attic in February definitely slowed coal consumption. I'll make it through March on the original 3 ton which is what I had hoped for.

Along the way I made a number of mods to my bin, stove area and operational tatics thanks to the members of this forum. THanK YOU! Now I'm wondering what do we all talk about over the summer?

ceccil · Post by **ceccil** » Sun. Mar. 22, 2009 1:33 pm

You will see less members on during the summer, but there is still a good deal of posting that goes on. Much of it has to do with mods. being done, cleaning and some installs. The hardcore coal burners will still be here though.

Jeff

009to090 · Post by **009to090** » Sun. Mar. 22, 2009 2:24 pm

Ablummy,
3 ton heated your entire house? How many Sq Ft is it?
Yep, I too, was glad I got a coal burner, instead of Pellet/corn stove. I can't believe how easy it is to maintain it.

Thanks.

rockwood · Post by **rockwood** » Sun. Mar. 22, 2009 5:16 pm

ablumny wrote: Ive been shoveling rice towards my bin chute every week for the past two months as the level drop and I learned fast that Rice doesnt flow as I thought it might. That or my bin design sux.

Are you going to modify your bin?

Now I'm wondering what do we all talk about over the summer?

Anything... Hopefully a little less political mud slinging.

ablumny · Post by **ablumny** » Sun. Mar. 22, 2009 7:40 pm

DVC500_at_last: We just had our house appraised for a re-fi. I always thought it was more but it came in at 1800 sqft livable space; traditional two story colonial, stove centrally located on first floor, bedroom upstairs. After insulation both levels evened out.

Mod the bin? Probably as long as it doesnt interfere with bike riding

. I'm thinking of relocating the chute to the end rather than the middle, then add a pitched false floor and motor that'll vibrate or something like that.

I'll be on all summer no matter what !

Bratkinson · Post by **Bratkinson** » Mon. Mar. 23, 2009 5:56 pm

Mod the bin? I watched your complete video and am very impressed...it also gives me ideas spinning in my head.

As far as changes to your bin, I'd probably find some way to make the chute more 'slippery'. That ought to make the rice coal slide down more easily. One idea I thought of was to use a nice, shiny new piece of stove pipe, not closed together, but more of an open 'c' shape on the bottom of your existing wooden chute. An idea I'm now toying with for my house (thanks to you) is using a piece of 4" diameter PVC pipe. That may be 'slippery' enough, too...depending on the angle.

As for putting sloping floors in your coal bin, it would probably help at the end of the season, when the coal in the 'corners' of the bin don't automatically slide to the chute, but the rest of the time, I don't think the added effort and expense would justify the results. Again, you may be dealing with a 'slippery' issue there, too.

Just my 2 cents worth...

ablumny · Post by **ablumny** » Mon. Mar. 23, 2009 7:42 pm

Thanks. I gave up on trying to get rice to flow out of the chute long ago. I've modified the chute a couple of times since then. I now use a pc of sheet metal at the end of the wood chute. Part of the prob is the distance from the garage floor to the bin floor (too short) and from the bin wall to where I can put a bucket (too far). The geometry doesn't work so the bin fills the chute (until the level drops far enough then the shoveling starts) and I pull the rice out of the chute for now.

I'm thinking of replacing the wood chute with a sheet metal chute from the bin this time and moving to the corner. At least from the bin to the bucket will work and being in the corner, I can shovel to one corner as the level drops UNLESS I come up with a clever plan to move the rice towards the corner under vibration or some other tech manner.......

thx again..

Captain Michael · Post by **Captain Michael** » Mon. Mar. 23, 2009 10:05 pm

Super nice set up!!!!!