Coal bin for the stoker installation at efm

Cooler weather has reminded me that I better get busy on the coal bin. The footprint looks large and the walls will be about 60 inches tall, but it will only hold about 3 tons of coal. Thanks to L&I, I have to maintain 30 inches around the entire bin/stoker combination.

Looks good! I would suggest bringing the poly up the inside of the bin wall plates, by about 4 inches. Just in case you get some extra water in your coal delivery

Hi Chris. I assume you will be drilling anchors into the floor and attaching a pressure treated plate or two to the base and then frame up side walls. Is there anything vertical to attach to, or are the ceilings 18 feet tall? Is the 60" a load established limit or just a convenient height for viewing by customers......or loading with a loader or forklift inside the plant? I try to make my bins so that they hold 8 to ten tons, eight feet tall (or more)thereby not loading but twice a year.

The stresses of the additional height means thicker plywood (3/4") and framing 12" on center, but that is short money when considering the saves over the years. My point is, don't be afraid to stiffen it up, or afraid of the bean counters.
I often say: "Why is there never time to do it right, but always enough time and money to do it again?" (My gov't comment for the evening)

Winter isn't much fun reloading and the extra capacity bridges the crappy weather times, however that is not an issue for you.

The floor will be sloped to the middle and a drain installed. The walls will be 4" block. There is a window near the bin at about the 5' height where we can chute the coal in. I might add another course till it's over. For today though, I have a pallet of ready-mix bags and a wheelbarrow to contend with.

When I was a kid, we had the coal room under the front porch and the worm laid in a trough about 20 foot long. The pile was sloped and mostly took care of itself until it got low and then we had to rake it into the trough. The coal bin illustration in our own manual made no sense to me at all until I thought about it for a few days. It's no wonder people ask how to build a bin. This bin will be another learning experience for me.

Made the concrete pad. Inside the edge of the area where the block will be laid there is a depression of about 3/4" with sloped channels toward the drain. Decided to go to a 6 foot wall.

You need more radiators.

Chris, any vertical re=bar in the block cores? If not, you might want to block-bond the faces. That is a substantial side pressure to deal with over time. I now understand the reasoning for the location and height. Party on, dude.

I've decided to lay 3 courses of block, 24" and then build with PT wood atop that. Too many logistic problems with the block. Those are steam radiators and haven't been used for years.

Is that the old E-F-M shop in Emmaus?

The old warehouse.

My Dad used to work in the machine shop and I thought those big windows looked familiar.

The walls are laid and the forms built for the pipe tunnel.

The concrete work is done. The walls will be stuccoed. #2 stone will fill the inside of the bin up to the top of the pipe-run walls. 3/4" and 1/2" PT plywood will be laid on top of the stones across the entire area inside the concrete area. There is a recessed area inside the block walls with further deepened grooves leading to a center drain pipe. Shown in one picture is the pipe exiting outside the pad and under the coal pipe. Onto this will be attached a boiler drain. Since the entire floored area is wood, if a wet load of coal would be delivered, a hose can be attached to the drain valve and run outside, which is a good 100 feet away.

Since the entire floored area is wood

How well is that floor built? That's a lot of weight! When it's done I think it will be the sturdiest coal bin around.

Gentlemen, I am not sure about of what I am writing, but I would put the screw in the MIDDLE of the coal bin. In my opinion this will limit the shoveling later when the level of the coal drops to a funnel shape and stops flowing into the screw.