Exhaust fan for coal dust?

I've been thinking of installing an exhaust fan in the area above my boilers hopper. The dust created when loading it ends up going all over the basement. I thought if I used a good exhaust fan during the loading process, maybe I could limit this mess. Concerns and considerations are, can coal dust be dangerous? (Sparks from fan motor armature) Interfering with the boilers draft during this process? I'd appreciate any and all comments regarding this. Thanks!

I have no experience venting coal dust, however I used a Fasco 480 cfm blower to vent a bench top conformal coating work station vent hood. The fume hood was connected to the inlet of the squirrel cage by way of a home made flange adapter. It worked great and since the motor is isolated from the vent path there was no concern for fire or explosion.

The unit is available at the following link:

http://www.electricmotorwarehouse.com/f ... blower.htm

It is available in both 220 and 115 VAC versions depending on your electrical service availability. If you constructed a duct which attached to the top of the hopper and spanned the entire width, you could effectively suck any dust as it rose above the pile of coal in the hopper. Also since you would be extracting air right at the source of the dust I would think there would be no concern for a negative pressure in the area of the combustion air induction on the boiler.

Just an idea. I may try a variation myself to solve my bride's concerns for the stove in the house.

Most forum members who are sensitive to the coal dust just use a garden sprayer and water to wet down the coal in the pile, just dampen the surface coal. And again give the bucket a short spray prior to pouring the coal in the hopper. This reduces the coal dust considerably.

A ducted fan is a neat idea, but you may want to try the water spray method with a bucket and a pile of coal to see how effective it is. Just dump the coal into a cardboard box about the size of your hopper. .

Another 'quick' try idea would be to put a shop vac's hose over the hopper and give that a try, even make a large funnel collector for the hose to make it more effective. Give it a try, it will tell you if it will help or not without investing a lot of work and money.

Greg L

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Ask your coal supplier about oiled coal. The place where I get it offers oiled coal for about $5 extra/ton. It cuts down on dust.

I have tried using a large shop vac hose over the hopper and it seems to be very effective. I was hoping to use the fan to make the process alittle easier.
I keep my coal in a bin in the basement directly adjacent to my boiler. I shovel from the bin directly into the hopper. Spraying with water isn't impossible but not real practical. My supplier does not offer oiled coal.
I think I'll pickup a used exhaust hood and connect a good fan and give it a test this year. Ill let you know how it works, if I don't blow up.

I found the best thing in the world to clean coal dust.

It's called a "housewife".

It's a nice attatchment you screw on the bed to get the house work done!

Problem solved!

BK

I find that attachment works well from the first level up but it won't work in the basement. Maybe it needs to be screwed to the bed tighter.

coalkirk wrote:I find that attachment works well from the first level up but it won't work in the basement. Maybe it needs to be screwed to the bed tighter.

Perhaps a few mounts in the basement would help the performance in that area?

I'll look into that but I think it might require a new model. My original unit didn't come with the basement option. Too bad.

Disposal of the older model can get pricey and the newer models tend to have significant startup costs too. Perhaps a rental unit to reach those areas that need attention?

Warning: Never allow the rental and on-site units to come into contact, you'll have a lot more heat than a coal fire.

Hell hath no fury! So maybe installation of a retrofit kit and re-programming of the old unit might do the trick!

Then again the cost of a nice little blower and some ducting is starting to sound cheap!

I've found significant problems, as well as some resistance trying to reprogram the older units, sometimes requiring complete replacement!

Somtimes you have to Shake the Grates Longer and Harder but that only works for little while And in some cases you Might have to Shake your own Grates

This thread should be inducted as one of the all time greatest inuendo posts I've ever read. Great job everyone.

coal berner wrote:Somtimes you have to Shake the Grates Longer and Harder but that only works for little while And in some cases you Might have to Shake your own Grates

Time for a stoker!