Coal Conveyor
Yes, I remember that too. He was cleaning up the spillage in front of his bin from what the truck missed. It was pretty long bin with an auger the whole length from what I remember, impressive set up.Freddy wrote:I just did a quick search & couldn't find it.... someplace on this Forum is video, or link to a video, of a member that moved 22 ton of coal with a snow blower! Hmmm... maybe it was still photos....either way, it's sick! LOL
- whistlenut
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He MUST be deaf by now, because that little adventure was tough on everything. I would think that it would take a two stage to keep the rpms up.....that is one hell of a load, otherwise.
Not much easier than blowing 3/4 stone.......and a very inefficient 'coal breaker'.
Not much easier than blowing 3/4 stone.......and a very inefficient 'coal breaker'.
- Carbon12
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I see Grainger sells conveyor belt replacements. Not really inexpensively, I might add, and that's just for the belt.
-
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Hello Carbon12,
Small vibrating feeders get into 4-5+ figure mark
A gas powered leaf blower would work better for you as the flow is down hill.
I do not think an electric one will have enough power/CFM to do it.
What you want to do essentially is create an eductor effect to suck and blow the coal through the pipe.
Ideally it would work this way by slowly letting the coal to fall to the the bottom of a five gallon pail or small wooden box you intall a PVC T where the leaf blowers pipe is connected to the PVC T and then to the PVC pipe with a Fernco coupler and blow the coal down the slope to the bin.
As long as the flow is very slow and constant with the coal door opened very little it will work simply by using the air pressure and gravity to your advantage Your going to want to use earplugs as the leaf blower will be running wide open to flow through coal through to the basement.
Hope this helps
If you have leaf blower and hole saw that size your half way there.
You might be out thirty dollars for the fittings.
Finding or borrowing the right size hole saw is the only big issue.
Small vibrating feeders get into 4-5+ figure mark
A gas powered leaf blower would work better for you as the flow is down hill.
I do not think an electric one will have enough power/CFM to do it.
What you want to do essentially is create an eductor effect to suck and blow the coal through the pipe.
Ideally it would work this way by slowly letting the coal to fall to the the bottom of a five gallon pail or small wooden box you intall a PVC T where the leaf blowers pipe is connected to the PVC T and then to the PVC pipe with a Fernco coupler and blow the coal down the slope to the bin.
As long as the flow is very slow and constant with the coal door opened very little it will work simply by using the air pressure and gravity to your advantage Your going to want to use earplugs as the leaf blower will be running wide open to flow through coal through to the basement.
Hope this helps
If you have leaf blower and hole saw that size your half way there.
You might be out thirty dollars for the fittings.
Finding or borrowing the right size hole saw is the only big issue.
- Carbon12
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Thanks! I have a Stihl back back leaf blower. Once the weather improves, I'll have to do some testing
- Lightning
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I just posted on another thread that seems like an air transport with PVC pipe would be the ticket.. This would be my first attempt. Others are having good results with a vac powered hopper filler, you just need a bigger version..
- Lightning
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How about a substantial vac with a 55 gallon drum in the basement bin. Pull the coal into the drum, then spill the coal into the bin and repeat. Or have the drum suspended on blocks. The drum would have a door on the bottom of it too let the coal into your bin. I'd be all over it...
- Carbon12
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I'm going to try all options. By the way,...how many shop vacs does it take to implode a 55 gallon drum???
-
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You would not be able to collapse a steel fifty five
gallon drum with 100 shop vacs as they are not a
positive displacement vacuum system.
Try the T with a leaf blower in a five gallon pail with
2 holes drilled in sides to connect leaf blower to the T and the PVC.
When your coal reaches the top lip of the T fitting it will create a
inverted cone and the coal will simply fall into the T and be blown
forward into the basement.
As long as you have the blower running wide open you will blow
all the coal in the basement. The issue is dust and you can counter
that by using a pail connected to the PVC pipe with an elbow and
creating a conical pile in the bin as you fill it.
gallon drum with 100 shop vacs as they are not a
positive displacement vacuum system.
Try the T with a leaf blower in a five gallon pail with
2 holes drilled in sides to connect leaf blower to the T and the PVC.
When your coal reaches the top lip of the T fitting it will create a
inverted cone and the coal will simply fall into the T and be blown
forward into the basement.
As long as you have the blower running wide open you will blow
all the coal in the basement. The issue is dust and you can counter
that by using a pail connected to the PVC pipe with an elbow and
creating a conical pile in the bin as you fill it.
- carlherrnstein
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The place I bought my combustioneer from had a conveyer belt set up to dump coal into the hopper. It was very crude looking but it was set up it a workshop so it didn't matter. I wish I had looked at it more closely.
- Carbon12
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I'm not so concerned about getting the coal into the basement so dust isn't a problem. I just want to get the coal near the basement door to the boiler room.
-
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I can offer some help here. My basement is not set up well for coal delivery, so I have tried a few options using the leaf blower. Electric in my case, but I imagine a gas blower would move a lot more air.
First try consisted of 3" PVC, a tee with a toilet flange attached to a 5g bucket. This did not work very well at all. The 5g bucket was too small, and the 3" fitting was not large enough to prevent the coal from bridging the hole. What coal that did fall in was moved quite effectively into the bin, and some across the basement
Second try consisted of the same setup but using 4" PVC and a 19g plastic utility tub. This solved the bridging problem, and moved the coal, but not as well as the smaller pipe. More airflow would probably have made a huge difference. The 19g tub was much easier to deal with as we were using an auger to get the coal to the tub, thus controlling flow was not easy or practical.
In both cases the coal was delivered wet, and the second load was a 50/50 mix of rice and buck. Dust was a non issue since the coal was wet.
Austin Carter delivered both time, but as he has moved on in his career, the next load is on me. Thanks to the 24" of snow on the ground, I will not be able to access the one window in the basement this time around. And I will need coal shortly. So I am going to have to move the coal 70-80' from the driveway, through the bilco doors to the opposite side of the basement. I plan on using 4" PVC again, but using a furnace blower out of my old oil furnace, adapted down to the 4" PVC. I'll report back as to whether it works or not
First try consisted of 3" PVC, a tee with a toilet flange attached to a 5g bucket. This did not work very well at all. The 5g bucket was too small, and the 3" fitting was not large enough to prevent the coal from bridging the hole. What coal that did fall in was moved quite effectively into the bin, and some across the basement
Second try consisted of the same setup but using 4" PVC and a 19g plastic utility tub. This solved the bridging problem, and moved the coal, but not as well as the smaller pipe. More airflow would probably have made a huge difference. The 19g tub was much easier to deal with as we were using an auger to get the coal to the tub, thus controlling flow was not easy or practical.
In both cases the coal was delivered wet, and the second load was a 50/50 mix of rice and buck. Dust was a non issue since the coal was wet.
Austin Carter delivered both time, but as he has moved on in his career, the next load is on me. Thanks to the 24" of snow on the ground, I will not be able to access the one window in the basement this time around. And I will need coal shortly. So I am going to have to move the coal 70-80' from the driveway, through the bilco doors to the opposite side of the basement. I plan on using 4" PVC again, but using a furnace blower out of my old oil furnace, adapted down to the 4" PVC. I'll report back as to whether it works or not
- Carbon12
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Anyone have a used DR Power wagon they want to sell? That would make my life easier,...it even has a snow chain option!