I have always bought coal in bags on wooden pallets. I have to store it in my gararge since I don't have a basement or a way of bringing any size load of loose coal into the backyard by truck. I have always been envious of the pictures on here of the coal bins and bulk storage some of you guys have. Of course the saving on the bulk coal vs. bagged is also a factor which makes me envious.
This year I decided to see if I could somehow store coal without the bags. I bought some supersack and opened my bagged coal on the driveway near the door. I figured since the coal was exposed I would hose it down to hopefully reduce the amount of coal dust when I fill the stove. Will have to see if that is worth it. The supersacks have a spout on the bottom so any water on the coal when transferring will drain out over time. I put the supersack on the pallet and transferred the coal by hand.
I bought an inexpensive pallet jack from Harbor Freight. It should be strong enough for the little I will use it to move a few pallets ever year around the garage. So far. it seem to work out so next year I will just buy loose coal and have it dumped in the driveway in the fall. I also think it will be easier and less dusty to just use my little shovel and fill the coal bucket rather than lugging a bag from the back of the garage to the open garage door (trying to keep the coal dust inside as low as possible) and pouring into the bucket. Time will tell.
Bulk Storage
- hotblast1357
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Don't see why it wouldn't work, hopefully getting it bulk will, seems like a lot of work, I would see if u could set it up so that your bulk supplier could dump right into those.
- lsayre
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That's the way I did it for awhile. Supersacks on pallets, and a Harbor Freight pallet jack.
I have two suppliers. The one with the conveyor discharge filled my sacks without a hitch, and did it while they were in my garage. I never thought of having my scissor lift truck supplier give it a try. Would probably not go well, but I'm not certain of this. If keeping 6 or 7 of them full of coal in the garage didn't take up so much of it I would probably still be using the sacks.
I have two suppliers. The one with the conveyor discharge filled my sacks without a hitch, and did it while they were in my garage. I never thought of having my scissor lift truck supplier give it a try. Would probably not go well, but I'm not certain of this. If keeping 6 or 7 of them full of coal in the garage didn't take up so much of it I would probably still be using the sacks.
- fastcat
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Here is my idea for anybody looking for a covered coal bin, bought the shed used and as I have it set up it will hold 6 ton. My coal guy has and elevator and in a snap it is full.
Attachments
I filled 4 supersacks this year from a bulk truck. I built a wood frame to hold the bags open during the fill. It worked ok, not perfect.
I'm finding emptying the bags to be a bit tough, I've been shoveling into 5 gal buckets. They do hold a bunch if coal in a small footprint, but I'll probably build a bin for next year.
I'm finding emptying the bags to be a bit tough, I've been shoveling into 5 gal buckets. They do hold a bunch if coal in a small footprint, but I'll probably build a bin for next year.