COAL BIN Pics

Sting you'd be able to use that for coal, would actually work quite nice. You could pipe it right into that basement window but you'd have to raise it even further if you wanted to get ti out of the bottom.. I'd suggest PVC, do some experiments to find out what angle you need.

As far as freezing that will be problem but not so much if you get it early and give it chance to dry out.

I surmise bagged coal would be dry enough ???

Maybe if I could score bulk I could dry it on black plastic in the yard at the farm and bring it into town??????

Does pea coal repose at a similar angle to grain??? something like 45degrees?

currently it falls out the bin into a plastic waste y hooked to the auger


runs into the boiler room


and drops into the hopper of an old international pull type combine. I had to hack the side of the tank off to fit it down stairs
but that allowed me to fit a flat side and attach fans to dry heat the seed - conditioning it for better burn
note the drive motor up top



From there I fitted a variable speed washing machine motor over the combine auger drive and that drops fuel into the boiler hopper.


I have since cleaned up my extension cords - It was all quack science till I knew it worked!

You don't really need the auger if you ran pipe, as i suggested PVC or better yet stainless steel, put a gate on the end. Just open it up when you need coal. You probably only need about 30 - 35 dgree angle so you won't lose much space in the hopper. You could raise it up and not lose any.. Only trouble you'll have with that setup is getting it into the hopper.

The bagged coal is usually damp but as long as you get most of the moisture out it shouldn't be problem.

OH hit me in the head with the coal shovel

Now I understand - gravity feed out of the out door hopper to the boiler room floor

Thick some days....

I once saw that done with a simple rain gutter - the coal dropped and was metered at a 1-1/2 inch depth and as the stoker consumed it out of a small pail at the appliance - the fuel gracefully slid down the gutter at that depth and replaced what came out of the bucket.

Beauty of that fuel slide system was if stoker service was necessary - you simply closed the fallout to the head end of the gutter - cleared about 10 lbs of fuel in play and you were there!!!

and no pesky delivery augers!!!! hummmmmm

Thank- you

Well if I had the hopper, I'd dig out around the foundation and drop it into the ground as far as possible, run the pipe from the bottom through the foundation so it came out about 2 feet from ground level. Then if you had a auger fed boiler you're set. No messing around with anything but taking the ashes out.

Again the only issue witht hat setup is getting it into the hopper which is one reason I'd drop it down. If you had 12 foot basement you'd really be in business.

Sting, I find that set-up very interesting and quite creative. I'm curious, though, exactly how did you make the hole through the window?

What hole?? The one that appeared when the hammer slipped!

Do you agree it will also work with coal?

The only question I have is how would you load the coal into the space shuttle? Would a scissor lift coal truck go that high? I guess an auger would work also.

I have a 20 foot 4 inch grain auger

or Ill have to bribe the mill truck driver!

Think the grain auger would do the trick?

Or do I need to build a shovel elevator?

We used a grain auger before to move coal, guess it really depends on how powerful it is. If you can slow the rate of the coal before it goes onto auger then it shouldn't be a problem at all.

Wood'nCoal wrote: Would a scissor lift coal truck go that high?.

No it would not, the best you can expect is about 7+/- feet and that's only if you can back the truck up to within 3 to 4 feet of the window or wherever you're putting it.

I am not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling about this grain bin idea! Scoring dry coal or drying coal down so it will not freeze clump and bridge in the tower appears to be an issue. Not to be offset by the logistics of loading the darn thing. Loading it would not be a bad job in the fall but I look forward to doing it again in February and just want to drink heavily.

I guess I better plan on refurbishing the one remaining basement bin because I know that can be filled with damp cold material and will thaw to usable in a week.

Thanks everyone for letting me bench race thru this! Anyone need a grain bin? I try to reuse the augers instead of shoveling from bulk bin to appliance bin. Maybe I still can make use of gravity - in a reduced fashion.

I'm not sure that "freezing" is that big a problem. If there is ventilation, the water/ice will evaporate fairly quickly ... even during cold weather. The guys around here with grain gravity wagons don't seem to have a problem.

These bins are designed to keep living seed at 15% moisture or below - BUT you make me think - there is no reason not to build something to introduce warm dry boiler room air into the bin and modify the contents while the boiler is running for the season !!!!

My significant other is concerned about binning "dirty" coal in the basement. Like all the corn and wood pellets form the last years wasn't ---- Stigmas are never ending.

The first thing, which I would do ... drop a piece of perforated 4" PVC pipe vertically in the center of the bin, to allow for some air flow. Done deal
Of course that might fill will coal and be of no use.