Coal Bin Pictures and Designs

 
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zimcocomp
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Location: West Newfield, Maine
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Clayton 1602M
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Other Heating: Wood

Post by zimcocomp » Fri. Apr. 16, 2010 4:58 pm

I am going to add my coal bin creation if I can figure out how to upload it.
DSCN2717.JPG

In use for about 10 years and holds about 3 ton.

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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Fri. Apr. 16, 2010 5:48 pm

that's outstanding w/ the knife door & vacume line---what's suckin the vacume--this is when I wish I had a semi functional basement--w/ this 200 yr old farm house,it's not much more then a root cellar :)---oh,now I see the vacume---nice set-up

 
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zimcocomp
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Joined: Fri. Apr. 16, 2010 4:06 pm
Location: West Newfield, Maine
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Clayton 1602M
Coal Size/Type: Anthracite Nut
Other Heating: Wood

Post by zimcocomp » Fri. Apr. 16, 2010 6:24 pm

Hi freetown,
This house is almost 300 yrs old but I have dug out, cemented over, and built walls down there
The knife gate is over engineered but most of the parts were here just waiting to be used. It closes with only a moderate tap even with a full load of 3 tons. After one year of use I added the vent hood to extract the dust.
The old window that the trucks shute puts the coal in cannot be seen.
I use an HS Tarm multifuel boiler for hot water baseboard heat. I burn coal only in the coldest months. Right now it is on oil. Those baseboards were one of the hardest things I have ever done. The beams at the wall are like 12x12 petrified wood.
I have added some features over the years.
1. After installing the boiler I also added solar DHW
2. I had not used the hot water coil in the boiler before so I decided to add a couple a valves to allow the boiler to heat the hot water when there was no solar.
3. After I noticed my 82 Gal tank was fully heated in less than a half a day I said why not reverse the flow and heat the boiler with solar.That also took more valves.
4. This worked quite well so I changed the valves to 3-way electric actuated and finally automated the whole process with a PLC (programmable logic controller).
5. The boiler didn't have a lot of water storage capacity so I added in an addition storage tank and circulator pump.

This has been heating up the boiler to about 150 degrees on super solar days.
Pictures shown are while I was building the controller.

Attachments

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System controller that I built

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freetown fred
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Location: Freetown,NY 13803
Hand Fed Coal Stove: HITZER 50-93
Coal Size/Type: BLASCHAK Nut

Post by freetown fred » Fri. Apr. 16, 2010 7:54 pm

By God Zimco,you put some thought & time into that set-up--outstanding :)

 
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zimcocomp
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Location: West Newfield, Maine
Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Clayton 1602M
Coal Size/Type: Anthracite Nut
Other Heating: Wood

Post by zimcocomp » Fri. Apr. 16, 2010 8:09 pm

Mainly time. A lot of the rest was trial and error. You must understand I installed the boiler and solar back in the 70s and I still am tweeking the program even today. Don't get me wrong IT IS FUN!
By the way our bordering town is Freetown, MA.

Lynn

 
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vermontday
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Post by vermontday » Sat. Apr. 17, 2010 9:36 am

Zimco,

That's a great idea using the solar to heat the boiler!

Nice system as we go into higher oil prices.

 
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dave brode
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Location: Frostburg, Maryland [western]
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-2
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: used to have a 5 section Red Square
Coal Size/Type: rice anthracite

Post by dave brode » Thu. Jul. 22, 2010 9:32 pm

Here's my bin room. Freshly painted. Looked mighty rough after 20 yrs of wet bituminous coal storage. Note the black coating on the floor. It will not come off. Well, would come off with a grinder, but I chose not to. Room is apx an 8' 6" cube. I forgot to take a pic of the brackets that hold 2x4s across the door opening. There are gasketed exterior doors on the coal room, and the boiler room. These rooms, as well as my weld/fab room are on the basment level, and underneath a 2 car garage that's on the 1st floor level of the house.

1st pic shows small bin that'll be used when gets down low enough that it will not flow to auger. It is 33" x 33" x 34" tall, made from 18 ga galv and I figure with coal piled into the corner, it will hold apx 1/2 ton. It fastens to 1/16th s/s angles that are anchored to the walls. 2nd pic shows it stowed away [hanging on a conduit]. Take 3-4 minutes to pull it apart.

3rd pic shows auger tube and mount. The angle looks steeper in the pics than it is. It's apx 30*. The 4th and 5th pics are closeups of mount [still needs a paint job]. I wanted to be able to pull tube later, if need be. Clamp section is an extra piece of the auger tube split to go around it, 1/8" carbon steel angles will pinch it. Brackets are 14 ga s/s.

6th pic shows boiler room end of tube and 6" 14ga galv outlet that I'll weld to it [next phase of project]. The sleeve in the wall is 5" schedule 10 s/s. The auger tube is 5" o.d. 18 ga galv. I'll fashion a gasketed lid for the hopper and use 6" flex from tube outlet to hopper. This is a coal bin thread, but 7th pic is the little Kaa-2. You can see the patina from the base of the old bituminous boiler on the floor. I'll get to work on the Kaa2 one of these days.

8th pic is the weirdest, I guess. I moved my air compressor into the coal bin. I wanted to get the noise out of my shop, and this was the only option. I may run 3" PVC outside for compressor air supply.

Other plans call for a box fan hinged on the coal chute, so dust will exit when I'm shoveling small bin full, along with a linkage affair that will allow my to open chute cover from inside. I have a 50-1 gear reduction box and 1 horse motor for the auger. Gear box will mount on auger tube, motor will be wall mounted. I'll start a thread on the auger setup when there is something to show. Then, sooomeday, I may be able to do a Kaa-2 install thread.

Dave

p.s. - I almost forgot to thank fellow member Tim Lesher for the good deal on the auger. Thanks!

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dave brode
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Location: Frostburg, Maryland [western]
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-2
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: used to have a 5 section Red Square
Coal Size/Type: rice anthracite

Post by dave brode » Mon. Jul. 26, 2010 5:10 pm

More.

Pics of the brackets that hold 2x4s in place. 20ga galv.

Pic of exh fan hinged on coal chute. Plans are for a pulley and cable to be able to raise/lower it from the doorway. Hopefully, if I'm in there shoveling corner full, or small bin full, the fan will remove dust. Pic also shows removable screen in entrance of chute. The load of rice coal I have to go in has some rock in it from being stored on the ground. Chute is 1/8" carbon steel. Not bad shape for 20 years, and nothing on it on the inside, as far as paint etc. Outside that is underground was coated with foundation coating iirc.

Pic of auger, work in progress. Outer mount was on it. Lower mount is fashioned from a piece of box tubing. Rods are to adjust box up/down for tension on belt from gear box to auger pulley. Motor will mount on wall behind it. I hope to have auger running in a week or so for experimentation period.

Dave

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2001Sierra
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Post by 2001Sierra » Mon. Jul. 26, 2010 10:29 pm

Nice workmanship :D :D

 
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dave brode
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Posts: 478
Joined: Fri. Jan. 15, 2010 5:47 pm
Location: Frostburg, Maryland [western]
Stoker Coal Boiler: Keystoker KAA-2
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: used to have a 5 section Red Square
Coal Size/Type: rice anthracite

Post by dave brode » Tue. Jul. 27, 2010 5:19 pm

2001Sierra wrote:Nice workmanship :D :D
Thanks. I hope that my posts might help others with ideas. This board has helped me a bunch.

Dave

 
jrn8265
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Post by jrn8265 » Fri. Jul. 30, 2010 5:49 am

Thought I would add pics of my new bin.

Holds 5 tons and has a removeable door when the coal gets low. All screwed, no nails, 3/4" plywood all around.

Bin is also enclosed in a room I buit around it so no dust.

Just had 5 tons dropped in through a chute I built for the small 12"x12" window, hi-lift delivery went perfect.

Bin did not bow at all!

Big relief, no shoveling!! :)

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Duengeon master
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Location: Penndel, Pa.
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Post by Duengeon master » Fri. Jul. 30, 2010 8:34 pm

What does that brown bottle have to do with a coal bin, :confused: Does it help the coal slide easier?

 
jrn8265
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Post by jrn8265 » Mon. Aug. 02, 2010 7:23 am

It absolutely does!! :)

 
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teleman001
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Post by teleman001 » Thu. Aug. 05, 2010 9:26 am

Hi guys. Here's some pics of what I came up with after much thought and looking for ideas. Currently holding 3 ton. Will hold 5 but I want to see how much I use the first year plus I want to add plywood to the inside next year even though its not bowing at all. Currently 7/16 osb screwed every 4 inches and anchored to the wall and floor with 3/16 tapcons.

I put a bead of silicone all around the bottom 2x4 and drilled 3 holes through the slab for drainage. I used an 8" driveway culvert pipe, 45 elbow and cap. The chute door works perfectly. When the coal drops below the chute, I'll open the door and shovel the rest. Thanks to all for the ideas and information!

Mark in Pa - Keystoker "Koker" 160k BTU with 1550 cfm blower attached to central a/c ductwork........

Attachments

100_1201.jpg

this is the funnel I made to get the coal into the basement bin. I plan to fabricate one out of stainless next year.

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here you can see the 8" pipe going down

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heres where the pipe hits the bin

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here's the first 1 1/2 ton

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heres the door with the trap door chute

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unloading the 2nd ton and a half

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what 3 ton looks like in a 3 1/2' x 8' x 6' tall bin

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All finished

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Ready for ole man winter!

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Last edited by teleman001 on Thu. Aug. 05, 2010 2:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
jrn8265
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Post by jrn8265 » Thu. Aug. 05, 2010 12:08 pm

Nice work Mark!

I have a koker also here in PA and love it!

Been burning for three years with it now.


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