Coal Bin Pictures and Designs

chevymatt wrote:I'm looking at ordering an auger for my coal bin this week. I'm thinking of a 4" grain auger slid inside a 5" PVC chase in case of a jam I could slide it out to free it up. I'm thinking of putting a barrel above the end with a hole in it to feed like suggested. Any hints or suggestions for a guy trying this? Thanks

Matt,

fyi, and fwiw: I agree that esp on an incline, the auger and tube should match. I'm using a 2nd hand 5" grain auger. Typical cheaply made, 16 ish gauge auger and tube. It works well, but I geared it way down. I know that they are being used by many, but I 'm not nuts about grain augers turning their normal speed. I keep the belt from the gearbox to auger pulley a tad loose so it will slip if something jams the auger [even from a little larger piece of coal]. I then shut it off and turn the pulley to cause the auger to turn backwards. Seems to dislodge anything that's jammed it so far [only a few times]. The motor hangs on a hinge, and the weight of the motor sets tension on the other belt. [tension can be varied with different length belts]

The auger came with a 1 horse motor, but since I'm geared down, I saw it as way too much overkill. I used a 1/4 horse. The gear reduction boxes are common on ebay. Mine allows for apx 30 rpm on the auger. [iirc]

Dave

Rob R. wrote:

Penn507 wrote:EFM 520 in my shop 80 feet from my house , gravity wagon off it's running gear.

Very nice.

Ditto!

We just built this one today. 4x8x4 $300 and 8 hours. Happy.

Using some early photos from this post for a guide, I created two 4X4X4 bins sharing a common inner wall. One on right is holding over 1 ton of pea coal, and one on left has only one panel full of nut, but still the better part of a ton sitting up in a sock on my property. All side are framed and reinforced with 2X4 and 5/8" plywood floors and sides. Roof is one 4X8 3/4" plywood slanted forward and attached to a chain and rope/pulley so I can raise the roof to pull the panels when I need to load up 6 and 10 gallon galvanized cans I keep inside the basement door. The outside bin is next to my chimney, less than 8 feet to the entrance of the door to my basement where the stove is situated.

I have been burning coal this is my second year. First year full time. I have been buying 50lb bags of nut coal. I am considering building a bulk storage unit for my coal when summer comes to these parts. I have finally found a dealer who will deliver some real good quality coal to my area. Here are my logistical issues then I will tell you all my thoughts so you can comment. I am looking for ideas.

I have an US Stoves out door hot air furnace. It works really well even here in Vermont. Probably not the most efficient system but it solved many issues of space and permitting. (Vermont specifically limits outdoor boilers but says nothing about hot air furnaces. Arnt those politicians smart!) Due to logistical placement problems the location of the furnace is behind my house where I am limited to space. I cannot drive a truck around or even a tractor to get to the furnace. We currently carry the 50lb bags about 50 yards from the driveway to the furnace. It is helpful to have two rugged man childs around to help as long as I don't wake them to early in the morning.

What I am thinking. I am thinking of building a bin 8x8. sloped walls at the bottom down to a 4x4 floor. Total height of the walls about 6 feet. Line that it some galvanized metal at least at the bottom on the sloped part to make it all slide down better. at the bottom place an auger out to a sluiceway that I can place a wheel barrel under to fill. A wheel barrel should go me a day or so at a time. I may at some point put a smaller bin to dump that into beside the furnace. I have never bought bulk coal so I am not sure what to expect for moister etc. I do live in Vermont. It is not uncommon in the winter to get a week or two of below zero weather. I would not be able to heat this unit. At this point I think my total coal consumption for the winter will be about 10 to 12 tons. We may also be buying for my elderly in-laws and trucking it down there ourselves. So I could potentially be feeding two homes with this.

I love this forum it has helped me a lot in getting over the speed bumps and learning how to burn coal successfully. I have converted from cord wood to pellet stoves and now I am at coal and I would never go back to either of the other two!

Here are some photos of how I manage my coal once inside my shop. I use plastic 55 gallon barrels. I got the idea from some earlier posts in this thread. I built rolling carts 2' square with two pieces of 5/8" plywood and 2x4's laid flat glued and screwed with 3" screws. I am using the 3" Harbor Freight casters w/brake @ only $3.69 each. The brake isn't needed but the casters w/brake are a much better quality than the ones without the brake for only a few cents more! They are rated at 125 lbs. each
I also built a funnel out of OSB and I fill three barrels at a time with my loader. Heaping full of rice the barrels are over 400 pounds each.
They roll suprisingly easy with that much weight on them!
I have twelve barrel/carts so I can start out with 2 ton plus inside and pick the better weather days for refilling.
I simply roll a barrel near my hopper and scoop it out with a grain scoop, zero mess if you are even moderately careful.
Its also easy to manage very wet coal with the barrels. The water drains to the bottom. If I hit water while scooping near the bottom I just move to the next barrel. The water will evaporate inside in no time, or I can dump it on to a dry barrel that I have removed a little from and it will dampen the dry stuff quite nicely.
Thanks for having a look.
Dragonslayer.

Wow beautiful work on the bin!!!! Now I see a use for that Geometry I flunked in school.

Rev. Larry

blrman07 wrote:Wow beautiful work on the bin!!!! Now I see a use for that Geometry I flunked in school.

Rev. Larry

I am with you. I flunked geometry too. Guess I will have to call the son in law. He has a masters degree in mathematics.

First year with Coal; Learning curve not too bad so far; questions on ash - I will ask on another board

question?? how many cubic feet does 1 ton of bulk nut coal take up??? I have searched and searched on the coal bin thread and am getting weary ...these 71 year old eyes are tiring...thanks B.B.////// NEVER MIND I FOUND IT fyi 40 cu ft =1 ton

I was getting tired of shoveling coal out of my bin. So I cut out a chute to make things easier. So far it works great until the coal supply goes lower than the chute

Here are some pics of the bin I started building. I still have the front wall to put up but other than that I think it's ready to go.
The bin should hold 3 tons, the grain auger will feed the 275 gallon tub that the stoker feeds from. so in all I have about 4 tons of storage.
I'm thinking this will be MUCH easier than lugging bags to the basement....just hope it holds and works:)

Make your bracing extra heavy duty. The down force on the bottom cone is terrific. Don't underestimate it.

northernmainecoal wrote:The bin should hold 3 tons,

I'm worried about this. That cone will have 6000 pounds sitting on a what looks like a 12 inch by 12 inch square in the center. My suspicion is a catastrophic structural failure. I hope you don't mind, I downloaded the pic and added some support to the front side. This support should be added on all sides. I'm no building expert but, I don't see that geometry being very weight bearing without more support. This is just a suggestion. It may need more, or something different than what I have here. But I wouldn't fill it unless you do something!

The green posts are attached to the cone's corners..

No I don't mind at all, I appreciate it, thank you. I posted pictures because I haven't finished and I'm looking for input. I've considered exactly what you have described ( minus the green posts) the other idea I've been tossing around is running two heavy straps around the cone, one close to the bottom and the other 3/4s of the way up. I was leaning towards the strap route but could be talked out of it if you don't think it will be suffient...I do not want a broken bin with coal strewn all over