Right Angle Coal Chute?

Just wondering if anyone out there has had any success with a coal chute with a right angle or 60 deg angle anyway. something close to that.

I am installing an EFM stoker and have been readying the basement. There was an old coal bin but they put an oil tank in it. I got that out and cleaned out some of the old Bit coal that was in there leftover. Rebuilt the door and now i'm going to be refilling it. Got 6 tons of Summit Rice coal last weekend outside waiting on me to get it in there!

basically The chute door on my bin is at one end of the coal bin on the long side.... If you can envision that. On the short side I could give it a good pitch and be fine but on the long side I want to get the coal to the rear of the bin. I thought if I built a chute in there and put an angle on it sort of like and L. I could at least get some back in there without having to go in and out of the bin as often to shovel the coal back into that back corner....

Hopefully you all understand what I mean here. My question is has anyone built one like this with any success or am I wasting time? Coalberner gave me the idea to use like aluminum on the chute so it slides.

Any other thoughts or help is appreciated.

PS I made up a diagram. In red is roughly what I want to build to chute the coal into the back corner if I can. the chute is what goes outside that i'll be shoveling into. about 1.5' deep or so. 2' wide. the doorway is where I will have the slats to keep the coal in and remove as needed.

Assuming the top opening is the window you'll get as much or more coal by just letting it in the window. When it hits that right angle its going to just about stop dead.... I'll simplify it for you even if it would work.... Once the pile has built up to the top of the window with one good push of a shovel from the top of the pile you'll move half a ton or better which is going to be than that chute will ever get over there.

I am having a similar issue with whether or not to install a coal bin where it was years ago. My fuel oil tank is just inside the old coal chute window. Can't remove fuel oil tank yet...getting a Hyfire II to supplement my heating. I have enough space to build a bin beyond the tank but would need to build a chute past the oil tank. I have been thinking about metal kids play slides as the chute. I will be able to run it next to the tank to get to the bin area. Just wondering about how high the sides would need to be and the required slope to keep the rice coal flowing.

Mark,
Maybe you could use a kids play slide with the built in bend?
http://www.swing-n-slide.com/acc_slides.htm

Watch Ebay/craigslist/freecycle sites for used sets.

If it's a straight shot you can do that and if you're getting it deleivered by someone with a coal truck you can definitely do that. When its coming off the truck its up high so the coal has a lot of velocity especially for a straight shot. If it's not on truck you need quite an angle. The "bumps" on those slides will slow it down... You's be better off trying a length of PVC pipe.

Any sheet metal will work but the problem with anything but aluminum or stainless is that it will rust and yes galvanized will rust once it gets scratched up by the coal.

Richard

Sounds like I should just shovel away for awhile and then go down in and push it back into the back corner? I was hoping to avoid getting into the coal if I could to push it back but I guess that may not work. so we'll see how this goes! Thanks for the help.

4tee's

Getting my oil tank out was NO FUN! hehe. The gauge showed about 1/8 of a tank in it. I thought that couldnt' be TOO heavy. well... I was wrong. It was pretty heavy yet. I used a floor jack and a creeper. floor jack under one side and creeper with peice of 2x4 under legs on the other side. it was a TIGHT fit to get out the door. VERY tight. but made it. I do however ruin 3 of the wheels on the creeper. all the bearings came out. but it was worth it to get it moved. I can buy new wheels! Good luck whatever you decide to do there. I am going to be hooking my oil tank back up eventually but no rush there. I don't plan to use it at all really. only when I might go away in the winter and that isn't too often really either.

Thanks!

Mark (PA) wrote:Sounds like I should just shovel away for awhile and then go down in and push it back into the back corner?

Correct, let me explain further. Even if you had the velocity coming off the truck it still doesn't like going around corners. The speed of the coal is greatly reduced by the corner and will most likely get clogged there even with a lot of initial speed. You really need a curved chute....

Having said that the angle of the chute is going to have to have about a 40 degree downward angle, the angle of the coal pile is 45 so you're really not going anywhere anyway.

If the window is ground level outside this is what I'd suggest you do. Cover the area around the window with tarp for easy clean up. Tape some cardboard around the window so you don't screw the siding up (note that the black dirt is impossible to get off a lot of surfaces once it dries). Wheel barrow it to the window and just keep dumping it next to the window, after 1 or 2 and you get a little pile in front of the window it will start going in. Once it fills up to the top of the window you can push it with a rake for while from the outside for while to make more room.

I have a chute in my basement attached to the rafters that is at 42 degrees and a separate chute that runs from the outside perpendicular to the chute that is in the basement and empties onto the basement chute. My bin is 4ft high and my basement is high enough that my basement chute is about 6ft long and at a 42* angle. I throw a bucket full of rice coal (last year it was soaking wet) into the chute outside and it flows a couple of feet and drops onto the basement chute and goes into the bin. I can rotate my basement chute to either side of my bin so I can start my coal piles 12 or so feet apart, one on each end of the bin. The only fly in the ointment would be if you had a low basement. If I remember right my basement is 14 courses high.

Now that is an idea there Rick! I like that. i'm not sure I could do it but its a good idea. I have a lower basement unfortunetly so I don't know that I could get the angles I need but I may do some figuring tonight to see what happens. Thanks!

gambler wrote: My bin is 4ft high and my basement is high enough that my basement chute is about 6ft long and at a 42* angle..

Suitable for that because you only have a four foot high bin and the height on the basement. Most bins in the basement go all the way to the rafters...

I have never done it but have heard of people using 1 or more treadmills (you know the ones that sit idle in your house and are used to hang clothes on) suspended from the rafters to move coal to a farther location in a bin.

an old treadmill

Ahhh Gambler -- Your the best