Ash Removal With a Dust Collector?

I was wondering if a 1hp dust collector motor would work to lift ashes from my basement and blow them out a window to a 4x8 trailer parked near the window?
My questions are could I mount the blower inside out of the weather and would the blower be able to "push" the ashes out to the trailer sided with 4 foot high on the sides with the ashes entering from the top through an angled roof? Would ashes corrode a blower or I wondered about clinkers going into the blower motor (if I had any; I have not received my Harman VF-3000 stoker yet and don't know if the type of coal I end up with will produce clinkers). I intend to use a blast gate to prevent backflow of cold air. Finally, would a 4x8x4 trailer hold 4 tons of burned coal ash? Thanks for your help!

4 Ton of ASH! That's alot! Ash is usually about 10% of the coal. So 4 Ton of COAL, you would only have 800#'s of ash,

Moving the ash could be a problem, the fines would probably work, but small pieces, clinkers, etc...may not. If you had some type of auger system, probably would work better.

Back in the 50's there was a model home located on ave in Wyoming Pa. that had a state of the art stocker system that blew the ashes outside into 20 gallon steel cans that were inside of a cabinet. The whole system worked great all the homeowner needed to do was switch full cans with empties. My point is ashes can be conveyed to an outside container very clean efficently.

I think you'll make a big mess or catch something on fire .

I once removed over a ton of rice coal from a cellar with my woodworking vacuum blower. Probably not the brightest idea, but it worked well.

I am sorry not 4 tons of ash but I meant to say the amount of ash produced from burning 4 tons of anthracite coal!

A lot of questions and "What if's".

I have a inexpensive dust collector as I am a amature woodworker among other things and experience designing commercial dust collection systems.

It would move the ash with no problem, however it would not only place it in the trailer but also all over everything. Moving the ash is one thing. Separating it from the air stream would be another. Ash is finer than wood sawdust and would require special means to prevent a large dust cloud. Even if the trailer were enclosed, the air has mass and a relief vent would be required to let out as much air as you blow in. The dust would not have time to settle and you would have a mess.

You must have enough velocity to entrain the largest partical you wish to move such as the clinkers. This makes separating the smaller particals harder. Think electrostatic precipitation and filter bag house.

Corrosion - Yes. with clinkers you would have errosion also. I once visited a power plant that burned coal dust in a large boiler. It blew the coal dust with large radial blade fans much those in dust collectors. The blades and the fans were 1/2" thick steel and had to be replaced about once per year. Of course we are grossly out of scale here.

Fire prevention is another issue. I recommend keeping ash in a metal can with a tight fitting lid. One glowing coal in the wrong place could be disasterous.

read this:
Ash Vacuum Recomendations?

Thank you Steamup and others. I am not giving up on the concept yet. I thought to make the trailer sides and roof out of metal roofing and use metal 4" pipe for the occasional hot coal. Would putting a little smoke stack on one end of the trailer and blow the ashes in the other give them enough time to settle or maybe a furnace type air filter? I have some great areas to dump the stuff so if this works it would make things alot easier. -Steve

The primary issue with collecting ash through any vacuum system is the you have a lot of ash that is very fine. If you you ran a tub full of ashes through a shop vac the performance is going to be significantly reduced.