Coalgun S500 Project

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Fri. Sep. 19, 2014 9:27 pm

Looks good & good to see someone making real good progress on their heating project.

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Sun. Sep. 21, 2014 8:05 am

The building looks great, a lot of work there for sure! Did you mill your own T&G on the 2x's in your chute?

What did you use to cut the pitch on your metal siding to match the peak? I am using metal siding for the first time on my pole barn and wondered about cutting it.

Joseph Leid · Post by **Joseph Leid** » Sun. Sep. 21, 2014 1:57 pm

Titleist,
Wish I wasn't so busy so I could come down a day to help you put on your siding!
We cut it the old fashioned way, with handheld tin snips

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I built my own polebarn style shop 60" x 96" myself with some help from my brothers. I had purchased an electric powered electrical snips for approx. $300.00, but we were not really impressed with the performance of the tool. Sure using the hand held scissors takes a bit of hard work, just be sure you have a good one like, wiss or stanley etc... You can find cheaper ones, but be sure once you are cutting you will wish for the best out there!!!

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To cut the tin "the long way," we chalk a line and score it with a utility knife as hard as we can, then bend it at the scored point and break it off. We only cut 2 or 3 cuts on a knife before we flip it or replace it.
You might find it helpful to try to find a video demonstrating it

We have milled some of our own already, But the ready milled ones are not a lot more expensive than the plain 2x 8's
The tongue and groove flooring we used for the chute as well as the floor and sides of the bin we purchased at our "local" lumberyard,
Let me know if you want contact info.
Thanks
Joseph

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Mon. Sep. 22, 2014 7:54 am

My loading and unloading calcs show only a 0.2 psi worst case increase over the static loading previously calculated. And that is only at certain elevation points along the base of the wall near the auger and just above the highest point on the incline. So the safety factor suggested on the static load numbers would handle the additional stress on the elevation points seeing this additional load. The safety factor would even handle the earlier suggested wind loading. Now seismic loading is not figured here so if you are subject to earth tremors from fracking activities - all bets are off!!

Again, anyone that wants to double check the numbers please do, I can't engineer stamp, give a tail light guarantee or even bet a beer that there isn't a misplaced digit here or there. Remember its worth what you paid for it!

Thanks for the info on cutting, I had planned on scoring and bending the cuts along the length as you described. The cuts across the ribs while cutting the gable pitch are what I was wondering about. I thought the snips may deform the ribs somewhat as they cut across them. I noticed there is concern about the heat generated using a grinder or saw compromising the metal treatment allowing rust to form so I will either get a good set of hand snips as you suggest or borrow a friends pneumatic shears to try out.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Mon. Sep. 22, 2014 8:38 am

I've never done a metal roof but my favorite "snips" are the "offset type" ...your whole hand/knuckles stay above the cut and the metal remains flat as you zip right thru...it would be the best $14.00 you ever spent just for the savings in band-aids alone.

Joseph Leid · Post by **Joseph Leid** » Tue. Sep. 23, 2014 4:52 pm

Yes yes yes!!! Make sure the scissors are offset!

I forgot to mention that. I just pulled the pic off the internet and didn't even really look at that. I grew up using the straight ones and sacrificed a lot of blood to them and thought tin snips were a real pain, till I used one of our friends snips. I'm not sure what I would do with a straight snips, even if I was paid $50.00 to take them! Probably try to sell them on craigslist

Joseph

Joseph Leid · Post by **Joseph Leid** » Wed. Sep. 24, 2014 9:47 pm

We are moving forward still, sorry no photos

We have the chute attached as well as the auger setup to the boiler.
We also are working on putting in a breaker box into the container as well as provisions for a diesel generator. "We sold our propane unit and purchased a diesel one to get away from the liability of a propane line leaking into the container."
We also got 2 24" x 30" vents installed in the side of the container as well as a small entry door.
Hoping to get more photos soon

Joseph

Joseph Leid · Post by **Joseph Leid** » Fri. Sep. 26, 2014 10:06 pm

Hi Guys, I need a little advice.....

Seller;

I would recommend filling the heating system with a special antifreeze made to keep it from freezing as well as from rusting......

Me

Really!?? I got a bottle of water treatment with the boiler as well to add in the water. Also in the winter the water in the pipes should be hot enough to keep it from freezing...Not??

Seller
..What if the electric goes off and the water stands still in the pipes and freezes......Then what??
Me

Won't my generator on an automatic transfer switch take care of that??
Seller
..I guess..... But in a cooooolllld snap, if the shop or house gets warm enough and the circulator stops....and the water stands still....It could freeze.
Me
But in the cooolllld weather the water should be running almost full time, not?? We never had pipes freeze before...
Seller;
This machine cranks aaaa llllot more heat out than your old on one did......

So here I am, not quite decided on what we should do......
What do you guys do?????
Any of you guys come out in the morning and find your boiler iced over like an old dehumidifier coil

Looking forward to hearing from you!!

PS, I got an estimate for a 2- 50 gallon barrels of this "special" antifreeze for $1800

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Fri. Sep. 26, 2014 10:43 pm

We never had our OWB freeze,it had no antifreeze ,we did have a circulator running 24/7/366 on the long loop which was also the loop that made the DHW for both houses.My opinion is that you should have your 200' & even the 150' loops running 24/7,that way there will not be such a big lag in hot water to heat with & no worry of it freezing either as moving water takes alot to freeze. Our shop loop circulator runs 24/7 when the weather is cold enough to require heat 24/7,that way there is hot water running thru constantly,radiating warmth & instant hot air when the fan kicks on blowing thru my homemade modine style heater & the trane heater. Your set up may require a different approach ,but for me with no super fancy education & shallow pockets this has worked very well with the OWB on duty & I do not see any reason for a different set up burning coal.

Post by **Rob R.** » Sat. Sep. 27, 2014 7:10 am

I would skip the antifreeze. As for running the circulators 24/7, you can do that...or not. Where is that guy that says "it depends"? The circulators will run the most when it is coldest anyway due to the heat demand of the building...but running everything 24/7 is the simplest and safest. Personally I hate electric bills, and I usually invest in a few relays to only run things when I need the heat.

Sting · Post by **Sting** » Sat. Sep. 27, 2014 8:55 am

Rob R. wrote:you can do that...or not. Where is that guy that says "it depends"?

I am here in this whiskey bottle - Its OK you can let me out.

Joseph Leid · Post by **Joseph Leid** » Sat. Sep. 27, 2014 9:00 am

We will be putting in relays for the 3 pipes going to the shop, and if they freeze we will have to decide if we want to spent $1800 on
antifreeze or pay to have the circulators run full time. We've had our share of circulators go bad on us..... mainly because our wood stove would overheat cook out the water and the pumps ran dry

"not good!!! I don't think we had one more than 2 years...
And these are the grundfos brand, not cheap
Joseph

windyhill4.2 · Post by **windyhill4.2** » Sat. Sep. 27, 2014 10:12 am

We use Taco 007,supposed to use less than a 60 watt bulb,we have them last for quite a few years,not sure how long but more than 3 yrs.We have no choice on running the one all the time as it runs thru water to water heat exchangers in 2 houses for the DHW, I run the one in the shop 24/7 when heat is needed all the time anyway. I do not see how that would waste any more electric as the radiant heat we get from the 2 modine style heaters helps to keep the heater fans from running as much & my thinking is to Keep It Sensibly Simple,we need no radiator aquastat & wiring to accomplish the heating , & we have instant HOT air this way. It just boils down to some personal preferences & how many controls you like your system to have. I guess to clarify further my thinking on this is : we open the overhead door to move equipment in or out ,also sometimes to air out the gasoline fumes from a particular job, the flush of cold air needs to be rapidly replaced with HOT air,without a delay caused by an aquastat waiting for HOT water so it can energize the fans . But , that is the way I like it,not to say it is THE right way,i just do not like shivering while working in my shop & this has worked very well for 8 winters. I do not hear water running thru the heaters,i can hear the fans run & by constant circulation I can go longer times without the fan noise. It depends on your system,preference & other things,your results may be different. I have no fancy education with the benefits of letters behind my name to give more authority to my opinion so user discretion is advised.

Joseph Leid · Post by **Joseph Leid** » Mon. Oct. 06, 2014 6:50 pm

Hi Guys!
We got busy in the shop which scares me a little..... we sure want the boiler cookin' before the cold!
Here are a few pics of what we did since my last post.
If you look closely you can see the ash auger coming out of the side of the container.....
What do y'all do around the pipes where they come up out of the ground? Great stuff spray foam??
Thanks!
Joseph