The coal is very dry. I buy it in July and it goes under shed where no water can hit it and each bag is stacked on a pallet so air can flow around and under.
This is the first year that I have burned any buck, I got 11 ton in this past summer and ordered only 4 of buck. The rest is rice which is what I have always burned up until this past season. For sure you can hear a bit more grinding in the tube. I tried it because it was $30/ ton cheaper and folks on this board said they have had experience with it as well as the good folks at direnzo. I am actually burning a mix of buck and rice. The problems I have have been before buck when I was only using rice. Two years ago I got rice from Sherman, who I had been using from the get go, and it was super dirty and dusty, Lots and lots of fines. That of course could clog up the tube. I cleaned everything out this year to get rid of that stuff.
Again the tube pipe is factory pipe, so I would assume it is ok.
The extension is whatever the longer worm is, I would guess 5' or so. I cut 4" off and welded the flight back on at end so that the worm would stop just short of the dog house and not go into main bin. The end of the worm sits about 3" off the ground so that coal is all around the last flights.
Pacowy wrote:Sorry to hear of the trouble you're having. Like others my first thought would be the rocks/gravel issue. Even the coal itself could be stressing the auger, depending upon the sizing. EFM spec is for rice; many have successfully used buck, but big buck with some oversized pcs might not work so well. Might want to use a screen on the feed bin to catch rocks/debris/oversize pcs before they get to the auger. x2 on sc's thought to check pipe ID's. Also, flighting of extension should match pot auger, auger shaft should have no bends, and exposed end of auger extension should be clear of the bottom of the feed bin and any obstructions. How long is the extension?
Mike
