Height of Scissor Lift Coal Truck ? Opinion on a Grain Silo.

AA130FIREMAN · Post by **AA130FIREMAN** » Fri. Sep. 28, 2012 11:05 am

I'm thinking of finding a grain silo to store pea coal. The height is 13' 7" on a galvanized silo for 5 ton, 200+ cu feet. How high do "most" scissor lift trucks lift ?

Post by **Richard S.** » Fri. Sep. 28, 2012 11:39 am

If you can get right back to it as in the ass end of the truck about 3 feet from the silo maybe 7 or 8 feet max. You need a chute cut to length for that. I would suggest calling the dealer and see what they recommend. I'd always say 6 foot at most to stay on the safe side because I knew I could reach that from a little distance.

steamup · Post by **steamup** » Fri. Sep. 28, 2012 1:17 pm

At 13'-7" you better think auger or pneumatic conveyor. Kind of an expensive option to store coal.

EarthWindandFire · Post by **EarthWindandFire** » Fri. Sep. 28, 2012 2:57 pm

I remember seeing a used grain silo for sale on CL. I put a lot of thought into buying it but decided against it. Not a bad idea!

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Fri. Sep. 28, 2012 3:05 pm

I'd definitely go the conveyor route over a lift truck.

Was trying to find a Youtube vid I watched a while back of a portable conveyor system that hooked to the guy's PTO on his tractor. He had one hell of a heating system burning either corn, or some other silage, Wish I could remember where the damn vid is!

Guy was up in Canada ...

EarthWindandFire · Post by **EarthWindandFire** » Fri. Sep. 28, 2012 3:14 pm

Smitty,

I remember that video too!

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Fri. Sep. 28, 2012 3:20 pm

Was it posted on the forum here? Might have been. I remember the guy -- he built his own stoves out of 55 gallon drums & welded them all together. I'll keep searching .. maybe it'll be under "home made stove" ...

Post by **coaledsweat** » Fri. Sep. 28, 2012 6:12 pm

Household Coal in New Britan CT has 4 concrete silos that each hold 250 tons of coal. They were all fed from one bar conveyor which unfortunately rotted away recently and is now useless.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Fri. Sep. 28, 2012 6:50 pm

SMITTY wrote:I'd definitely go the conveyor route over a lift truck.

Was trying to find a Youtube vid I watched a while back of a portable conveyor system that hooked to the guy's PTO on his tractor. He had one hell of a heating system burning either corn, or some other silage, Wish I could remember where the damn vid is! Guy was up in Canada ...

Maybe this guy...sunflower seed husks.

oppirs · Post by **oppirs** » Fri. Sep. 28, 2012 6:55 pm

Smitty Video was found. McGiever beat me too it. Nice set-up for sun flower husks, do you think it could handle bigger stuff?

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Fri. Sep. 28, 2012 7:00 pm

McGiever wrote:
Maybe this guy...sunflower seed husks.

THAT's the one!

I thought it was corn for some reason. No wonder I couldn't find it ...

That would be a great setup for coal, I think. Although the silo would have to be pretty damn beefy to handle the abuse of these black rocks.

AA130FIREMAN · Post by **AA130FIREMAN** » Sat. Sep. 29, 2012 2:12 am

The back oy my lawn is on a slope. I was thinking of making the silo lower than the lawn and empting from the low side, still sounds like the silo may be too tall. Another idea I may build a block basement with a cement top, " on the same sloping hill " with a man hole cover on top. I could fill with my truck or a delevery guy. Sloped inside to allow the coal to flow and remove from the low side. Another benefit I could use the cement slab as a patio by the woods.