Coal Bin Designs

Greetings fellow board members,

Well it appears that the heating season is over here at 1,140 feet
above mean sea level but there is a nice breeze anyway.

As to coal bin designs, I am looking to build an exterior bin that
has sloping bottom with which I can funnel my coal into 5 gallon
pails. I have 2,100 pounds in the trailer and I have not dumped it yet-
preferring to shovel it into a bin.

i packed last years coal in 5 gallon pails and put it under a tarp-twas a
heap big mistake because it was cheap tarp and you guessed it soggy
coal.

I have no room for a bin in the garage or the boiler room and its a
bear carrying coal from the front of the house versus leaving
the bin or A bin by by the side yard.

I have the book Coal Comfort and the design in the book is
simple but I would not like to use plywood for the base and sides.

I am just wondering if making a bin with a sloped floor is
worth the time and money using tongue and groove pine
for the floor and 2 by 4's for the sloped joists is worth it?
Of course a simpler solution is just putting the bin on some
extra bricks so the back is higher than the front.

Making a wooden roof for the plastic coal bin would not be an issue and putting a
cinder block on it to keep it from blowing off would be no problem of course.

Do any of you have the injection molded plastic bins and what do you think of them?
does the bin have a door to scoop the coal out or is it an over the wall affair to remove
the coal from the bin?

My local coal supplier does not have the plastic bins or carries them in stock.

Are they worth the 200 dollar plus price tag in your opinion?
How have they stood up to the sidewall pressure of the coal?

Is building a bin with a herd of 2 by 6's for the four sides overkill?
I would love to simply have a bin that wastes no lumber.

I built a bin from two 4x8 sheets of 3/4'' plywood, two 2''x6''x8' an a few 2''x4'', an some 5/4''x6''x8' planks for slats. and set it on some flatish rocks. I had some junk plywood I made the roof and found some shingles in a ditch somewhere. I had about $120 in it.

No one makes a plastic bin that I know of. I supposed you could find a used pallet box or other bulk material container that could be used for coal.

Coal is rough on anything it touches and the weight requires something durable to be used as storage.

Plenty of ideas in this thread:

COAL BIN Pics

Note that the bottom must have a considerable slope (40 degrees or more) for the coal to flow if you are looking to empty it by gravity.

Good Luck!!

lzaharis wrote: As to coal bin designs, I am looking to build an exterior bin that
has sloping bottom with which I can funnel my coal into 5 gallon
pails. I have 2,100 pounds in the trailer and I have not dumped it yet-
preferring to shovel it into a bin.

Here's the problem, you need about a 40 degree angle on the sides. As you go wider that angle has to continue upwards so you lose a huge amount of space and have this really high bin. There is nothing wrong with that as long as you can get the coal in the bin but personally I think it's a lot of expense. The one place I saw where it was worth it was the one house I delivered too. The guy had a 12 foot basement and all the coal went right onto the worm. That was a nice setup but he had 12 foot to use.

I think the easiest thing to do is just build a bin you can walk into. You build the door with removable slats. Here's ours:
The slat goes against the door frame and is held in place with the weight of the coal. There is holes and so bolts to mount it but you don't really need them. In our case since we're not taking the coal out of the bin we only need to be able to get in it easy. Once the coal gets low I just take the slats out and I can step right in. In your case what you would do is put those slats all the way to the bottom and leave a space for it to spill out onto the floor or build a little doghouse.

Here is what I think he's referring to for the plastic bin...IBC Tote

Standard size is 275 Gallons (if my calculations are correct this equals 36 cubic feet)
Sometimes 330 gallon sizes can be found.
I buy mine (275 G) at auction for cheap...$15.00 - $40.00 each.

Since I have a walk out basement where my Axeman is, I built a doghouse and slide gate affair into all of the totes.
Then I use a pallet jack to move or change-out totes at the Axemans auger as needed.
And during the off season I move out the tote to not have it in the way for more space.

Still working on a method to tilt the tote to let gravity take the last amount of coal towards the Axeman's auger.

How big a bin do you need? I have one thats 4 foot wide, 7 long and 6 ft high with a slope and it holds 3 ton, any kind of sheet metal will make it better.
My sister has a 4 by 8 6 ft high and it holds 4 ton, no slope but a sliding door that lets out the coal on the same side as her planked entry and she pulls the coal over to the chute with a small roof rake. they both have flat roofs. work great., used 2x4 on 12 inch centers and 3/8 exterior siding from lowes.

Good Luck, Stan

My Bin
rock is 3 inches below the point of the tapered floor ^tapered to both ends, the top 2 pieces coome out to shovel coal in. I use a cheep dishpan to get coal out of chutes and dump it into pails.

McGiever, do you have any photos of your tote system. I was also thinking of using the 275 or larger totes for coal storage .. also have been considering vermontday's bulk bag system. I thought I could stack 2 330 gallon totes .. cut a hole in the bottom of the top tote so it would feed into the bottom tote .. no idea on how much these 2 would hold ton wise ..

would love to see pics and more detail on your set up.

thanks,

Brad

bsteckel wrote:McGiever, do you have any photos of your tote system. I was also thinking of using the 275 or larger totes for coal storage .. also have been considering vermontday's bulk bag system. I thought I could stack 2 330 gallon totes .. cut a hole in the bottom of the top tote so it would feed into the bottom tote .. no idea on how much these 2 would hold ton wise ..

would love to see pics and more detail on your set up.

thanks,

Brad

Click here: .. no idea on how much these 2 would hold ton wise ..

The 275 calculates out to just over 51 cu ft
The 330 calculates out to just under 60 cu ft

With the tops cut off, I'd think either will hold a ton easily.

With pea I'd venture that the 275 gallon tote holds about 2,130 lbs, and the 330 gallon tote holds about 2,560 lbs. It sure seems easier to get coal out of supersacks though.

lsayre wrote: It sure seems easier to get coal out of supersacks though.

Well, any coal appliance that can auger coal out of a coal bin or a barrel can get the coal out of a tote just as well.
And remember, a tote has a standard pallet bottom built in for easy movement.

And it is only half the problem to get the coal out...the other half is how to get the coal in.

But I will say an empty super-sack can be moved into a lot of places a tote would not go...like through narrow doorways and/or up and down narrow stairways.

Here is what I have come up with for now:

Sweet!

Thats the exact same thing I did. I got 20 of them and put a whole load in them. I have a source for the totes they are leftover from mulch dye kinda filthy but cheap. They don't hold a ton probably a little under with buck anyhow.

Check out this coal bin design that I built several years ago. Works well and I recommend sloped floor. Coal Bin Project (the Entire File This Time!)