Coalpail.com Forum

Concerning pipe size...

If i was doing a system like this... i would want as big a pipe as i could get, maybe 6" or bigger...

The bigger the pipe,the bigger the "hidden " coal storage it would have & the box would not have to be so big to get the desired volume.

Want to share your pipe size with others?

xmanjeff wrote: ↑

Tue. Mar. 13, 2018 4:32 pm

ive been wanting to get picks up but have been awfully busy and out of town a good bit , but the main concern I had was making sure that in no way water could get in , I originally had the same ideas as mentioned above , but settled on a wood box I fabricated up , I would have liked to go larger but to go larger in diameter that meant that the pipe coming out of wall had to come out further on a 45, that would make the outside hopper higher , then the top is too high for easy access
, I will try and get some picks up before end of week , I have them on my phone , the hard part is getting them on here,
I had read also in a number of posts in the past that you need at least 4 inch pipe or the coal will bridge up , as far as I'm concerned that is pure bs , my coal just shuffles down thru the pipe now and again as the stove feeds , with no bridging of any kind

windyhill4.2 wrote: ↑

Tue. Mar. 13, 2018 6:01 pm

Concerning pipe size...

If i was doing a system like this... i would want as big a pipe as i could get, maybe 6" or bigger...

The bigger the pipe,the bigger the "hidden " coal storage it would have & the box would not have to be so big to get the desired volume.

Yes, the bigger, the better. However, size would be limited if not wanting to do structural changes in order to get nice angle for flow. So, that puts me down in the 2" range.

McGiever wrote: ↑

Tue. Mar. 13, 2018 11:04 pm

Want to share your pipe size with others?

Thanks McGiever....

Be careful, that can change with damp coal that has some fines mixed with it. It will cake up.

I was asked by a member to post some pics of a coal shute I'm using to run coal to the hopper on my stove in my basement from a box mounted outside on the back of my house . . This system works pretty awesome , as I don't have to carry coal thru my house to feed the stove

coal goes from the outside box , thru a 2 inch pvc on a 45 thru my rim joist , then 22 degrees down into my stove hopper as shown in the pics

I put a considerable amount of thought and design work in before I bought my stove to know for sure if this was going to work or not , I store all my coal outside ,I use 2 300 gallon ibc containers with small holes cut into the sides of them and a gate and shute to fill 5 gallon pales to dump into my small box mounted on my house . any questions I would be glad to answer ,

Just about what I had in mind....... Simple, and practical. My floor joist run in the opposite direction as yours. And boiler not next to window. Need to do a little more thinking....

xmanjeff wrote: ↑

Tue. Mar. 13, 2018 4:32 pm

I had read also in a number of posts in the past that you need at least 4 inch pipe or the coal will bridge up , as far as I'm concerned that is pure bs , my coal just shuffles down thru the pipe now and again as the stove feeds , with no bridging of any kind

That might be more important for the larger sizes, not so much for the rice. The angle is more important, especially for the rice. You are going to need about 40 degrees, 45 to be safe.

If you want to screen it for fines the screen needs to be on an angle so anything that is small enough to lodge in the hole and not fall through can be dislodged by fresh coal. One thought is to drill holes in the pipe itself. Perhaps a double pipe around the section of pipe with the holes with the outside pipe sealed on both ends to contain the fines. Use a "T" with a 45 at the end and extend some pipe downwards with a cap so you can clean it out occasionally. Difficult to describe...., I can draw up some images tomorrow if you don't know what I mean. It's a little elaborate but best thing I can come up.

Lightning wrote: ↑

Wed. Mar. 14, 2018 9:16 am

Be careful, that can change with damp coal that has some fines mixed with it. It will cake up.

Correct, dirty wet coal is worse case and would probably block the screen I described above.Perhaps permanently unless you hd the means to clean it out. One other thing to keep in mind is freezing. On large stock piles that have a lot thermal mass and the coal can be frozen 2 foot thick on the top.... something like this could easily freeze overnight. Even a single piece of coal frozen to the pipe can impede it moving down the pipe.

yes , I feel for my application, wet coal is not an option , if it is wet , and it is freezing , my game is over . 90 % of my coal is bone dry when I pour it down the pipe

The word "Freezing" caught my attention. Then I got to thinking; Yes, no doubt it may freeze but, would it really. Maybe being such a short pipe, enough heat would travel the pipe, preventing freezing? In my case, if it did freeze, I'd simply carry the pail to the basement like I do now. But Yes, something to keep in mind.

Maybe a double reservoir. Pipe from outside feeds enclosed reservoir just inside heated basement. From there, it feeds hopper (thinking of dust here). Or go directly to hopper with cover on hopper. Now we're over thinking. I want to stay simple......