15 Gal Coal Vac System Tutorial

Lu47Dan · Post by **Lu47Dan** » Tue. Feb. 18, 2014 8:54 pm

Steve, if you use a Fernco coupling to attach the vacuum hopper to the feeder hopper, go from lets say 3" on the vacuum hopper to 4" on the feeder hopper lid. this way you can slid it upwards without fighting with it.
Then you can make your lid slid on over the hopper.
Neat system you have there.
Dan.

johnniecuse · Post by **johnniecuse** » Sun. Feb. 23, 2014 7:49 pm

Dirty Steve wrote:johnniecuse,

I also use a high efficiency dust bag inside each shop vac and a HEPA filter in each shop vac. 6.0 and 6.5 rated vaccums.

Steve - Are you saying you are using two filters in each vac? If so, how do you do that?

Wiz · Post by **Wiz** » Mon. Feb. 24, 2014 5:16 am

johnniecuse wrote:
Dirty Steve wrote:johnniecuse,

I also use a high efficiency dust bag inside each shop vac and a HEPA filter in each shop vac. 6.0 and 6.5 rated vaccums.
Steve - Are you saying you are using two filters in each vac? If so, how do you do that?

some shop vacs can use bag filters and fiber pleated filters. I've since switched over to buckwheat coal that's has been allot cleaner and resolved the dust/fines in vac. Note::: Make hopper lid out of plexiglass and this will limited dust forming during filling of hopper.

vegeta_ban · Post by **vegeta_ban** » Fri. Oct. 10, 2014 12:00 pm

Thanks for this great idea

So I have oiled coal. I most likely need the dust deputy because there should be no dust, right?

Wiz · Post by **Wiz** » Fri. Oct. 10, 2014 3:14 pm

vegeta_ban wrote:Thanks for this great idea

So I have oiled coal. I most likely need the dust deputy because there should be no dust, right?

Just shop vacs

mmackie266 · Post by **mmackie266** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2015 2:31 pm

Does anyone have experience or thoughts on how far this system would be able to transfer rice coal? Love the idea, but I have about a 20-25 foot distance from coal bin to stove. So I would need to lift the coal about 6-8 feet then run it along the ceiling over to the hopper. Just looking if this is something feasible and even worth trying. thanks!

lzaharis · Post by **lzaharis** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2015 3:18 pm

OH come you guys!! Wheres your sense of adventure?

You have do this while enduring a raging snow storm where you
cannot see three feet in front of you, pull out the 40 foot shop vac
hose with taped connections to prevent separating and connected
to 3 shop vacs and a dust deputy (solid 2 inch drainage hose would work too)
while you are holding on to the rope that leads to your covered stockpile
of coal bags-yes use a silo tarp!!,

Pull the tarp back to expose the stacked bags, drag six bags down to the ground,
slice the end stitch on the first sewn bag, open the bag after pulling the single thread,
stuffing the suction hose in the bag, vacuuming the coal into the hopper while opening
three more bags and saying there damn it I fooled the oil company again while thanking
her (Mother Nature) for blessing the wonderful geology resulting from rotting vegetation in the
Carboniferous Period that is solid carbon/Athracite Coal.

No vegetarian dinosaurs were hurt or killed during this intense discussion
of coal vacuums shp vacs, PVC Pipe, solid two inch drainage tubing and
the "Dust Deputy" a product of The Onieda Air Company
of Onieda, New York USA

lzaharis · Post by **lzaharis** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2015 3:28 pm

mmackie266 wrote:Does anyone have experience or thoughts on how far this system would be able to transfer rice coal? Love the idea, but I have about a 20-25 foot distance from coal bin to stove. So I would need to lift the coal about 6-8 feet then run it along the ceiling over to the hopper. Just looking if this is something feasible and even worth trying. thanks!

AS long as you generate a high pressure gradient the distance you comtemplate should be fine as long as there are no leaks to affect the loss of pressure gradient to move the coal to the bin.

Its better to use multiple shop vacs in a conga line and a dust deputy to collect the coal dust before the shop vacs that way you will have a higher pressure gradient to convey the coal slowly as the shop vacs do not use positive displacement blowers to create the pressure gradient.

The vacuum which is actually referred to as a "Pressure Gradient" and "PSIG water gauge" in the proper term is strictly dependent on a sealed pipe i.e. the hose or PVC tube used to convey the coal to the enclosure i.e. the barrel.

The resistance is the weight of the coal being pulled by the pressure gradient created by the conga
line of shop vacs along with the the dust deputy removing the fine coal dust with its cyclone prior to the conga line of shop vacs but after the coal is deposited in the barrel.

Yes the topic just plain sucks

bsteckel · Post by **bsteckel** » Sat. Dec. 19, 2015 11:56 am

getting ready to put together the pieces I need for my attempt at a coal vac. What fittings, etc. do I need to get?

for the bottom of the barrell, I know I need a pvc toilet flange and as stub of pipe, plus a flapper of some sort.

for the top of the barrell .. what fittings should I use? I will be running 2 shop vacs, so I know I need 2 fittings in the lid for vacs to hook up to .. what kind of fitting is everyone using for this that passes thru the lid? How are you sealing/attaching it through the lid? I also need one for the feed tube to enter the lid from the coal bin.. this will be 1.5" pvc. and it seems it should have an elbow on it to direct the coal to the side of the barrel.

thanks..

Brad

lzaharis · Post by **lzaharis** » Sun. Dec. 20, 2015 12:04 pm

Hello Brad,

Please go to youtube and type in coal vac and you will be blessed
with many great videos of high quality showing how it is done.

In this way you judge how much pipe and work you need to do.

if you invest in a dust deputy I would invest in two of them and in
that way you have that much more suction available to you where
you can install them one after the other and them and then connect
to the shop vacs and maintain a very high HG pressure gradient and
it will just plain suck just like my response.

bsteckel · Post by **bsteckel** » Sun. Dec. 20, 2015 12:56 pm

thanks ... I did do that . There is really no good info on the lid set up. I think I will try to use pvc female and male adapters to attach to the lid and seal well.

will get some fittings and see what happens.

lzaharis · Post by **lzaharis** » Sun. Dec. 20, 2015 6:32 pm

bsteckel wrote:thanks ... I did do that . There is really no good info on the lid set up. I think I will try to use pvc female and male adapters to attach to the lid and seal well.

will get some fittings and see what happens.

===========================================================================================

The Onieda Air Dust Deputies have lids that can be easily removed and
locked back down without damaging them.

The biggest thing/decision is whether you can have a wooden shelf over
the coal hopper to install the small barrel(15 gallon metal barrel) used to
act as a sealed hopper above the coal hopper.

titleist1 · Post by **titleist1** » Sun. Dec. 20, 2015 9:17 pm

bsteckel wrote: I think I will try to use pvc female and male adapters to attach to the lid and seal well.

I used threaded male / female through the lid. The one I attached to the shop vac has nothing connected to that threaded fitting inside the barrel. The other side has a 45 inside the barrel on the threaded fitting to deflect the coal against the side of the barrel.

It is important to seal all the barrel fittings with caulk so you don't lose suction.