Need Help With Coal Vac System

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kathy0304
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Location: Moscow, PA
Coal Size/Type: rice

Post by kathy0304 » Thu. Oct. 05, 2017 7:31 pm

Please be patient with me. I am new to posting to this site and I am a female, so my explanation of things might be a little less technical than the guys. I tried to copy one of the designs to use a shop vac to move coal from my bin to the stove. I used a 5 gallon pail with a toilet flange on the bottom, my shop vac is 6 hp but the opening for the hose is 1 inch in diameter and is 30 ft long in length. I ran a 17 foot pvc (a 10 and a cut 7 ft with coupler) there is one 45 degree at each end to attach to pail and the other to hose to suck coal. My question is should I shorten the shop vac hose and should I change the pvc pipe to be the same size as the shop vac hose?

 
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Pauliewog
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Location: Pittston, Pennsylvania
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Alaska 140 Dual Paddle Feed
Baseburners & Antiques: Fame Rosemont #20, Home Stove Works #25, Glenwood #6, Happy Thought Oak, Merry Bride #214, Sunnyside, Worlds Argand #114, New Golden Sun , & About 30 others.
Coal Size/Type: Stove, Chesnut, Pea, Rice / Anthracite

Post by Pauliewog » Sat. Oct. 07, 2017 1:22 pm

Hi Kathy, and welcome to the forum. Posting a few pictures of your setup will go a long way in helping us get you running.

A few questions:

Is the 1" pipe you mentionef the suction hose from your shop vac into your 5 gallon can ?

Where are you located? If you fill that out in your profile , there may be a member close by that can help.

What size coal are you moving with the vac.

What size pipe are you using from your 5 gallon bucket down to your coal bin ?

Paulie

 
kathy0304
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Joined: Wed. Mar. 15, 2017 12:59 pm
Location: Moscow, PA
Coal Size/Type: rice

Post by kathy0304 » Sat. Oct. 07, 2017 5:29 pm

My shop vac end into the 5 gal drum is one inch in diameter the hose itself is a little larger, the pipe I'm running into the coal is 1 1/4 inch in diameter. I sealed everything up tight with "flex seal" there was a can in the garage and did a test run last night. It worked wonderfully for a minute then my bucket got all sucked in...I wouldn't say that it collapsed , it was sucked into itself. Back to the drawing board.

 
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Pauliewog
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Posts: 1824
Joined: Mon. Dec. 02, 2013 12:15 am
Location: Pittston, Pennsylvania
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Alaska 140 Dual Paddle Feed
Baseburners & Antiques: Fame Rosemont #20, Home Stove Works #25, Glenwood #6, Happy Thought Oak, Merry Bride #214, Sunnyside, Worlds Argand #114, New Golden Sun , & About 30 others.
Coal Size/Type: Stove, Chesnut, Pea, Rice / Anthracite

Post by Pauliewog » Sat. Oct. 07, 2017 6:35 pm

Hang on before you go back to the drawing board try this .............

Drill a hole in the 1-1/4 " pipe about a foot from the end that sticks into the coal bin to introduce some air at the suction end.

You can start out with anywhere from a 3/8" to 1/2" hole and cover part of it with tape if you lose too much suction.

What size coal ?

Paulie

 
GettingStoked
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Post by GettingStoked » Sat. Dec. 02, 2017 2:14 pm

Not to hijack but if I could ask a question of you guys working on these coal vacs. In a 5gal pal setup, how do you keep the coal that is entering the pal not to then get sucked into the hole in the lid where the vac is sucking from? Thanks


 
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Pauliewog
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Posts: 1824
Joined: Mon. Dec. 02, 2013 12:15 am
Location: Pittston, Pennsylvania
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Alaska 140 Dual Paddle Feed
Baseburners & Antiques: Fame Rosemont #20, Home Stove Works #25, Glenwood #6, Happy Thought Oak, Merry Bride #214, Sunnyside, Worlds Argand #114, New Golden Sun , & About 30 others.
Coal Size/Type: Stove, Chesnut, Pea, Rice / Anthracite

Post by Pauliewog » Sat. Dec. 02, 2017 2:37 pm

When the drum or pail is full there is a noticeable change in sound to the shop vac similar to what you get when you block the end of the hose with your hand.

Once the bucket is filled it essentially cuts off the volume of air required to lift and carry the coal back into the shop vac.

Paulie

 
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nepacoal
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Coal Size/Type: Buck

Post by nepacoal » Sat. Dec. 02, 2017 4:10 pm

I built a plywood box instead of using a 5 gal bucket... I used 1/8 expanded metal mesh stapled in front of the "shop vac" port. I guess you could epoxy mesh on the inside of the bucket lid... The mesh works great to keep the coal from getting into the dust deputy or shop vac.

 
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joeq
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Post by joeq » Sat. Dec. 02, 2017 5:15 pm

Where is Kathy? Has anyone checked her bin, to see if she got sucked in. :lol:

 
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Pauliewog
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Posts: 1824
Joined: Mon. Dec. 02, 2013 12:15 am
Location: Pittston, Pennsylvania
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Alaska 140 Dual Paddle Feed
Baseburners & Antiques: Fame Rosemont #20, Home Stove Works #25, Glenwood #6, Happy Thought Oak, Merry Bride #214, Sunnyside, Worlds Argand #114, New Golden Sun , & About 30 others.
Coal Size/Type: Stove, Chesnut, Pea, Rice / Anthracite

Post by Pauliewog » Sat. Dec. 02, 2017 9:53 pm

joeq wrote:
Sat. Dec. 02, 2017 5:15 pm
Where is Kathy? Has anyone checked her bin, to see if she got sucked in. :lol:
According to her profile, she is only about 15 minutes from me. I didnt see anything on the news, or read anything in the local paper, so I ģuess she got it figured out. :D

Paulie

 
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joeq
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Post by joeq » Sat. Dec. 02, 2017 11:07 pm

Well, I did see she was from "Moscow", so maybe they haven't let her back on the computer. But because it's so close to Christmas, hopefully they'll bend the rules a little.


 
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Pauliewog
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Posts: 1824
Joined: Mon. Dec. 02, 2013 12:15 am
Location: Pittston, Pennsylvania
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Alaska 140 Dual Paddle Feed
Baseburners & Antiques: Fame Rosemont #20, Home Stove Works #25, Glenwood #6, Happy Thought Oak, Merry Bride #214, Sunnyside, Worlds Argand #114, New Golden Sun , & About 30 others.
Coal Size/Type: Stove, Chesnut, Pea, Rice / Anthracite

Post by Pauliewog » Sat. Dec. 02, 2017 11:47 pm

joeq wrote:
Sat. Dec. 02, 2017 11:07 pm
Well, I did see she was from "Moscow", so maybe they haven't let her back on the computer. But because it's so close to Christmas, hopefully they'll bend the rules a little.
:lol: :lol: :lol:

 
kathy0304
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Location: Moscow, PA
Coal Size/Type: rice

Post by kathy0304 » Sun. Dec. 31, 2017 9:49 am

I have been tweaking my system. I got a cyclone top system from Amazon, changed the piping to 2 inch. After changing to the cyclone system the coal stopped collecting in the shop vac. I am now having a problem with air locking. I did install a 90 degree elbow with a I inch pipe that is two feet long have a few holes drilled in the main pipe. Should I drill more holes? Any suggestion? Thank you everyone for wondering where I was. Happy New Year!!

 
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Pauliewog
Member
Posts: 1824
Joined: Mon. Dec. 02, 2013 12:15 am
Location: Pittston, Pennsylvania
Hot Air Coal Stoker Furnace: Alaska 140 Dual Paddle Feed
Baseburners & Antiques: Fame Rosemont #20, Home Stove Works #25, Glenwood #6, Happy Thought Oak, Merry Bride #214, Sunnyside, Worlds Argand #114, New Golden Sun , & About 30 others.
Coal Size/Type: Stove, Chesnut, Pea, Rice / Anthracite

Post by Pauliewog » Sun. Dec. 31, 2017 2:08 pm

Happy New Year and welcome back. Yep, we get worried here when we don't hear back from our members. :D Can you post a few pictures of your vac setup.

Did you run 2" pipe from the bucket down to your bin ? Is the end of your pipe cut at an angle?

A few pictures will make it a lot easier to troubleshoot.

Paulie

 
kathy0304
New Member
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed. Mar. 15, 2017 12:59 pm
Location: Moscow, PA
Coal Size/Type: rice

Post by kathy0304 » Mon. Jan. 01, 2018 7:48 pm

I am running a 2" pipe from the bucket to the bin, the end of my pipe is straight. Ill try to post pictures, tech not my best talent.

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