Coalpail.com Forum

What are your thoughts for my
Coal bin/silo
This will be going next to/braced against the side of the garage until it clears the edge of the roof.
Interior dimensions 8'd x 12'w x 16-18'h
2x6 walls 2' on center, bottom will slope at a 40° angle to the auger, 2x6 floor 1' on center.
1x4 purlins on the outside, covered with metal siding.
Interior will be plywood covered in tyvek or some kind of slippery paint with cross bracing every 3-4 feet, either 2x4's or all thread.
I will be using a grain elevator to fill the silo.
Was thinking about access windows every 3-4 feet.
Possibly a piece of pvc pipe with holes in the side going up the center to get some air flow.
Figure that this should hold in excess of 30 tons of pea coal when full.

A drawn plan would really helpful-- BUT--whatever ya do, most of it's about common sense & gravity. .>)

How do you get the coal to the top? Grain elevator?

Yep, he said that Q.

freetown fred wrote: ↑

Mon. Sep. 10, 2018 7:07 pm

Yep, he said that Q.

Oops.

That's OK--I got lost in all the measurements. .>)

jrv8984 wrote: ↑

Mon. Sep. 10, 2018 12:22 pm

Interior will be plywood covered in tyvek or some kind of slippery paint with cross bracing every 3-4 feet, either 2x4's or all thread.

You may want to paint to protect the wood but other than that I wouldn't worry about it on the sides. The only place it needs to be slippery is the angled sections on the bottom. Tyvek is not going to be durable enough. Ideally SS or aluminum but that of course could be quite expensive, thicker PVC sheet should work well. Galvanized has tendency to get rusty especially if the coal is hitting any particular spot and it loses it's "slipperiness". The one thing you will want to be careful about is where the coal is hitting it coming off the belt. If it's hitting the same spot it will put a hole in the wood eventually. Just check for damage as you are going along.

You may glean a few details from this...

You did say glean a "few" details from those plans and one that I think those plans are seriously lacking is cross-bracing. Just my opinion of course, but with that kind of weight any elevated platform I would build would have some cross bracing or it wouldn't be on my property. Given those plans and materials list, cross-bracing would be a simple addition.

Hoytman wrote: ↑

Wed. Sep. 12, 2018 11:52 am

but with that kind of weight any elevated platform I would build would have some cross bracing or it wouldn't be on my property.

Easiest way to do this is with cables and turnbuckles. Eyebolt through plywood and the entire stud, if you wanted to get nuts use some steel pipe, angle iron or whatever across the width of the studs and put your eyebolt through that as well. Every stud benefits from a few cables.

Hoytman wrote: ↑

Wed. Sep. 12, 2018 11:52 am

You did say glean a "few" details from those plans and one that I think those plans are seriously lacking is cross-bracing. Just my opinion of course, but with that kind of weight any elevated platform I would build would have some cross bracing or it wouldn't be on my property. Given those plans and materials list, cross-bracing would be a simple addition.

Well, you obviously missed that (and likely more) details.

Come on man you really don't do your homework , just criticize and ask for spoon feedings everywhere.

I'm gonna have to rethink this idea, it's gonna cost me over $2000. I could buy a lot of coal with that cash.

If I was building something like this it would be smaller, maybe enough for the heating season at the most. Do you need 30 ton?

The bottom would be a cone and go into PVC pipe, PVC pipe through the foundation right into the hopper of a stoker. Just make sure you get the coal early in the summer so it has sufficient time to dry. Make sure you have the means to shut the coal off to the PVC pipe so if something gets stuck you can work on the pipe without having to deal with the coal above it.

If you are just using this storage that's a lot of money and weight to be dealing with and you are not getting much benefit from it.

Save $500 and its already constructed. Maybe make several coal storage units from it.
https://lancaster.craigslist.org/grd/d/2200-bushe ... 44157.html

Yeah, I've seen that silo. Been thinking about something like that. The problem is getting it home. And setting it up. I think I used 12 tons of pea last year, consumption should go down with some of the work I have done. Once I start heating the garage and part of the barn who know what my consumption will be.
The coal gun is in the garage so coal will be augered Up into the hopper. I only have about 10' of usable space between my propane tanks and garage, so it's a matter of finding something that fits, or moving the tanks which my wife has forbade. I'm of the mindset of buy it cheap and stack it deeeep, and I don't really see coal getting any cheaper.