Can Any Boiler Be Converted to an Auger Feed?

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beatle78
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Post by beatle78 » Sun. Feb. 24, 2008 2:15 pm

Hi guys,

Can any hopper fed boiler be converted to an auger feed styler boiler using a system like AHS has on their website? [see attached pic]

And if so, are there any cons to doing it this way?

Thanks,
Jeremy

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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Sun. Feb. 24, 2008 4:41 pm

I think you can use some form of auger to keep a hopper filled automaticly, or to fill a hopper with manual on/off switches. But the cost of the auger shown on the AHS site is very high.

If you are creative, and can fabricate braces, brackets, and lower feed hopper for the feed of the auger, electronic sensors to tell it when to feed, and when to stop,, etc.. Then it would be an interesting 'science experiment'. I guess it would depend on whether you felt the outlay of time and money would be worth the labor savings.

I have a section of 6" corn/bean auger that I may try to rig up to feed my hopper for the AA260 boiler.. I'm filling it weekly with 1500# of pea size coal.. That's 40+ 5 gallon buckets at ~35# each, all lifted up to shoulder height... If my shoulders or elbows give out, I'll HAVE TO figure out some loading system that is less muscle and tendon dependant.

Maybe it will be a hinged section in the roof over the hopper with a funnel arrangement so I can load it with my tractor front-end loader. ???

An auger system can be made to work, but may not be worth the effort or cost.

Greg L

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beatle78
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Post by beatle78 » Sun. Feb. 24, 2008 7:59 pm

thanks Greg!

hmmm.... I'll have to look into a used corn/bean auger. The reason I ask is that the AA130's, EFM 520's have to have the auger heading down to the floor from the side of the boiler (right?). I think my setup is too close for comfort for that to work.

With on of these. I could put it through the side of my house into a coal bin and feed the coal from the bin into a hopper :D

and yes, this would be a REALLY cool science experiment. :)


 
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beatle78
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Post by beatle78 » Sun. Feb. 24, 2008 8:00 pm

p.s. How expensive is "expensive"? for the AHS auger? Ballpark $$.

 
Matthaus
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Post by Matthaus » Sun. Feb. 24, 2008 8:06 pm

Jeremy, not sure of how much the AHS system costs but I have a cheaper solution for you. My Eshland is fed by a set up using the flxi auger in the attached link (thanks to Loschboiler for posting the link).

http://www.ctbinc.com/PDFfiles/2007lit/CT-2314-05 ... ugerEM.pdf

The previous owner said she purchased the whole set up for around $350 including the 3" PVC conduit. The set up travels around 15' from the coal bin up to the hopper and has manual control to simply fill the hopper every few days by flipping the switch.

I do not have the boiler yet so will give more details when I get it. :)

 
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beatle78
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Post by beatle78 » Sun. Feb. 24, 2008 8:58 pm

Matthaus,

That's sweet!!!.. Price is good too. So you've been using that with Rice Coal, correct? Do you think it would work with buck or pea? Just curious. :?:

No problems thus far?

That is perfect. Plus I would think it could also cut down on coal dust from dumping the 5 gallon buckets into the hopper. With this system you could put a piece of plastic over the hopper and let it fill keeping most of the dust in the hopper... well at least that's what my simple mind is telling me :D

I want to move my coal bin to the front of the house and cut a whole in the house and run the pipe through it (wife's suggestion, man I love that woman!!)


 
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cArNaGe
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Post by cArNaGe » Sun. Feb. 24, 2008 10:53 pm

beatle78 wrote:p.s. How expensive is "expensive"? for the AHS auger? Ballpark $$.
I was told a couple of hundred bucks when I called AHS in December. Of course I was pricing a boiler at the same time.

 
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Post by Scottscoaled » Sun. Feb. 24, 2008 11:00 pm

I've seen several augers that would do the job on e-bay. One was a 4" that was 14' long. Had a buy it now for $20.00. Too bad it was in missouri. ;) Scott

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