Auger pipe PVC??

 
Paul produce farmer
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Post by Paul produce farmer » Wed. Jan. 17, 2018 8:29 am

Here it is mid January I re-assembled my EFM Boiler 520 at the end of summer. I used aluminum schedule 40 into the fire pot. At the coupling of the auger I switched to PVC Schedule 40 (from home depot) that goes into my coal bin and coupled them together with a rubber pipe coupling. I have pulled over 4 tons of rice coal through it so far this heating season. I have monitored the heat on the pipes. The pipes have never been hot. (the aluminum pipes have been warmer- but that stands to reason since it goes into the fire pot and aluminum conducts heat) The plastic pipe has been at most warm from time to time. With this experience so far this season I can't see ever going back to the steel auger pipe and steel couplings which cost much more and have sever issues pulling apart if service is needed.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Wed. Jan. 17, 2018 8:42 am

My dad's is still running good. He has put about 20 tons through it so far.

 
Paul produce farmer
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Post by Paul produce farmer » Wed. Jan. 17, 2018 1:31 pm

Rob -thank you for your experiences I can't see going back to steel tubing-schedule 40--Paul

 
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Post by creek44 » Wed. Jan. 17, 2018 2:48 pm

At the beginning of this heating season, I moved my 55 gal. drum to feed on the opposite side of the boiler and through a wall. When needing a longer auger pipe for the extended auger, I decided to try sched 40 PVC since I already had it on hand. No regrets so far. I will probably repIace it with sched 80 at some point. I have been using a Fernco coupling for the past couple of years with great success. It all runs cool as a cucumber.


 
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franpipeman
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Post by franpipeman » Wed. Jan. 17, 2018 3:10 pm

Remember sch 80 has reduced inside diameter. I have no idea if that will create problems

 
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skobydog
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Post by skobydog » Wed. Jan. 17, 2018 4:40 pm

I was using ABS pipe. At first it was crunching and grinding the coal and breaking shear pins. I re positioned the tube to make sure it was as straight as can be which helped with the crunching noises but I still broke shear pins on a regular basis.

Since I've put the metal pipe in it's quiet and no broken shear pins. Maybe the weight of the coal was causing the problems, not sure.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Wed. Jan. 17, 2018 4:45 pm

More likely that you have too much auger exposed into the coal, or a gap between the pipes.

 
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StokerDon
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Post by StokerDon » Wed. Jan. 17, 2018 6:38 pm

I ran this setup on my Small Gentleman Janitor with an EFM stoker.
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I used the standard EFM pipe coupling because I didn't think a Fernco would keep the pipe from moving around.
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I cut the PVC so that the auger had about 1.5 flights sticking out the end.
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I don't think schedule 80 PVC will work. It's to thin and it won't match up the the schedule 40 aluminum feed pipe. This will cause coal grinding.
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It ran like this for a few months with no problems.

-Don


 
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skobydog
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Post by skobydog » Wed. Jan. 17, 2018 6:39 pm

Rob R. wrote:
Wed. Jan. 17, 2018 4:45 pm
More likely that you have too much auger exposed into the coal, or a gap between the pipes.
The gap was ok but I did have too much auger exposed so I think that was the problem. Funny thing is the metal pipe I'm now using is also short but it's working good so I'm not going to mess with. :)

Maybe when it's time to switch bins I'll try a longer piece.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Wed. Jan. 17, 2018 7:41 pm

If you want the auger to be as smooth as silk, and you feed out of a drum, a single piece of steel or aluminum pipe with no coupler works good. The downside is that if for some reason you need to remove the auger from the stoker, you have to move the drum out of the way.

My brothers efm is setup this way with 2" sch. 40 stainless pipe, and has run flawlessly for 5 years. Also - I always run 2.5 flights of auger past the pipe.

 
Paul produce farmer
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Post by Paul produce farmer » Sat. Jun. 09, 2018 8:53 am

I used a PVC schedule 40 for my auger pipe (used metal alum pipe into fire pot) into my coal bin and used a rubber coupling between the alum and PVC--worked great- would not go back to steel pipe and steel coupling on my EFM since the history of my use over the past 20 plus years the steel rusts up and coupling difficult to seperate. This past winter pulled 8 ton of rice coal through w/o any issues.

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