Pellet Bin Completed

AndrewChurchill · Apr 18, 2009

My friend and I started at 8:00 this morning and we finished up at 2:30. If my calculations are right it should be capable of holding 15 ton.

Now all I have to do is wait until Fall to purchase the pellets.

mjbrown · Apr 19, 2009

AC, could you post upsome pics of your storage bin?

thanx,

mike

OldDedHed · Apr 20, 2009

Ditto on that. 15 ton capacity is a monster bin!

Sting · Apr 20, 2009

WOW!

Where did you fit that little puppy

AndrewChurchill · Apr 21, 2009

I put the bin in my basement.

The bin is 8' x 16' x 7' I used pressure treated 2x4s for the base and then I used 3/4" tongue and groove plywood for the floor.

I used 2x4 studs on the two walls touching the foundation and 2x6 studs for the other two walls 16" OC with 1/2" T&G;plywood for the walls. The plywood was placed on the inside of the bin and I used screws instead of nails. It was a little slower than using nails but I shouldn't have any problems with it bulging and if I ever need to take it down it will be a lot easier.

I'll get some pics of it up in the next couple of days.

Delta-T · Apr 21, 2009

you're selling yourself short Andrew, by my calculations you should be able to get close to 17.92 tons in that bad boy (if you top it off). Brilliant idea. You gonna get yourself a surplus auger system from an agricultural supply place to feed into your unit?

AndrewChurchill · Apr 21, 2009

The window is about 5 and 1/2' from the floor so that's what I based my calculations on. However I brought the walls up to the floor joists and put a ceiling on the bin so I can make it air tight during pellet deliveries.

The wife would be a tad unhappy if I filled the house full of pellet dust !!!

!

jrousell · Apr 21, 2009

so where do you get bulk delivery from? How much cheaper is it than by the ton pallets?

AndrewChurchill · Apr 21, 2009

I get it from Canada and the last time I checked it was about $100 P/Ton cheaper. Although, I was talking with a local store that's thinking of getting a truckload and selling bagged pellets for $240 P/Ton. If that's the case I'd only be saving $40 P/Ton.

flyingcow · Apr 21, 2009

I got to ask. Was there any kind of back of the envelope figuring/design for that a amount of weight? Side walls will have a lot of pushin' going.

I built a room for my boiler in my garage and stacked wood against it. It had a bow that I didn't think would happen. No big deal, but it moved just a little. It was only 2x4 on 12" center with 1/2" chipboard on both sides.

Good luck.

AndrewChurchill · Apr 21, 2009

I based my design on another bin I saw that was not properly built. It was a coal bin that was supposed to be able to hold 8 ton of coal. It only used 2x4's spaced 2' OC. with 1/2 OSB. After 6 ton of coal was put into the bin the walls started to bow significantly.

As I mention previously the two walls that I used the 2x4s for are butted up against the concrete basement walls so I don't expect any bowing there. The walls that are freestanding are using 2x6 studs with 3/4" tongue and groove OSB for the walls. I suspect that will be strong enough since I only intend to put 10 tons of pellets in the bin.

Here are the pics as requested.

krooser · Apr 21, 2009

I hope you keep your home owners insurance paid up... and keep sparks away!

I hope those walls hold up for you. There's a LOT of outward pressure on walls when storing bulk materials. We haul bulk potatoes in vans and we can only safely load about 3' up the sidewalls (the trailer walls are 100" high) before the trailer walls start taking too much of a load. We DO load a little higher in the center. Most potatoe storage facilities have very heavily reinforced wall... of course they load up to the roof at those places...

Did you securely fasten the floor plates to the concrete?

mjbrown · Apr 22, 2009

AC,
very nice job....hope it works well for you.i dont have a basement , but am thinking about a bin in my garage(one car, and not used to store the car. more for lawn equipment and dry storage).

thinking about using the front corner and wonder how big it would have to be to hold 5 ton?

thanx for any help or suggestions,

mike

EatenByLimestone · Apr 22, 2009

Where do you get the pellets out of the bin?

Matt

flyingcow · Apr 22, 2009

krooser said:
I hope you keep your home owners insurance paid up... and keep sparks away!

I hope those walls hold up for you. There's a LOT of outward pressure on walls when storing bulk materials. We haul bulk potatoes in vans and we can only safely load about 3' up the sidewalls (the trailer walls are 100" high) before the trailer walls start taking too much of a load. We DO load a little higher in the center. Most potatoe storage facilities have very heavily reinforced wall... of course they load up to the roof at those places...

Did you securely fasten the floor plates to the concrete?

I know what you mean about potatoes, grew up picking them.

Just curious about the pellets. Will this amount do you a year, or more or less?

Sting · Apr 22, 2009

Great Job Andrew

Ignore those "Nay Sayers" - they are simply jealous of your nice work -- IMO it will be fine and serve you well!

Kind Regards
Sting

imacman · Apr 22, 2009

krooser said:
.......Did you securely fasten the floor plates to the concrete?

I was wondering the same thing as Krooser. Also, did you screw the top cap into the bottom of the house floor joists?

Dr_Drum · Apr 22, 2009

The 2x6's are plenty strong, but make sure the entire wall can't kick out on the bottom and top. You could add some intermediate internal stretchers for added strength.
Nice work!
Mike -

AndrewChurchill · Apr 22, 2009

I did not nail the floor joists to the concrete floor because two of the walls are nailed to the concrete foundation walls and all four walls are connected to each other I don't think there's much chance for lateral movement.

I did nail the top plates to the floor joists and of course the bottom plates are nailed to the 2x4 floor joists.

If you look at the first picture on the left on the bottom row you will see two 16" openings, that's where the pellets will be removed. I'm going to use 1 x 12" pine boards that will fit into a track running up the two openings. As the bin is emptied I will remove one board at a time.

I used 8 tons of pellets last year and I think I'll need two more tons to heat the house and DHW for the entire year. Right now I'm running on oil.

mnkywrnch · Apr 22, 2009

Nice job Andrew,looks like a nice clean job

Delta-T · Apr 22, 2009

"wonder how big it would have to be to hold 5 ton?"

mjbrown65- you're looking at about 50 cubed feet per ton (40 lbs per cubic foot), so about 250 cubic feet for 5 tons, give or take a few inches.

mjbrown · Apr 22, 2009

Delta-T said:
"wonder how big it would have to be to hold 5 ton?"

mjbrown65- you're looking at about 50 cubed feet per ton (40 lbs per cubic foot), so about 250 cubic feet for 5 tons, give or take a few inches.

thank you Delta....AC , how do you plan on filling that beast?

moralleper · Apr 22, 2009

how do you plan on getting the pellets in and out?

AndrewChurchill · Apr 22, 2009

The pellet truck will pull into my driveway and shoot the pellets through the basement window into the bin.

As for getting them out I'll use either a 5 gallon bucket or rig up an auger or vacuum system to move them to the hopper. I have a PB105 boiler about 15 feet away from the bin.

moralleper · Apr 22, 2009

what about the getting them out? It is a good idea if I could find someone to deliver them in bulk.

Pellet Bin Completed

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