We run a couple of large wood chip boilers to heat our greenhouse. Our little boiler uses an 8' x 8' x 4' bin (H x W x D) with auger/screws across the bottom to pull the chips out one side and feed them into another auger that fills the burner feed bin.
The problem we have is that rather often we will have a variety of small sticks and other material in our chips that cause the entire bin to pack solid. After a few hours of operation the screws pull all the material out of the bottom and the remaining chips in the big bin don't fall. They get wedged up in the air over the screws.
I am looking for anyone who had dealt with this and has workable solution or ideas. I am thinking of adding some sort of circular stirrers just above the screws, but not sure of how they might actually operate, e.g. just rotate a small amount every X time period or also add a vertical up/down cycle in conjunction with the rotation, etc. The previous owner had installed a motor on the side of the bin with an off balance pulley on it. The idea was to vibrate/shake the bin to make the chips fall. I don't think it really worked (it's now disconnected) and the idea scares me in terms of providing long term metal fatigue to all the supports and welding...
Here's a picture of the side where the chips come out. You can see how the screws clear out the material at the bottom then the rest of bin stays packed/suspended over top.
Cheers.
-Dave
The problem we have is that rather often we will have a variety of small sticks and other material in our chips that cause the entire bin to pack solid. After a few hours of operation the screws pull all the material out of the bottom and the remaining chips in the big bin don't fall. They get wedged up in the air over the screws.
I am looking for anyone who had dealt with this and has workable solution or ideas. I am thinking of adding some sort of circular stirrers just above the screws, but not sure of how they might actually operate, e.g. just rotate a small amount every X time period or also add a vertical up/down cycle in conjunction with the rotation, etc. The previous owner had installed a motor on the side of the bin with an off balance pulley on it. The idea was to vibrate/shake the bin to make the chips fall. I don't think it really worked (it's now disconnected) and the idea scares me in terms of providing long term metal fatigue to all the supports and welding...
Here's a picture of the side where the chips come out. You can see how the screws clear out the material at the bottom then the rest of bin stays packed/suspended over top.
Cheers.
-Dave
