Pellets to basement, the easy way.

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MCPO

Minister of Fire
For those of you who have a pellet burner in the basement rec room or whatever other basement application you might have and are forced to carry , or slide down tons of pellets , and maybe store them down there too I have come up with what I think is the ultimate method to minimize the labor and time expended.
Now that I have already successfully slid 1.5 tons down into my basement stairs on a board I wanted an even simpler solution.
Here it is.
http://www.pbase.com/johnd1/image/97443334

Obviously this could be done at most any outside location too on your house and not just from the attached garage and for those of you who could position the chute directly over your stove? What a near perfect setup!
Of course being a newbie here I run the risk that this has been already proposed and that I`m reinventing the wheel.
Take a peek and give me your comments. Just be gentle as I`m old and get pi$$ed easily. I got no patience or sense of humor anymore.
John
 
Looks pretty cool to me, the only thing I would do different is to use PVC as it is cheaper and easier to put together. Make sure you set up some type of cap to put in place when not using it, otherwise you might get water in where you don't want it. Bravo, I think it's a pretty neat idea.
 
JDenyer232 said:
Looks pretty cool to me, the only thing I would do different is to use PVC as it is cheaper and easier to put together. Make sure you set up some type of cap to put in place when not using it, otherwise you might get water in where you don't want it. Bravo, I think it's a pretty neat idea.

Good idea! A thin type PVC tubing might be an improvement at that.
A swing type cover or flush plug of some sort would seal the hole when not in use.
Thanks for the comments,
John
 
Excellent idea. I'm not sure what size the pellet pail is but ideally it would hold a ton of pellets and have a cone-shaped thingy on the bottom with a sliding gate that could be opened so you could fill a 5-gallon pail with pellets and take them to the stove. Or as you suggested, John, if the stove were right at the pellet pail, the stove hopper could be filled by just opening the sliding gate. IMHO, you have a very good idea that is easily adapted to work for just about everyone who has a need to get pellets to their basement. I'd be building one this weekend if I had a basement. (-:
 
Philip said:
Excellent idea. I'm not sure what size the pellet pail is but ideally it would hold a ton of pellets and have a cone-shaped thingy on the bottom with a sliding gate that could be opened so you could fill a 5-gallon pail with pellets and take them to the stove. Or as you suggested, John, if the stove were right at the pellet pail, the stove hopper could be filled by just opening the sliding gate. IMHO, you have a very good idea that is easily adapted to work for just about everyone who has a need to get pellets to their basement. I'd be building one this weekend if I had a basement. (-:

You got it! Yup, it can be easily adapted / reconfigured to suit an individual need or preference.
I appreciate your good input.
John
 
Giovanni said:
Just be gentle as I`m old and get pi$$ed easily. I got no patience or sense of humor anymore.
John

That has to be the quote of the day! :D
 
Just one more place for pellets to bridge :cheese:

Naw I'm kidding, but keep in mind you may be generating more fines as the pellets tumble down the pipe
 
GVA said:
Just one more place for pellets to bridge :cheese:

Naw I'm kidding, but keep in mind you may be generating more fines as the pellets tumble down the pipe

The key word is "may".
Not having to carry them into the cellar and restack them eliminates at least one step that contributes to fines , so it`s at least a wash. Since the pipe isn`t too long , creating fines would be minimized. I would think if handled carefully , fines wouldn`t be an issue and that`s the reason why I kept the tube length reasonably short. An 8 ft drop could result in more fines.
John
 
I store in a 6 ton bin - and auger right to the appliance bin!
 
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