storage hopper idea... gravity feed from ground floor to basement

[ian105]

I messed up this year....I didn't get all of my stash into the basement. I got 2 of the 4 tons moved in. Ran out of space due to also working on finishing a part of the basement into an office and now there is snow on the ground...

I have a walk out basement, but this still means dragging the tons down a hill, around to the back of the house, and through the part of the finished basement to get to the storage.

This got me to thinking.

My garage is attached to the portion of the basement that is unfinished. Would it make sense to build a fill tube to a hopper in the basement so I could empty the bags in the garage into the fullel, and have the pellets fill up my storage hopper in the basement via gravity. Thinking maybe a large trash can that holds 10-12 bags, elevated so that pellets will gravity feed out the bottom into a container to be carried to the stove. Seems like less work than dragging them around the house and across the the basement to stack them, to them carry them back to the stove.

I was thinking something like this, using all 3"
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/pellet-dust.119464/

Has anyone else done something similar? Will the pellets gravity feed through 4" PVC? Would be around 5' long with 2 45s back to back to get through the wall to the other side.

 

[Luv2burnPellets]

I wouldn't think 4in PVC straight pipe would be adequate let alone adding 45 degree elbows. If you are hell bent on this, set up a test run to verify before putting in much effort.

 

[johninwi]

If you are hell bent on this, set up a test run to verify before putting in much effort.

Solid advice there. i'll be contrary thou and guess that 4" will be more than enough, sorry Luv2burn.
There have been a few discussions of this, biggest concern is pvc is VERY likely to (or probably will) creat a static charge in the pellets. possibility of zapping a board would exist. There was mention of a type of tubing similare to pvc that is groundable and eliminated the static issue.

 

[mustangwagz]

Yah static would def become an issue, hell, dumping pellets otuta the bags usually creates static and some of the really small fines stick to the inside of bag..

Couldnt ya just run a ground strap to something close by to deter static charges from getting to the stove itself?

 

[TimfromMA]

A static spark can ignite the pellet dust and start a fire. This is something you have to be very careful of.

 

[johninwi]

Couldnt ya just run a ground strap to something close by to deter static charges from getting to the stove itself?

Possibly, or maybe even a bare copper wire thru the pipe might be sufficient. I was trying to fing the posts which mentioned it, no luck yet. Will keep looking..

 

[railfanron]

A copper wire should do the trick. Look up grounding of PVC dust collection systems.
Ron

 

[velvetfoot]

The vacuum hose for pellet delivery that came with my boiler has a wire built in. It is encased in the plastic of the hose. You have to expose some of it on the ends to ground it.
I also bought some 4" hose for bulk delivery, and it is made of antistatic material and doesn't need a ground wire.
Discussion of this stuff was also in threads about using a leaf blower for blowing the pellets into a bin.
Plus, this'd be only 5' long.

 

[Arti]

Why not just use Metal Duct. That eliminates the static build up. Available in 3 to 8 inch sizes in most home stores. and the elbows are adjustable to any angle.
I would pop rivet the joints. Put the crimped end down to keep the flow smooth.

 

[velvetfoot]

That'd be fine for the original poster, I bet. Not for a truck blowing pellets though.

 

[Luv2burnPellets]

Because gravity is causing the pellets to flow thru the pipe, the slope is a huge factor. A shallow slope and no chance for flow. A vertical pipe would have a better chance. A five foot steep slope 4 inch PVC pipe with multiple elbows may not feed either. So it is slope/size of pipe/# of elbows that will measure success, hence the reason for a test run.

 

[ian105]

Sounds like it's going to wait till spring then. I have a retaining wall of a similar height I could Mach it up on. Like the idea of using metal duct. Looks like I'm carrying the bags down by hand this year. Oh well will make it work