Necessity is the mother of invention.....

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AndrewChurchill

Minister of Fire
Mar 31, 2008
686
Vermont
Or in my case it's the mother of creation since someone else actually invented the device.

The only place near me that delivers bulk pellets isn't making deliveries until sometime in September. I can load my pellet bin manually but it's a two person process and since I don't have a bulk head I have to lug the pellets through the house and down the stairs.

So I decided to try to use my leaf blower to blow the pellets into the bin using the bulk feed fitting. I mocked up a few pieces of PVC, a large plastic funnel, a couple of fernco fittings and the leaf blower.

Low and behold it worked! The only modification I'm going to make is to attach a toilet fitting to the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket.

I'll take a video of the finished product this weekend.
 
Now this sounds interesting....... motion pics ASAP........... BTW, a "toilet fitting" is a water closet flange! LOL
 
Yep... Sounds awesome.. Pics and Video... Or it never happened ;)
 
As promised here are the videos.

Basic Set Up


Pellets being poured into blower.


Loading Pellet Hopper.


3.1 ton bag bin being inflated.
 
I think the only modification I'm going to make is to put an extension on the 5 gallon pail so I can pour an entire bag into the hopper portion of my contraption.
 
I'm impressed. I wonder how far horizontally that leaf blower would move the pellets at a reasonable speed.

TS
 
That's really cool. I wonder if a big vac, like the ones used on planers and such would work too.

I've got a 3" auger sitting in one of my buildings, I've often wondered if some pellet person might be able to make use of it.

K
 
I'm blowing the pellets 35' and it's doing it easily. I suspect up to 50' would work as well. I'm pretty impressed with the speed too. It's blowing about 120 pounds a minute based on the video footage.
 
WOW thats great. And your just using a small leaf blower, imagine if you where using a back pack blower like a Stihl BR600 Magnum!!! it might suck the whole bag right in.
 
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That Sthil would probably be overkill for my needs! ;) It would be fun to have though.
 
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