Help blowing my own pellets into a silo

[Richardin52]

I have two paddle blowers, one 4 inch and one seven inch. I want to use one of them to blow pellets into a silo.

What I would like to do is hook a four inch pipe to from the blower to the silo and somewhere in this line hook up a “Y’ fitting that would create a siphon. Then use that siphon to suck pellets into the main line which would blow them into the silo.

Sounds good but I just tried it and could get almost no suction out of the siphon hose. I am open to suggestions.

 

[TimfromMA]

I didn't know if I could accurately describe my idea so I drew the this crude diagram.

Gravity feeds the pellets into the pipe and the blower sends them along to the silo.

(broken image removed)

 

[TimfromMA]

Use antistatic hose or you risk starting a fire.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Just how badly will this silo sweat with changes in temperature and humidity as the dew point gets hit? IMHO you're going to waste a valuable stash unless you constantly blow dry air in there.

 

[TimfromMA]

Alot of people feed pellet boilers from outdoor pellet silos.

 

[tjnamtiw]

Alot of people feed pellet boilers from outdoor pellet silos.

Didn't know that! How do they keep the humidty in check? If I leave pellets lay on my garage floor, they turn to mush.

 

[Big papa]

Yeah interesting would like to know how the moisture isn't a problem when keeping pellets in an outdoor silo

 

[Richardin52]

TimfromMA That's about what I come up with too at this point. Thanks.

I response to some of the comments I thought I would explain some of what I am doing. I am using PVC pipe for piping, in order to take care of any static electricity problems I am running grounding wire inside the entire length of pipe and then to a grounding rod

I built my own pellet silo's. The first one I built up over my garage which is very dry both summer and winter. I built a microlam to support the added weight. Because I did not have enough headroom over the garage I built the silo laying down. It is 4 ft. wide by 4 ft. high by 12 ft. long. In order to get enough pitch for the pellets to drop I made two hoppers in the silo and placed a flex auger (enclosed) in the bottom with an opening at the bottom of each hopper. The flex auger takes the pellets to a point where they drop down to the boiler.

The second silo I built is for an apartment house I own where the silo sets near the boiler. This silo will hold about 5 ton and uses the small auger that came with the boiler to feed the boiler. Both silo's were made using 1/2 inch CDX for the box, 3/4 inch Advantech for the hoppers 2x4's for the frames, plus the five ton silo has a threaded rod about four feet high to stiffen up the middle of the silo. The hoppers also help stiffen the sides of the boxes.

I go through about 16 ton of pellets per year. The delivery price is around $229/ ton. If I get them myself it's around $180./ton That figures out to a savings of $784.00 per year.

I also built a 4x4x8 foot box with a flat bottom that fits on my equipment trailer. I plan on hauling pellets with this. That's about 128 cubic feet which should hold about 5,000 lbs. per load.

Both silo's are working well. I am at the point where I need to get my blowing working.

 

[Big papa]

Neat I like it and you never had any issues with moisture destroying your pellets from storing them out side then bringing in to the heat

 

[bbfarm]

I was getting excited. I live on a farm and have 2 silos, till I realized you weren't talking that kind of silo

 

[Richardin52]

I was getting excited. I live on a farm and have 2 silos, till I realized you weren't talking that kind of silo

About the only time Outside silo's will give you a problem is when there are large temperature changes. If you have an outside silo with a cone shaped bottom you can make a round ring made of pipe and place it just above the cone drill small holes in the top of the ring and run air through the pipe. Your not trying to dry the pellets as much as just maintaining low moisture so it won't take much air movement up through the pellets.

Place a moisture meter inside the silo and turn on a small fan when the meter reads above 13 present. The air you put into the silo should be at least a few degrees warmer than the outside temperature. If you have a warm room near the silo that would be a good place to pull the air from so long as it is dry air.

 

[johninwi]

few more ideas for you

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...oading-for-pellet-stoves.127976/#post-1727967

 

[lightyear]

Can you post pics. I'm curious.

 

[AndrewChurchill]

Here's how I do it.

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[CaptainK]

Here's how I do it.

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Yep same setup I have... works great. About $15 in plumbing parts and an existing Toro. Have not used it for bulk amounts yet, just a test run of 2-3 bags to make sure it works.

Do you have a collar in the pvc pipe to help with the flow or is your blower cut to the right length?

 

[TimfromMA]

Could the blower method be used to move pellets up?

 

[Bioburner]

I want to see the end dump after you get the pellets moving and how you negate the dust inside etc. I have no issue getting things going, its the ending I am trying to get a handle on.

 

[AndrewChurchill]

I'm blowing into a bag bin so the bag acts as the filter.

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I want to see the end dump after you get the pellets moving and how you negate the dust inside etc. I have no issue getting things going, its the ending I am trying to get a handle on.

 

[AndrewChurchill]

Yes, but I don't know how how high.

Could the blower method be used to move pellets up?

 

[chken]

I have two paddle blowers, one 4 inch and one seven inch. I want to use one of them to blow pellets into a silo.

What I would like to do is hook a four inch pipe to from the blower to the silo and somewhere in this line hook up a “Y’ fitting that would create a siphon. Then use that siphon to suck pellets into the main line which would blow them into the silo.

Sounds good but I just tried it and could get almost no suction out of the siphon hose. I am open to suggestions.

Try the boiler forum as the folks there are far more likely to have tried bulk pellets.