need help with figures...

[mjbrown]

i am thinking of building a small storage bin or silo of sorts ,for my pellets next year,and buying in bulk if i can get them cheaper.

i need help from those of you who are mathematically inclined.

i have an 18x20 garage(one car) that i use for storage and workshop,not the car.i would like to build this in one corner of the garage and store approx. 3 ton of pellets.

i have looked at the storage bin on the corn vac site and like that, but have no idea how many ton of pellets equals 55 bushel of corn.this bin of this size would fit well in the corner of the garage.

if i went 4' wide x 4' wide x 7 ' tall, how much would i be able to fit in the bin? keep in mind that i would like a tapered bottom with a slide gate so as to fill a 5 gallon pail for transport.


thanks for any help or advice,

mike

 

[KINGOFTHENORTH]

Seems corn is roughly 56lbs. per bushel,so 55 bushels x 56 lbs. each = 3080 lbs.......or 1.5 tons......hope this helps

 

[Delta-T]

pellets are about 40lbs per cube foot, so you have about 112 cubic feet in you 4x4x7 box, so about 2.8 tons (50 cubic ft per ton, or about that), keep in mind thats total internal size, its not likely you will fill it to the hilt, and subtract some for your tapering and whatnot : )

 

[mjbrown]

Seems corn is roughly 56lbs. per bushel,so 55 bushels x 56 lbs. each = 3080 lbs.......or 1.5 tons......hope this helps

thank you King.so it looks as though i would have to build 2 bins for 3 ton or close to it pellet wise.

 

[mjbrown]

pellets are about 40lbs per cube foot, so you have about 112 cubic feet in you 4x4x7 box, so about 2.8 tons (50 cubic ft per ton, or about that), keep in mind thats total internal size, its not likely you will fill it to the hilt, and subtract some for your tapering and whatnot : )

thank you delta...missed your post while i was answering King. looks as though i will have to build 2 for sure if i subtract for a tapered bottom in both bins.

i appreciate the numbers guys, my math skills really stink...thats why the wife runs the checkbook i guess.

 

[OldDedHed]

The weight per bushel for corn is probably different than the weight per bushel for pellets. I built a bin in my basement last winter originally for corn. I have now switched to pellets because of price. A picture of the bin is attached. Dimensions are 6 feet wide, 4 feet deep, 6 feet tall. Area above slant is 6x4x4. I draw out of an outlet with a vacuum so it's not elevated like yours would have to be for bucket fill. It holds about 1.5 tons passive gravity filled. If you do some work to push pellets around in the bin you can get it up to about 2 tons. Hope this helps.

 

[Wet1]

pellets are about 40lbs per cube foot, so you have about 112 cubic feet in you 4x4x7 box, so about 2.8 tons (50 cubic ft per ton, or about that), keep in mind thats total internal size, its not likely you will fill it to the hilt, and subtract some for your tapering and whatnot : )

I come up with 2.24 tons in a 4' x 4' x 7' (ID) box, assuming wood pellets are 40 lbs/cu ft.

MJB,
Generally speaking, it's often cheapest to build with 4 x 8 dimensions (or at least multiples of 8) since many building products come in 8' or 4'x8' standard lengths. A 4'x4'x8' (ID) box is 128 cu ft, or about 2.56 tons of pellets. A 4'x8'x8' box is 256 cu ft, or 5.12 tons. A 4'x'6'x8' box with a tapered bottom would probably be pretty close to your 3 ton target.

 

[OldDedHed]

And here are some plans I used as the basis for mine. Scroll down to Small Feed Bins, MWPS-73217


(broken link removed)

 

[AndrewChurchill]

OldDedHed,

Does the vacuum system work for your pellets too? I just built a large pellet bin and I'm thinking of rigging up a vacuum system for it. If you have any tips or tricks I'd like to hear them.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[Delta-T]

MY bad! Wet 1 is correct, I dunno how I got 2.8, must be all this economic stimulation !

 

[Sting]

Andrew

Check out IBC --
the KAN_BURN guys have done a lot of work to make it work well with pellets too!

 

[OldDedHed]

Andrew, like my signature says I use the mobile cornvac. Big bucks but you don't have to worry about a vacuum tight bin. I just went up to 2" PVC pipe, electrical conduit with large radius elbows. Ground it well, and I use 2 vacs because I'm moving long distance. Sting is right as usual--do a search on the IBC forum and you'll find tons of info on vacuum systems for moving fuel around. Helped me construct a well-functioning system that requires a minimum of fiddling.

 

[mjbrown]

thank you very much fellas...i really appreciate the help. looks like i may go with the 6x8x4 dimensions and just get as much as i can fit in it.

as most of you know, i burned MWP all winter. i know alot of people had bad luck with them, but my P38 burned the worst of them and i had no problems. the ash content wasnt a big deal for me as i cleaned my stove weekly anyhow.

i am going to check with MWP and see if they do sell bulk, and how much if i truck them(11 miles from home).

the shop i work at,buys blasting grit bulk in the big totes , and we usually throw the bags away. one of the guys took 2 of them , turned them inside out to make sure ALL the grit was out ,and uses them to truck his corn so i may grab a couple,and use them in hopes of saving on surcharge for bulk bags.

thank you all again for your help,gotta love this forum,

mike

 

[Delta-T]

OldDedHed- do you have any problems with the pellets getting pulverized by the rapid air movement and whatnot? I know there is still some debate where bulk is concerned about how much of the pellets integrity is compromised by air or by augers. I've done some experiments using a ridgid shop vac and some PVC to get pellets from a sack into a silo. we had the thing lifting pellets 18 feet straight up but it did a number on the pellets, and when the PVC created too much resistance the silo would suck in, very funny.

 

[OldDedHed]

Delta-

I was worried about that too when I switched to pellets but actually what I have seen is that it makes the pellets pretty uniform in size, breaking up any longs that might be in the batch to jam an auger. I also have slide valves on my vacuum line to control the air flow. The temptation is to move the things as fast as you can because who wants to spend all day sucking tons of pellets? But I have the air gated down so that we don't approach ludicrous speed and end up with a vac full of sawdust. A six-pack and a good cigar make the time go by nicely

Mike:

Where up in Hartland can you get corn dropped bulk into a supersack? Wish I had a place like that down here.

 

[mjbrown]

ODH,
the guy i work with who burns corn, gets it in around Hermon i believe.somewhere on route 2.i am looking for pellets from maine woods.i have to call them to see if they put them up as bulk or just 40# bags. sorry if my post was confusing.

mike


edit...just talked to Brenda @Maine woods pellets, and it will cost me $190 per ton for supersack pellets,trucking myself direct from the mill.i think i just decided how i am going this year!