Pellet Stove Fuel Selection
Pellet stoves are engineered to use biofuel from plant based material
that are derived unused products
such aswood chips, used pallet, saw dust or other waste products that uaully ends up in our landfills..
Small wood pellets similar to what we link with animal food, about .25 inch in diameter and averaging about one inch to 1.5 inches long, are produced by compacting the waste material into a range acceptable for pellet stoves.
Pellet Stove fuel a couple of grades of pellets.. The
premium grade makes up roughly 95 percent of the pellets made, where as the
standard grade makes up the what is left which quite often
is used in agriculture as animal bedding. To reduce jamming
and or bridging from happening in a pellet stove, manufactures attempt to meet the
best grade standard for size. The optimum
favorable deminsion is by
and large smaller then 1.5 inches in length and if possible smaller then 1 inch to prevent
bridging from happining of the augar of the pellet
stove as the pellets drop onto the
auger. Premium grade pellets will have no more them 1 percent ash content once
the pellets are burned. If there is a excessive amount of bark combined into
the pellet fuel, there will be a higher amount of ash content. The
lighter in color the pellets are indicators of the amount of bark, e.g. very light means no bark,
very dark means a lot of bark. The grade of pellet is not determined
by the hardness of the wood as both hard and soft woodare used. The wood that is used is usually determinedby the local source
of wood that the pellet mill has available for their production process.
It always is a great idea to try several manufactures
of pellets before deciding on your finale choice
to determine,
which manufacture works best for your pellet stove. Before you stock up to keep your home warm for the winter.
Different brands of pelletswill have different
price tags. Don't rule out the less expensive brands
without testing them first in the bottom of the bag although some saw dust fines will will not be abnormal. A
lot of pellet stoves can not
auger these loose saw dust fines very well, nor do these loose saw dust fines have
much heat value as saw dust usually just becomes fly ash, means
more frequent cleaning is required to keep you pellet stove air flows from being constrained. Some home owners will screen the saw dust fine out of the pellet to assure correct pellets flowing from the auger. Make sure the pellets you are buying are compairable to or are premium grade, as this information should be listed on the bag.
The Pellet Fuel Institure
is an organization that lots of the pellet fuel manufactures
belong to./p>
A not so uncommon question that is ask quite often, can my pellet stove burn corn. The
answer is yes maybe, but in a mixed pellet / corn mixture with the
corn. Corn generate more
heat and is possible to The heat of corn is greater then from
pellets and can shut off your stove, be
cautious with high heat setting. Remains
from the burnt corn has a lot of a substance left over that are called clinkers. Manual removal of the hard clinkers that have built will be necessary, usually with a scraper,
causing frequent scrapping of the clinker then would
be experienced with residue from wood pellets. By keeping the burn pot clean of this clinkers, air flows are not disrupted
allowing the pellet stove to function correctly. almost all manufactures of pellet stoves do not recommend corn to be
burned in their appliances as they know of the likely
problem the user may have. If you do decide
to try to burn corn, begin with
a limited quantity mixed thoroughly with your pellets. common
usage is not to exceed a
ratio of corn to pellet of 30 percent to 50 percent. You need to ask yourself,
why do I want to burn corn? There really is only a couple of answers.
First, unable to locate a adaquate source of pellets
in my area. Second is the cost of corn a lotcheaper
than pellets to warrant the extra work.
With the
use of a pellet stove, you will be able to cut your
home heating cost when compared to the use of conventional oil or gas based products or electrical heat. It is very important that you read the owners manual.
Purchasing a pellet stove is a fairly expensive decision, a stove company or a store that sells mainly
hearth appliances
are more familiar as they are better suited
to answer your inquires and assist you if your pellet
stove will not running the way it is supposed to. farm stores, multi product web sites and big chain stores
do not offer you any assistance. Often
they will reply get in touch with the manufacturer or a pellet stove dealer in your area. Any hearth store are internet site that
do specialize in hearth product that did not sell you the pellet stove
will not help you as they have no desire or responsibility to
assist you.
Some manufacture of pellet stoves will offer assistance to you but in very
restricted manner, other manufacture will not help you at all, as the
manufacturer relies on the company that sold you
the stove to do any warrenty work and or answer general questions. Usually,
when you want the most help and or advice is during the main
part to the heating season when the manufacture is experiencing
their largest call volume and quite often will not respond to your call
promptly. Price is very important, but if your pellet stove does not
operate correctly, or you have to hire a tecnition to repair or fix your stove, did you really save any money? A knowledgeable service technician
can often walk you though a dignosis of your problelm without even coming to your home, and have
your stove back up and running in a quicker
space of time..