I just don’t see the need for it? Mine eats the stuff right up and burns it so why bother. Same goes for corn. I can see it there though as there is so much of it and even then the fines just burn up. Dumping bags of pellets in is just so much easier than bothering with the sifting which I only did because corn was under $100 / ton until this year. Even then all I have ever done was use a frame of 1/8” screen and just slide it down that off the tail of my pickup with a big snow shovel. Never had any jammming problems with fines of any sort myself, just dust I didn’t want to deal with using the corn. I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade here but I wouldn’t want folks reading this who are new to it all feel that they have to go do all this stuff in order to satisfactorily operate a pellet stove.
I can agree with you driz...with the Quad I have....every 3 weeks or so I let the hopper run dry.....and I vacuum what “little” there is of fines at the bottom of the auger path and hopper....and I tell ya...there is very very little if any when I do that. and I dont sift my pellets at all much if any. The fines I let burn right up as well.
I go one step farther even. Recently I made the discovery that it is easier to slice the bottom of the bag than the top. I just hang the thing arse end down half way over the edge of the hopper then slice it along the bottom from end to end. For me at least it makes for less flying dust to deal with and the bag seems to dump smoother.. I just love to dump and run for a change. With corn you about have to clean it at least partially every few days. Its great to just let her rip for a change with pellets. There is something to be said for convenience.
I go one step farther even. Recently I made the discovery that it is easier to slice the bottom of the bag than the top. I just hang the thing arse end down half way over the edge of the hopper then slice it along the bottom from end to end. For me at least it makes for less flying dust to deal with and the bag seems to dump smoother.. I just love to dump and run for a change. With corn you about have to clean it at least partially every few days. Its great to just let her rip for a change with pellets. There is something to be said for convenience.
Might have to build one of those dusters. Looks like it should do a good job.
Right now I dump the pellets from the bag into 2 plastic buckets out in the back yard and that gets some of the dust off of them.
It is a big help if there is a breeze to help move the dust away. I don’t seem to get a lot of dust in the house but I do vac out the hopper from time to time. Not a lot of dust there either.
Still might get the plans for the duster though.
If you do build one of these things, do not glue any pieces unless you absolutely have to. I only glue 2 pieces together. The rest of the pieces fit nice and tight. Not glueing them will allow me to take them apart for cleaning. I love this thing so much. This weekend I’m going pimp this bad boy out. HAHAHAHA. ... “Pimp My Pellest Duster”. Gonna add more see through windows and add lights for special effects. My 1 year old, 4 year old and 8 year old love the thing. Some people here says they don’t need it. Any stove that is not a a top fed (pellets drop down from the top), like my Harman XXV, which is bottom fed (pellets fed by auger) will eventually have its feed system be jambed with fines. 100% Guaranteed!!!
Any stove that is not a a top fed (pellets drop down from the top), like my Harman XXV, which is bottom fed (pellets fed by auger) will eventually have its feed system be jambed with fines. 100% Guaranteed!!!
Thats exactly right. I have a top fed Quad.....fines are never a problem for me....no build up at all.
I finished making the contraption last night. If you think that the dust will not effect your auger syster or hopper, then all the power to you. The machine WORKS GREAT. Well worth the effort, money and time. To make a statement such as “if you are getting that much dust/fines in your pellets, then just try another....” is a great theoretical statement to just throw out there. I have tried many different kinds - and unless the pellets you are buying is sealed in a clear, see through bag ... no matter what brand of pellets you buy ... there will always be that wonder “box of chocolate” surprise. Thats why i do not buy my pellets by the ton. I have had great bags with excellent, minimal dust/fine; while on another purchase, same brand, same retailer, i have gotten crappy dust laden pellets. So i paid $6 lousy dollars for the plans and instructions, bought a shop vac, which i needed anyways, some pvc piping, and invested 3 hrs of my sunday. - the result is a piece of mind for a $5000.00 investment. YES PEOPLE ... THE CONTRAPTION WORKS. If you would like, i can post picture of the collection bin from the vac. Three guesses as to what you would find in there. Thank you.
Yup, I echo this. I built one about 6 months ago. Where I live the pellet quality is all over the map. I had a spare shopvac so I just dedicated it to this use. My old Austroflamm wasn’t too picky about what I put in it, would burn it, fines and all.
The new stove however is WAY different. It’s fussy about not getting fines, plus the slot to the hopper is smaller than your hand so vacuuming out the fines is nearly impossible. I figured it’s easier to just feed it clean fuel. I don’t mind cleaning a few bags at a time, I just fill 5-gallon buckets and tote inside as necessary.
Now I buy my fuel by the ton, as the weather can be really unpredictable and if we’re ‘iced in’ then it’s tough to get to the feed store for a few bags of pellets. But a lot of the fines in the bags comes from handling. Sometimes the handling equipment at the mill (and the kids at the feed store) can bust up the pellets and create a lot of fines.
I built mine out of ABS; PVC in those sizes is rare around here as it’s against local codes to use it for drain and waste. I spent about $90 on the whole thing and will be sharing the plans with my brother in law to help relieve the cost a bit.
One thing I noticed: You have to be careful about how fast you feed it. Mine seems to want to have some air rushing past the pellets as they are being fed. If I just fill the infeed, then it wants to clog and the shopvac will suck the pellets straight through. Then I have to open the shopvac and scoop ‘em out. I do that anyway periodically; I just throw the whole mess, pellets and dust, into a bucket and feed it through again. Presto- pellets recovered.
I also noticed that if I had a bag of pellets that had gotten wet (like from me using them for ballast in the pickup) that once they’d dried out, I could bang the bag around to break up the marginal pellets, then run them through the machine to suck up the ones that had broken completely down.
The one I built isn’t a cyclone. They look pretty much the same but mine has no internal baffles. No problem with dust blowing back out the top. The cyclone thing sounds intersting though.
Feeding the pellets in at a steady rate is a bit tricky. You might consider drilling a couple of small holes in the Wye above where the vac comes in to supply make up air so it won’t eat whole pellets when the neck of the funnel gets full.
Did you actually have issues with the fines or are you trying to prevent
possible problems?
No I was not having trouble with the fines/dust. Its more of a preventive measure. I figure a $5000 investment is worth $5 for the plan and $90 for the parts to build this thing. Besides, when its built, the thing just looks damn cool standing there in my garage. It screams for attention: “WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?” Also, you will notice the amount of dust coming from these bags as you empty them into the hopper is no laughing matter. We have little rug rats in the house, and one of them is sensitive to dust (esp in winter because we cannot open windows to air out the house) - so instead of adding more dust via the pellets, i take a little time to clean out the pellets before i bring them into the house. Another reason is that these pellets are “luck of the draw”. Sometimes you get good bags with min. dust/fines; yet sometime you get crap - and yes ... from the same exact brand - as they say ... different day, different plate of sh*t. Good luck friend.
just bumping this great thread for any newbs like myself that are interested, i ran across the plans but can onlu find them for $25, is there anyone who has the plans that is interested in selling them to me for $6??
The suction is applied to the top; the way the “improved design” works, you apply the vac’s exhaust to near the bottom. I can see how it helps - it creates a closed loop that keeps the really fine dust down because it’s recirculated until it’s finally caught by the vac. It would also tend to boost the strength of the column of air inside the duster.
The suction is applied to the top; the way the “improved design” works, you apply the vac’s exhaust to near the bottom. I can see how it helps - it creates a closed loop that keeps the really fine dust down because it’s recirculated until it’s finally caught by the vac. It would also tend to boost the strength of the column of air inside the duster.
Oh, you’re talking about the pelleduster, now I’m tracking again....
