Baby powder

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bostonfan49

bostonfan49

Minister of Fire
Nov 10, 2011
531
Essex Jct. Vermont
I forgot to mention this but I ran into an Enviro rep who told me how to help more of the pellets slide into the chute.....Rub baby powder all over the hopper liner.....befor you fill with pellets. The pellets will all keep sliding down! Mabe it will prevent rashes too:) Anyone heard of this??? Bill
 
I sprayed mine down with Pledge a few times when it was new. That was 4 years ago and haven't seen many problems since. If I let the stove starve out of pellets, I only end up with about a cup of pellets still in the hopper.
Good luck.
 
Baby powder will make things slide easier. We use it to coat the tires on our sprint cars before we cut the grooves in them....makes the cutting tool slide easily.

I'll have to give it a try in the hopper too.
 
Before you drop baby powder in the hopper perhaps you can perform an experiment. Light a propane torch and give the flame a healthy squeeze from the baby powder container, watch the results.
 
I like the Pledge idea. You could also use the Pam Cooking spray, but it is flammable so one would have to use some common sense and caution when spraying it into the hopper.
 
You could go old school and rub some paraffin wax or bee's wax on then polish. The wax is flammable but if its buffed onto the metal of hopper it won't end up in the firebox. I have no idea what talc or graphite does when it burns ie; gas produced, residue left in vent system. I would make sure that hopper was completely empty if using a spray so pellets don't absorb anything flammable, also leave hopper open for a while to allow it vent completely.
 
Or..... all the risk of fire could be eliminated by being a good stove keeper and checking the hopper ever so often and giving the pellets a little push down into the auger void. I think that is what I will continue to do anyway.
 
BradH70 said:
Or..... all the risk of fire could be eliminated by being a good stove keeper and checking the hopper ever so often and giving the pellets a little push down into the auger void. I think that is what I will continue to do anyway.
Click to expand...

This is my method also...
 
TLHinCanada said:
Before you drop baby powder in the hopper perhaps you can perform an experiment. Light a propane torch and give the flame a healthy squeeze from the baby powder container, watch the results.
Click to expand...

What kid hasn't done a similar trick with a metal can, a candle, some flour, and a length of hose? Mini-grain silo explosion. Just because it's flammable in a dense cloud doesn't mean a thing as a coating.
 
I taking a huge guess and saying that most hoppers have a negative pressure, causing any powder or spray to eventally end up in the firepot. Just saying I have no ideal what happens when baby powder is burned. Is the gas harmful, is the residue sticky, will it cause fly ash to stick to vent liner. Don't know so I don't do it. I do know that powdered aluminum and magesium burn very hot when injected into a flame. What a tempeture spike will do to the liner if your eva is borderline I don't know either. Was a thread couple of weeks ago with a back plate in the stove cracked for 2", was a lot of heat there at one time, was anything added to fire?? In my opinion and its just my opinion, I wouldn't take the chance on finding out what the answers to the questions are. If the stove manufacter was to say it was alright in writing I might do it. If the store selling it suggests it I wouldn't. Stores and installers may not be in business next year in which case what recorse do you have?
 
TLHinCanada said:
I taking a huge guess and saying that most hoppers have a negative pressure, causing any powder or spray to eventally end up in the firepot. Just saying I have no ideal what happens when baby powder is burned. Is the gas harmful, is the residue sticky, will it cause fly ash to stick to vent liner. Don't know so I don't do it. I do know that powdered aluminum and magesium burn very hot when injected into a flame. What a tempeture spike will do to the liner if your eva is borderline I don't know either. Was a thread couple of weeks ago with a back plate in the stove cracked for 2", was a lot of heat there at one time, was anything added to fire?? In my opinion and its just my opinion, I wouldn't take the chance on finding out what the answers to the questions are. If the stove manufacter was to say it was alright in writing I might do it. If the store selling it suggests it I wouldn't. Stores and installers may not be in business next year in which case what recorse do you have?
Click to expand...

Good points!
 
Eatonpcat said:
BradH70 said:
Or..... all the risk of fire could be eliminated by being a good stove keeper and checking the hopper ever so often and giving the pellets a little push down into the auger void. I think that is what I will continue to do anyway.
Click to expand...

This is my method also...
Click to expand...
Same here but on my Harman insert, there are a few sheet metal screws with the business end protruding in on the sides of the hopper. My knuckles always seem to find them when helping the pellets along. Maybe need to devise a little pellet pusher tool.

JP
 
like the Pledge idea. You could also use the Pam Cooking spray, but it is flammable so one would have to use some common sense and caution when spraying it into the hopper.
Click to expand...

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the propelent in Pam is propane,,,,,I know it is in some of the cheap hairspray we use as fuel in the potato gun,,,,,

John
 
Hey, I was told spaying a couple of times with pledge would solve the problem after a while. I think I did it twice when it was new. Since then I've done it for others but haven't had a need to due mine in 4 years.
The really fine dust and the pledge soled the issue on Harmons and Englanders.
But feel free to use what ever you want.
Good luck.
 
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