Question / Issue with Vermont Pellets

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Kliwks

Member
Oct 24, 2010
8
Rhode Island
I have been using Vermont pellets for 2 years now. (on my second season now). I really llike these pellets, but, I have noticed 2 things this year. More saw dust or fines in the bags. The second thing is and what bugs me the most (this has been both years), The pellets seem a little waxy? and they don't slide down the hopper. It gets worse as time goes by. They leave a waxy film in the hopper and stick to the sides. My stove will go out because of lack of pellets and the hopper still has a half a bag all stuck to the sides. So I have to constantly make sure the hopper is full. At the beginning of this season I cleaned and scraped the hopper with a razor blade and used laquer thinner to wipe it down. Then I coated it with Top Coat made for table saw tops which makes it nice and slick.
Guess what the pellets still stick to the sides. I was just wondering if anyone else has noticed this with the Vermont pellets.
 
I have been using Vermont pellets for 2 years now. (on my second season now). I really llike these pellets, but, I have noticed 2 things this year. More saw dust or fines in the bags. The second thing is and what bugs me the most (this has been both years), The pellets seem a little waxy? and they don't slide down the hopper. It gets worse as time goes by. They leave a waxy film in the hopper and stick to the sides. My stove will go out because of lack of pellets and the hopper still has a half a bag all stuck to the sides. So I have to constantly make sure the hopper is full. At the beginning of this season I cleaned and scraped the hopper with a razor blade and used laquer thinner to wipe it down. Then I coated it with Top Coat made for table saw tops which makes it nice and slick.
Guess what the pellets still stick to the sides. I was just wondering if anyone else has noticed this with the Vermont pellets.
I heard about this issue with Vermonts on this forum several times. Because I don't sell Vermonts, I traded a customer 10 bags of Turman for 10 bags of Barefoot and Turman last year because I wanted to try them out. (and I was also trying to win 100% of their busines;)) I have the same stove that you have and I had the same issues. Gravity alone was not enough to bring them down the hopper slides and they sort of just layed there. I did experiment with some Pam spray inside the hopper but no real luck. My Vermonts were not waxy though, actually the opposite. They were sort of dull without any "shine" on the outer portions. As for the pellet itself, the ash was nice and low and the heat was good. I do not think it is a flaw with the pellet as much as it is a compatability issue with some stoves. You dont find too much bad about them on this forum, and my experience with them has been limited to 10 bags. But, my findings do coincide with yours.
 
CT, He's got so many different brands he keeps getting confused on which is his winter pellet! Not to mention his OCD-CRS-DTM issues!
That's just how the "other half" lives!
 
Maybe "waxy" wasn't the right word. I guess it seems that way because of what the hopper feels like after a few bags. Nothing would slide down the sides now without a cleaning again.
 
You don't by any chance have a case of the Harman gummy stove syndrome do you?

There is a cure for that, and it is covered as a warranty item.
 
Gummy Stove Syndrome?
I read a thread on this and the symptom seems to be shut downs. My stove really seems to run fine. So I don't think so.
 
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