Lee Energy Pellets : Hopper Fire Hazard ?

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Pelleting In NJ

Minister of Fire
Sep 26, 2011
720
Central NJ
I scored 15 bags of Lee Energy pellets from Home Depot last week.

The first bag seemed OK, the second bag had so many fines, that I had flames going back up the feed tube of my Ecoteck Elena, because the tube had a thick trail of wood dust all the way back up to the exit end of the auger. I am afraid of a hopper fire, so I shut down the stove and I will remove all the Lee pellets and throw them in the garbage. I will return the 13 remaining bags of Lee to Home Depot for a refund. I'd rather burn propane than have a house fire....
 
I understand some people screen their pellets. A "sluice" with holes too small for the pellets to go in, to sift out the fines. A handy person could make such a filter in less time than it would take to drive back to HD.
 
Simple screen will help the issue. I am glad I found a good source of pellets with no fines to feed the Italian. Its due to be cleaned today. Temps into the teens will make the project easier to climb the snow banks.
 
Mine so far dont have excessive fines.... got a ton other day, all there is my friends
 
I wouldn't mind screening pellets if I made them in the garage. However when you buy them for the going rate and have to screen them there is definitely a problem. Kind of like me putting on new gutters on your house but when it rains you have to climb up and scoop out the water.
 
hoverwheel said:
I understand some people screen their pellets. A "sluice" with holes too small for the pellets to go in, to sift out the fines. A handy person could make such a filter in less time than it would take to drive back to HD.
Click to expand...
tn_IMGP1521.JPG
 
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Just vacuumed my stove after a DAY, never ever in 16 years of burning seen so much ash, there worse than North American's!!
 
Did a analysis with my microscope, the density is exactly the same Swamp Maple!!
 
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Pellet-King said:
Just vacuumed my stove after a DAY, never ever in 16 years of burning seen so much ash, there worse than North American's!!
Click to expand...

My ash pan is half full after three days burning Lee pellets and the ash pan is quite large!!
 
I have a small ashpan on my Whit, most of the ash builds up around the pot and climb's up the back of firebrick.
The ash is very fluffy and light, reason why it builds up so fast....typical SWAMP MAPLE!!
These Pellet's are from Alabama, all they got is Swamp Woods

Since when does a southern state build a pellet mill??
 
This is a pic from there site...look at the top picture closely, since when does Alabama have snow covered mountains in the background???
 

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Ktm300 said:
I went on their website and explained my problem via email to Jeff in sales. Curious if he will respond...
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I too just sent a email to Jr, his dad doesn't have a email link, there contact page doesnt work either
 
Alabama.

alabamahorn.png
 
slvrblkk said:
tj....how are those Greenway's? Some floated around here a few years ago and really liked them. Still have one bag left of the Super Premium Oaks.
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They are NEXT to the best pellets that I've burned. Last year's Greenway's were better. These are super dense and feed great; however, they leave a 'crust' in the bottom of the burnpot after 1 day of burning. I'm not sure if you would call it a clinker since I've never HAD a clinker before! I can break it up with my fingers after the stove cools down. Does that still qualify as a clinker? Last year, I had NO build up in the pot at all. Everything blew out. This year they are SUPER Premium all oak while last year they were PREMIUM HARDWOOD. That picture was from last year.
We don't get much in the way of choice down here since there's only one place within an hour and a half that carries pellets! Well, two actually but the Lowes wanted a crazy price. So I take what they have to offer at the other place. Luckily it was Greenways. Once they had Carolina Wood Pellets and they REALLY sucked! Very low density, little heat, 3" pellets, jams, and lots of ash. I wrote to their home office a couple of times and they never answered. The only other pellets I've burned were Rockwood's from down below Atlanta. They were very good pellets as well.
 
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Pic is from an Alabama tourism website.
 
Pellet-King said:
I have a small ashpan on my Whit, most of the ash builds up around the pot and climb's up the back of firebrick.
The ash is very fluffy and light, reason why it builds up so fast....typical SWAMP MAPLE!!
These Pellet's are from Alabama, all they got is Swamp Woods

Since when does a southern state build a pellet mill??
Click to expand...
The south is full of pellet mills but most are using pine which is super abundant and there's a lot of pine plantations. Unfortunately most of the pellets are going overseas, shipped in bulk in freighters. And, yes, Alabama has mountains.
 
These pellet's are not pine, they say Premium Hardwoods, which is Swamp Maple
 
Pellet-King said:
These pellet's are not pine, they say Premium Hardwoods, which is Swamp Maple
Click to expand...
I didn't mean to infer that only pines grew down here. There's plenty of oak, sweet gum, hickory, and other hardwoods in the mountains but down in South Georgia, it's renewable pine for the overseas pellets. Red (swamp) maple covers most of the Eastern US.
 
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