Pellet burners definitions and tips

Clinkers are spent or partially spent fuel pellets that have melted together as a residue that accumulates in the combustion chamber (firepot) of the stove.

Fines are sawdust particles.

Dustin said:

Alright, so I'm new to this side of the house..

I know what a split, cord, moisture meter, creosote, and all that happy wood burning stuff is.. What I don't know is..

What is a..

Fine

Clinker

And I'm sure here are others.. And what do these things cause and what do I do about them?

This site saved me from burning my home down 8 years ago when I installed a wood stove "like grandpa did." I have learned tons about wood stove operation and safety. I'm totally new to this pellet burning world.

Any other advice to give? Anyone care to share any "rookie mistake" stories?

Stove to be installed, Englander 25PDVC

Looking forward to some reading

Dustin

Click to expand...

Clinkers, as Tim said, is a kind of melted situation to do with pellets at the burn pot. Some pellets are inherently that way and there may be some merit to burn pot design incorporated into this, as well as burn conditions in the stove. But really, in my experience it's mostly the pellets. You will learn what works with your stove but some of the Englander guys may chime in on your thread who know more about specifics with your model stove. Once you check mark that certain brands of pellets produce this condition, stay away from them is the best I can tell you up front.

The fines is sawdust but even more so it can be really fine sawdust. We all get some in our stoves and we all try to avoid pellets that have a lot of fines in the bag. Harmon stoves have a trap to collect fines and small broken pellets. I can't speak for other brands. Also some stoves burn the fines well others clog up. The concern is the clogging. Just keep your stove as clear of fines as is reasonable. If you buy pellets in clear bags you can see the dust on the bottom. In the case of my Harman I clean the fines box once a month and that's about it. I don't think it has a problem feeding them or burning them anyway.

Creosote in burning pellets is not what it is in burning wood stoves. Do a proper install and basically it's a non issue. Burn the stove correctly ( a Harman is almost impossible not to) and you will get very minimal creosote, mostly a dusty ash in your vent system.

Pretty much everything else I can think of comes down to stove specific items, to which I know 0 about Englander stoves.

Fines are a pain in the butt. Clinkers are a pain in the ass.

Auger jams will make you look like you're dancing, but get good pellets and you'll stay warm.

Keep the stove clean according to the manual till you get the feel of how dirty things get. Some stoves need daily attention with a weekly tare down. Going to far can get your exchangers etc gunked up and very hard to get clean. Our Harman only needs the fines box cleaned once a season. Could probably go several years, but that can be how well its was built and the fuels used. Fall and spring use of stoves with frequent starts and stops can accelerate the need for cleaning.

Just to expand on clinkers some. They are caused by silica that is found in pellets(wood) naturally. When the silica is heated to fusion temperature it melts and the solidifies as it cools. It then fuses with ash and forms clinkers. Silica will normally melt around 2700 degrees. Trace amounts of alkaline salts will cause the melting temp to lower. It could lower it to 1500 degrees. That's the long version.

Some pellets contain high amounts of bark where more sand tends to rest. Indeck pellets are brown in color and high ash and tend to make ugly clinkers. Probably very high bark content. Still trying to finish off half ton of 4 that we bought couple years ago. At least the Penningtons were good for soaking up oil of the garage floor.