Sawdust accumulation on the bottom of the hopper

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mila

mila

New Member
Nov 11, 2014
4
Hudson Valley, NY
Hi everybody!
We purchased Piazzetta Sveva stove and had it installed in October this year. Since nobody went over the stove with us :( I focused on reading the forum and manual instead. I have to admit that the forum can be a little bit overwhelming for the beginners especially when all the possible stove tweaks are mentioned. I'm trying to focus on the basics for now... I read in the manual that sawdust accumulation on the bottom of the hopper should be avoided... but there is no explanation of how it could be achieved. Every bag of pellets have sawdust in it and it's virtually impossible for it to be stopped while loading the hopper. So I assume there must be some other way of cleaning the hopper itself? Any suggestions?
 
My stove eats them dust and all but it should be avoided. Different pellets have more or less (fines) dust. Best to find pellet brands with the least for starters. I am not familiar with your stove at all but many general rules apply to all pellet stoves. Many people let their hoppers run down or out for cleaning the auger, hopper, etc; You should vac out the fines. This varies on intervals depending on personal preferences and different stoves.

Another widely used method is that people screen them and vac pellets of dust before putting them into their hoppers. This adds another step to the loading process. There are others here with your stove and / or way more knowledge than I have that will chime in and offer their ideas soon enough.

Keep reading is all I can say. I have been reading here A LOT for months now and still pick up great solutions and answers this way. I am a newbie also. I have been extremely active here and spend much of my free time reading and participating here.

BTW Welcome! I see it's your first post and a new purchase! I agree with it being a lot to digest and learn. You will Thank yourself later. It is pretty widely know that owning a pellet stove you are pretty much all on your own. This forum is the best help, advice, and learning tool there is so be glad you are here. That's a first step in the right direction. I knew absolutely nothing about pellet stoves just a couple of months ago. I lurked here and then finally joined so I could get better access to more info. By reading your manual and being here you will have it figured out and whipped. Keep reading and re-read your manual. Get to know your stove and it's behaviors.

Best of Luck!
 
mila said:
Hi everybody!
We purchased Piazzetta Sveva stove and had it installed in October this year. Since nobody went over the stove with us :( I focused on reading the forum and manual instead. I have to admit that the forum can be a little bit overwhelming for the beginners especially when all the possible stove tweaks are mentioned. I'm trying to focus on the basics for now... I read in the manual that sawdust accumulation on the bottom of the hopper should be avoided... but there is no explanation of how it could be achieved. Every bag of pellets have sawdust in it and it's virtually impossible for it to be stopped while loading the hopper. So I assume there must be some other way of cleaning the hopper itself? Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
There are more than a few threads here on sifting out the fines and dust
Many feel it is unnecessary, personally I do it, like you I am new to this but life has taught me more than few times that it is usually better to err on the side of caution.
 
My stove has a fine box that I vacuum every two weeks. If yours doesn't, run the hopper dry, then stick a shop vac down there and see if you have easy access to the auger, if you do vacuum as well.
 
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mila said:
some other way of cleaning the hopper itself? Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Fines are created every time the bag of pellets is handled. Little bits of pellet break off and settle to the bottom of the bag. Vacuum or sifting devices will remove the fines that are in the bag. That's one way to go.
One of the worst things about the fines is the amount that gets airborne when you pour pellets into the stove. With some brands there is a visible cloud that settles on everything in the area and as far as the convection blower can spread it.
This year I tried GranulesLG, a brand of softwood pellets. I was pleasantly surprised to find that, while there are some loose particles in the bags, there is virtually no dust. For me, that is the preferred way to go.
 
I pour my pellets into a coal hog (others use a 5 gallon pail) and then into the stove. This avoids a good amount but not all the fines in a bag. Makes it easier for the wife to load it up too.
 
mila said:
Hi everybody!
We purchased Piazzetta Sveva stove and had it installed in October this year. Since nobody went over the stove with us :( I focused on reading the forum and manual instead. I have to admit that the forum can be a little bit overwhelming for the beginners especially when all the possible stove tweaks are mentioned. I'm trying to focus on the basics for now... I read in the manual that sawdust accumulation on the bottom of the hopper should be avoided... but there is no explanation of how it could be achieved. Every bag of pellets have sawdust in it and it's virtually impossible for it to be stopped while loading the hopper. So I assume there must be some other way of cleaning the hopper itself? Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
First you should tell us what pellets are you using? And if they're dusty you should consider switching brands.

The Sveva is mechanically the same as the Sabrina which a few of the folks on Hearth have, including me.

Having said that, the Piazzetta is not particularly finicky with sawdust, aka fines. You certainly want to avoid it when you can, and then vacuum the bottom of the hopper every once in a while, first at 2 week intervals, then adjust based upon your usage. To be honest, I've only vac'd the hopper twice in 5 tons of usage. You'll have to remove the screen that is held with 4 screws in order to vac.

My routine is to buy pellets with as few fines as possible. I hate having the dust fly up when I dump a bag in the hopper. In general, all Super Premium pellets are low ash and low fines. One brand I loved last season was GranulesLG, which Harvey notes above is good this year too. The bag is clear so you can see it has no fines. Really. Last year I posted a pic of the LG as the pellets were like little pieces of broken french bread, no dust whatsoever. Premium pellets can have twice as much ash and fines, so the variance between pellet brands is quite wide and you'll have to buy a few bags to try them.

This year I have 3+ tons of doug fir Blazers, which are very clean, and 2 tons of FiresideUltras, which are notoriously dusty, but the first two bags I have burned this year were better than I recall. I tested some MaineWoodPellets, aka MWPs last season and they had a lot of fines, ½ cup a bag!

Once you've settled on a clean pellet brand, then you should be careful as you load your hopper. Often the fines you may have are in the bottom of the bag, so if you don't throw in that last bit, you can keep most of the dust out.

In the extreme case you have dusty pellets, you can try putting a vac hose propped on the edge of your hopper, while you slowly pour in your pellets. If you're careful a lot of dust which is light, will get sucked into the vac without sucking in your pellets.
 
If your stove handles fines, why worry about them? Straining them out means less BTUs per bag of pellets.

With my stove, the fines fall into the burn pot and are burned just like the pellets. I've had the stove for three years and have never vacuumed out the hopper and auger.

Dave
 
DneprDave said:
If your stove handles fines, why worry about them? Straining them out means less BTUs per bag of pellets.

With my stove, the fines fall into the burn pot and are burned just like the pellets. I've had the stove for three years and have never vacuumed out the hopper and auger.

Dave
Click to expand...
agree Dave,,,
I was going to post the same thing but I thought I was missing something here...
Fines get burned up along with pellets. I vacuum the hopper now/then along with the fines box..
I was OCD last year about my stove.. I have settled down a lot this year..
 
Tonyray said:
agree Dave,,,
I was going to post the same thing but I thought I was missing something here...
Fines get burned up along with pellets. I vacuum the hopper now/then along with the fines box..
I was OCD last year about my stove.. I have settled down a lot this year..
Click to expand...
The OP does not have a Harman. The OP has a Piazzetta with a typical augur pellet drop. The fines collect at the bottom of the hopper, eventually blocking the augur from pulling up pellets at the specified rate. The Piazzetta does not seem any more prone to fines blockage than any other stove, but the OP was asking because of the operating manual's warning.
 
I'd say from my decades of experience that excessive fines/sawdust is indicative of low quality pellets.
 
Thank you all for the answers!
Yes, I only got concerned about the dust since the manual mentions it. And I was not sure how to reach into the hopper since there was a protective screen on the top. So thank you chken for explaining. :)

The brand of pellets we are using is Okanagan Gold which was sold to us as not a low quality type of pellet. They seem to me very dusty though - a cloud of dust appears every time I feed the hopper and settles on everything around me.... :( We bought two tons when we purchased the stove, but I think I will follow your lead and get the brand you recommend here. Where do you buy them?

On a different note... I'm so happy we bought the pellet stove! We used the oil to heat the house with and since we have a forced air heating system it "felt warm" when the heat was on and very cold the moment it shut off. The heat that we get from the stove is amazing! Our house for the first time in 6 years feels cozy! And not to mention the amount of money this purchase will save us! :)
 
curious where you found Okanagans in the Hudson Valley, I've never seen them and am stuck with big box brands or NEWPs from my installer
 
[quote="mila, post: 1823991, member: 38741"
but I think I will follow your lead and get the brand you recommend here. Where do you buy them?:)[/quote]
I bought LG Granules from Woodpellets.com. They are essentially dust free. Some particulates at the bottom of the bag, but no dust.
Paid $305/ton back in September, 2014.
 
mila said:
Thank you all for the answers!
Yes, I only got concerned about the dust since the manual mentions it. And I was not sure how to reach into the hopper since there was a protective screen on the top. So thank you chken for explaining. :)

The brand of pellets we are using is Okanagan Gold which was sold to us as not a low quality type of pellet. They seem to me very dusty though - a cloud of dust appears every time I feed the hopper and settles on everything around me.... :( We bought two tons when we purchased the stove, but I think I will follow your lead and get the brand you recommend here. Where do you buy them?

On a different note... I'm so happy we bought the pellet stove! We used the oil to heat the house with and since we have a forced air heating system it "felt warm" when the heat was on and very cold the moment it shut off. The heat that we get from the stove is amazing! Our house for the first time in 6 years feels cozy! And not to mention the amount of money this purchase will save us! :)
Click to expand...
Be CAREFUL when removing the screen since you don't want to drop the screws into the hopper! I've never replaced the screen because I know I'll eventually drop a screw down there.

Okie Gold is supposed to be a very good pellet with good heat. I have no experience with them, but I'm surprised that they were dusty. Your description does sound rather dusty.

As for the GranulesLG, Harvey has already gotten an answer ready. I'm burning my last few bags of GranulesLG from last season, and I will be sorry to see them go. Those bags were so dust-free!

Good luck and stay warm.
 
Magnet, a great and wonderfull thing for when our fingers seem to be all thumbs. There was a Countryside that got screwed or was it nailed last week:) Working on motorcycles can be a challenge and have found putting a big flat ceramic magnet under where I have to work has saved many hours of trying to fish errant nuts and bolts. Working on most pellet stoves is easy compared to some bikes.
 
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The 'screen in the hopper of my stove went to the landfill about a week after I got it years ago. I'm not dumb enough to shove a finger in the auger space with the auger turning. Those screeens are a total waste IMO.

Half the 'safety' items on any stove are their for dummy protection and liability issues.
 
I will be ordering a ton tomorrow from ct pellets. They are a bit pricey ($319.00/ton and $129 to be delivered to Chester) This ton along with my other stock should take me through the winter and then some. I will be finished for the year.
 
fmsm said:
I pour my pellets into a coal hog (others use a 5 gallon pail) and then into the stove. This avoids a good amount but not all the fines in a bag. Makes it easier for the wife to load it up too.
Click to expand...
That's 'hod'.... Spelling lesson for today. Just couldn't resist, being an ex coal burner.
 
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mmj said:
I will be ordering a ton tomorrow from ct pellets. They are a bit pricey ($319.00/ton and $129 to be delivered to Chester) This ton along with my other stock should take me through the winter and then some. I will be finished for the year.
Click to expand...
Holy crap! $448 for a ton of pellets???? I paid my lumber yard $11 to deliver 2 tons when they had a delivery of wood in my area. Next winter you'll wonder why the price keeps going up.
 
mila said:
Hi everybody!
We purchased Piazzetta Sveva stove and had it installed in October this year. Since nobody went over the stove with us :( I focused on reading the forum and manual instead. I have to admit that the forum can be a little bit overwhelming for the beginners especially when all the possible stove tweaks are mentioned. I'm trying to focus on the basics for now... I read in the manual that sawdust accumulation on the bottom of the hopper should be avoided... but there is no explanation of how it could be achieved. Every bag of pellets have sawdust in it and it's virtually impossible for it to be stopped while loading the hopper. So I assume there must be some other way of cleaning the hopper itself? Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

One more reason for sub-forums for each brand.

Try this method. It virtually eliminates fines.
tn_IMGP1521.JPG
 
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mmj said:
I will be ordering a ton tomorrow from ct pellets. They are a bit pricey ($319.00/ton and $129 to be delivered to Chester) This ton along with my other stock should take me through the winter and then some. I will be finished for the year.
Click to expand...

Really?? They told me it would be $50 for delivery... Did you go with Home and Hearth?
 
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