Lignetics not burning good

fast636 said:

I have a St croix afton bay and have burned a ton on somerset hardwood pellets from lowes. They seemed to burn ok, not a lot of ash, not to many clinkers. when they were gone i could only get a ton of lignetics, they are the green label. The flames don't seem to be as hing as they were with the somerst.

I clean the stove weekly.(vacume out everything, scrape the burn pot, clean glass Etc.

Some of the bags had gotten wet before i got them, i have not used any of the wet bags, they were all clumped together and frozen. I could probably use some of the pellets in the bags with the clumps but i don't want to risk damage to the stove. they seam fine on the higer settings but at low there is little to no flame and not much heat.

any help would be great!

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Did you buy the bags wet?
If so return them...any reputable pellet dealer will exchange them out for you.
Wet pellets are pretty much useless...escpecially frozen wet pellets! Of course i should think out of the box...you could build some kind of cold weather shelter with the frozen bags. A pellet igloo!

give or sell the damaged bags to a person who has pets(gerbils, guinea pigs,etc) or horses. They make excellent bedding. I used to solicit the local pellet dealers for their water damaged bags for my horse's stall. They are the same thing as 'woody pet".

ive burned lignetics in my stove with great success, they have been one of my favorites, if the bags got wet likley the pellets are punky

heres a way to tell. take a cup of suspect pellets, place in a GLASS OR STONEWARE bowl, DO NOT USE PLASTIC, cover with a saucer to seal the bowl , microwave for about a minute, immediately remove the saucer and turn it vertical. if you have enough moisture to allow the water to drip[ down the plate they are wet. you will get steam but you should not have "droplets" or water standing briefly in the bottom of the bowl (the pellets will suck the water right back up so look quick)

hope this helps

speaking from years of burning lignetics though , i would never doubt the brand , but if they were improperly stored at store level or at home , any pellet will get punky

I bought some we Lignetics once. Luckily, I had other pellets and was able to let them sit for about 3 weeks. They burned fine.

Also, I seriously doubt you would damage your stove by burning wet pellets. It might not burn well, you might create more ash. I doubt thought it would permanently damage your stove.

Mark

I said it before and will say it again.

Bad storage or outdoor storage will kill pellets. Do not do it.

Eric

fast636 said:

.....They are burning but with the stove on low there is not much flame. on the higer settings it seems fine. I have noticed no clinkers , but there is tons of dust when filling the hoppper.

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I think you just got some bags that were wet at one time, but they should be fine if dry. As far as low flame on low setting, that is NORMAL with ANY pellet stove....it's like expecting a bonfire from a couple of twigs....less fuel, less flame; more fuel, more flame.

Seeing that you have a lot of dust, (and I think that's due to them having been wet at one time), I might suggest sifting or vacuuming them. I don't know how many bags you have that are bad, but if it's a lot, not only will you be filling your home w/ a lot of wood dust, but also possibly jamming the auger with a lot of fines.

If your interested in making the vacuum system that some of us have, here's the thread w/ all the info about it.....you need about $20-25 in materials from Home Depot, and a shop vac.

www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/23999/

I was wondering about the ash from my Lignetics pellets, I have seen what I guess are clinckers in the ash pan (new mt vernon user, first time ever with any pellet stove for that matter), expected to see them, but some of the clinckers have a greenish portion, distinctly green. The pellets (premium hardwood, bought in New Hampshire) themselves seem pretty dark for what is supposed to be sawdust.

my update - I have just read a string explaining clinkers and the lumps of stuff with green edges that I see are not hard or crusty like what is described as clinkers - the stuff I see is described as the result of low grade pellets or lots of sawdust/fines in the pellets. Again, these are Lignetics pellets, have burned about 2tons now, all dark as bark, but at least I have had no hard deposits or formations that would be clinkers.

I've also gotten clinkers with my Mt. Vernon and ash that i'd describe as gritty and sand like. The pellets themselves are really dark in color as well. Also being a noob I've just picked up some softwood pellets to give them a try. We'll see I guess.