FILTER FINES FROM PELLETS

if you go up to the search box and type in homemade pellet vac, it will bring you to the thread by shortstuff. at the bottom of the page there is a blue print of his design, and he has been very nice about letting people build from his design...check it out. i built one and love it,now i have to build 4 more for my dad and some friends.

good luck
mike

I don't screen out the dust with my stove and it seems to work fine. But I think it is up to the individual stove operator.

Since most of the sawdust will usually settle at the end of the bag, I sift the very end (maybe the last 2-3 lbs.) through a small strainer. I have only been burning this winter, but have had no problems.

a couple of times i have had issues with sawdust binding the slide plate on my P38,causing it to run out of pellets.since i built this and screen my pellets i have had no issues. i made a wall bracket , and fixed it to the shed wall, so i do everything right there in the shed , then bring them in and pour them into my tote(holds 2 bags).

mike

I pay for the 40lb bag and that includes all the contents. Open bag pour it in and burn baby burn!!

If you have dirty pellets the time and effort to screen may well be worthwhile. Better for the stove's internals and for your burn quality.

The Lignetics hardwood pellets I have are very clean with almost no sawdust or fines.

The Maine Woods (Athens) pellets I bought in August have a lot of sawdust and fines.

I mix and screen them at the same time for better, cleaner, stove performance.

I have a homemade, wooden frame, two piece screener that I use to both screen and mix the pellets.

One section is a platform on a 15 degree angle that will hold two pellet bags ( one Lignetics and one Athens).

The second section has a 1/8" hardware cloth screen on a 30 degree angle ( my friend built one using a 45 degree angle which is faster ).

I partially open both bags by making a slit with a utility knife and feed the pellets over the screen into a tote. A second tote collects the fines and sawdust.

Fines and sawdust are disposed of in my wood boiler. ( The wood boiler is used solid fuel that produces high ash content.)

The wood frame screener was way more work, and cost way more money to construct than the "PVC plumbing parts and shop vac" solutions previously mentioned, but, hey, I just like to do things the hard way.

If you decide to screen, I would suggest the "PVC-Shop Vac" method unless you are proficient with power tools.

Deffy said:

i dump in the whole bag, fines & all. easier to remove a clinker than it is to screen a bag.

Click to expand...

I second that.

I sift the last of the bag with a colander. It sits on top of the bucket and the fines drop through leaving the pellets.

Complete waste of time IMO. I've been burning pellets for 8 years now and have never needed to sift a bag.

Yeah, my Harman just eats the dust up with no problem. If I had to sift I probably wouldn`t bother burning pellets at all.

Whats the difference really? I mean your going to spend time sifting, or spend time cleaning the stove. But you have to clean the stove
regularly anyway!

depends.

My 1st ton this year had A LOT of fines in each bag. At first, I didn't sift, but then my stove started making the screetching noise pretty regularly, so then I started sifting. After that, the noises stopped significantly.

My 2nd ton this year doesn't have nearly as much fines, so I've just been emptying the contents without sifting.

My pellets have tons of fines and I dump em right into my hopper. Stove eats em right up. Nice fire works as well.

I sift the last of the bag with a colander. It sits on top of the bucket and the fines drop through leaving the pellets.

Click to expand...

I do the same thing. Usually only the last of the bag has very much fines in it. Although I had some Homewood Softwood pellets that had a lot of fines in them.

Never sifted/filtered any fines from the bag. the pellets I use have very few, if any.

Your mileage may vary...

I had 3 tons of Pennington's with alot of fines. I too had to sift the last pound or 2 of each bag. If I dumped them intot he stove, after a few days the augur would fill with fines and fed very poorly/slowly because the fines would not let the pellets thru. I now have Clean fieres and they have very few fines so I am just dumping the entire bag

Oh geez here we go again! lol For me, it's not about the fines it's about the dust. My stove burns the fines with no problem. I sift my pellets to keep my house cleaner. Pour out a bag of even the best quality pellets with a bright light shining on it and check out the amount of dust you are literally hauling into your house every day. Since I'm the one who has to feed the stove AND clean the house it's really a no brainer. It's easier to sift the pellets before I haul them inside than it is to clean up the dust inside the house after the fact. ;-)

For me it's more about the type of stove you have as to the impact the fines have on the performance of your burnpot.

Mine is a CountryFlame, which uses a stirring rod in the pot. When I have a high fines content, they settle below the stirrod, causing a carbon/klincker build up on the sections of the burnpot that don't have holes in it. And require a chisel and hammer to remove. That's what started me on sifting my pellets like I screen my corn, and I eliminated the problem. I would imagine that those with stoves that have an auger that moves their fuel thru the burn pot, this may not be as much of an issue.

Wet1 said:

Complete waste of time IMO. I've been burning pellets for 8 years now and have never needed to sift a bag.

Click to expand...

NOW THATS WHAT i HAVE BEEN WAITING TO HEAR !! NICE I hate extra work !

pegdot said:

Oh geez here we go again! lol For me, it's not about the fines it's about the dust. My stove burns the fines with no problem. I sift my pellets to keep my house cleaner. Pour out a bag of even the best quality pellets with a bright light shining on it and check out the amount of dust you are literally hauling into your house every day. Since I'm the one who has to feed the stove AND clean the house it's really a no brainer. It's easier to sift the pellets before I haul them inside than it is to clean up the dust inside the house after the fact. ;-)

Click to expand...

Peggy; are you my wife? Naw but you sound the same lol.

Scoop said:

pegdot said:

Oh geez here we go again! lol For me, it's not about the fines it's about the dust. My stove burns the fines with no problem. I sift my pellets to keep my house cleaner. Pour out a bag of even the best quality pellets with a bright light shining on it and check out the amount of dust you are literally hauling into your house every day. Since I'm the one who has to feed the stove AND clean the house it's really a no brainer. It's easier to sift the pellets before I haul them inside than it is to clean up the dust inside the house after the fact. ;-)

Click to expand...

Peggy; are you my wife? Naw but you sound the same lol.

Click to expand...

Peggy; sounds like mine too - even with little fines the dust gets blown around. I fill a ash can ($12@Walmart) that holds 12/13lbs in the garage - then dump it in the hopper. The last 2lbs I put thru a colender that rests over a box. We have little dust and fines.

I have sifted up until last month because i have the Maine Athen pellets from their 1st batch but when i stopped, it made no difference so i just pour it in the hopper fines & all. Besides , my manual says nothing 'bout sifting pellets & brochure says jam-proof auger...... like that's true. Muss

ROFL! See.....I've just given ya'll the secret to earning some brownie points with your spouse. Sift the doggone pellets! ;-)