Does anyone let their stove run out of pellets, burning up the fines ??

I do the same thing. While I dont let it run out to the point of shutting down, I will let it run down to the point where I can push all the fines and dust into the auger, then load it back up with pellets. Never had a problem doing it.

I've never worried about fines as my stove doesn't seem to be sensitive to them: I just dump the bag directly into the hopper. I will vacuum the hopper if it happens to be empty when I'm about to do a cleaning, but otherwise I don't worry about it.

Every 2-3 weeks I let the hopper empty and burnout. Tons of fly ash as hopper is almost empty but I dont have a problem doing this with my Harmon accentra insert.This thing eats anything I throw in it.
I look at it like the fines you get at the bottom of a cerial box. I eat every last bit lol.

Same here, no issues with fines or auger, but I do let it run out of pellets usually once a week just before cleaning.
Mike -

I normally just dump them in and only vac the hopper once a month at best.

But some do say the stove will stay cleaner if you shift out the fines. To me there just heat when they burn!

jay

I don't worry about the fine either. I just dump the pellets from the bag into the hopper. Most get carried away in the auger with other pellets.

What they all said ^^^^^^^

I just do what everyone else is doing, but I wonder if the fines add up by the end of the season? More ash and grit? Seems to me they just burn but I don't know that for a fact.

jamesdjs said:

I don't worry about the fine either. I just dump the pellets from the bag into the hopper. Most get carried away in the auger with other pellets.

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Exactly.....

As long as the fines aren't excessive like macman had from his Infernos.With the fines he had I would be sifting.

I learned today there is a limit... Had a bag that had been damp on one side and about 1/6 of the bag had crumbled to fines. Tried to dump it in the hopper tonight and plugged the auger with all the fines hitting it at once. It was spinning, but nothing was getting past. Had to shove a wire up the feed and get those loose and now all is well again... after unloading the hopper and refilling with a fresh bag. I'll put a scoop at a time in the hopper over the next few days and use that bag up slower now.

like most already stated....i burn em also and vac hopper once a month

Yep, let the hopper almost run out. With stove off, vac the hopper.
Once a month seems to help.

I was wandering the same thing.

........ a bud of mine had a hopper fire last winter when he had gone out ..... was burning pellets with too many fines (I was burning them too before I got my ligs) and had a sawdust trail going back up his shoot .... it smoldered back up this trail through the auger to the hopper.... I started keeping an eye on it now myself.... not only cleaning them but cleaning out the hopper once every 2 months .....thats just so I can sleep at nights .... cc

i hit mine about once a month , may do it more or less with the new pah i installed last friday i have to get a feel for the rate of buildup with this one first

I screen my pellets before putting them into the stove.

When I let it run almost out of pellets every month or so to clean the auger area, it really does not need any cleaning.

Ranger

Haubera said:

I learned today there is a limit... Had a bag that had been damp on one side and about 1/6 of the bag had crumbled to fines. Tried to dump it in the hopper tonight and plugged the auger with all the fines hitting it at once. It was spinning, but nothing was getting past. Had to shove a wire up the feed and get those loose and now all is well again... after unloading the hopper and refilling with a fresh bag. I'll put a scoop at a time in the hopper over the next few days and use that bag up slower now.

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I had a bag like that and I brought it back for an exchange, I had opened it to see how the pellets had turned to an unburnable state for a good part
of the bag, maybe 10-15% was mush. Anyway, I let the hopper go empty once so far, and it's about time for the second exam. I see a little bit of
sawdust in the bin compartment now but not enough to worry as I only started burning the stove Oct. 8 of this year. With a three bag hopper on
the stove it seems that the pellets are pretty good (dry) in the hopper when I have to add a bag or two. A leaf blower cleaning is going to be
attempted pretty soon, probably when I let the hopper run empty again. I should have burned a ton by then, if not already.

UncleAnthony said:

Yep, let the hopper almost run out. With stove off, vac the hopper.
Once a month seems to help.

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Same here

Havent had a problem with fines so I just keep adding pellets rigt out of the bag.

I also had a bag that had gotten wet and the pellets were about half crumbled. I dumped it into a plastic bin and now use it to start new fires after cleaning once a week or so.

NO Sift
NO Vacuum
No Problems.

I have vacuumed the hopper maybe twice in the 3 years I have been running the Quad.... but it was a waste of time cause there was no fines there lol....they make their way up the chute with the pellets so never worried about it....

I just don't see the logic in this approach. Do the fines somehow collect in the bottom of the hopper, but magically feed only when the hopper is low? Sounds like nonsense. I just dump the pellets in and let them burn fines and all. Never had a problem and never had more than normal amount of dust in the hopper.