Do you have any Pellet myths to share?????

Just giving it a bump.

I will add my 2 cents, I believe in softwood over hardwood,I think every pellet stove should have OAK installed.And as far as pellet cost vs Oil,If all were equal I prefer to burn the pellets than give money to the Arab countries. And on that note,they say the average home uses 5-7 gallons of oil per day, at say 2.79 a gallon were I get it at 6 9(mid of road)gallons per day that equates to 16.74 dollars a day and right now I use 1 bag of softwood pellets per day at 5.00 a day,so for me I believe I am saving alot.....Just my opinion..!

Wi Thundercat said:

"Pellets are pellets, they're all the same!"

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Ah yes, the box store employee explanation when telling them which brand you prefer to purchase.

Here is my favorite pellet related myth.

My stove is clean, I just emptied the burn pot, brushed off the fake brick, and emptied the ash pan.

You mean there are more places I have to clean out?lol

Doocrew said:

Wi Thundercat said:

"Pellets are pellets, they're all the same!"

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Ah yes, the box store employee explanation when telling them which brand you prefer to purchase.

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Yep! Heard it again last night when asking what pellets they were selling this year! :cheese:

SmokeyTheBear said:

Here is my favorite pellet related myth.

My stove is clean, I just emptied the burn pot, brushed off the fake brick, and emptied the ash pan.

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Not funny! Just earlier the neighbor started to have "problems" with his pellet stove. Came over to have me take a look at it. Get over there. What the heck! "When was the last time you cleaned this thing." He said "I empty the ash pan yesterday."

Shorty said:

SmokeyTheBear said:

Here is my favorite pellet related myth.

My stove is clean, I just emptied the burn pot, brushed off the fake brick, and emptied the ash pan.

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Not funny! Just earlier the neighbor started to have "problems" with his pellet stove. Came over to have me take a look at it. Get over there. What the heck! "When was the last time you cleaned this thing." He said "I empty the ash pan yesterday."

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Amazing! Every stove should come with an invite to this forum!

Wi Thundercat said:

Amazing! Every stove should come with an invite to this forum!

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My stoves do

I would love to know everything I am supposed to do for my stoves,but I can not find a service manual for the Breckwell P28FS ,and Breckwell has been no help to me at all.So if anyone has that info please please pass it along.I have the owners manual which is useless for this.

"Don't buy pellets stored outside." Guess I'd call this busted. The Indecks I just unwrapped were wrapped so well I think they could have been stored in a swimming pool and not gotten wet.

"Your air flow problems thru the pot could be caused by your ash pan door gasket being bad." At least for Quads, busted. The pot doesn't really care where the air comes from.

And last but not least <drum roll> "I know a gal that had two fingers torn off by sticking her hand down into the auger with the stove running." Yeah, I got heck last year for calling this out, I still don't buy it. So there.

Have at it!

Yeah, I heard from Smokey to watch out for 'how all pellets are the same'! Then what happens? I go to my local Ace and tell the 2 young ladies at the counter I wanted a ton of Lignetics and they both gave me that look. Finally the one girl said to me, you know all pellets are the same!

Czech said:

"Your air flow problems thru the pot could be caused by your ash pan door gasket being bad." At least for Quads, busted. The pot doesn't really care where the air comes from.

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I'll take this for poops and giggles Czech, especially since you and I have had the discussion before.

Actually on a very large number of stoves it is indeed the case, leaving the ash pan door ajar or having a bad gasket does lead to a burn disrupting air bypass of the burn pot.

The ash pan would have to be inassessable to the firebox except via the burn pot to not cause a burn issue.

I knew you'd post Smokey! We've been here and done that, I know, poops and giggles. Your last sentence is exactly the config on my Quad, ash clean out doors normally closed during use are the only pass through to the ash pan other than the pot holes.

j-takeman said:

SmokeyTheBear said:

j-takeman said:

SmokeyTheBear said:

j-takeman said:

Shorty" date="1290747106 said:

j-takeman" date="1290745146 said:

Shorty" date="1290733314 said:

I don't know any myths that have not been demythed yet.

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Just the other day I saw a post that someone believes the softwoods burn faster than hardwoods. Sounds like a myth to me?

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I thought that was Busted? As long as you turn feed rate down it burns the same amount of time.

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That might confirm the myth? I think its busted by other factors. Pellet size and Density.

My testing of Country Pine(softwood) and SIH(hardwood) similar size and density had darn near the same burn length. See chart

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There is a reason for that, your stove feeds by volume. So if the different pellets are all the same in terms of size let alone anything else they will cause your stoves timer to record the same burn times.

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How do we know for sure the stove feeds by volume?

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Put 100,000 .25 inch glass balls into the hooper and run the auger motor until it is primed and they start dropping into a cup, stop the auger feed, then run the auger for a minute.

Repeat the experiment with 100,000 .25 inch lead balls.

Count the contents of the two cups.

Repeat the above experiment a few times, discuss the results.

This is an exercise you can do for yourself.

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Interesting. But lead in my hopper?

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Nevermind Lead.......How about balls in your hopper!

myth #1- you can heat your entire home (regardless of those pesky details, like size, build quality, and location) with 1 bag of pellets each day.
myth #B- Hahdwood (thats hardwood for those outside New England) pellets is way less dusty than them softwoods pellet crap.
myth #3- My stove runs way better if I leave the hopper open.
myth #4- I heard this stove (insert whatever unit you like) makes tons of ash.

Czech said:

I knew you'd post Smokey! We've been here and done that, I know, poops and giggles. Your last sentence is exactly the config on my Quad, ash clean out doors normally closed during use are the only pass through to the ash pan other than the pot holes.

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Unfortunately that isn't the case for a very large number of stoves (I think this is also the case for most but don't know for certain).

I keep looking at the insides of stoves whenever I see a stove I haven't seen before.

Like I keep saying get to know that air paths in your stoves and it will all become clear and then you will be the master.

Delta-T said:

myth #1- you can heat your entire home (regardless of those pesky details, like size, build quality, and location) with 1 bag of pellets each day.
myth #B- Hahdwood (thats hardwood for those outside New England) pellets is way less dusty than them softwoods pellet crap.
myth #3- My stove runs way better if I leave the hopper open.
myth #4- I heard this stove (insert whatever unit you like) makes tons of ash.

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Actually Delta-T you can heat your house on even less than 1 bag of pellets a day, but you won't be using today's pellet stoves or wood pellets, you need the one with the nuclear option and I think that the pellets are made of uranium or other radioactive material.

Myth #3 also may not be a myth, although that stove likely has some other issues.

Myth #4 isn't far fetched at all and even possible, a manufacturing defect would be the only thing needed.

Oh, and by the way. I heat my spilt level with a basement located stove! Yes, the basement is 90 degrees and the above living, dining, and kitchen are hot, and yes the bedrooms are cool.

Czech said:

Oh, and by the way. I heat my spilt level with a basement located stove! Yes, the basement is 90 degrees and the above living, dining, and kitchen are hot, and yes the bedrooms are cool.

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I don't know about the 90 degree and hot part but you can actually heat a house using one installed in the basement.

But you best pay attention to air flow and heat loss considerations.

Other myths...

#1. - I'll buy a name brand stove from a reputable dealer and I'll get service.BUSTED
#2. - I'll install an OAK and I will not get smoke in the house during a power failure BUSTED
#3. - The inter-duty auger motor supplied on Englander Stoves is okay for continuous duty use (lower auger). BUSTED
#4. - The photo eye on Lennox Whitfields can be replaced with 120 °F Snap switch on the exhaust. CONFIRMED Two mods done recently on P30's, still running SUPER!
#5. - Inferno Pellets have made a complete 180 in their manufacturing. BUSTED Same old crap
#6. - Name brand stoves require less maintenance. BUSTED Englander beats Lennox any day.
#7. - St. Croix stove have the worst service record of any stove. BUSTED Hudson River wins this spot.
#8. - Softwood pellets burner hotter than hardwoods BUSTED Cubex is hardwood and burns the hottest I've seen
#9. - Dirty glass doesn't affect the stove's performance BUSTED Radiant heat output is less.

#1. - I’ll buy a name brand stove from a reputable dealer and I’ll get service.BUSTED

The dealer isn't likely to be reputable then, unless the reputation was a bad one.


As to number 4 I wonder what that circuit was measuring and if there will be future repercussions of the control board nature.

Scott did you determine what the controller was expecting to see from the photoeye?

Czech said:

"Don't buy pellets stored outside." Guess I'd call this busted. The Indecks I just unwrapped were wrapped so well I think they could have been stored in a swimming pool and not gotten wet.

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Hey Czech, let us know your opinions of those Indecks. I asked about them in another thread. Woodpellets.com here in New England was having a special on them, the cheapest of any pellet I had been able to find locally. I didn't go for them because I couldn't find much info on them. I started another thread, so you could reply there. Thanks.....

Which thread Gweep? Ah heck with it, I'll post here. I burned around 3 tons, started late last winter, working through the first ton this year. They are a good pellet, I'd place them right in the middle of the higher quality group I guess. They burn hot (nice white interior of stove and glass), after a steady 24 hour burn I have maybe a half inch of fluff in the pot a maybe an eighth in the box of ash. Two days with no pot dump and I'll get mis-fires. No fines in the bags to even mention, may be due to the fact that I'm pretty close to the plant shipping wise? They wrap them really well, there's and inside five sided plastic heavy mil 'sock' that was too nice to throw away, then the standard shrink wrap around that, really well done. These 'little' things tell me they are trying hard to do good by the customer, I'll keep buying them because of that. Lastly, very little if any variation between this year and last or ton to ton too. All that said, I'm saving the Blazers for January!

One other myth that a dealer told me when I was shopping many years ago "Set it and forget it!".

Czech said:

....

One other myth that a dealer told me when I was shopping many years ago "Set it and forget it!".

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I'll set it but I won't forget it.