Fabricating a hopper extention.

Yes there is an after market, the problem is that each stove is a bit different. That said, it is pretty straight forward. I don't know your stove, but a couple of things I've ran across with others. Note how the existing lid attaches to the hopper, and try to replicate it on the extention. Note that some hoppers are sealed or have a vacuum switch or lid switch, you'll need to deal with these. Watch for clearences to the vent pipe and abide by the manufactuer specs. Gravity is your friend, make sure you keep this in mind, nooks and crannies will hold pellets back. A 'glass' or design built in is nice to monitor content and is pretty easy to incooperate. A card board mock up may help catch things you did not think about. Good Luck!

make sure it's air tight if it isn't you'll add air to the fire and also if you lose power and you have no vertical rise in your vent your hopper becomes the vent and could have a hopper fire.

Make sure you post pictures after you are done . this sounds like a good idea to me .

Thought about that for my Whitfield for years, has a small 40# hopper to begin with, has a slit of a opening in the back near the back cause it's a insert, the hopper is not sealed or has to be airtight, to me having that sucks.
Thought of a hopper that would fit in the narrow wide opening then gradually get bigger towards the front with maybe short legs that would support it out in the front, maybe add another 30#'s would be nice

Four weeks with our PDVC and I have thought about this already. Since our hopper does not quite hold a 40lb bag. It would be nice to have hold 80lbs and fill it once a day.

Next to the stove itself, I would tell you that the hopper extension is one of the best investments I have. Nice to know that even on a heavy burn day, you can still fill the stove just once. No longer have to top it off before going to bed. My stove has an extension easily obtained on most any site that sells the stove. It is not air tight. there are no switches or sensors to be concerned about. The stove has gone out several times and I have never had a problem with smoke coming up and out the hopper. There is a warning always to keep it closed when the stove is in operation. I can open it to add pellets without shutting down the stove. If I can put the pictures in right, you can see the set up.

Make a good cardboard template of your design and bend it up to trial fit the part.. I'm sure you know this already....

http://picasaweb.google.com/panhand...key=Gv1sRgCLufo4zv4rb3zAE#5265333883495816626

PDVC

Here is a semi-finished one i'm doing for my nps45 in my shop. As you might be able to tell I put some ramps on the sides so the pellets do not get stuck around the edges, maybe it's over kill but I liked it lol and make sure if your stove has a hopper button that the new hopper keeps that button pushed in. I still have to do a sanding and painting to mine but here's what I have right now. It's really not to difficult if you measure it out before and do some rough drafts, also a hell of a lot cheaper. Good luck on yours, post pictures when your done!