Pellet Stove - When do you refill your hopper? How much do you add? How often do you clean the ash?

Define cold? My hopper holds about a bag and a half.. So when I see about a half a bag in there, I add one. The quality of the pellets determines when I clean mine. I just finished up a ton of New England pellets which produced a lot of ash. I was cleaning my INSERT every 2 bags. I am now on a ton of Energex and can go 6-8 bags before I need to clean it.

Temp here right now is 20-30's as it has really warmed up this week. Burn about 1/2 - 3/4 bag. When it was down in the single digits to below 0, about a bag and a half. There are a lot of variables there though..

My Omega has a 120 pound hopper. I fill it every other day on average. But when the bitter stuff gets here I am filling just before bed time. So its anywhere from a bag or 2 a day. With the exception of the shoulder season. I can go several days on a full hopper load. I keep an eye on it and add when I can fit a bag in it. I just like keeping it topped off, But hate open bags hanging around.

I clean my stove on Sunday mornings. It burns a full week before I open the door. I just keep the hopper topped off. In less than an hour she's cranking out the heat again.

Presently burning O malleys, Stove Chow and Turmans depending on outside temps. May have to hit the Cubex or Hamers before seasons end. Or get some more cheap stuff for the spring shoulder season!

I love this stove!

Edit:

Oops, Almost forgot the full clean stuff after every ton, Both blowers get pulled, vent brushing and complete vacuum including the stove innards. Convection blower gets lubed along with the agitator chain. Once the stove is shutdown for the season I do the full ton stuff and the leaf blower too. Cap the vent pipe and plug the OAK. Also coat the stove with some anti rust in the firebox. Ready to roll come fall. When I am done fishing that is!

I have 2 Bosca Spirit 500's. The hopper holds about 1.5 bags. I usually add a bag when it is 2/3 empty.

I clean the firebox, heat exchanger and glass daily on both stoves. Once a week I will open the sides and vacuum the internal parts. Once a ton I remove both blowers and vacuum the both "airways" and the vent pipes. I empty the ash pan as needed or about 1 to 1.25 tons burned.

The pellets I use most frequently are North Idaho Energy Pellets. I also use Okanagan, Atlas, Rocky Canyon and Armstrong pellets. All are premium brands and don't create a lot of ash.

I usually fill the hopper every night before bed. Holds a little over 40lbs. In the morning, depending on how cold it is out, I may have to add more for the day while I'm at work.

I fill the hopper when a bag will fit.Mine holds 80 lbs.Fire pot every morning.Total cleaning every ton.Vacuum ash in fire box every other day.Every stove and pellet well differ.

I fill the stove when it is low on fuel, always try to get the full bag in and before I extended the hopper a little that was a challenge on the AE insert.

Twice a day, when I get up and before I tend the animals and just before I go to bed, I put in what will fit. The dragon has a 50 pound stomach (if you believe in poundage).

I clean out the ash in stages depending upon what and how much of what I burn has been burned.

This time of the year it averages out to cleaning once a week.

I try to pick my cleaning time so I don't have to rush.

I am burning Nations Choice,2 bags a day. When I burn somerset I burn 1bag a day.They put off alot of heat for me. I load it at night before bed. I was going to clean the ash pan like the manual says every 50 bags or about a month, but with these nations choice pellets its every two weeks because the amount of ash they make.

about 1.5 bags daily. Currently burning MWP, but will go to Canadian Energex when my MWP run out. I have 4 tons of the Energex. Bought them before I found how good and affordable MWP had become. I clean the fire box every 3 days. Not because of the fire pot, that is most always clean, but because I want to vac. and brush out the entire fire box and the heat exchange pipe, plus clean off the glass.

I put about two bags a day in keeping the 205 lb hopper between 3/4 and full; a little more or less depending on outside temperatures and how windy it is out. Daily I also empty the edge of the burnpot of the denser ash clumps and try to scrape some of the carbon build up off the burn surface down by the auger. Just getting through my first ton since install, burning the lignetics hardwood/conifer blend, and the ash pan is about half full. I think tomorrow I am going to run the hopper out and give its first thorough cleaning once cool and empty the ash pan since its supposed to be around 40 the next 3 days and just run the heat pump.

imacman said:

I usually fill the hopper every night before bed. Holds a little over 40lbs. In the morning, depending on how cold it is out, I may have to add more for the day while I'm at work.

Click to expand...

You work? hahahaha

krooser said:

imacman said:

I usually fill the hopper every night before bed. Holds a little over 40lbs. In the morning, depending on how cold it is out, I may have to add more for the day while I'm at work.

Click to expand...

You work? hahahaha

Click to expand...

Yeah, hard to believe, huh.

BTW, take that ridiculous statement about "Wisconsin aka Tax Hell" outta your avatar mister....until you have lived in NY, you have NO clue......... :sick:

SmokeyTheBear said:

Twice a day, when I get up and before I tend the animals and just before I go to bed, I put in what will fit. The dragon has a 50 pound stomach (if you believe in poundage).

I clean out the ash in stages depending upon what and how much of what I burn has been burned.

This time of the year it averages out to cleaning once a week.

I try to pick my cleaning time so I don't have to rush.

Click to expand...

Same as the bear. I like to empty my ash pan once during mid-week and do a good cleaning sometime during the weekend. Loading the hopper has become a routine. Fill er up while the coffee is brewing in the morning and again just before bed.

once a day with 2-3 bags. They are penningtons so I shutdown and clean out the ash every day too. I didn't clean the hopper for almost 2 weeks and my auger got jammed with dust from the pellets. Now, I am looking to make one of those vacuum things.

once a day with 2-3 bags. They are penningtons so I shutdown and clean out the ash every day too. I didn't clean the hopper for almost 2 weeks and my auger got jammed with dust from the pellets. Now, I am looking to make one of those vacuum things.

I've been going through about 1 and 1/4 bags a day with the temps at or below freezing (lows around 20). Still working through an old batch of NEWPs from the NY plant (only 4 bags left!). The heat output it lower then I like like to see, and the ash is tremendous, so I've been cleaning the fire box area every 2 days. I'll be doing a full cleaning including the vent pipe once the NEWPs are done and I switch to the Barefoots.

Right now in our showroom we are testing the Euromax by Enerzone. 120lb hopper. I top it off every two days running at about 50K btus which is setting 4 out of 6. Its heating about 1500 square feet. Empty the ashes once a month and havent had to clean the burn pot yet as its a bottom feeder. We're using Curran softwood pellets.

If I am not running the wood stove then I fill the hopper twice a day, before I leave in the morning then top it off before bed. My hopper only holds 40 lbs so I have to at least check it twice daily. I have been burning New England pellets but now have just started on a ton of okies. I do a shutdown, thorough vacuum and ash pan dump once a week. I average about a bag a day heating with just the pellet stove, however I often heat with wood and always add the wood stove when temps dip into single digits or lower.

I have been going threw a bag a day this cold month. fill her up right before i go to bed, Hopper holds 75 lbs. I do a fast clean every day, scrape the burn pot, brush the ash into the pan and wipe the glass. Every weekend do a good cleaning, vac the ash traps out and the rest of the stove. Once a month do the leaf blower trick and clean the pipe. burning summerset this year.

imacman said:

krooser said:

imacman said:

I usually fill the hopper every night before bed. Holds a little over 40lbs. In the morning, depending on how cold it is out, I may have to add more for the day while I'm at work.

Click to expand...

You work? hahahaha

Click to expand...

Yeah, hard to believe, huh.

BTW, take that ridiculous statement about "Wisconsin aka Tax Hell" outta your avatar mister....until you have lived in NY, you have NO clue......... :sick:

Click to expand...

Better?

krooser said:

imacman said:

krooser said:

imacman said:

I usually fill the hopper every night before bed. Holds a little over 40lbs. In the morning, depending on how cold it is out, I may have to add more for the day while I'm at work.

Click to expand...

You work? hahahaha

Click to expand...

Yeah, hard to believe, huh.

BTW, take that ridiculous statement about "Wisconsin aka Tax Hell" outta your avatar mister....until you have lived in NY, you have NO clue......... :sick:

Click to expand...

Better?

Click to expand...

A little....should read "Wisconsin AKA Tax Heaven compared to NY" :lol:

I have been using about one pellet hod full per day ( 25 pounds).

Fill in the morning.

Do a quick vacuum each day and clean the glass with White Off.

Do an ash pan vacuum, and behind the baffles cleaning every two or three weeks.

Would burn more pellets, but we also run a Tarm wood boiler, which is connected to the oil boiler, and domestic hot water. The Tarm runs on and off from about Thanksgiving weekend until the end of March/early April depending on weather.

Ranger