Fines in the bag

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Since we as consumers have no control over it I find it is not worth loosing any sleep over. There are many reasons & causes including shipping & handling.
 
wannabe pellet pyro said:
What do you consider a fair amount of fines to be in the bag? 1/4 cup maybe 1 cup???

If you have to ask how much is to much? Then its probably to much.

A cup is a lot. I sift the bags that go into the Quad. But do it with a Sifter and Shop vac. So I dont know if its a teaspoon or a gallon. Buy if your seeing a lot while dumping or in the hopper?? Its probably a lot.

What brand of pellets?

Clifford said:
Is fines, the dust like substance at the bottom of the bag ?

Yes. The "Saw Dust" of sorts...
 
I am not losing sleep over it. I was told by one of the pellet manufacters that a full cup in a bag is ok... I feel not.
 
I don't know, I cut the top of the bag open and dump it in the hopper. There is fire. The house is warm. The wife is smiling. Tomorrow I will open another bag or two, and dump it (or them ) in the hopper. The house will still be warm, the wife will still be smiling. That's about as fine as it gets.
 
Anything more than 1/2 a palm full is too much in my opinion.
 
My M55 isn't picky. It burns what I throw into it.

I don't sift or sort. Just open and dump in.

Not concerned about fines. I only notice them in passing.

---Nailer---
 
hossthehermit said:
I don't know, I cut the top of the bag open and dump it in the hopper. There is fire. The house is warm. The wife is smiling. Tomorrow I will open another bag or two, and dump it (or them ) in the hopper. The house will still be warm, the wife will still be smiling. That's about as fine as it gets.

X2
 
more than a cup in a bag and the pellets are crap.
 
Not one of the 1/2 dozen brands of pellets that I burned this year had any significant fines at all. Not so in the past. It seems that most of the pellet manufacturers have figured out how to deal with fines.
 
John97 said:
hossthehermit said:
I don't know, I cut the top of the bag open and dump it in the hopper. There is fire. The house is warm. The wife is smiling. Tomorrow I will open another bag or two, and dump it (or them ) in the hopper. The house will still be warm, the wife will still be smiling. That's about as fine as it gets.

X2

X3
 
Which stoves have problems with fines? I haven't paid much attention since my stove handles fines with no issues, but the ones I have particularly noticed are the Quads since they have the open "spring" style auger. Has anyone tried running a traditional style auger in a Quad?
 
Stove Chow has alot of fines and splinter like wood fines but it burns well.
 
Hamers has a lot of fines too, but burn hotter than two hamsters farting in a wool sock.
 
Pelletfisky said:
Stove Chow has alot of fines and splinter like wood fines but it burns well.

X2. More fines than I care about, but heat is the most important thing. I think for the price Stove Chow burns very well for heat. This year's 3 tons I've got might leave more ash than I want, but this also might be my venting system which hopefully I can get updated before next burn season.
 
wannabe pellet pyro said:
What do you consider a fair amount of fines to be in the bag? 1/4 cup maybe 1 cup???

My auger actually does scoop up 90% of the pellet dust so I'm not so angry about it.
 
The amount of fines varies from bag to bag and also brand to brand. Of the three brands I've been burning the most this season, Bayou and the most and Barefoots had very very little fines. 1 cup sounds excessive though.
 
It's also nice when all the fines are confined to the bottom of the bag and not intermixed with the pellets. That way when reaching the bottom of the bag I can shake the last 10 or 20 pellets up and out of the lip of the bag and into the hopper without the fines following. This works if there are minimal fines left. If there is around 1/4 cup of fines I reach in and grab those last 10-20 pellets and use my hand as a sieve and throw them into the hopper manually.

Some people in this thread don't mind fines but in my Harman Invincible excessive fines require excessive cleaning.
 
ditto hossthe hermit
 
Fines & or dust in the bags, vary from brand to brand. This is not a problem, if you clean your pellets, before putting them thru your stove. Every bag I open, gets put thru a pellet cleaner, into a 5 gallon bucket/pal, & then into the stove. it takes about a minute or 2 to empty the bag thru pellet cleaner. 1st hand experience, it does work great. It's not good to be dumping the fines from bag into stove. Also, it keeps the wifey happy to, there is not near the dust, flying thru the air when dumping the bag in stove. Since I started cleaning pellets, it keeps the stove running very clean & running efficent. Also, cleaning of flue pipe, I do it once during burn season. I just did the mid season cleaning of flue 2 weeks ago, I could have burned the whole season & not cleaned it at all. I wish I would have took a picture of it, but I didn't. It had about 1/4" to 1/2" of soot/dust/ash, laying in it. That was after 2 tons have been burn thru stove. It would have lasted the whole season, without cleaning. Before I started cleaning pellets, I did it about after every ton. The flue which is 3 diameter would be down to like a 1-1/2" diameter inside, from soot/dust/ash build-up. All I can say, for me it pays to clean my pellets.
 
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