First report on Southern Indiana Hardwood pellets...

[krooser]

Dirty stove...these stoves need to be throughout cleaned in every nook and cranny to operate efficiently. There are air passages behind the firebox that get plugged with ash. Do a site search for 'leaf blower trick' and 'stove cleaning'...

 

[briansol]

Fordmastertech said they were sold at his Plainville Lowes, all i know is none in Bloomfield or Manchester, just Chow and Inferno's

I was in there on saturday and didn't see them... wasn't really looking for them, but I try to browse around the pellet area/stoves/etc while i'm in stores like this.

 

[damperswideopen]

Thanks for the help. I'm shutting the stove off and while it's cooling I'll be checking out the info on the corn burner site. Then, depending on what I learn from that site, I'll be getting to work on a more thorough cleaning... I can be pretty nit-picky so hopefully I don't get into any trouble with this. Next thing you know I'll be pulling out the tools and tearing the whole thing apart to clean every square inch. I'll let you know how it goes. And feel free to share more advice... I really appreciate all of it.


update: still have the stove tore apart... found a problem with the seal between the auger and the outside of the hopper. Looks like it was never sealed properly in the first place since the bead of caulk? is still in a bead at the top where the metal plate of the auger is bowed outward (as in, because of the bow in the auger plate thing it would have never touched the sealant or the side of the hopper). So I'm working on that now. Looks like it'll be a while before I can comment anymore on how well I like the SIH pellets. And if I have more questions on the stove repair I'll find the appropriate thread and post there for now.

 

[damperswideopen]

a HUGE thank you to You BobMac and Krooser. I now have a stove that has never worked so well. And I truly mean never. Mom told me that dad was the one who installed the stove years and years ago and I'll bet anything it was the type of deal where you screw a few things together, attach this to that, hook up these wires and viola! pellet stove installed. Although dad was a skilled electrician, he was a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none type in most other stereotypically "manly man" areas. I don't think he ever realized the auger-hopper problem even if he knew how well sealed the stove needed to be to run correctly. And, I'm fairly certain he never gave it a thoroughly thorough cleaning (or he might have found that auger-hopper problem like I did). But between sealing up the stove (auger, hopper, and all) and vacuuming every square inch of it inside and out (as well as the vent pipes) I now know what a good flame looks like... as well as a blow torch flame which I must say is quite impressive. And, to top it off, I barely have to have the damper open at all (keeping it somewhere between "closed" and "half-way").

The Southern Indiana hardwood pellets work great in this dinosaur (my best guess is it's from '93-'95). They are burning fast enough so they don't pile up and after 2.5 days there's very little ash build up. And the stove, which is in the unfinished/cement floors and walls basement, is keeping it and the rest of our ranch-style house about 70 degrees. That's an average because when I turn on a vent fan, that dad installed in the hallway by the bedrooms at the end of the house closest to the stove, to pull up the heat from the basement the main living areas rise up to 72 degrees (even on the far side of the stove/fan set up) and the basement is about 68. And, without running the fan the basement stays right at 70 degrees. Not bad, I'd say, and WAY better than heating everything with the furnace/boiler that uses propane.

Gotta admit... I think I'm hooked on burning wood pellets.

 

[Turbo-Quad]

Funny how they sell them from CT to TX and yet im 180 miles away and not a bag to be found. Drove by the plant two weeks ago but it was sunday.

 

[geek]

Fordmastertech said they were sold at his Plainville Lowes, all i know is none in Bloomfield or Manchester, just Chow and Inferno's

I was in there on saturday and didn't see them... wasn't really looking for them, but I try to browse around the pellet area/stoves/etc while i'm in stores like this.

yep, they went quick, i had called them when they had them but then waited a couple days and when i called again they didn't have any.

 

[shisits]

I had my auger lock up for the first time this weekend. I emptied out the pellets and there was no bridging of the pellets. Saw that the auger was not turning but was making a weird noise like something was jammed. Took the shop vac and sucked the auger clean. Started it up and presto the auger begin feeding pellets again. SIH have lot of pellets over 2" ... do not know if that was the cause or not. I was not able to check shopvac to see what was in it because of the drywall bag.... did not want to ruin it. The SIH burn very hot and after 9 days far less ash than the Somersets. :exclaim:

 

[krooser]

a HUGE thank you to You BobMac and Krooser. I now have a stove that has never worked so well. And I truly mean never. Mom told me that dad was the one who installed the stove years and years ago and I'll bet anything it was the type of deal where you screw a few things together, attach this to that, hook up these wires and viola! pellet stove installed. Although dad was a skilled electrician, he was a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none type in most other stereotypically "manly man" areas. I don't think he ever realized the auger-hopper problem even if he knew how well sealed the stove needed to be to run correctly. And, I'm fairly certain he never gave it a thoroughly thorough cleaning (or he might have found that auger-hopper problem like I did). But between sealing up the stove (auger, hopper, and all) and vacuuming every square inch of it inside and out (as well as the vent pipes) I now know what a good flame looks like... as well as a blow torch flame which I must say is quite impressive. And, to top it off, I barely have to have the damper open at all (keeping it somewhere between "closed" and "half-way").

The Southern Indiana hardwood pellets work great in this dinosaur (my best guess is it's from '93-'95). They are burning fast enough so they don't pile up and after 2.5 days there's very little ash build up. And the stove, which is in the unfinished/cement floors and walls basement, is keeping it and the rest of our ranch-style house about 70 degrees. That's an average because when I turn on a vent fan, that dad installed in the hallway by the bedrooms at the end of the house closest to the stove, to pull up the heat from the basement the main living areas rise up to 72 degrees (even on the far side of the stove/fan set up) and the basement is about 68. And, without running the fan the basement stays right at 70 degrees. Not bad, I'd say, and WAY better than heating everything with the furnace/boiler that uses propane.

Gotta admit... I think I'm hooked on burning wood pellets.

Thanks for the kind words... sometimes my mantra about clean stoves gets a little old... but I found out how important it is just like many others...trial and error (and a good service tech).

The SIH pellets do have a few long ones... they are working hard to correct any problems in the pellet making process so I know they will work that out. So far the long ones have not been a problem for my stove...

 

[Shark]

Hi all,
Been lurking for a while finally decided to register.

Has anyone bought any of the SIH pellets recently? I picked up 10 bags from the local TCS last week. After 1 bag of pellets there is a ton of ash in the stove. I had been using somerset & greenway pellets all winter but finally ran out & we had another cold week so thought I'd try some of these.

The previous reviews were good, so I am a bit surprised. The heat output is very good, just alot of ash.