pellet clinkers

[pyrman7]

I have a Lopi Yankee pellet stove,recently it has been clogging the fire pit with "clinkers".What causes these?Too much air,poor pellets?The stove is 5 yrs old,and yes I have cleaned it.

 

[cornstoves]

Usually poor pellets, we had some that they must of ground of nails or staples to make them. If you put an magnet in to the ash the ash would stick to the magnet, not good on a stove....

 

[Jambruins]

I have burned three kinds of pellets and with two of the brands (County Pride and CleanFire) I have to scrape the burnpot every day or two but with the other brand (Boreal) I don't have to touch the burnpot all week.

 

[pyrman7]

Thanks for your replies.I suspect it also may have something to do with air leaking into the burn chamber thru the door.I have been using Instantheat pellets all winter with no problems until the past several weeks.

 

[orangecrushcj7]

the most common cause for clinkers are minerals, sand, and dirt, in the pellets. They get heated up and meld together.

 

[flamegrabber]

Tree bark contains a lot of minerals and will leave big clinkers.

That bad run of Maine Woods pellets had a lot of tree bark in them. The plant manager told me that when I asked him why the huge clinkers every 24 hours.

FG.

the most common cause for clinkers are minerals, sand, and dirt, in the pellets. They get heated up and meld together.

 

[Lousyweather]

Clinkers are USUALLY made up of fused silica, which is the main component of "ash". If you can get the temperature in the burn pot high enough, you can actually fuse this silica to form a cohesive clump, collectively called a "clinker" (could also be called "slag", but that terms usually used in coal burning and steel production). this fusion temp is usually around 1400 degrees, which you wont see in a pellet burn pot as a rule. When chlorides are added to the burn, specifically as a component of the pellets being burned, the fusion temperature is reduced, sometimes to levels seen in the burn pot, depending upon the concentrations of chlorides in the pellets. This would be a "clinker". So, in short, a clinker is more likely to be formed in a high chloride content pellet. High ash + high chlorides = more clinkers. High ash + low chlorides = little to no clinkers, Low ash + Low chlorides = Damn good pellet!

 

[Kittery]

:coolgrin: Hmmm...I don't think they put the chloride content on the pellet bags I have.

 

[Lousyweather]

no, but if your dealer requests it, most pellet mills OFTEN do analyses....part of their Quality control!