Pellet length

[iron stove]

Just about done with the heating season here, and getting ready for 2010-11 with the pellet sales starting.

My question is, what super premium pellets usually run medium to long ? Hammers Hot ones? Barefoot ?

I burned Rockies and some greene team, but once into my oakies, even after numerouse air adjustments and such, the short length kept filling my burn pot and plugging up the stove overnight. I had to sell them to another friend whos stove loved them. I really want to stick with the super premiums.

Thanks

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

How many tons of pellets have you burned in your stove since you last removed and cleaned your combustion blower and the cavity it sits in as well as the venting and ash traps?

When your stove was installed and set up did the installer check the combustion blower setting?

I didn't notice any real differences in size between the Barefoot and Oakies when I ran them through my stove, they both burned well. I've never seen any Hammers around here so I can't speak to them.

 

[iron stove]

Probably 20 tons over 6 years. Ash trap cleaned yearly. Switched brands and no issues.......

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Probably 20 tons over 6 years. Ash trap cleaned yearly. Switched brands and no issues.......

Ouch, way too long between cleanings.

I'd give that stove a very thorough cleaning and then do the following.

If you can get access to the service manual and a magnehelic, you should be able to verify that the stove's combustion blower and draft is set properly.

Then retry some Oakies and several other brands a couple or three bags should do the trick.

It is possible that the Oakies are just too dense for your stove if it isn't reasonably clean or the combustion blower was never set when the stove was installed.

I'm not saying this is the case but since your stove supposedly can burn standard grade pellets I would not expect it to have any issues with any of the super premium pellets.

Did you check to see if the Oakies you were attempting to burn were in spec as to length and diameter? Sometimes pellets are subjected to improper handling and that can lead to burn issues.

Buried somewhere on this site is a thread about pellet house pellets that jtakeman posted the results of his testing of many brands, I think he had information about each pellet brand size and pictures of the pellets:

The table with sizes.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php?ACT=24&fid=22&aid=32385_9JNFsUycoDWY23ENrctw&board_id=1


The thread.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/50101/


Please understand that Jay did this for his own purposes and just shared the results.

 

[imacman]

Probably 20 tons over 6 years. Ash trap cleaned yearly. Switched brands and no issues.......

Iron stove, I think what Smokey is getting at is that, based on what you said above, if you haven't ever cleaned your combustion blower & the air box it mounts in, you may be having problems burning the more numerous short pellets due to a lack of sufficient combustion air.

 

[jtakeman]

iron stove,
I am not familiar with the Traditions T300P. Are you able to adjust draft air?

Most softwoods like more air and or reduced feed rate. Surprised that you have no issue with the Rockies as I found the length to be smaller than the Okies. But then again the Okies are a very dense pellet. Rockies are made from chipped logs and are not quite as dense as the Okies are.

I have burned both the Hamers and Barefoots. Hamers length is about 1/4 to 5/8 inches. Average is about 3/8 inches long. Barefoots length is 3/8 to 3/4 and averaged about 1/2 inch long. Both brands have burned very well in all 3 of my stoves. Even at the low heat settings. With the bigE being the pickiest of the 3 stoves I have owned. Both the Hamers and Barefoots were some of the top choices for the bigE stove. I also have very good luck with Turmans and Cubex brands. I only tried the Spruce Pointe softwoods in the bigE with no issue's, But with more damper air added than the hardwoods. Otherwise they would burn too rich.

I would try a few bags of each if "possible". Just in case! If not might be best to mix the order as to not get stuck with 3 to 4 tons of something that doesn't fit your stove. Personally I don't miss my picky stove in the least! But I love my multifueler cus it burns em all with a :cheese: even!

Let us know how you make out!
jay

 

[vvvv]

Pellets have different densities & sounds like you need a lighter pellet. I suggest you try a pellet that has a better stuffed bag [plumper] regardless of brand.

 

[iron stove]

Only 45 degrees this Am, so stove is on. When it warms up this weekend ill open it up and check the air blower. Ive cleaned the fans yearly, and yes there is a manual damper to allow air in. I had it wide open but no go. The only way to adjust feed rate is to re program the electronics, which the manually strongly suggests against.
And my rockies were much longer than the oakies. The oakies had minimal handling on my end, heavy duty truck so im buying full pallet and not throwing looses bags around my truck.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

iron stove,

When most of the manuals talk of annual they really mean once a year or every ton burned whichever comes first.

When a stove is first installed they should be properly adjusted to meet local environmental conditions, this means altitude and electrical. That is the reason for those "trim" adjustments. The service manual (not what you received) will have all of the particulars in it.

You might also want to verify that your air intake path is clear and that the damper is actually functioning (It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities that moving the rod actually does nothing.).

I have no damper and no combustion fan trim controls I can not let my stove consume more than a ton and a half of pellets before cleaning the combustion fan and its cavity. So at the one ton mark since last cleaning I start looking for a "warm" day and the first one that comes along I clean the entire stove from stem to stern.

The other thing is that we haven't even considered your venting system.