Sift those Pellets !!!!!

[hyip1206]

I got very lucky today. Because I read the forums I learned the importance of sifting pellets. I started sifting the whole bag lately and I am glad that I did. In the first 1/4 of a bag of Nautures Own by Premier Pellet Corp, I found a rock when pouring into the sifter. Thank goodness, I would've come home to either a seized auger motor or broken auger. OUCH

 

[jtp10181]

Unless it was a huge rock it probably would have just ended up in the burn pot. I had a lady drop her car keys in the hopper and they made it all the way up the chute then jammed it. No damage done.

 

[petejung]

Wow... Car keys? How does someone manage to do that???

I've been seeinghearing more and more lately of people finding "foreign objects" in their bags of pellets. Does anyone have a good enough knowledge of the process of pellet manufacturing to shed some light on how things like rocks, screwdrivers, nails (all things I have recently heard of getting in a bag of pellets) can get into a bag of pellets?

 

[drizler]

Yup, truth is its the skinny little things that fit along side the auger that will cause you the big headache. Things like small nails and small pieces of arrow head shaped shale, flat chunks of steel ect. How do you filter for those I wonder? I could see how pouring through a quarter inch screen might catch a lot of stuff but its by no means a good reliable filter. Then there is the hassle of shaking the pellets through the screen. I do that with 1/8 screen when using corn bought bulk and it works but still it at least doubles the hassle factor. Besides the big attraction to pellets is just that, convenience. What we really need is some sort of slip clutch or overload protection to stop the motor from snapping the teeth off the motors transmission gears. Nothing else ever seems to get damaged, just those gears. Thats the weak link.

 

[billb3]

Wow... Car keys? How does someone manage to do that???

I've been seeinghearing more and more lately of people finding "foreign objects" in their bags of pellets. Does anyone have a good enough knowledge of the process of pellet manufacturing to shed some light on how things like rocks, screwdrivers, nails (all things I have recently heard of getting in a bag of pellets) can get into a bag of pellets?

The pellet factories ran out of magic dust two years ago. They've had to resort to using people to maintain the equipment.

 

[webbie]

Sifting through tons of pellets would add a vast amount of time and energy the process - it would be sort of sad if things really came to this. Given the price of pellet fuel, it should come ready to burn.

 

[hyip1206]

Sifting through tons of pellets would add a vast amount of time and energy the process - it would be sort of sad if things really came to this. Given the price of pellet fuel, it should come ready to burn.

Yeah it would stink to do tons of pellets, but since I use 1.5 to 2 bags a day it is worth my effort. The rock I found was like a piece of shale had a blue hue to it. Yes Ia gree for the money they should come ready to go.

 

[jtp10181]

Yup, truth is its the skinny little things that fit along side the auger that will cause you the big headache. Things like small nails and small pieces of arrow head shaped shale, flat chunks of steel ect. How do you filter for those I wonder? I could see how pouring through a quarter inch screen might catch a lot of stuff but its by no means a good reliable filter. Then there is the hassle of shaking the pellets through the screen. I do that with 1/8 screen when using corn bought bulk and it works but still it at least doubles the hassle factor. Besides the big attraction to pellets is just that, convenience. What we really need is some sort of slip clutch or overload protection to stop the motor from snapping the teeth off the motors transmission gears. Nothing else ever seems to get damaged, just those gears. Thats the weak link.

All the Quad units can get jammed pretty bad and the motors wont get damaged. The motors are pretty weak so they just kind of stop if it gets jammed bad. Even the lady with the car keys jammed in hers the motor was just fine. It was not one key either, it was a boat anchor of house and car keys plus one of the door unlock key FOB's for the car (which still worked after we yanked it out BTW). I have no idea how it made it all the way up to the top of the chute before it jammed up. Funniest damned thing I ever saw though.