Any one using a pellet basket in their wood stove?

[Two Flints]

Hello,

I have an old Whitfield pellet stove that I have been using since 1992 - works great, very happy with it. However, I am getting a wood stove for my greenhouse and would like to use pellets in it and was wondering if anyone on this forum has ever used a pellet basket? Your thoughts if you have used one . . . make, pros and cons, if you have the time to comment.

Thanks,

Fred

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Personally, I have not used one, but I would go easy with putting a bunch of pellet in a woodstove. Not made for that purpose.

 

[bcrtops]

Better off buying the BIG pellets, made for wood stoves = 100% wood product compressed bricks or logs

 

[begreen]

BrotherBart has one that he uses when low steady heat is needed. There are several postings on this topic. Search for pellet basket.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/has-anyone-used-a-pellet-basket.169913/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/using-pellets-in-a-fireplace-insert.140379/#post-1888256

 

[crazycat]

Why not just get a pellet stove for the gh?

 

[begreen]

Why not just get a pellet stove for the gh?

Way less moving parts for one. A greenhouse often can be a high humidity environment with extremes in temperature. This can rust part and stress electronics. A stove with a pellet basket is simple, not much to go wrong. With the exception of a gravity fed unit. a pellet stove is anything but simple.

 

[sprawlnstall]

Amen to that. From my experience it's just a matter of time before you have to replace the motor in the dead of winter on a pellet stove. Lots of problems can arise, fans, vaccum seals, auger jams, electronic problems. Way too many moving parts. I have a pelpro pellet stove great for occasional use but not for full-time heating.

 

[vwmike]

Tried it once in my vista since I have a pellet stove upstairs and lots of pellets in the basement usually, needless to say once was enough.

 

[begreen]

Did you try it with a pellet basket? That allows air to get under the pellets.

 

[maple1]

Way less moving parts for one. A greenhouse often can be a high humidity environment with extremes in temperature. This can rust part and stress electronics. A stove with a pellet basket is simple, not much to go wrong. With the exception of a gravity fed unit. a pellet stove is anything but simple.

But wouldn't you need to constantly keep feeding it manually with pellets? I'm not sure how frequently, but it must be quite a few door openings & closings in the run of a day?

 

[begreen]

But wouldn't you need to constantly keep feeding it manually with pellets? I'm not sure how frequently, but it must be quite a few door openings & closings in the run of a day?

Depends on how large the pellet load is but 3 hrs. is reported typical with a full 14# load. Whether that is sufficient for the greenhouse needs I can't say. In our area it would be fine, but probably not in New England. Greenhouses don't hold heat very well.

 

[maple1]

That's for sure.

 

[crazycat]

I run a Vogelzang Ponderosa in my GH. How big is yours, and what materials?

 

[Rearscreen]

I installed a Drolet wood furnace in a greenhouse next door and ran 2 sections of pipe up, across the top then down. Works pretty well, at least 10 times better than the woodstove that it replaced. This is a 2 membrane "air inflated separated greenhouse," which at this point barely works. (The membranes aren't separated all the way through and holes are present.) Anyway, It is my belief that (I'm a dumb flatlander so I could be completely wrong) that if a large hydronic radiant system, raised up off the floor to heat the compost in a tray, germination and early plants would do much better than trying to heat the air.

 

[crazycat]

I installed a Drolet wood furnace in a greenhouse next door and ran 2 sections of pipe up, across the top then down.

I don't understand the pipe. Pipe from the stove, going up then down?

 

[Rearscreen]

Yes, so imagine the furnace at the far end of the greenhouse in the corner. The heat duct pipe (not the flue pipe), 2 runs go up, across the upper greenhouse struts, then come back down to the ground (3 feet above ground) in 2 locations. So, the woodstove furnace itself produces heat, 20 feet into the greenhouse a pipe comes down and warms underneath the raised flats, and 15 feet further beyond that another pipe comes down. An interesting thing is that even when the blower is not actuated by the thermostat, heat still comes out of the duct.

 

[crazycat]

Very nice!

 

[velvetfoot]

At least it won't freeze.

 

[UrbanBrnr]

Did you try it with a pellet basket? That allows air to get under the pellets.