GREAT way to get all pellets out of hopper!

[tonyiiiafl]

I own a Harman Accentra insert. I always had pellets that would drain fine from the middle of the hopper, but the sides would get jammed up a bit and not flow down due to paraffin buildup. I solved my issue. Once hopper was emptied, I took some 240 sand paper and cleaned the hopper throughly. Then some 409 or Puple Power spray cleaner to wipe it down. Next, I applied 2 layers of premium car wax or Carnuba wax. Buffing it down with a micro fiber cloth. Now the hopper flows to about 95% empty! The pellets have no drag as they trickle down and don’t get stuck. About every month when I shut down for a full cleaning, I wipe with the cleaner and apply another coat of wax. This gets me another 2 or so hours of burn time on the single load of pellets.

Hope this helps someone!

Cheers!

Tony

 

[Paulinator]

I own a Harman Accentra insert. I always had pellets that would drain fine from the middle of the hopper, but the sides would get jammed up a bit and not flow down due to paraffin buildup. I solved my issue. Once hopper was emptied, I took some 240 sand paper and cleaned the hopper throughly. Then some 409 or Puple Power spray cleaner to wipe it down. Next, I applied 2 layers of premium car wax or Carnuba wax. Buffing it down with a micro fiber cloth. Now the hopper flows to about 95% empty! The pellets have no drag as they trickle down and don’t get stuck. About every month when I shut down for a full cleaning, I wipe with the cleaner and apply another coat of wax. This gets me another 2 or so hours of burn time on the single load of pellets.

Hope this helps someone!

Cheers!

Tony

Thank you for sharing, I have that same problem. I'll have to give it a try.

 

[kenora]

Had the same trouble with my pelpro 130 ... I didn't bother with the sanding...just waxed her down with carnuba wax.. now 99% of the 120 lbs gets to the auger... great tip..

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[Former Farmer]

Furniture polish also works unless you have a lot of fines in your pellets.

 

[Dataman]

Sink Polish works well too!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0160XNY5I/?tag=hearthamazon-20

 

[tlc1976]

I've never had this problem with buildup on the hopper walls or sticking pellets. It will empty 100% on its own, even a couple months ago when I forgot to put in a bag before going to work. Does a certain pellet do this more than others, softwood maybe?

 

[tiger]

Not sure I understand the sandpaper part -- but I like the rest of it, and might try it. I think I have some Blue Coral in the garage almost as old as I am...

 

[jp99]

That's a good solution. I wonder if another method might be to wipe the hopper down with powdered graphite every so often?

 

[mikkeeh]

I had a similar problem with my p43. The inside of the hopper was coated with......something. Almost seemed like a non slip spray on finish. It would leave 4-5 pounds of pellets in the hopper. I sanded it down , and put on several coats of paste wax. Worked well. Harman seemed to have no idea what the coating was or how it got there...but sanding and waking was their suggested fix.

 

[Yooper Doug]

Definitely sounds as if it will work. My P43 needs persuasion when the hopper gets half empty

 

[matty015]

I have a Harman P68 pellet stove and burn 100% softwood pellets, after a number of years the pellets and dust started to stick to the hopper sides due to the pitch in the softwood and the walls not being very steep...I really got sick of waking up to a cold house...super annoying!...I read all the threads about people's cures with graphite spray, foil tape, Pam, car wax, sanding, etc....I can tell you, none of them work for an extended period, and you'll be repeating again and again!...So I sought out a more permanent solution, where I won't have to sand and scrub, wax all that crap is a waste of my valuable time! So, I went back to my saw-milling days where we used a product called UHMW for sliding lumber on and also as wear guides for chains on the lumber decks to run on and etc.., it a super durable, slick ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene product that virtually nothing sticks to it. They make it in 1/8" + thick sheets, not ideal for your stove hopper, as that would reduce space, but they also make a tape with a super strong acrylic adhesive backing so it will stick to just about anything. You may have seen it used on wooden furniture drawers, where it's used frequently to help wood on wood sliding!. Also great for router tables and etc, basically anywhere you want something to slide with very little friction, this is the stuff! You can get it in rolls and a number of widths and lengths., I got mine on Amazon, the manufacturer is TapeCase. The stuff is easy to cut with a utility knife and a straight edge. It's not super cheap, but it's worth it's weight in gold, I lined my hopper with it and couldn't be happier not having to remember to go knock down the pellets every day, I figure it will pay for it's self for not having to reheat a cold house frequently! It's transparent, so you can't even tell it's in my hopper, see the pic of my hopper this morning! Hope this helps anyone out there with this problem!

 

[Tonyray]

I have a Harman P68 pellet stove and burn 100% softwood pellets, after a number of years the pellets and dust started to stick to the hopper sides due to the pitch in the softwood and the walls not being very steep...I really got sick of waking up to a cold house...super annoying!...I read all the threads about people's cures with graphite spray, foil tape, Pam, car wax, sanding, etc....I can tell you, none of them work for an extended period, and you'll be repeating again and again!...So I sought out a more permanent solution, where I won't have to sand and scrub, wax all that crap is a waste of my valuable time! So, I went back to my saw-milling days where we used a product called UHMW for sliding lumber on and also as wear guides for chains on the lumber decks to run on and etc.., it a super durable, slick ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene product that virtually nothing sticks to it. They make it in 1/8" + thick sheets, not ideal for your stove hopper, as that would reduce space, but they also make a tape with a super strong acrylic adhesive backing so it will stick to just about anything. You may have seen it used on wooden furniture drawers, where it's used frequently to help wood on wood sliding!. Also great for router tables and etc, basically anywhere you want something to slide with very little friction, this is the stuff! You can get it in rolls and a number of widths and lengths., I got mine on Amazon, the manufacturer is TapeCase. The stuff is easy to cut with a utility knife and a straight edge. It's not super cheap, but it's worth it's weight in gold, I lined my hopper with it and couldn't be happier not having to remember to go knock down the pellets every day, I figure it will pay for it's self for not having to reheat a cold house frequently! It's transparent, so you can't even tell it's in my hopper, see the pic of my hopper this morning! Hope this helps anyone out there with this problem!

What is the size dimensions of the roll in the picture?

 

[tlc1976]

At my work we commonly use UHMW in hoppers, when the slope isn’t quite enough for product to flow. But always bolt in, never seen it with adhesive. Actually with the super high density it’s hard to get anything to stick to it even glue. Tivar is a common trade name.

I looked it up on the 3M website. As long as Tapecase is made to the same standards it should be good for 225f. Which should be fine since my high temp shutdown switch trips if the back of the heat exchanger reaches 200f.

 

[matty015]

What is the size dimensions of the roll in the picture?

That was a 6" wide roll and I believe 5 yards long.

 

[matty015]

At my work we commonly use UHMW in hoppers, when the slope isn’t quite enough for product to flow. But always bolt in, never seen it with adhesive. Actually with the super high density it’s hard to get anything to stick to it even glue. Tivar is a common trade name.

I looked it up on the 3M website. As long as Tapecase is made to the same standards it should be good for 225f. Which should be fine since my high temp shutdown switch trips if the back of the heat exchanger reaches 200f.

Yes I'm quite familiar with UHMW bolt on applications, we used it all the time in the mill, most of it was 1/4" thick or more, but this is indeed a tape. The adhesive backing is quite strong amazingly...how they get it to stick to the UHMW is completely beyond my comprehension, it's an acrylic adhesive so it must bond well with the polyethylene under the right conditions, but I'm no no chemist...but I'm thankful for good old science and the ingenuity of whomever figured it out! The inside of my hopper doesn't get very hot at all, so the temperature doesn't concern me, but that's unique to my stove, others should certainly give consideration to the heat specifications of the adhesive backing before applying it to heir hopper, so good point on the temp aspects.

 

[matty015]

That was a 6" wide roll and I believe 5 yards long.

I went with a 6" roll as I figured it'd give me the opportunity to cover large areas as well as the ability to trim it to fit smaller areas. They sell all kinds of widths and lengths though.

 

[Tonyray]

I went with a 6" roll as I figured it'd give me the opportunity to cover large areas as well as the ability to trim it to fit smaller areas. They sell all kinds of widths and lengths though.

I burn good softwoods, including Doug Firs and they all seem to want to hug the hopper.

 

[tlc1976]

I went with a 6" roll as I figured it'd give me the opportunity to cover large areas as well as the ability to trim it to fit smaller areas. They sell all kinds of widths and lengths though.

A plus of a wide sheet is if it did start to come loose for any reason, if will take a lot longer for it to come fully loose and you’ll have a chance to notice it. As opposed to a bunch of strips off a narrow roll. You don’t want that wound up in your auger.

 

[fmsm]

I have applied a top grade automotive ceramic coating to the hopper. I did wipe it clean first then hit it with a 3 inch wheel with an automotive all in one polish/compound before applying the ceramic. 10 minutes of work over 2 years ago and still slick as can be.....

 

[SciGuy]

I have applied a top grade automotive ceramic coating to the hopper. I did wipe it clean first then hit it with a 3 inch wheel with an automotive all in one polish/compound before applying the ceramic. 10 minutes of work over 2 years ago and still slick as can be.....

Hi fmsm,

If it's not too difficult to remember, could you share the name of the coating you used? It sounds like a great route if not too spendy.

Thanks,

Hugh

 

[Tonyray]

I bought" The Last Coat" car protector for my car. Plan to wipe down myhopper and use that. Supposed to be the top Shine/ protect your car/ product on the market today

 

[Don2222]

This slip plate works well too

https://www.grainger.com/mobile/product/1WVK7?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvYXo-prA6QIVgYjICh2BkAKwEAQYByABEgKQ3vD_BwE&cm_mmc=PPC:+Google+PLA&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMIvYXo-prA6QIVgYjICh2BkAKwEAQYByABEgKQ3vD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!2966!3!216788409968!!!g!305029997720

!

 

[fmsm]

Hi fmsm,

If it's not too difficult to remember, could you share the name of the coating you used? It sounds like a great route if not too spendy.

Thanks,

Hugh

It is only available to professionals. A spray on ceramic should provide similar protection, it just won’t last more than 2-3 months.

 

[Ssyko]

Try “Mothers CMX” the only way to put a true ceramic coating is to powder coat the hopper and bake it.

 

[ARC]

Last heating season the pellets I used had a very rough texture, 3 times I failed to catch the pellets hanging up and the stove( USSC 6039) went out. Over the summer I cleaned hopper real well and applied the UHMW tape. Start of this season I filled hopper and let stove run the hopper out, it worked with only a handful left in bottom. I refilled and did it again just to make sure, it once again emptied the entire hopper. Great works. Fast forward to first real cold snap, stove is running on Heat Range 5 constantly. Auger gets jammed can hear motor trying to turn auger. Have had this stove for 13 years and only one jam and that was a nail from a pallet. This stove burns everything I have ever put in it, water damaged pellets, lots of fines, corn, wheat, barley and cherry pits nothing ever slows it down. So I am thinking something in pellets or corn jammed auger. I hit off button and start emptying hopper, I get about half way and auger starts bumping pellets like it does on normal shutdown. I figure jammed object must have cleared, push on button and refilled hopper. Two hours later jammed again. I hit off, start emptying hopper and again half way it starts bumping pellets. I let it complete shut down, empty hopper, pull auger and vacuum out tube. Put auger back in refill and start stove. 5:30 AM next morning wife gets me up auger jammed again, I open door tap auger and it starts turning, 745am jams again. I then think maybe auger motor has gotten weak after 13 years. 2 hours to replace auger motor, restart stove. Runs good until 900 pm jams again, I have a new auger that I bought 10 years ago, so I decide to switch augers out. With new auger fire looks like it is burning on HR1 when stove is on HR5 auger barely rotating then jams. Shut down, empty hopper again and put old auger back in. Standing there thinking what could it be. The only thing different is the UHMW tape so I remove all the tape, refill light and now has been running 6 days non stop no jams fire normal. Guess tape worked to well and tried to slide 60 pounds of pellets and corn into auger all at once. Could never figure out why engineers put low angles in the hopper, maybe to slow the flow of fuel down.