Hopper clean-up, pellet flow improved.

[funflyer]

Could've waited until the end of the season to pull the hopper and replace the base gasket, but I got bored and decided to pull it while the weather was good. While I was at it I hit all the rough welds with my grinder to smooth out the base so there would be less resistance for better pellet flow, then sprayed the hopper with some flat black BBQ paint. After I reinstalled the hopper and the paint cured, I rubbed it out using 1500 sandpaper and pam vegetable spray.

Now the pellets will just about empty from the hopper without any help, see pics. Before they would run down to about 1/3 bag and stop feeding unless I helped them along.


Here's the before and why I had to pull the hopper. Rope seal fraying
and lots of places for pellets to get caught on.



Two pieces of rope seal (not good).



After some grinding and painting.




Without help, here's how the pellets now flow down on their own.

 

[Deezl Smoke]

Could've waited until the end of the season to pull the hopper and replace the base gasket, but I got bored and decided to pull it while the weather was good. While I was at it I hit all the rough welds with my grinder to smooth out the base so there would be less resistance for better pellet flow, then sprayed the hopper with some flat black BBQ paint. After I reinstalled the hopper and the paint cured, I rubbed it out using 1500 sandpaper and pam vegetable spray.

Now the pellets will just about empty from the hopper without any help, see pics. Before they would run down to about 1/3 bag and stop feeding unless I helped them along.


Here's the before and why I had to pull the hopper. Rope seal fraying
and lots of places for pellets to get caught on.
View attachment 195598


Two pieces of rope seal (not good).
View attachment 195599


After some grinding and painting.
View attachment 195600



Without help, here's how the pellets now flow down on their own.
View attachment 195601

View attachment 195602

This should be a sticky thread up top. Great information. Thanks.

 

[Lake Girl]

Nice job! Thanks for the photo details. High heat paint? Do you figure it was the paint or the sanding/Pam that promotes the ease of feed?

 

[funflyer]

Nice job! Thanks for the photo details. High heat paint? Do you figure it was the paint or the sanding/Pam that promotes the ease of feed?

I believe it was the smoothing of the welds and high spots at the base of the hopper that made the most improvement.

 

[Lake Girl]

Looked like a sloppy job on the gasket at the factory. Wonder if there is a rationale for the two gasket pieces rather than the one. Would there be high temp silicone gasket that would be thick enough to use in its place?

 

[funflyer]

Looked like a sloppy job on the gasket at the factory. Wonder if there is a rationale for the two gasket pieces rather than the one. Would there be high temp silicone gasket that would be thick enough to use in its place?

Hard to say why the factory used two pieces of rope. It's the same rope used on the doors so maybe the boss told the workers to use scraps to save money, who knows?
I replaced it with a thinner rope which seemed to fit better with less chance of fraying like the first one.

I like the idea of a silicone gasket and will look into that after the winter. If I could find or make something reusable, it would be very easy to do the post season maintenance by pulling the hopper out of the way.


3/8" rope




Check out all that room to work

 

[Tails1]

I wonder if the hopper will come out of mine...I need to do this as I have the same issue, pellets won't drop properly and the stove often goes out with half or more a bag left.

 

[Lake Girl]

It's the same rope used on the doors so maybe the boss told the workers to use scraps

Already in the supply chain so it would be easy/handy to just use that... Post back if you go the silicone route