Loading pellet insert?

[hockeyfun1]

I load pellets in my Ashby St. Croix insert from the top. First time I did this in five years but I didn't hold the 40 pound pellet bag high enough while the stove was running and then the stove burned a hole in the bottom of the bag and the pellets spilled out on the floor. I'm usually using one hand to hold the bag and the other hand to push the pellets in. I only get a minute or less to put more pellets in the stove when it's running, or it will shut off, so I have to do all of this quick.

TLDR, what method do you use to fill your running pellet stove?

I'm not sure if dumping them in a Homer bucket and then dumping them from the bucket into the stove would be easier? This way I could do 10 or 20 pounds at a time. But a Homer bucket would melt too if it touched I assume since it's plastic.

I didn't feel like shutting the stove off, even though it has burnt smelly plastic on it. I used a dry sponge (no water at all) to scrub most of it off. Any suggestions how to get the rest off tomorrow when I turn the stove off? I'm letting it run over night.

 

[Zeus]

I load pellets in my Ashby St. Croix insert from the top. First time I did this in five years but I didn't hold the 40 pound pellet bag high enough while the stove was running and then the stove burned a hole in the bottom of the bag and the pellets spilled out on the floor. I'm usually using one hand to hold the bag and the other hand to push the pellets in. I only get a minute or less to put more pellets in the stove when it's running, or it will shut off, so I have to do all of this quick.

TLDR, what method do you use to fill your running pellet stove? I'm not sure if dumping them in a Homer bucket and then dumping them from the bucket into the stove would be easier? This way I could do 10 or 20 pounds at a time. But a Homer bucket would melt too if it touched I assume since it's plastic.

I didn't feel like shutting the stove off, even though it has burnt smelly plastic on it. I used a dry sponge (no water at all) to scrub most of it off. Any suggestions how to get the rest off tomorrow when I turn the stove off? I'm letting it run over night.

Not sure if this helps but I made a wooden box for in my stove room it holds about six bags of pellets and I use a feed scoop to fill the stove from the box. Easy for the wife to refill also, now my stove doesn't shutdown quickly it would take quite a while to shut it down with the hopper lid open. Inserts tend to have a small hopper lid so the feed scoop is really a nice way to load for us no mess and easy to hit the small opening of an insert.hope this helps good luck

 

[Former Farmer]

Coal Bucket

 

[mralias]

Perhaps design something to hold down the lid switch while filling the insert....I am assuming the lid switch is why the stove goes into shut down mode while filling. Of course you should never fill your stove while running...right? ha.

 

[jackhammer]

To remove the rest of the plastic, how about a razor blade?

 

[Zeus]

Perhaps design something to hold down the lid switch while filling the insert....I am assuming the lid switch is why the stove goes into shut down mode while filling. Of course you should never fill your stove while running...right? ha.

The only time I fill my stove when it not running is in the summer lol

 

[fmsm]

I sift my pellets into a coal hod and pour them from there. Same process on my inserts as my free standing. Once you sift you will never pour directly, virtually no dust! www.pelletdecor.com

 

[railfanron]

I use a coal hod also. I did the same thing you did. When I shut the stove down I cleaned all the plastic I could off the top. When I started it back up it took a week before the slight smell went away. It's been about a year now and you can still see the writing from the bag on the top of the stove. Of course it's backwards.
Ron