We looked at these and several other machines.
Pellets can be made from waste paper (junk mail) leaves, grass cuttings, and a host of other biomass waste products.
After careful consideration, we stayed with using nut shells.
If you live in an area with huge amounts of broad leaf trees, and can scavenge all the leaves from your local park or ??? you could make plenty of biomass pellets.
Using one of these DIY pellet machines is going to take a fair amount of time, but if you have the time and want to basically heat your house "off the grid" and not pay much if anything for your base stock, it is workable.
We spend 3 days during the season hauling shells in and barreling them up.
This is a full day 3 times during the season, and it works like this.
Hook up the trailer
Load the 3 yard dumpster and get it strapped down.
Drive 4 miles to the plant, get weighed in, pull under the tower and get filled up, weigh out and pay the $$$$
Drive the 4 miles home, roll out all the barrels, then bucket out the dumpster and fill everything up
Put everything away, unload the dumpster, park the trailer.
Every pail of shells must be screened though a screen bottom bucket as the pail is filled prior to packing them to the stove (Sticks are an auger hazard)
OK
Figure out how you will gather, dry, process and store the biomass product.
Once pelletized, you will need to store the finished product for use.
This is not a 15 minute proposition, but rather a lengthy process.
Unlike the shells, which are already to burn, and just require hauling and storing, you must gather the biomass, dry it, process it through the hammer mill, pelletize it and box,bag,barrel or whatever to store it.
This is all doable.
There is a fellow locally who has heated his home for years on leaf pellets.
He gathers them by vacuuming up all the local parks with his big ridding law mower (the city loves it)
He has a large barn where he dries the leaves and does his processing.
He barrels the pellets up in 50 gallon drums and uses them as needed.
He also gets the shredded paper from one of these shredding outfits, and makes a paper pellet too.
There are options, just not as easy as buying a pallet full of your fav wood pellets.
It's work, and plenty of it. No free lunch
Getting the new pellet machine is where the fun stops and hard work begins.
If you have a place to do all this, it's doable.
Cost of the machinery
Cost of fuel/electricity to run it.
Cost of gas to go get the biomass
Cost
Cost
Cost
Bottom line $ Maybe
If you want to fiddle around and make a few bags of waste paper pellets or whatever for fun, the bottom line is really $ RED INK
In order for this plan to pay for itself, you must be dedicated to the cause.
Our heating setup is a way of life.
Get the shells
Store them
Screen each bucket full
Pack them upstairs
Keep the stoves clean
Constant stove maintenance, as this is our sole heating system.
Just some thoughts to consider before you trip the hammer on that new pellet machine.
Snowy
). I'd be set for MANY YEARS but not as cheaply as she can be! Lucky gal!
