On CL: WOOD PELLET MAKING MACHINE FOR YOUR PELLET STOVE! - $1700 (TACOMA)

[chamas]

Just saw this on CL: (I like the skate wheels)

WOOD PELLET MAKING MACHINE FOR YOUR PELLET STOVE! - $1700 (TACOMA)
(broken link removed to http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/tls/3724739848.html)

Have a baby on the way and need to save some cash, bought the pellet machine for $2600. electric gas start 13hp engine. it makes wood pellets, I use wood shavings, I place it inside the machine and it spits out wood pellets. its like printing my own money, if you make enought pellets, you can always sell some to your friends. Your interested email me and please leave a number. Thanks
if I dont have the machine anymore, I will take the ad down.

 

[Pellet-King]

worthless

 

[Pellet-King]

takes forever to make a bag, so many varibles to deal with, main problem moisture content, would never ever pay for it self, your ears will be ringing and sick of it before you make enough to heat your house

 

[blades]

Not exactly true pellet king. Yes a lot of variables, raw material source is the biggest. Moisture content is going to depend on raw material he said shavings which leads me to think from possibly a planer or some other type of kiln dried source which is going to be about right and maybe even a bit dry. adding a binder agent is usually needed. As far as time hard to judge with out a model #, maker, or source of unit. A 13 hp eng would mean something with a min6" die which is going to have an output capable of a couple hundred lbs/hr on a min basis. Filling your 40 lbs bag is about 1/2 doz coal shovels full, as the pellets have to cool before being bagged or stored anyway. Looked like a single reduction unit so soft woods or other biomass would be raw material source.
Hardwoods generally require a double reduction gear train unit to make acceptable product. New generally start at about $4k for flat plate die units like this.

 

[smoke show]

Even if blades estimates are right 10 hrs/per ton. Also don't the fiber have to be finer than shavings?

If it was really that great wouldn't we all already own one?

 

[blades]

AS I said hard to estimate, A 6" unit can put out up to 500lbs/hr, lot of variables, Course looking at picture that means you are going to be shoveling 500 lbs an hour also. Most units spec a 6mm particle as max size. If you are thinking shaveings from a hand plane that would be a problem and would need further reduction. Output from motorized planer/jointer are like tooth picks but of a much finer consistency, likely would work without further reduction size wise but I would still recommend running them through a reduction unit. Uniform material in makes for a better pellet out. I have spent considerable time researching this for small /personal operation, Logistics are the big killer. There is an awful lot of sales hype out there and filtering through it, gleaning a bit here and there has been difficult. It is not a cheap investment and pay back time is on the long side when you start adding everything together. Around here at current NG prices there is very little in payback. A ton of pellets( about a months worth) averages about $229 at the sales site here (may or may not be taxed so add that if you need to) a reasonable insulated home of 1800 sq ft is going to be about the same cost for a month of utilities ( course varies with family size). OIl heat on the other hand is quite a bit more, propane/ LPG somewhere in between. Personally I am not that keen on pellets, now compressed bricks or extrusions has better possibilities and be utilized in a conventional wood stove or furnace ( I am aware of mfg sayin nay to this) On this subject it becomes a DIY project as nothing really exits for a small/personal unit capable of meeting or exceeding ye old wood pile out back. It can be done in the same price range as the pellet units, just hasn't likely because of the dim view of stove mfg. ( they been burning lumps of peat forever overseas, one of Mother natures compressed biomass products). When correctly made they have some advantages over the wood pile. All in all it costs more in resources to produce either type than is saved in the grand scheme of things.

 

[ScotL]

I saw an advertisement in a biomass magazine about a mill for sale that reminded me of this topic.
It's here: http://www.bplant.ca/ if you're interested.

 

[Lake Girl]

You only need $10,000,000 Bancroft is a gorgeous area though - used to go to a little lake in that area with my Great Auntie.

 

[blades]

There is a neat rig that is a compressed brick type unit, Its only 60k pounds British + shipping + vat tax ( might not have to pay the vat tax)(VAT= value added tax) This is something all of Eu is saddled with, and is bandied about on the hill by guess who, this would be in addition to the sales tax on your home, 3% transactions fees for all transactions going through a financial institution ( that means when you cash your paycheck it just shrunk another 3%) These are taxes courtesy of health care fiasco.