OK, let's get real here. Before bed, simply open the hopper and scoop the pellets towards the middle. Geez! Never had a problem and I only have a 40lb hopper.
pellets not sliding to bottom of hopper
- Thread starter ramdez
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
- Status
Sorry Syd, 'tis my nature, and really, I sure miss her. That had to be one of the most fun nights I've ever had on this site.
If your stove can handle corn try adding some to your pellets. I stir in about 5 lbs of corn to each 40 lb bag of pellets (both are about the same price here) the fine corn dust makes the pellets slide nicely in the hopper,and I find I get less carbon buildup and it seems to lubricate the auger as well on my Quad.
GotzTheHotz said:
Heck yeah, What a way to make a living.
What do you say? Busted, Plausible, or Confirmed?
I would say "plausible" with my old quad 800. It had a continuous auger. But not sure the timed on/off auger would.
Sure hope they take the challenge.
jay
Ok, here is the details of the lady in the hopper, as far as I know.
Last spring I sold and installed a pellet stove to the lady in questions sister in law. It was from her that I heard the story. I do know the lady in the hopper, but have not talked with her since her unfortunate hopper incident. I also heard this story from a volunteer firefighter, whom I work with, that got the same information from a fellow firefighter who was actually at the scene. So the story was confirmed by 2 different sources directly to me who both had direct contact with the victim. I told the story to you folks exactly as I heard it with no embellishments. Whether the fingers were lost in the auger or surgically removed after the fact, I cannot confirm. Either way they are gone. What kind of stove it was I do not know.
How accurate the information is as relayed to you all is as accurate as the 2 first hand accounts that I heard. If any of you chose not to believe it, thats ok, but as far as I know this really happened.
Apologies and sarchasms aside, I would like to know what failsafes you are aware of that I am obviously missing the boat on. Other than the auger motor siezing and stopping ( perhaps ratcheting under the torque of trying to turn) what is there to prevent damage to the motor when a jam occurs? The Savannah's have a shear pin that breaks, but other than that I am not aware of any other failsafes, but that is just because of my own inexperience with all models. Again, that is not a sarchasm, I am thinking that I am not understanding pellet stove design. My thought is, however, if an auger motor can torque a shier pin and break it, why is it so hard to believe that it can break a finger or strip flesh from a bone? A 1 1/4 amp motor will produce about 150- 170 ft lbs of torque, thats alot of force.
Last spring I sold and installed a pellet stove to the lady in questions sister in law. It was from her that I heard the story. I do know the lady in the hopper, but have not talked with her since her unfortunate hopper incident. I also heard this story from a volunteer firefighter, whom I work with, that got the same information from a fellow firefighter who was actually at the scene. So the story was confirmed by 2 different sources directly to me who both had direct contact with the victim. I told the story to you folks exactly as I heard it with no embellishments. Whether the fingers were lost in the auger or surgically removed after the fact, I cannot confirm. Either way they are gone. What kind of stove it was I do not know.
How accurate the information is as relayed to you all is as accurate as the 2 first hand accounts that I heard. If any of you chose not to believe it, thats ok, but as far as I know this really happened.
Apologies and sarchasms aside, I would like to know what failsafes you are aware of that I am obviously missing the boat on. Other than the auger motor siezing and stopping ( perhaps ratcheting under the torque of trying to turn) what is there to prevent damage to the motor when a jam occurs? The Savannah's have a shear pin that breaks, but other than that I am not aware of any other failsafes, but that is just because of my own inexperience with all models. Again, that is not a sarchasm, I am thinking that I am not understanding pellet stove design. My thought is, however, if an auger motor can torque a shier pin and break it, why is it so hard to believe that it can break a finger or strip flesh from a bone? A 1 1/4 amp motor will produce about 150- 170 ft lbs of torque, thats alot of force.
Mr Fixit said:
I meant no sarchasms. Anything mechanical with pinch points is dangerous! That had to hurt! I have to see if there are any warnings in my manual or in the hopper. There has to be some warning label somewhere.
GotzTheHotz said:
That was fun. At first I was sticking up for her until...........well you know. Once your shrub is on fire, it's about getting the fire out. LOL
Yeah Syd, I was sticking up too, until my PM's lit up like a bon fire, I always try to be the good guy, look where it get's me. Fixit, thanks for the reply, it is educational for me and I appreciate it. I work in a hospital, witnessed much stuff as I'm sure you know, never seen dismembered digits due to a pellet stove. Rings? Many times, take those off before you work on something! Hope we're cool, Fixit, again I meant no offense other than to question your statement which happens on forums, never heard of someone losing fingers in a pellet stove. To answer your question about fail safes, I agree you are correct, most stoves will keep on cranking until they slip as mine did with a chicken wing in the hopper (don't ask). My original statement was regarding timing and rmps, you would think after a quarter turn of the auger that one would get pinched and learn a lesson much less keep ones hand in harms way to chew up three fingers. No challenge here Fixit, but can you find out what type of stove it was? I'm really curious. Peace, Bob.
I tried the Pledge solution and it worked great. I gave the stove a full load of pellets last night and didn't touch a thing till it finally burned itself out. There's just the slightest accumulation of pellets still remaining along the four intersections in the hopper. Previously, if I didn't stir things up from time to time I'd encounter the familiar gaping hole in the middle with pellets stacked up all around, refusing to budge of their own volition. And the stove would have shut itself off due to starvation.
I used Orange Pledge in a spray bottle, rubbed in a modest amount with a paper towel, and gave it a few hours to dry out before loading the stove and turning it back on. Even though the stove was cold at the time, I preferred not to use an aerosol.
Maybe we need to start a new thread discussing the merits of Orange Pledge vs. Lemon? ;-)
I used Orange Pledge in a spray bottle, rubbed in a modest amount with a paper towel, and gave it a few hours to dry out before loading the stove and turning it back on. Even though the stove was cold at the time, I preferred not to use an aerosol.
Maybe we need to start a new thread discussing the merits of Orange Pledge vs. Lemon? ;-)
- Status
Similar threads
