Rabbit pellets as fuel

[jdempsey]

I had a guy over last night that had never seen a pellet stove. He was impressed but kept calling the pellets rabbit food.

So this brings up my question. Could you burn rabbit feed pellets? Prob would be poor BTU output.
Not that im wanting to and i will never try it. Just got me wondering since he kept referring to the somersets as such.

 

[Delta-T]

I'm pretty sure you could. And I'd bet you're right on about the low BTUs and probably pretty ashy too. Pellet stove can operate at about the same temps as industrial waste to energy power plants...those things can burn just about anything. Not that you'd want to deal with all that kind of thing...but it does get the imagination going.

 

[jimbom]

Rabbit pellets OK. Deer pellets to large. Possum grapes maybe, but probably to large also.

 

[imacman]

I had a guy over last night that had never seen a pellet stove. He was impressed but kept calling the pellets rabbit food.

So this brings up my question. Could you burn rabbit feed pellets? Prob would be poor BTU output.
Not that im wanting to and i will never try it. Just got me wondering since he kept referring to the somersets as such.

Hey, you have a multi-fuel stove....it will burn just about anything. Give a couple bags of the rabbit pellets a shot, and report back to the forum.

If some of us could burn grass and coffee pellets in our stoves, I think rabbit pellets should be relatively easy.

 

[Turbo-Quad]

I burned a 40lb bag of dog food through the hopper, about 10lbs of pinto beans, rice and almonds. I dont recomend, this gets kind of messy. It all burned though. The dog food burned surprisingly well but it left alot of oil in the firebox. I'm going to try gound up corn cob this year.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

To answer the question objectively, Yes, the rabbit pellets will burn.

Depending on what the stuff is compressed from it may burn quite well.

Many folks who own their own small pellet mills will pelletize grass and all sorts of Biomass materials.

waste paper can be run through the pellet mill and burned, and it does quite well.

Waste from cows can be dried and turned into pellets, little bit nasty, but it will burn.

The rabbit feed (pellets) may be alfalfa and that will burn fine. I tried a bag of alfalfa pellets and they work ok.

Pelletized grain will burn too.

I run two of my stoves on Hazel nut shells 100% and they do very well.

If it will burn, go up the auger tube and feed its can probably be fed through a pellet stove.

 

[BrotherBart]

OK. Gotta ask. Are we talking about the rabbit pellets that go in one end or the rabbit pellets that come out the other end? :coolsmirk:

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

OK. Gotta ask. Are we talking about the rabbit pellets that go in one end or the rabbit pellets that come out the other end? :coolsmirk:

Likely answer is yes.

 

[Czech]

Bart beat me to it! Yes, animal food pellets burn, I've done rabbit and horse chow, the local processing places spill more than you could burn in years. But burn is one thing, burn well is another. With most of these types of fuels, you'll end up with more maint, either a lot of ash (grass based pellets like rabbit), non-efficient dirty burns (high oils like dog food, soy beans, sugars in horse food), or both. So it all depends on how much extra work you want to put up with. What I have found is that these types of fuels are best mixed with a quality pellet to stretch supply during the shoulder seasons. Always note that burning this type of stuff may void your stove warranty if you have one. And make your neighborhood smell funny!

 

[BrotherBart]

Hmmm... Got a lot of deer on this place...

 

[Snowy Rivers]

If the Pellets have been run through the rabbit first, then the neighborhood just might smell bad for sure.

Heavy concentrations of sugars, oils and such can certainly cause more residue in the stove.

As I mentioned, I burn the nut shells. Along with the waste shells there are a certain amount of broken "Nut Meats" that also get blown out into the waste hopper.

This additional material adds some oils to the mix, which is not totally bad but on low burn settings can add a little bit of extra crud to the vent.

Been doing this stuff since the mid 90's and never had any issue with "Damage to the stove or pipe" but anything that leaves a residue of unburnt materails, as was mentioned, can lead to more work taking care of the stove.

I have to clean my small stove every 3-4 days due to its small ash tray size and due to the fact that the shells leave about twice ++ the amount of fly ash behind.

I did try some grass pellets a few years ago, and the stuff was OK. Now OK is about all I can say for it. If it was cold and I had no other choice, You betcha, I am going to stuff the stove full of the stuff and light it off.

Every Biomass fuel has its pluses and minuses.

My choice to use the shells was based on $$$$$ and the fact that it does put out good heat.

I can heat my entire house for less than 1/3 of the cost of top grade pellets.

Also the stuff is a total waste product that comes back after every growing season.


The down side is that I have to haul the stuff home in the Big rig, Barrel it up and store it in the basement.

Every bucket full must be screened to assure that there are no sticks or other items that are not stove "auger" friendly


Any materials that may be spilled on the floor are a real attractant to MICE and other small furry Rodentia.

Last year I spent maybe a total of $100 to heat 2400 Sq ft for the entire season.

At this I can endure a little inconvenience.

Cleaner than fire wood, easier too. A tad less handy than the prepacked pellets, but I like it.

The Pellet stove ritual is a way of life around here, and its getting back into swing as we speak of this stuff.

Heading down stairs here in a bit to clean, organize and stack the empty barrels, getting ready for our first load of shells in about a month.

I have some aquaintances that live in Central Cali and burn Olive pits in their Pellet stove.

Cherry pits work well too I'm told.

Its all about availability and what you ae willing to deal with.

Snowy

 

[Millsk]

That great snow. For screening your wheels there is a device folks use to screen corn. You hook a vac up to the device and the corn moves but the rocks don't. Might be worth a try on nut shells.

I would love to burn nut shell waste or other fruit waste, however ct is lacking in this material. I'm still searching though!