Testing Pellet Logs in my Insert with good results.

[Brian26]

Saw an old thread on this from member mass burner and it sparked my interest. I purchased a set of 3 pellet logs and have been doing some testing. I am not a heavy wood burner and really only use the stove when I get home from work in the evening for a few hours and on the weekends. So these have been working good for me when its mild and I don't need a ton of heat.

3 of these logs hold about 10 lbs of pellets. I fill 3 up and place a firestarter under them towards the front of the stove. They take off really quick and it doesn't take long to get good secondary combustion. Usually get around 500-600 for a good hour with the air all the way in. You do need to be careful as with too much air these things will burn extremely hot.

To refill I just shovel new pellets into the basket and the embers on the bottom get then fired back up in no time.

Cost about $1.30 a load.

 

[Poindexter]

Well that's cool.

 

[saydinli]

Good idea when you need some dry wood in a pinch.


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[bcrtops]

Interesting...........neat backup plan............pellet fuel available everywhere around here, even in grocery stores.

I've been playing around with "Bear Bricks", which are cheaper than the HomeFire product, & the North Idaho Energy Logs. They are not near as good a burn, but compared to the pricing, about equal out.

 

[begreen]

Cool. First time I've seen 3 pellet baskets being used at once. Where did you pick them up?

 

[jetsam]

I can see the appeal of that for the occasional burner. What binding agents do wood pellet manufacturers use, and how many of them are cat safe?

 

[begreen]

Good pellets shouldn't have any binders. Lignins in the sawdust itself bind the pellets when they are compressed under high pressure. Same for good compressed logs or bricks.

 

[bcrtops]

Interesting...........neat backup plan............pellet fuel available everywhere around here, even in grocery stores.

I've been playing around with "Bear Bricks", which are cheaper than the HomeFire product, & the North Idaho Energy Logs. They are not near as good a burn, but compared to the pricing, about equal out.

 

[begreen]

My testing showed the same results. The NIELs and HomeFire Prest Logs were tops for heat and long burn times.

 

[Attaboy]

This wood pellet burner has been around for a while now.

https://www.bradleyburner.com/

 

[bcrtops]

My testing showed the same results. The NIELs and HomeFire Prest Logs were tops for heat and long burn times.

They main problem is price:
By the pallet (each just under a ton)

HomeFire: $380-400/pallet
NIELS: $280-300/pallet
Bear Bricks: $190-210/pallet

The HomeFire's are prohibitively priced, The NIELS -- have to go clear into PDX to get them & the Bear Bricks are closer to home. I think it just comes down to "you get what you pay for" more or less. The Bear Bricks burn a lot like the OP's Pellet logs & make a great shoulder season type of fire, especially mixed with a split or two. Cheaper than pellets even, & intend to keep a pallet on hand just for backup & shoulder season.

 

[begreen]

Wish I had a larger truck. You can get HomeFire rejects and broken pieces pretty cheap at the factory.

 

[bcrtops]

Cool. First time I've seen 3 pellet baskets being used at once. Where did you pick them up?

http://reposenow.com/

from the old thread: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/pellet-log-cages.114624/

 

[weatherguy]

This wood pellet burner has been around for a while now.

https://www.bradleyburner.com/

This is something different, the OP is burning pellets in a basket, this Bradley burner is interesting, do you have one?

 

[Attaboy]

No do not own one, but have always found it interesting knowing that most pellet baskets burn out sooner than later. From what I have read the Bradley burner seems to have long life.

 

[begreen]

http://reposenow.com/

from the old thread: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/pellet-log-cages.114624/

Thanks for the memory jog. Another project that I never got around to. BrotherBart got a pellet basket I think and found it nice for shoulder season burning.

 

[jetsam]

I will never try that because pellets aren't free and wood is. However, any tree service will bring me a truckload of wood chips for free. I wonder, if I dried them out one basket at a time by the stove, how those free wood chips would burn in one of those pellet baskets.

 

[weatherguy]

I will never try that because pellets aren't free and wood is. However, any tree service will bring me a truckload of wood chips for free. I wonder, if I dried them out one basket at a time by the stove, how those free wood chips would burn in one of those pellet baskets.

probably very quickly