Pellets?
- Thread starter davej
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dunno are you talken about rabbit pellets or deer pellets? or um smart pellets?
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there condenced...kinda like rabbit pellets, deer pellets and o ya dem smart pellets
......dont eat the smart ones but if ya do they will make ya smarter....ya will never eat em again!
......dont eat the smart ones but if ya do they will make ya smarter....ya will never eat em again!
WidowMaker
Addicted to ArboristSite
Sorta like using horse hockey for chapped lips...won't do anything to heal the chapped lips...sure stops the licking though...
371groundie
ArboristSite Guru
pellets for pellet stoves are basically compressed cellulose. most are saws dust, ive seen corn, im sure theres other materials used. the thing about them is that they are pressed and heated and they add some sort of binder to hold them together. so basically you are burning dryed wood.
problem with chips from a chipper is that they are to big, to inconsistent in size, and not dry. most heating pellets are about an 8th inch in diameter and a half inch long. very consistently. the auger that feeds the pellet stove doesnt like much change, ive seen somone plug up a pellet stove by just throwing in a hand full of chainsaw sawdust.
even if you cut dead wood you will still have a higher moisture content than pellets. and chips arent like wood that you can stack and dry. all chips do is collect moisture. im not sure how they get whole treee chips to burn in a biomass boiler, but i doubt there is space for such equipment in the average house.
problem with chips from a chipper is that they are to big, to inconsistent in size, and not dry. most heating pellets are about an 8th inch in diameter and a half inch long. very consistently. the auger that feeds the pellet stove doesnt like much change, ive seen somone plug up a pellet stove by just throwing in a hand full of chainsaw sawdust.
even if you cut dead wood you will still have a higher moisture content than pellets. and chips arent like wood that you can stack and dry. all chips do is collect moisture. im not sure how they get whole treee chips to burn in a biomass boiler, but i doubt there is space for such equipment in the average house.
avalancher
Arboristsite Raconteur
If you are looking for a way to cheaply heat your home, then forget pellets!
The stoves are expensive, worthless if the power goes out, and forget the price of pellets.
When they first came out(pellets and pellet stoves)it wasnt bad.But, so much of our mill sawdust and what not used to make pellets is being shipped overseas now, driving up the cost of pellets to the point that it isnt any cheaper now than electric to heat with.
Anyone want a free pellet stove?The neighbor down the road has one, and cant get rid of it.He bought a woodstove this year, and I helped him cut and split his wood for the winter this past summer.He tried to get me to take the stove, I wouldnt take the thing.
Maybe good for a boat anchor!
The stoves are expensive, worthless if the power goes out, and forget the price of pellets.
When they first came out(pellets and pellet stoves)it wasnt bad.But, so much of our mill sawdust and what not used to make pellets is being shipped overseas now, driving up the cost of pellets to the point that it isnt any cheaper now than electric to heat with.
Anyone want a free pellet stove?The neighbor down the road has one, and cant get rid of it.He bought a woodstove this year, and I helped him cut and split his wood for the winter this past summer.He tried to get me to take the stove, I wouldnt take the thing.
Maybe good for a boat anchor!
Husky137
Addicted to ArboristSite
They run them through a drying process before they go to the burn chamber. They often use gases collected from the main burn to fuel the pre-dryer.
7sleeper
Addicted to ArboristSite
The principles are very easy.
1. Dry Sawdust (is the easiest to use) is compresed by hydraulic force.
2. The compression (a few tons per square centimeter) heats up the material and the lignin (a cellulose typ) becomes like glue so the whole sawdust brick becomes a hardenend form. It is possible to add corn starch or similar if you want more lignin, kind of like a natural glue.
Here is an Austrian fellow who made his own pellet machine. He recieves the sawdust from a sawmill for very cheap and made his own machine to produce large pellets for the wood stove.
He mentioned in another thread that he is willing to sell the plans for 20€. It uses a homeowner typ 5 ton hydraulic splitter. So the initial investments won't be very high I believe.
There are some links to videos on his site.
http://www.brikomat.com/english/index.htm
7
1. Dry Sawdust (is the easiest to use) is compresed by hydraulic force.
2. The compression (a few tons per square centimeter) heats up the material and the lignin (a cellulose typ) becomes like glue so the whole sawdust brick becomes a hardenend form. It is possible to add corn starch or similar if you want more lignin, kind of like a natural glue.
Here is an Austrian fellow who made his own pellet machine. He recieves the sawdust from a sawmill for very cheap and made his own machine to produce large pellets for the wood stove.
He mentioned in another thread that he is willing to sell the plans for 20€. It uses a homeowner typ 5 ton hydraulic splitter. So the initial investments won't be very high I believe.
There are some links to videos on his site.
http://www.brikomat.com/english/index.htm
7
Ok, so the pellet mania has faded then. I had heard of them but I have never noticed pellets for sale locally so I had my doubts, but the other day I noticed that the wood stoves all require 6 or 8 inch pipes while the pellet stoves only required 3 inch -- so I guess they must be efficient. I have an old 5 inch chimney from an oil burner so I'd have to tear it out for a wood stove.
pellet stoves are extremly efficient. you dont even need a chimney. you can basicly run a hole through the side of your house.
that being said i will never own a pellet stove. my dad has had one prolly 15 years or damn close to it. his was top of the line in its day. back then when virtually no one heated with pellets, the top notch pellets were 2 bucks a bag. now theyre over 5 IF you can find em.
i try to convert him to wood as i have the saws and a splitter. so he wouldnt need to buy anything. he just turned 55 and he has no interest in burning wood ever again. he did it for 10 years and refuses to do it again. he likes just dumping the bag in the hopper and walking away. to each their own i guess.
that being said i will never own a pellet stove. my dad has had one prolly 15 years or damn close to it. his was top of the line in its day. back then when virtually no one heated with pellets, the top notch pellets were 2 bucks a bag. now theyre over 5 IF you can find em.
i try to convert him to wood as i have the saws and a splitter. so he wouldnt need to buy anything. he just turned 55 and he has no interest in burning wood ever again. he did it for 10 years and refuses to do it again. he likes just dumping the bag in the hopper and walking away. to each their own i guess.
i cant agree more ,i bought one and my boss bought one last fall ,both are a joke .they are pretty much worthless in my opinion and alot of hype ,virtually no radiant heat and they suck down electricty and hard to find expensive pellets only to heat one decent sized room to 72 if left on al lday ,there is simply no replacement for real woodburning
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mtfallsmikey
Addicted to ArboristSite
Around $200/ton + for pellets in my area.
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