# Pellet "Log" Cages



## mass_burner (Sep 30, 2013)

Just thought I relate my experience with the reusable stainless steel pellet log cages I just recieved in the mail over the weekend, You get 4 in a set, $34, graduating sizes so they all fit inside each other for storage. I cut a cheapo funnel to fill 2 and tested in the outdoor fire pit. They come with 2 stands, just 10" v-shaped stands of same material. I was surprised how well they worked, though they take some time to get a healty fire going. I think I could use a little more kindling, I wanted to use the smallest amount to start with. As the logs burned out, the ash falls out. After the fire was out, a few shakes and it was ready to fill again. And they cool down surprisingly fast when taken out of the fire.

Next I put 1 of the larger logs on the stands in the wood stove with some small sticks for kindling underneath. Closed the door and it took right off, seemed to work better in the stove. I could see the red hot pellet core in the basket after turning the air down. I'm going to get a new bag of pellets tonight and test 3 logs at once in the stove and time the burn. So far so good.


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## begreen (Sep 30, 2013)

What do you mean by pellet "logs"? Can you provide a link?


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## mass_burner (Sep 30, 2013)

begreen said:


> What do you mean by pellet "logs"? Can you provide a link?


 

sorry, forgot it: http://reposenow.com/


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## begreen (Sep 30, 2013)

Thanks for the link and report. Now I see what you've got. I have some leftover stainless hardware cloth. It might be fun to make a couple of these with that. How long does a big pellet log burn for you?


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## mass_burner (Sep 30, 2013)

out the outdoor pit I used 2 logs and it burned for about 2 hours, although I didn't time it. I will next time. I ran out of pellets.


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## mass_burner (Oct 7, 2013)

update: did another test this weekend Sunday morning. I put the 2 biggest cages (with Somerset pellets) in the Regency    at 10:30 am with a small SC chunk between them. Cages took off with no fuss, creating so healthy a fire in about 20 minutes, that I had to turned down the air. At about 50 minutes I turned the air down again and had good glowing cores and fire off the top (secondarys ?). This went on for another hour. All tolled the load lasted about 2.5 to 3 hours. That's not long, but consider these 2 cages are 3 1/2" x 12" and 3" x 12".  I used about 4 or 5 plastic dixie cups to fill each one. I need to measure exactly the amount of pellets used for a whole set of 4 logs. But I think you can fill all 4 at least 10 times with 1 bag of pellets at $4.59.

My next test will be all four at once in the Morso.


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## begreen (Oct 7, 2013)

What kind of stove top temps were you seeing during this burn?


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## mass_burner (Oct 7, 2013)

i don't have a stove thermometer. Is there such thing for an insert?


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## begreen (Oct 7, 2013)

Depends on the stove model. Your signature doesn't indicate which Regency this is.


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## mass_burner (Oct 7, 2013)

I have the original owners's book at home. Its from 1987, if I'm remembering correctly. Its the old version of the
*Regency Classic, I1200, Small Wood Insert*


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## begreen (Oct 7, 2013)

That could be a tough one. It would take an IR thermometer to read off one of the upper corners of the stove face.


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## DianeB (Oct 7, 2013)

Interesting.  How does one re-load the stove.  Seems as though you would need  second set.  Remove the first set of cages to let the metal cool and toss in a second set?


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## mass_burner (Oct 7, 2013)

yes


DianeB said:


> Interesting.  How does one re-load the stove.  Seems as though you would need  second set.  Remove the first set of cages to let the metal cool and toss in a second set?


 

yes. but they cool very quickly. I took one out with a fireplace grabber thing and set it on my cooking grate and it was cool in about 5 minutes, maybe less. you can also order only specific sizes, say you want only 3 of the larger size, that would be cheaper as I remember.

or you could alternate wood and pellet cages. burn wood down to coal bed, throw in pellet cages, when they go out, bank some coals and start over again. adding new logs isn't the issue as I see it, its arranging the load so you can get the empties out. as with everything, its just trial and error. i think staggering would work, put two in, then wait a while and put in a third, when the original two are extinguished take them out and add the forth, fill the two you just took out keep that going. does that make sense?


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## DianeB (Oct 7, 2013)

mass_burner said:


> yes
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Makes sense especially if your wood supply is not seasoned under 20% moisture reading.  Filling the cages cheaper than using the bio bricks?


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## rideau (Oct 7, 2013)

Seems like a lot of work and added "burn yourself" risk for a very short burning load.  Cost?  30 hours for $4.59?  If 8 pounds in the four logs, that is only about 64000 BTU max. per load. 10 loads a bag=80 pound bags?   I also note the site does not recommend these for wood stoves...doesn't mention wood stove use.  Specifically mentions other uses.  I'd think you might get an awfully hot fire if you put many of those logs in the stove....probably better and safer to go with good quality processed fire logs.  Not sure of the advantage of the pellets?


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## mass_burner (Oct 8, 2013)

so, I refilled all the cages last night. It took one 6.25qt plastic container to fill all cages. i could only find a 50lb bag of grain to quart conversion. so any help on how many quarts a bag of pellets is would be helpful. i know this is a calculation for burn time only, not btus. i'm also estimating burn hrs per fill until I can actually test with all four logs together. 

*qts/bag* *cost/bag* *  qts/fill* *  fills* *   burn hrs/fill* *  hrs/bag* *  cost/hr*
*40* *  4.59* *   6.25* *  6.4* *             5* *      32* *   $0.14*


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## mass_burner (Oct 8, 2013)

qts/bag: 40 
cost/bag: 4.59
qts/fill: 6.25
fills: 6.4
burn hrs/fill: 5
hrs/bag: 32
cost/hr: $0.14


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## mass_burner (Oct 8, 2013)

rideau said:


> I also note the site does not recommend these for wood stoves...doesn't mention wood stove use.  Specifically mentions other uses.  I'd think you might get an awfully hot fire if you put many of those logs in the stove....probably better and safer to go with good quality processed fire logs.  Not sure of the advantage of the pellets?


 
i originally bought these for the outdoor fire pit as my wife likes a fire, but not the occasional wood smoke blown her way. if i get a hot fire, wouldn't i need to use less fuel to get the same btus as wood?


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## Augie (Oct 8, 2013)

Just ran across this, its called a Bradley Burner






Looks pretty easy to fab one up yourself, dont think Id buy one for the 200 dollars he wants. 

My thought is this might be an easy way to get someone who isnt a regular burner using the stove when your not around. figure out the amounts, make some instructions, buy a grain scoop...

Maybe something like this

Remove grate clean out ashes
Replace grate
Put 3 scoops on grate
place fire starter in the front and light...
20min  later adjust air to 1/2


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## mass_burner (Oct 8, 2013)

i'm skeptical about the grates, it seems like after loading its just a big pile of pellets. a big pile of pellets won't work. to make pellets work, you need to have air/space around as many side as possible. you never know what they did to make the demo work, he could have been splashing it with gel starter every 30 seconds.


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## Augie (Oct 8, 2013)

mass_burner said:


> i'm skeptical about the grates, it seems like after loading its just a big pile of pellets. a big pile of pellets won't work. to make pellets work, you need to have air/space around as many side as possible. you never know what they did to make the demo work, he could have been splashing it with gel starter every 30 seconds.



Possible, but Im guessing not, I may fab one up out of mild steel, knowing it will fall apart quickly, it will give me a good idea about how it works.


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## maverick06 (Oct 8, 2013)

I've thought about making one, not to burn pellets, but to burn the smaller chunks of wood after cutting/splitting/stacking. never got around to it.

would prefer to have a good way to burn the bark that falls off. Just tossing it in the stove sucks, that stuff never wants to burn.... ready to stary throwing out the bark.


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## bag of hammers (Oct 8, 2013)

For me the one drawback is similar to the log pellet baskets that have been discussed here in the past - I'm a bit of a klutz - not sure I'd wanna be pulling hot pieces of metal out of the firebox or parking them on the hearth to cool off (not much room there anyway).  But it is an interesting experiment and may work well for those with a more forgiving setup.


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## bag of hammers (Oct 8, 2013)

maverick06 said:


> I've thought about making one, not to burn pellets, but to burn the smaller chunks of wood after cutting/splitting/stacking. never got around to it.
> 
> would prefer to have a good way to burn the bark that falls off. Just tossing it in the stove sucks, that stuff never wants to burn.... ready to stary throwing out the bark.



Outside fire pit, unless (like me) you load it up with too much at once and smoke out the area for an hour (good thing the neighbors were not out that day).


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## Augie (Oct 8, 2013)

So Im wondering if with a couple of Modifications I would find a way to burn woodchips, I now need an old stove to start the experiments...


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## Augie (Oct 8, 2013)

OK so here is my idea. Primary air comes in from air wash. If you could somehow fit a assembly to fit snugly against this intake and then plumb it to the base of the pile of pellets, maybe use stainless tube with hole drilled in it for the portion under the pellets as the draft gets going ti will draw air up through the pile supercharging the fire just like the blower in a pellet stove.  You then have control over the air being fed to the pellets, Start with some kindling on a pile of pellets, bet I would even get secondary burn as well..... yup gonna try this.


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## firefighterjake (Oct 12, 2013)

Maybe it's just me . . . but I always figure I bought a woodstove . . . not a pelletstove . . . and not a bio-mass burner. Hence the reason I put firewood into my stove.

Now I understand that some folks may come across some wood pellets or see a pile of woodchips and think it would be great to have the ability to burn that wood as well . . . but quite frankly woodstoves, pelletstoves and bio-mass burners are designed specifically to burn the different types of fuel. Attempting modifications and changes to get a burner to burn a different type of fuel that it was not designed for makes as much sense as putting a whole lot of small splits into a woodstove and expecting it to work . . . or attempting to modify an oil boiler to burn gasoline . . . or . . . well you get the idea.


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## daleeper (Oct 12, 2013)

firefighterjake, I think along the same lines, however, I can see someone with a wood stove that would be short for the season stretching out their wood supply with pellets, or needing an emergency supply of wood for whatever reason might want the ability to burn pellets for a while.  They might work pretty good for the shoulder season too, where you don't need much of a fire, but something to take the chill off, should be easy to regulate how many pellets you are going to burn with those logs.

I envy pellets for the ease of handling and clean burn they give, and have wanted to come up with a good way of burning them.  But I keep coming back to the fact that I have all the dead wood I need on the farm, but no pellet mill, so I will stick with what I have.  If I were having to buy fuel anyway, it's hard to beat propane and electricity for ease of handling and heat control.

I am however eying those pellet log cages for use in my smoker.  I think I have a use for them there, if I can control the burn rate.


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## mass_burner (Oct 12, 2013)

I wouldn't go to the trouble of modifying my stove, but that's just me. I have a smoker also and it was part of the appeal. BTW, these cages cool down to room temp in literally 30 seconds. I owe you guys another test with a 3 log load but it been really warm lately. Going to Martha's vineyard today without a coat!


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## woodgeek (Oct 13, 2013)

If you want to burn pellets in a stove, try the basket....

http://www.thepelleteer.com/


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## mass_burner (Oct 14, 2013)

pellet cages in the fireplace. I first used all 4 and the flames were quite high. there was about a 2" high rolling smoke layer above the cages and the flames came from those. see pics, the rolling smoke didn't come out so well. in an open FP the logs burnt out really quickly. less than an hour. It was better when I used two logs at a time, but still the long skinny flames lept from the log. This is a large FP with excellent draw in this FP, so maybe thats it. So far the best use for me is the wood stove, havn't tried to cook with it yet. 

threw in a couple pics of Nantucket sound on the way to MVY, and this huge pagoda tree in egdartown,ma. these were originally brought from china


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## mass_burner (Nov 14, 2013)

Ok, so I finally got a chance to test all four cages at once in my larger stove. For the first
1/2 hour it puts up long thin flames straight up onto the burn tubes which heat up the stove nicely.
At about 1 hour, it started this rolling waves of flame (see pic 3) this went on for about 1 hour or so.
This was mesmorizing, I couldn't stop looking at it. A good show. 
Keep in mind that throughtout the whole burn, except for the first 15 minutes, I had the air lever
all the way closed. After that it started the die down process but all four cages still contained red hot
cores. Lat checked it at 11:30, probably continued the burn out process for maybe a hour after that, but
with considerably less heat output.
I was relieved to see that the flaming from all four cages could be contained using air control.
Also, there was a significant amount of blue flaming.
So a 4 hour burn is not ideal for all situations. But for shoulder seasons or when you want a fire
for the rest of the night till bed time, its a good option. It was also fairly hands-off. Wide open for
the first 10-15 minutes, then closed all the way, before going bed I opened half-way.

7:30  PM - Lit 'er up. pic 6
8:00  PM - 212d picture 5
9:00  PM - 487d pic 3 -5
10:30 PM - 452d pic 1
11:30 PM - 200d


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## mass_burner (Dec 18, 2013)

Okay, still refining my pellet cage use in the inserts. I've been experimenting with mixed loads. I put the largest cage in the back and stack 2 large splits on top and in front if it. That only leaves about 3 inches space from the top plate. Burn is much more controlled this way. For the first 2 hours most of what's burning is the gasses off the pellets and splits. Air turned way down practically from the very start. No chance if splits not taking off with the cage fire under them.


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## mass_burner (Dec 18, 2013)

Oh yea, I've since bought 4 more large cages at 10 each. I timed their cooling time, from the hot fire to room temp, under 15 seconds. On this last test I used 2 loads with 2 splits each and 1 cage. Combined burn duration was from 6 pm till 2am, 72 room temp.


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## bag of hammers (Dec 18, 2013)

This is kinda interesting - thanks for the updates.  Wish I had the time to experiment more with this stuff (still have the paper log roller thing on the to-do list based on a couple threads started here by others who were making them, way back...)


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## 2stoveshome (Dec 18, 2013)

Couple weeks ago, I wrote an e-mail to the address list on the website and asking why wood stove is not listed as a proper way to use the cage.  They told me the cage is intended for outdoor use.  If reloaded is needed, it could be safety concerns when small pieces of hot coal fell off and the cage could be really hot too.  I gave up the idea of using wood pellets other than shoulder season in the pellets basket.  I don't have much outdoor place to store cord wood either, I now use bio brick instead.


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## mass_burner (Dec 18, 2013)

2stoveshome said:


> Couple weeks ago, I wrote an e-mail to the address list on the website and asking why wood stove is not listed as a proper way to use the cage.  They told me the cage is intended for outdoor use.  If reloaded is needed, it could be safety concerns when small pieces of hot coal fell off and the cage could be really hot too.  I gave up the idea of using wood pellets other than shoulder season in the pellets basket.  I don't have much outdoor place to store cord wood either, I now use bio brick instead.


 

I am taking a trip to the hardware store tonight to see how I can fashion an extractor. When retrieved, there is only a small handful of red hot pellet stubs left in the cage that fall easily through the basket when shaken a little. What I've done so far as a test was to pull one end of the basket toward the door, lift it onto the door frame, the hot stubs fall to other end, then I give it a little shake and when its empty, pull it out, wearing a glove of course. By the time I pull off my glove, the cage is room temp. Having an extractor will help if I'm pulling a cage out from under coals and not needing to put my arm in the stove. After a few runs with splits, I like it much better. Burn is more controlled and even with the same amount of heat than with just using cages alone.


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## woodgeek (Dec 18, 2013)

I am seriously looking at the pelleteer basket.  My old POS stove is a pre-EPA, coal burner, very wide and not very tall. I don't burn enough to pay back a new stove. In a dense area, I want to keep emissions down. I want to burn recreationally, and as a backup, and like the 'reproducibility' of biomass bricks, but the local price in small quantities is v expensive.  Looks like I can get pellets at a fair priceby the bag.  The pellet BTUs would still cost more than my HP, but still less than my aux backup.

I know BB has used the pelleteer, and didn't like refills.  Any other users out there want to talk me out of it??


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## 2stoveshome (Dec 18, 2013)

woodgeek said:


> I am seriously looking at the pelleteer basket.  My old POS stove is a pre-EPA, coal burner, very wide and not very tall. I don't burn enough to pay back a new stove. In a dense area, I want to keep emissions down. I want to burn recreationally, and as a backup, and like the 'reproducibility' of biomass bricks, but the local price in small quantities is v expensive.  Looks like I can get pellets at a fair priceby the bag.  The pellet BTUs would still cost more than my HP, but still less than my aux backup.
> 
> I know BB has used the pelleteer, and didn't like refills.  Any other users out there want to talk me out of it??



I also own a pelleteer which I originally bought for my Russo C-55 coal/wood stove in the basement.  The openning is not very tall either.  I used it in the shoulder season with my Jotul c450 insert too.  If I use pelleteer in my Jotul c450 insert, it will take about an hour for the fan to start from lighting up the gel starter.  If you just need an hour or two burning time(maybe three at most), it is not too bad.  It also depends on how you light it up too.  Their website recommends gel starter.  But you do need lots of gel every time to get it going....Refill is tricky.  Smoke gets in the room easily.  I was thinking building something like french fries loader in McDonald.....Hope this information helps.


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## woodgeek (Dec 18, 2013)

That is helpful.  The burntime is about what I get now with biomass bricks.  I would do a lot of single burns, so refill is not a huge concern.  I was thinking of getting a small coal scuttle, filling it with the right amount of pellets, and then pouring it in with the scuttle to refill, rather than using a scoop.

My stove has a flue draw at the front that opens when the door opens, to minimize smoke spillage. Might help?

Did you have a sense that the burn was pretty clean?


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## 2stoveshome (Dec 18, 2013)

mass_burner said:


> I am taking a trip to the hardware store tonight to see how I can fashion an extractor. When retrieved, there is only a small handful of red hot pellet stubs left in the cage that fall easily through the basket when shaken a little. What I've done so far as a test was to pull one end of the basket toward the door, lift it onto the door frame, the hot stubs fall to other end, then I give it a little shake and when its empty, pull it out, wearing a glove of course. By the time I pull off my glove, the cage is room temp. Having an extractor will help if I'm pulling a cage out from under coals and not needing to put my arm in the stove. After a few runs with splits, I like it much better. Burn is more controlled and even with the same amount of heat than with just using cages alone.





mass_burner said:


> I am taking a trip to the hardware store tonight to see how I can fashion an extractor. When retrieved, there is only a small handful of red hot pellet stubs left in the cage that fall easily through the basket when shaken a little. What I've done so far as a test was to pull one end of the basket toward the door, lift it onto the door frame, the hot stubs fall to other end, then I give it a little shake and when its empty, pull it out, wearing a glove of course. By the time I pull off my glove, the cage is room temp. Having an extractor will help if I'm pulling a cage out from under coals and not needing to put my arm in the stove. After a few runs with splits, I like it much better. Burn is more controlled and even with the same amount of heat than with just using cages alone.





mass_burner said:


> I am taking a trip to the hardware store tonight to see how I can fashion an extractor. When retrieved, there is only a small handful of red hot pellet stubs left in the cage that fall easily through the basket when shaken a little. What I've done so far as a test was to pull one end of the basket toward the door, lift it onto the door frame, the hot stubs fall to other end, then I give it a little shake and when its empty, pull it out, wearing a glove of course. By the time I pull off my glove, the cage is room temp. Having an extractor will help if I'm pulling a cage out from under coals and not needing to put my arm in the stove. After a few runs with splits, I like it much better. Burn is more controlled and even with the same amount of heat than with just using cages alone.




Finding a good extractor or extracting procedure will help.  I may burn it with the bio bricks.  Storing lots of fire wood is impossible in my small yard.  Ordering 1/4 cord wood every time costs me more money than bio brick.


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## 2stoveshome (Dec 18, 2013)

woodgeek said:


> That is helpful.  The burntime is about what I get now with biomass bricks.  I would do a lot of single burns, so refill is not a huge concern.  I was thinking of getting a small coal scuttle, filling it with the right amount of pellets, and then pouring it in with the scuttle to refill, rather than using a scoop.
> 
> My stove has a flue draw at the front that opens when the door opens, to minimize smoke spillage. Might help?


maybe it will help depends on your draft....I always try it and I will know if my wife smell the smoke and yell.  :-D


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## mass_burner (Dec 18, 2013)

2stoveshome said:


> Finding a good extractor or extracting procedure will help.  I may burn it with the bio bricks.  Storing lots of fire wood is impossible in my small yard.  Ordering 1/4 cord wood every time costs me more money than bio brick.



If I were you I'd be all over a pallet on Niels.


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## mass_burner (Dec 19, 2013)

Hey, I want to say thanks for all the wood guys for tolerating this ongoing post. I know its not for everyone, but as the mantra seems to be around here: it depends of your home, burning habits, stove, budget-- one size does not fit all.

For me its all about flexibility, or having as many arrows in the quiver as possible: wood, NIELS, pellet cages, my mother-in-laws tacky wood coasters, whatever burns efficiently.


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## mass_burner (Dec 20, 2013)

2stoveshome said:


> I also own a pelleteer...  Their website recommends gel starter.  But you do need lots of gel every time to get it going....Refill is tricky.  Smoke gets in the room easily.  I was thinking building something like french fries loader in McDonald.....Hope this information helps.


 

With the cages I use 1/8 of a SC, as with wood. Since all the sides of the cage are exposed, it takes off pretty quickly.

Burned again last night using cages. At 7:30, put 1 cage in rear of stove, 1 split on top of it, 1 split in front. Put a few chucks of SC in between the cage and the front split. Lit her up, air wide open, close the door. About 20 min in, shut the air almost fully closed. From there its all gases from the pellets burning, with smaller flames from the splits. This load lasted until 11:30, room was at 72. KEEP IN MIND ALSO THAT THESE SPLITS I'M BURNING ARE SPRUCE. At about 12:30, I raked all the coals off the cage to the front, replaced the 2 splits, again on top and in front. Surprisingly, about 1/3 of the cage was still filled with red hot pellets. After the splits were burning, returned to very low air. Went to bed. Was shocked to see the entire common area this morning at 7:30 was 68. Stove glass was still warm, no red hot coals, but I didn't sift through the ashes. Nothing left in the cages. I'm burning Fireside Ultra from HD.    

So that's 4 spruce splits for a night of burning. It wasn't terribly cold last night, I think low of 30-32.

I think the cage would work well with 1-2 NIEL's, can't wait to get my hands on some.


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## bag of hammers (Dec 20, 2013)

mass_burner said:


> NIEL's



?


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## mass_burner (Dec 20, 2013)

North Idaho Energy Logs


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## 2stoveshome (Dec 20, 2013)

mass_burner said:


> If I were you I'd be all over a pallet on Niels.


Heard good thing about NEIL but it is just too expensive around here......$2.5 per log around here if you can find the guy who usually sell them by pallet.  I even bought a 3 log pack in a store for $10....I must be crazy at the time to spend $10 for 3 logs.


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## mass_burner (Dec 21, 2013)

Yea, I'm planning to drive out to Oxford MA to get about 10 to test out. If I like them I might get a pallet.


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## weatherguy (Dec 21, 2013)

2stoveshome said:


> Heard good thing about NEIL but it is just too expensive around here......$2.5 per log around here if you can find the guy who usually sell them by pallet.  I even bought a 3 log pack in a store for $10....I must be crazy at the time to spend $10 for 3 logs.


 
 Your in mass?

http://www.hearthwise.com/page/page/506666.htm


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## 2stoveshome (Dec 21, 2013)

weatherguy said:


> Your in mass?
> 
> http://www.hearthwise.com/page/page/506666.htm


It looks like NIEL.   Leominster is not that far from me.  I might give it a try before I finishing my bio bricks. Thanks for the info.


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## mass_burner (Dec 21, 2013)

weatherguy said:


> Your in mass?
> 
> http://www.hearthwise.com/page/page/506666.htm


 
Yes, but leominster is just as far as Oxford.


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## weatherguy (Dec 21, 2013)

You can call them MB and see if they're doing a delivery in your area, also I put the link up for 2stoves since he's in Mass but didn't have a town in his sig, I took a shot that he might be close by and if he wanted to he could pick up a starter pack to check them out.


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## mass_burner (Dec 23, 2013)

Picked up this set for $4 at HFC. Works well, skewer the cage, shake out the remaining few pellets, remove. Cage is room temp before you can find a place to put it.


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## mass_burner (Jan 1, 2014)

7 year old has become the dedicated pellett cage refiller. Sorry for the upside down photo.


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## mass_burner (Jan 10, 2014)

still experimenting...i figured out the best option is to fill the space as much as possible to contain the flames. last night I used four large cages stacked 2 by 2 in the center of the Morso with no gap between, like 1 big block. Clearance at top was about 2", with about 4" on either side. Flames were much more controlled, took longer to take off, but had burned hot for a good 4.5 hours when I went to bed. There is ample room on both side for shorties/uglies, that will get it up to temp fatser. I will do this again tonight and take temps/actual duration.

used Nations Best pellets, I don't recommend them; Green Supreme burn hotter/longer. I can't find Somersets anymore.


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## mass_burner (Feb 11, 2014)

mass_burner said:


> Picked up this set for $4 at HFC. Works well, skewer the cage, shake out the remaining few pellets, remove. Cage is room temp before you can find a place to put it.
> 
> View attachment 121497


 

Still at it...

I took one large cage and cut the top off, not the whole top, but like a tissue box dispenser. So now I can refill without removing the cage.

So I put the one cage in the front, a split behind it, a split on top. With the cage in there i can turn the air way down almost off with the secondarys producing alot of heat. For some reason, the 2 splits in there last alot longer. After about 2-2.5 hours, (I'm burning spruce here) I shove the coals off the top to the rear or sides, then I refill the cage with a gutter cleaner, the long nose scoop tool, then put another split on top. If I start at 6pm, I use about 4-6 spruce splits before i go to bed at 1am with the stove still going. LR/kitchen/DR/FR all 71-72d.


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## jatoxico (Feb 11, 2014)

mass_burner said:


> Still at it...
> 
> I took one large cage and cut the top off, not the whole top, but like a tissue box dispenser. So now I can refill without removing the cage.
> 
> So I put the one cage in the front, a split behind it, a split on top. With the cage in there i can turn the air way down almost off with the secondarys producing alot of heat. For some reason, the 2 splits in there last alot longer. After about 2-2.5 hours, (I'm burning spruce here) I shove the coals off the top to the rear or sides, then I refill the cage with a gutter cleaner, the long nose scoop tool, then put another split on top. If I start at 6pm, I use about 4-6 spruce splits before i go to bed at 1am with the stove still going. LR/kitchen/DR/FR all 71-72d.


 

You're getting yourself through a cold winter, that's a good thing.


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