# Cherry Pits Found!



## dhungy (Aug 3, 2010)

SO I finally Found a place to get cherry pits. $295/ton... dunno if thats hight but the guy said they run hotter than wood pellets. He also sells Kentucky Kernel pellets at $225.00 a ton.. Anyone burn pits?


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## Cincinnati Kid (Aug 3, 2010)

Don't know about cherry pits but I had problems with Kentucky Kernal pellets.  Some are well over 1.5 inches long and they would get hung up in the hopper.


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## imacman (Aug 3, 2010)

From what I've read on iburncorn.com, they DO have more BTU's than wood pellets or corn.  However, they also have more ash to deal with.  Less messy than corn, though.

here's what I found:

Dried cherry pits: 9523 BTU’s/pound 
Dried shelled corn: 8500 BTU’s/pound 
Dried wood pellets: 8000 BTU’s/pound* 

*Energy value data obtained from Dr. Thomas B. Reed of the Biomass Energy Foundation and the Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Station 

Based on your prices, I'd have to consider the actual cost vs. btu output.  Using the above numbers, cherry pits have about 16% more BTU's per pound, but they also will cost you almost 25% more per pound to buy (15 cents per pound for the cherry pits vs 11 cents per pound for the pellets).


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## jtakeman (Aug 3, 2010)

There are lots of things to shuffle through and consider. When comparing fuel head to head. I wanted to do a multifuel burnoff but never got started last season. Then try to compare to wood pellets.

Trying to figure how to really match them head to head just hurt the brain toooooo much. I was going to start with running the auger for X amount of time for each fuel to see how much fuel was feed in my ash pan and weight it. I was going to do this with a lamp cord and a timer. Using a 10 minute cycle after precharging the auger should net consistent results. But this is just a theory!

The higher weight fuel should result in more heat out the stove but less burn time. The lower weight should yield a longer overall burn time. Then burn the fuel in a set feed on the stove to see what was actually hotter on the convection air temp. That's as far as I got before the brain just couldn't take it anymore. One of these days we will figure out what is a valid test to compare fuels and how to correct for the variables.

I haven't burned any cherry pits to date, But have heard they burn hot but faster than wood pellets(due to smaller size and more fuel charge??? IDK). I have also heard they seem to be ashy but can't find a content listed. Does anyone have a ash percentage value????


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## vvvv (Aug 3, 2010)

wonder what the humid content of a cherry pit is


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## jtakeman (Aug 3, 2010)

BLIMP said:
			
		

> wonder what the humid content of a cherry pit is



Moisture content????


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## vvvv (Aug 3, 2010)

BTU said:
			
		

> dhungy said:
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wonder how this "hot" burn affects grates & whatnot


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## jtakeman (Aug 3, 2010)

BTU said:
			
		

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Trust me(an owner of a multifuel stove that can handle 3% ash)! You are going to be shocked when it comes time to clean the stove. Just go check the grass thread that imacman, schoondog and myself burned. 

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/50637/

If they were cheaper, it might be worth it??? But as far as I am concerned. Nice clean burning wood pellets are hard to pass up and Beating there clean burn is going to be tough! But I am still looking.

FYI
Average ash for wood pellet is about .6%
Average ash for Corn is about 1.2%


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## stoveguy2esw (Aug 3, 2010)

ive burned em in our multifuel stove in the lab , i was never enamored with the way they burned. they heat , but i just didnt like the fire, also they tend to feed inconsistantly in drop feed stoves probably because they are light for their size compared to pellets and round and slick. persoanlly i would burn them if they were cheap but i'd want to mix them with pellets which tends to stabilize the feed better. 

one thing to watch for , the pits will build carbon in the pot and from what ive read it can be corrosive to non-stainless steel burnpots, so when you burn em , make sure to scrape the carbon out regularly to avoid damage to the pot if its not stainless.


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## smwilliamson (Aug 4, 2010)

Even some stainless will corrode if the fuel has higher concentration of chlorine. Many stainless vent pipes of the 311 or 316 variety are not designed for multi-fuel applications. Not an expert on this but do believe I was trained about this is some program or another.


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## drizler (Aug 4, 2010)

I have burned them and found them about like pellets, like corn ect.    No big whoopie just coco puff looking rather than the usual shape.     I didn't like the way the bags stacked either as they are a lot thicker and poofier which makes them high in the middle.     Never saw any damage to my exhaust though and never have with corn either using standard P-vent.      The one thing I didn't like at all was the smell.    They really do stink compared to corn or pellets.    In all I would buy them if they were cheaper but all things considered wouldn't go out of the way to buy them for any other reason.          My stove has a large ash bin so I never really paid much attention to the amount of ash but it seemed to be about what built up burning poor quality corn.   And seriously, at $295 / ton they must think the cherries are still on there.      Kick that dog to to the curb...................


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## dhungy (Aug 4, 2010)

I spoke to a rep for my stove.. "off the record" he said that I would have to treat the pits as I would corn. mix at least a 50/50 pits pellets. When I burned corn last year I found that the 30/70 corn to pellets ratio was a cleaner hotter burn for my stove. my burn pot is considered a multifuel burn pot. I think I will buy a few bags of pits to try them out.  Does anyone know what the prices of pits usually are or what they are in the central ny area?


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## stoveguy2esw (Aug 5, 2010)

smwilliamson said:
			
		

> Even some stainless will corrode if the fuel has higher concentration of chlorine. Many stainless vent pipes of the 311 or 316 variety are not designed for multi-fuel applications. Not an expert on this but do believe I was trained about this is some program or another.



bleached pits used for crafts and theraputic pillows should NOT be used for fuel. pits which are used for fuel are dried but not bleached , make sure that the pits you are looking to buy have not been bleached!


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## jtakeman (Aug 6, 2010)

stoveguy2esw said:
			
		

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Probably why they are so highly priced. I might pay what there asking for pillow stuffings, But for fuel??? I guess its an option if a pellet shortage ever shows up again!


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