# Pelleduster?



## kdp7462 (Jan 20, 2008)

Has anyone ever seen or used one of these contraptions?  Is it really worth going through all the work to get the fines out of the bag I would tend to lean toward the ole hand sifting, but it does seem interesting....

http://cgi.ebay.com/PelleDuster-2-P...ryZ20598QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


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## MainePellethead (Jan 20, 2008)

kdp7462 said:
			
		

> Has anyone ever seen or used one of these contraptions?  Is it really worth going through all the work to get the fines out of the bag I would tend to lean toward the ole hand sifting, but it does seem interesting....
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.com/PelleDuster-2-P...ryZ20598QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



lol....interesting......but give me a good ole sifter and a lil effort and 25 dollars richer makes me happy  lol


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## jtp10181 (Jan 20, 2008)

Looks pretty neat, would be fun to make. Dunno how much one would actually use it though. You have to dump every bag through there before you put it in the stove. I think if you have that much fines in your pellets, get some different pellets.


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## Biglumber (Jan 20, 2008)

I saw that on e-bay yesterday. Ingenious. 

I dump the whole bag in the hopper. The stove doesn't seem to mind. 

I am a newbie to these type of heating appliances.


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## kdp7462 (Jan 20, 2008)

LOL exactly....and that 25 buck is just for the plans!  Then you gotta build the thing!  Take away my wet/dry vac?  Nah...I think that I will stick to what i have been doing and just putting the bag into the copper boiler and then scooping from there!


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## pete324rocket (Jan 20, 2008)

"just putting the bag into the copper boiler and then scooping from there! "

Hey,do you have one of those things too? Ours is an oblong copper hopper thing with handles on both ends and I use it to hold the fines of the pellets after I screen them with my homemade seperator thingy. Ours has been around since I can ever remember and I always wondered what it was ever meant for.Didn't realize it was copper until I went to fix all the holes in it with jb weld so it would hold water.


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## kdp7462 (Jan 20, 2008)

Yea I have a copper boiler just like you described....but mine I bought online this summer new.  It is not an antique or anything, real shiney.  I looked for an antique one on ebay and found I could buy one for the same money new, I like the look of the copper but not all that old green oxidation.  It is about 24 in long and holds just under 2 bags of pellets.  Makes the wife happier when I am not home and cuts down on the fines that end up in the hopper.


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## PelHeat Ltd (Jan 21, 2008)

They have made a cyclone separator using a vacuum cleaner. Its not a bad idea at all, cheap to make and would do the job. Charging $25 for the plans to make it is a bit much though, all the information you need, you can get from looking at the picture.


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## petejung (Jan 21, 2008)

Biglumber said:
			
		

> I saw that on e-bay yesterday. Ingenious.
> 
> I dump the whole bag in the hopper. The stove doesn't seem to mind.
> 
> I am a newbie to these type of heating appliances.



Keep an eye/ear on your stove.  If you get into some pellets with alot of dust/fines in them, you'll probably start to experience some problems. Increased auger motor noise (like a straining type of sound) will be one of the sounds to listen for.  Maybe let your stove run out of pellets once and see what the hopper/auger tube looks like - check for dust/fines buildup, and if there is any, vacuum them out.


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## RedSleds (Jan 22, 2008)

PelHeat Ltd said:
			
		

> They have made a cyclone separator using a vacuum cleaner. Its not a bad idea at all, cheap to make and would do the job. Charging $25 for the plans to make it is a bit much though, all the information you need, you can get from looking at the picture.



Oh, but you seem to be forgetting about their "patentable" air baffle set-up!


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## Tristan (Feb 26, 2008)

I finished making the contraption last night.  If you think that the dust will not effect your auger syster or hopper, then all the power to you.  The machine WORKS GREAT.  Well worth the effort, money and time.  To make a statement such as "if you are getting that much dust/fines in your pellets, then just try another...." is a great theoretical statement to just throw out there.  I have tried many different kinds - and unless the pellets you are buying is sealed in a clear, see through bag ... no matter what brand of pellets you buy ... there will always be that wonder "box of chocolate" surprise.  Thats why i do not buy my pellets by the ton.  I have had great bags with excellent, minimal dust/fine; while on another purchase, same brand, same retailer, i have gotten crappy dust laden pellets.  So i paid $6 lousy dollars for the plans and instructions, bought a shop vac, which i needed anyways, some pvc piping, and invested 3 hrs of my sunday. - the result is a piece of mind for a $5000.00 investment.  YES PEOPLE ... THE CONTRAPTION WORKS.  If you would like, i can post picture of the collection bin from the vac.  Three guesses as to what you would find in there.  Thank you.


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## jmlarson (Feb 26, 2008)

I just ordered my plans over the weekend for $6.00 on ebay.  Guess we will wait and see now.  Does anyone have a rough estimate on material cost  for this thing.  I already own a shop-vac.


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## Tristan (Feb 26, 2008)

The cost of material is about 100.00  I can get exact cost for you later.  I just finished mine.  It works great.  The direction is clear over all, with the exception of a couple of steps.  Here's a huge tip for you that he does not mention - DO NOT GLUE ANY PARTS UNLESS YOU REALLY HAVE TO.  The PVC pieces should fit nice and tight without glue.  Why not glue you may ask?  SO THAT YOU CAN TAKE IT APART TO CLEAR THE DUST THAT MAY BE TRAPPED.  I only only glued one single piece - the very bottom piece.  Good luck.


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## jmlarson (Feb 26, 2008)

Thanks for the pointers....I will digging through the garage for scrap PVC pieces.  It is amazing the crap I have collected for only being 29.


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## pegdot (Feb 27, 2008)

I built one a few weeks ago. It does do a good job. I had the 2" pipe but the other fittings and the 3" pipe cost me about $25 at the local hardware store. They didn't have the quad floor drain in stock so I replaced that with a 2 to 4 reducer. Also, I couldn't find that dust vent contraption the instructions call for locally so I made my own by cutting the center ring out of the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket and made a sliding cover out of 1/4" luan. 

The vac part works well but getting the pellets to feed out of the bucket and into the funnel at a consistent rate is a bit of a pain. (I'm surprised at how easily they clog even large holes.) I'd like to build a hopper with sloped sides to replace the bucket when I can find the time. Still, this is all MUCH easier than the sifting I've been doing. I've already noticed a big difference in the amount of dust I'm getting on the woodwork around the stove since I'm now cleaning all the pellets rather than just the bottom of each bag.


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## beerwizza (Feb 27, 2008)

Where did you find the plans for $6 ? The only ones I found where $25. Can you tell us what the secret "patentable" air baffle is? Must be something from Home Depot.
Rick :gulp:


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## Tristan (Feb 27, 2008)

I got those plans on ebay from a seller name 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...item=170195705174&_trksid=p3984.cWON.m313.lVI

When i went to buy supplies, I found that the HomeDepot has very limited pieces.  They also sold the pipes in 10 foot long sections, so you would have to buy the whole length.  So I scurried out of that trap and went across the street to Lowes.  Lowes had ALL THE PARTS i needed; and thet sell pipes in 5 foot lengths.  The air baffle thing is no secret.  Its a 1.5 dia,
45 degree bend inside the 2" section of the top wye, the bend is turned away from the air upward airflow preventing the dust from blowing back out through the quad drain.  This "air baffle" is one key.  The other important key is that there is also another 4" x 4" x 2" wye at the bottom.  Inside the 2" element of the wye is another series of 1.5" 45deg and 1.5" 90deg pieces which is turned upward towards the wall of the main 4" pvc and at a slight upward angle to create a cyclonic air flow up the entire length of the tube.  This cyclonic ait flow is what seperates the dust/fines from the pellets - the dust/fines are sucked up, while the heavier good pellets fall down into your collection bin.  

This thing works.  Who ever devised this thing has better get it patented.  OR I WILL.


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## beerwizza (Feb 27, 2008)

Thanks, I just bought it. Now to fit it into my honeydew list.


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## drizler (Feb 28, 2008)

I just don't see the need for it?   Mine eats the stuff right up and burns it so why bother.   Same goes for corn.  I can see it there though as there is so much of it and even then the fines just burn up.    Dumping bags of pellets in is just so much easier than bothering with the sifting which I only did because corn was under $100 / ton until this year.   Even then all I have ever done was use a frame of 1/8" screen and just slide it down that off the tail of my pickup with a big snow shovel.  Never had any jammming problems with fines of any sort myself, just dust I didn't want to deal with using the corn.    I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade here but I wouldn't want folks reading this who are new to it all feel that they have to go do all this stuff in order to satisfactorily operate a pellet stove.


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## MainePellethead (Feb 28, 2008)

Driz said:
			
		

> I just don't see the need for it?   Mine eats the stuff right up and burns it so why bother.   Same goes for corn.  I can see it there though as there is so much of it and even then the fines just burn up.    Dumping bags of pellets in is just so much easier than bothering with the sifting which I only did because corn was under $100 / ton until this year.   Even then all I have ever done was use a frame of 1/8" screen and just slide it down that off the tail of my pickup with a big snow shovel.  Never had any jammming problems with fines of any sort myself, just dust I didn't want to deal with using the corn.    I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade here but I wouldn't want folks reading this who are new to it all feel that they have to go do all this stuff in order to satisfactorily operate a pellet stove.



I can agree with you driz...with the Quad I have....every 3 weeks or so I let the hopper run dry.....and I vacuum what "little" there is of fines at the bottom of the auger path and hopper....and I tell ya...there is very very little if any when I do that. and I dont sift my pellets at all much if any. The fines I let burn right up as well.


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## drizler (Feb 28, 2008)

I go one step farther even.   Recently I made the discovery that it is easier to slice the bottom of the bag than the top.    I just hang the thing arse end down half way over the edge of the hopper then slice it along the bottom from end to end.   For me at least it makes for less flying dust to deal with and the bag  seems to dump smoother..   I just love to dump and run for a change.   With corn you about have to clean it at least partially every few days.    Its great to just let her rip for a change with pellets.  There is something to be said for convenience.


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## Tristan (Feb 28, 2008)

Driz said:
			
		

> I go one step farther even.   Recently I made the discovery that it is easier to slice the bottom of the bag than the top.    I just hang the thing arse end down half way over the edge of the hopper then slice it along the bottom from end to end.   For me at least it makes for less flying dust to deal with and the bag  seems to dump smoother..   I just love to dump and run for a change.   With corn you about have to clean it at least partially every few days.    Its great to just let her rip for a change with pellets.  There is something to be said for convenience.




Good for you Driz.  Good luck to you.


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## Bagged Wood (Feb 29, 2008)

Might have to build one of those dusters. Looks like it should do a good job.
Right now I dump the pellets from the bag into 2 plastic buckets out in the back yard and that gets some of the dust off of them.
It is a big help if there is a breeze to help move the dust away. I don't seem to get a lot of dust in the house but I do vac out the hopper from time to time. Not a lot of dust there either.
Still might get the plans for the duster though.


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## Tristan (Feb 29, 2008)

If you do build one of these things, do not glue any pieces unless you absolutely have to.  I only glue 2 pieces together.  The rest of the pieces fit nice and tight.  Not glueing them will allow me to take them apart for cleaning.  I love this thing so much.  This weekend I'm going pimp this bad boy out.  HAHAHAHA. ... "Pimp My Pellest Duster".  Gonna add more see through windows and add lights for special effects.  My 1 year old, 4 year old and 8 year old love the thing.  Some people here says they don't need it.  Any stove that is not a a top fed (pellets drop down from the top), like my Harman XXV, which is bottom fed (pellets fed by auger) will eventually have its feed system be jambed with fines.  100% Guaranteed


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## MainePellethead (Feb 29, 2008)

Tristan said:
			
		

> Any stove that is not a a top fed (pellets drop down from the top), like my Harman XXV, which is bottom fed (pellets fed by auger) will eventually have its feed system be jambed with fines.  100% Guaranteed





Thats exactly right. I have a top fed Quad.....fines are never a problem for me....no build up at all.


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## steamguy (Feb 29, 2008)

Tristan said:
			
		

> I finished making the contraption last night.  If you think that the dust will not effect your auger syster or hopper, then all the power to you.  The machine WORKS GREAT.  Well worth the effort, money and time.  To make a statement such as "if you are getting that much dust/fines in your pellets, then just try another...." is a great theoretical statement to just throw out there.  I have tried many different kinds - and unless the pellets you are buying is sealed in a clear, see through bag ... no matter what brand of pellets you buy ... there will always be that wonder "box of chocolate" surprise.  Thats why i do not buy my pellets by the ton.  I have had great bags with excellent, minimal dust/fine; while on another purchase, same brand, same retailer, i have gotten crappy dust laden pellets.  So i paid $6 lousy dollars for the plans and instructions, bought a shop vac, which i needed anyways, some pvc piping, and invested 3 hrs of my sunday. - the result is a piece of mind for a $5000.00 investment.  YES PEOPLE ... THE CONTRAPTION WORKS.  If you would like, i can post picture of the collection bin from the vac.  Three guesses as to what you would find in there.  Thank you.



Yup, I echo this. I built one about 6 months ago. Where I live the pellet quality is all over the map. I had a spare shopvac so I just dedicated it to this use. My old Austroflamm wasn't too picky about what I put in it, would burn it, fines and all. 

The new stove however is WAY different. It's fussy about not getting fines, plus the slot to the hopper is smaller than your hand so vacuuming out the fines is nearly impossible. I figured it's easier to just feed it clean fuel. I don't mind cleaning a few bags at a time, I just fill 5-gallon buckets and tote inside as necessary. 

Now I buy my fuel by the ton, as the weather can be really unpredictable and if we're 'iced in' then it's tough to get to the feed store for a few bags of pellets. But a lot of the fines in the bags comes from handling. Sometimes the handling equipment at the mill (and the kids at the feed store) can bust up the pellets and create a lot of fines. 

I built mine out of ABS; PVC in those sizes is rare around here as it's against local codes to use it for drain and waste. I spent about $90 on the whole thing and will be sharing the plans with my brother in law to help relieve the cost a bit.

One thing I noticed: You have to be careful about how fast you feed it. Mine seems to want to have some air rushing past the pellets as they are being fed. If I just fill the infeed, then it wants to clog and the shopvac will suck the pellets straight through. Then I have to open the shopvac and scoop 'em out. I do that anyway periodically; I just throw the whole mess, pellets and dust, into a bucket and feed it through again. Presto- pellets recovered. 

I also noticed that if I had a bag of pellets that had gotten wet (like from me using them for ballast in the pickup) that once they'd dried out, I could bang the bag around to break up the marginal pellets, then run them through the machine to suck up the ones that had broken completely down. 

Hope this helps clarify a bit.


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## pegdot (Mar 1, 2008)

The one I built isn't a cyclone. They look pretty much the same but mine has no internal baffles. No problem with dust blowing back out the top. The cyclone thing sounds intersting though. 

Feeding the pellets in at a steady rate is a bit tricky. You might consider drilling a couple of small holes in the Wye above where the vac comes in to supply make up air so it won't eat whole pellets when the neck of the funnel gets full.


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## tinkabranc (Mar 1, 2008)

Hey Tristan,

Out of curiosity...

Did you actually have issues with the fines or are you trying to prevent 
possible problems?


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## Tristan (Mar 4, 2008)

tinkabranc said:
			
		

> Hey Tristan,
> 
> Out of curiosity...
> 
> ...




No I was not having trouble with the fines/dust.  Its more of a preventive measure.  I figure a $5000 investment is worth $5 for the plan and $90 for the parts to build this thing.  Besides, when its built, the thing just looks damn cool standing there in my garage.  It screams for attention: "WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?"  Also, you will notice the amount of dust coming from these bags as you empty them into the hopper is no laughing matter.  We have little rug rats in the house, and one of them is sensitive to dust (esp in winter because we cannot open windows to air out the house) - so instead of adding more dust via the pellets, i take a little time to clean out the pellets before i bring them into the house.  Another reason is that these pellets are "luck of the draw".  Sometimes you get good bags with min. dust/fines; yet sometime you get crap - and yes ... from the same exact brand - as they say ... different day, different plate of sh*t.  Good luck friend.


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## offingmoot (Aug 2, 2008)

just bumping this great thread for any newbs like myself that are interested, i ran across the plans but can onlu find them for $25, is there anyone who has the plans that is interested in selling them to me for $6??


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## EJW1 (Aug 2, 2008)

Can one of you post some pictures?


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## offingmoot (Aug 3, 2008)

i would like to also see some pics of peoples home made setup


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## EJW1 (Aug 3, 2008)

There is nothing on ebay that I can find. I have typed it in every possible way.


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## offingmoot (Aug 3, 2008)

not being sold on ebay now
you can find the plns at 
http://www.pelleduster.com/
anyone willing to post pics of theirs??


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## BadDad320 (Aug 3, 2008)

Here is my pellet duster...............


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## smoke show (Aug 4, 2008)

I"d pay $25 for that!


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## EJW1 (Aug 7, 2008)

Is the suction on the top fitting or the bottom?


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## offingmoot (Aug 7, 2008)

nice to see a little humor on this board


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## steamguy (Aug 7, 2008)

EJW1 said:
			
		

> Is the suction on the top fitting or the bottom?


The suction is applied to the top; the way the "improved design" works, you apply the vac's exhaust to near the bottom. I can see how it helps - it creates a closed loop that keeps the really fine dust down because it's recirculated until it's finally caught by the vac. It would also tend to boost the strength of the column of air inside the duster.


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## in-control (Aug 7, 2008)

How about scooping the pellets out with a small strainer, shifting them around to get the fines out over a trash can?  Cost ~$2.


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## Czech (Aug 7, 2008)

steamguy said:
			
		

> EJW1 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Oh, you're talking about the pelleduster, now I'm tracking again....


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## DiggerJim (Aug 7, 2008)

Tried buying the plans online and get a Paypal error. Emailed the site addy and got a reply that they'd look into it...nothing since. :-( Time for me to figure out how to make it myself.


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## offingmoot (Aug 8, 2008)

"How about scooping the pellets out with a small strainer, shifting them around to get the fines out over a trash can?  Cost ~$2."
sounds like a lot of work for 2-3 tons of pellets


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## steamguy (Aug 8, 2008)

Couple of links to get you started...

http://www.cornvac.com/

http://cgi.ebay.com/Corn-Cleaner-fo...ryZ41987QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If you do web searches for "Corn Cleaner" you will have a lot better success. Second link is to an eBay store, just to show you what's on there. 

I recommend something that uses a shopvac to help out; tried manually sifting the pellets and it was a tremendous mess. And slow. And frustrating.

Hope this helps you.


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## offingmoot (Aug 8, 2008)

has anyone used the corn vac for pellets?
i will need a storage container near my pellet bags, a hose into the cornvac over a bucket and a hose from the cornvac to my shopvac
questionis does my initial storage conatiner need to be airtight as well, say i get a large plastic storage conainer that you would put clothes in you attic, do i need to worry about moisture getting in? and how closedoes the hose need to be into the pile in there for it to suck into the cornvac?
i will look on the corn forums well


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## steamguy (Aug 18, 2008)

offingmoot said:
			
		

> i would like to also see some pics of peoples home made setup


Here's a photo of mine. Was in the middle of some other work, and the pellet duster stuff was just shoved to the side. My wife would kill me if she saw that I made a photograph of my workbench while I was in the middle of a project, so I took a moment and fuzzed it out.

You can see that I had to build it out of ABS; which essentially doubled the cost of the entire gizmo. But it does work well. Got a couple of mods for it that I'm going to try once I have some spare time from doing yard work.


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## offingmoot (Aug 20, 2008)

very nice and thanx for the pics


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## steamguy (Aug 20, 2008)

offingmoot said:
			
		

> very nice and thanx for the pics


No problem. You can see that I used a 5.5HP shopvac which is about twice the recommended power for the duster. I want to try putting in a baffle to 'spin' the air inside the duster to make it more of a cyclonic separator. This will burn off some of the excess horsepower, but is going to take a while to get to... (low on the list...)


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## itworks (Aug 20, 2008)

I guess I'm either very lucky, or missing the whole point. To date I've burned approximately 40,000 lbs of pellets, many different brands, hard and soft wood varieties without dusting or massaging them in any way without ANY problems.


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## steamguy (Aug 20, 2008)

itworks said:
			
		

> I guess I'm either very lucky, or missing the whole point. To date I've burned approximately 40,000 lbs of pellets, many different brands, hard and soft wood varieties without dusting or massaging them in any way without ANY problems.


Well, I burned 15 years' worth of pellets in my old Austroflamm, and could easily reach into it to periodically clean (vacuum) the accumulated fines out of it. It was necessary to do that every couple of weeks. 

Consequently, I NEVER had an auger jam, NEVER replaced the auger motor in all those years. That's burning at least 3 tons a year, sometimes as many as 4 or 5. Those old Austros were built like tanks.

But with this new stove, the access into the feed hopper is so narrow that I can't get my hand into it to properly clean it; and so I need a different way to control the amount of accumulated fines in the bottom of the hopper. Therefore the only way for me to do so with this stove is to keep them from going in there in the first place.  

You might also be really lucky to be able to obtain fuel that is consistently low in fines. Some of this stuff I get in this area can have a double-handful of fines in a single bag.

Hope that explains it sufficiently.


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## offingmoot (Aug 21, 2008)

to reiterate what steamguy said.....i consider the need to reduce fines to be a great preventative measure if deemed necessary or not.  For the small amount of cash it gives me piece of mind
but the screening solution takes care of several objectives at once
my fiancee is very alleregic to dust
1.screen the fuel to eliminate fines/dust for the girl and stove
2.move the pellets from basement to main floor w/o lifting a single pellet by hand
3.provide a small container w/in feet of the stove with pellet fuel clean and dry and ready to burn....good for the girl to fill up as well as me


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## TacoBello (Sep 17, 2008)

This looks like a fun project. I thought I was all set with my contraption until I saw this. I paid $7 for the 4" round vent pipe and used scrap wood from the shop. Curious though, How long does it take to fill the 5 gal bucket of clean pellets ?
Also, how does the user operate it ?
Fill hopper, turn on vac, turn off vac, wait for cleaned pellets to drop then feed hopper again and repeat
Or 
Fill hopper, turn on vac, wait for cleaned pellets to drop then feed hopper again and repeat
Or
Turn on vac, feed hopper continuously until pellet source empties, then turn off vac?


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## steamguy (Sep 17, 2008)

Breckwell_owner said:
			
		

> This looks like a fun project. I thought I was all set with my contraption until I saw this. I paid $7 for the 4" round vent pipe and used scrap wood from the shop. Curious though, How long does it take to fill the 5 gal bucket of clean pellets ?



Mine takes me I think about three minutes per bag to clean. Imagine pouring a "stream" of pellets about the size of two-three fingers continuously out of the bag and into the feed chute - that's how long it takes. Just long enough for my arm to tire out. 



> Also, how does the user operate it ?
> Fill hopper, turn on vac, turn off vac, wait for cleaned pellets to drop then feed hopper again and repeat
> Or
> Fill hopper, turn on vac, wait for cleaned pellets to drop then feed hopper again and repeat
> ...



The last. 

What usually happens with me:
 - Vac on, pierce end of bag with small hole while vac is winding up
 - Start pouring at about the right rate - pour about 2/3 of the bag at that rate
 - Arm gets a little tired, so I get impatient and pour faster - momentarily clog the feed
 - Set bag down and wait about 5 seconds while feed clears
 - Pour the rest of the bag at the right rate.

Takes about a bag and a half as I recall to fill a 5-gallon bucket. If you build yours with an adjustable height, you can lower it down if you're using a washtub for instance and that in turn lowers the height of the feed. You want the output tube as low as possible so the pellets don't go all over when exiting. To feed it, I put the bag across my elbow in imitation of the way the old hillbillies used to do when drinking moonshine from a crock and control the speed of the feed with my free hand. 

If I was truly lazy, I'd have some kind of shelf that I'd set the pellet bag on and then just slash the bottom... or maybe an Archimedes screw with a feed hopper... Hey, a new project for this winter...!  :lol: 

Hope that explains it.


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## offingmoot (Sep 17, 2008)

i bought the schedule 40 1 1/4" pvc and 90 degree elbow
ordered the cornvac
have an 18 gallon tote to practice with then moving to 45 gallon garbage can for main storage
going to convert the 220 to a double 110 outlet to power the insert and the shopvac on dedicated breaker
i also decided to run the pcv thru a return in the floor, i bought a few threaded two piece connectors 
a few c-clamps and steel strapping so i can have a 3 foot piece of pipe permanently attached and supported in the duct and i can unscrew the top in the off season and put the grate back
and i can unscrew the bottom to switch bins, clear clogs, and get out of the way in off season etc


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## Tristan (Sep 17, 2008)

in-control said:
			
		

> How about scooping the pellets out with a small strainer, shifting them around to get the fines out over a trash can?  Cost ~$2.



I did that for the first half of the season last year.  Took too long, too much work.  The pellet duster I built is AMAZING EFFORTLESS WITH NO MESS.


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## Tristan (Sep 17, 2008)

itworks said:
			
		

> I guess I'm either very lucky, or missing the whole point. To date I've burned approximately 40,000 lbs of pellets, many different brands, hard and soft wood varieties without dusting or massaging them in any way without ANY problems.



You are missing the point.  Any pellet stove with a bottom feeding auger will absolutely have fines built-up in the auger.  These fines will eventually jam the auger system.  Pellet stoves with top fed auger, where pellets and fines are "dropped" via gravity have less of a chance for obvius reason.  Salesman will never tell you this.  And until they start selling pellets in clear bags, and you buy a ton at a time, you will always get bags that are crappy.


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## TacoBello (Sep 29, 2008)

Tristan said:
			
		

> itworks said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I disagree. I believe fines will most likely jam the auger within a top feeder than a bottom feeder. Within a top feeder system the aurger has to push up the fines and dust with the whole pellets. The dust will find its way down between the auger shaft and auger chamber hall. Over time, the dust would accumilate at the bottom of the auger feed, eventually causing the jam. 
With bottom feeders, the auger shaft is horizontally feed into the fire pot. Fines are eventually pushed towards the fire pot taking pellets with it. This is why we do not here of Harmons having auger jams. There bottom feeders.


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