SmokeyTheBear said:Not made up.
Every single form of wood fuel compressed or not has in it impurities ( so called foreign matter ) it is there because in the process of growing it gets trapped by the tree.
Those impurities are what cause ash.
The burn pot provides the required temperatures.
The process of burning the pellet is what provides the charcoal (carbon) which along with moisture, the amount of trapped silicon (in the ash), and the temperature in the burn pot will determine the rate at which a clinker will grow.
I am familiar with clinkers because I burned many tons of anthracite and other solid fuels prior to burning pellets.
A growing clinker will eventually cause burning pellets to fall out of the burn pot, smother the fire (very unlikely but possible), or cause a pellet backup in the drop chute (which may or may not lead to a hooper fire).
Well you still missed a wonderful oppurtunity by not imparting any real information or adding to the understanding of poor quality pellet fuel in your post.
So I will.
The picture in my previous post was of poor quality fuel that created more clinkers than was mananable. Those pellets shut the stove down overflowed the burn pot and created pellet bridges in the drop chute.
The picture in this post shows a bag that I water tested and the pellets dissolved within two minutes. In the other bag is the complete by product of burning an entire 40 pound bag of the pellets.
Just checked and the total ash content is exactly a quarter cup. It did not make any clinkers.
MY COMPARISION IS DOES NOT INCLUDE ATHENS PELLET THOUGH. It was between Future Fuel II distributed by E.P.M. or
Eureka Pellet Mills of Missoula, Montana. and Greene Team I purchased at Lowes.
The Future Fuel II was of such poor quality it endangered the safety of myself, my expensive stove, and my home. E.P.M. even went so far as to include the line "MEETS OR EXCEEDS PREMIUM FUEL STANDARD" on the packaging. I consider this to be a case
of outright fraud or extreme negligence.
I just skimmed five different owners manuals for various pellet stoves. Did you know the use of poor quality fuel can void your warranty?
What should the ramifications be for someone who produces poor quality fuel then labels it as Premium Quality?
The distributor who is currently taking returns of the Athens poor quality fuel is doing what with said fuel? Returning it? Reselling it?
Smokey how about taking a few minutes to do a test on your pellets and give us a review.
Here is one way to do it: http://woodpelletsguide.com/home-based-checking-of-quality-pellets/
Do that and I will concede that you are a ash expert.
Actually that is a test everyone should do on every ton of pellets before you let them unload them. Or even better go pick out your tons and test them before they even get shipped to you.
Some ziplock bags and a couple of bottles of water can save a lot of hassle.
Even better maybe large suppliers like OHARA'S can take a few minutes and test one bag from each ton.
Then staple the ziplock bag to the ton. Could save them a lot of hassle and make the 290 a ton they want for pellets more palatable.
If the pellets look like pipe tobacco or worse after the water test then they are not premium and using them in any stove that requires premium is has many ramifications.
Best of luck and Merry Christmas