Hopper cleaning

[zrock]

This is about a month of fines in my hopper. Stove still worked but heat output was much less. First thing u should check when you have fire or heat issues.. that is about 1-2 inches deep

 

[zrock]

 

[Tonyray]

you did vacuum that out I assume.........

 

[zrock]

Well of cource.. this time it was not packed into the auger

 

[Washed-Up]

Dayyyyuummmm that’s a bit…luckily I haven’t seen that much or the stove just eats it…I do empty/check the fines box a few times throughout the winter though. Good eye!

 

[johneh]

That is a lot of fines. I have never in 23 years had to vacuum
my hopper. My Envrio eats everything

 

[shtrdave]

What causes this build up in your stove. To me that should not be happening unless it is the way the stove is designed. I have never seen that type of build up in my stove or any of my pellet cookers and I have had to vacuum out a hopper.

 

[zrock]

Some stoves could be built to a tighter standard where the dines do get picked up and pulled through with the pellets.. or the design of the auger system could make it easier to pull them through, this stove pulls pellets straight up and there's a bit of space between auger and hopper sides by design.. This year seems to be worse than normal im thinking the place i get pellets got a bad shipment or 2 as a few bags i tossed out since when i opened you could tell they had been wet

 

[Tonyray]

Well of cource.. this time it was not packed into the auger

never mentioned brand of pellets.... many softwoods come with lot of fines..

 

[zrock]

Canwick hardwood.. Same pellets i have been using for years when i cannot find my favorite softwood..

 

[ARC]

Thanks for the reminder zrock about 3 inches of fines. Stove was burning well usually pushes most of the fines into the burn pot. End of year Greene Supremes bought on sale last summer, lots of fines in each bag.

 

[Tonyray]

Canwick hardwood.. Same pellets i have been using for years when i cannot find my favorite softwood..

I do get more fines with softwoods..price I pay for higher heat and zilch ash with certain top brands.

 

[Ssyko]

That is a lot of fines. I have never in 23 years had to vacuum
my hopper. My Envrio eats everything

Chomp chomp mmmmmmm good👍

 

[Ricks]

Keep in mind the more a bag is handled the more fines it will have. Many people will toss the bad into the truck, then toss it down on the ground, carry it into the house and pour it into the stove. All of that breaks up the pellets and creates fines.

In general the cheaper the pellets the more fines the bag will contain.

 

[Dataman]

My Harmon XXV just eats them and puts out Heat.

 

[tbear853]

I see fines but just a little as I dump in the hopper. I don't let my stove get near empty enough to see fines down there, but I have vacuumed a few out of the feed box side after removing the cover, but I think it burns most of them. Mine has a horizontal tube for the auger, it very well might just shove them into the Harmon type burn pot from the rear along with the pellets.

If it matters, my stove usually almost always gets only fed Hamers Hot Ones or Souther States bagged Hamers Hot Ones .... premium hardwood pellets they say.

 

[zrock]

If it matters, my stove usually almost always gets only fed Hamers Hot Ones or Souther States bagged Hamers Hot Ones .... premium hardwood pellets they say.

I never trust what the bag says "premium hardwood. When i got my stove the first season i would buy a couple of bags of pellets from the different ones available and paid dearly for some that would say platinum premium.. They were the most expensive and the worse.. bags were lots of fines and pellet size was inconsistent with most of them 2" long and the stove struggled to get those into the auger to break them up and i actually had it jam and snap the pin in the auger and twist the shaft a real bear to get apart. When i contacted the manufacturer they admitted the issues with their product and used the excuse their equipment is old and very inconsistent but they had no plans on fixing the issue. We have since seen that manufacturer no longer being supported locally.

 

[tbear853]

I never trust what the bag says "premium hardwood. When i got my stove the first season i would buy a couple of bags of pellets from the different ones available and paid dearly for some that would say platinum premium.. They were the most expensive and the worse.. bags were lots of fines and pellet size was inconsistent with most of them 2" long and the stove struggled to get those into the auger to break them up and i actually had it jam and snap the pin in the auger and twist the shaft a real bear to get apart. When i contacted the manufacturer they admitted the issues with their product and used the excuse their equipment is old and very inconsistent but they had no plans on fixing the issue. We have since seen that manufacturer no longer being supported locally.

I know, I've tried others, but I've always had good results with these. There were some others, some I saw mentioned here, so I tried a few bags, maybe 10 or so ..... but I've grown comfortable with these HHOs such that I'll buy them by the pallet full. Statesman is same pellets, just in a Co-op bag. Was once some high dollar pellets in bags that were partially clear, they run so bad that I pitched a few bags. They were bad.