Nail in Pellets

[fossil]

There are as many possible causes as there are pellets in a bag.

Well, then we've barely begun to scratch the surface here. I'm thinking maybe aliens planted the nail in an effort to determine the viability of pellet stoves as a point of entry of their tiny ships in advance of a full-scale invasion. In that case, which is somehow becoming more credible to me the more George Dickel I swig, we all have Sophie to thank for thwarting what would surely have been the end of our civilization on Earth as we know it. Thank you, Sophie...thank you so much. Rick

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Those foreign objects can be there because of a disgruntled employee as well.

 

[iceguy4]

Well, then we've barely begun to scratch the surface here. I'm thinking maybe aliens planted the nail in an effort to determine the viability of pellet stoves as a point of entry of their tiny ships in advance of a full-scale invasion. In that case, which is somehow becoming more credible to me the more George Dickel I swig, we all have Sophie to thank for thwarting what would surely have been the end of our civilization on Earth as we know it. Thank you, Sophie...thank you so much. Rick

well you got me thinking....no.. not likely.anyway slow down on the GD rick

 

[BrotherBart]

I wish I could find the thread from years ago where a tech told about all of the foreign objects that he had found in augers. Rings, watches, eyeglasses and some really weird stuff that I don't remember.

 

[ScotL]

There are as many possible causes as there are pellets in a bag.

Quite right.
I have no idea what they use for raw material, but the nail doesn't mean they're using pallets - they still could be but the nail wouldn't prove it. The one possibility that I know is not possible at all is for any object to make it through a pellet machine without being pelletized.

Just as an example of the amount of pressure applied in a pellet machine, there's 2 pictures attached. Each roll running inside the die has 2 tapered roller bearings. The first picture is a hardened steel roller from a bearing that failed. The second picture is another roller from the same bearing that got out when the bearing failed. Anything that goes into a pellet machine has to be pressed between the die and the rolls, which makes for pretty cool examples, but they aren't so fun to deal with at the time.
A nail wouldn't even slow the machine or make a noise but would be mashed into pellets. That's why there are normally several other systems in place to prevent metal from ever reaching pellet machines.

I don't doubt at all that you had a pallet nail in the bag. It just had to be introduced into the bag in some other way than through the pre-pelletizing production stream - somewhere after the pellet machines.

 

[Doug MacIVER]

Quite right.
I have no idea what they use for raw material, but the nail doesn't mean they're using pallets - they still could be but the nail wouldn't prove it. The one possibility that I know is not possible at all is for any object to make it through a pellet machine without being pelletized.

Just as an example of the amount of pressure applied in a pellet machine, there's 2 pictures attached. Each roll running inside the die has 2 tapered roller bearings. The first picture is a hardened steel roller from a bearing that failed. The second picture is another roller from the same bearing that got out when the bearing failed. Anything that goes into a pellet machine has to be pressed between the die and the rolls, which makes for pretty cool examples, but they aren't so fun to deal with at the time.
A nail wouldn't even slow the machine or make a noise but would be mashed into pellets. That's why there are normally several other systems in place to prevent metal from ever reaching pellet machines.

I don't doubt at all that you had a pallet nail in the bag. It just had to be introduced into the bag in some other way than through the pre-pelletizing production stream - somewhere after the pellet machines.

View attachment 98027
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not saying the brand you bought uses pallets for pellets,once again the taunton mass plant uses hardwood pallets in their mfg. the metal is pulled out and is also recycled,including the strapping to hold pallets together. i would guees every so often one or several nails will slip thru.

 

[sheetmetaldan]

There are as many possible causes as there are pellets in a bag.

Heck, I just read about a guy who found a baby squirrel in a bag of mulch ALIVE! Good thing that lil critter didn`t end up in a bag of pellets!

 

[sheetmetaldan]

.... I think I would rather have a bag of nails to burn than a bag of NEWP`s!

 

[Lake Girl]

Remember this thread ... Markus38 didn't get any satisfaction from the company and denial that it could have happened at the plant. A$$ covering extraordinaire...

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/clinckers-is-this-normal-or-should-i-worry.106070/

I mentioned that the likely scenerio was broken bags at the plant, scoop up and rebag to explain that amount of junk in the bags. He had at least two or three bags with nails +.

 

[Lake Girl]

Do we have a section of the forum for reports of foreign objects found in pellet bags? Maybe we could do something like the pricing reports?

Would at least provide a way to warn consumers what brands should have screening before use

 

[Lousyweather]

or, another scenario......bag of pellets falls in the cellar, splits open...being clean AND frugal, one sweeps it up for re-use, and also inadvertently sweeps up a nail from one of the pallets at the same time......? Had a customer with a sheetrock nail in a feeder once......and you guessed it, new sheetrock work in the same room.....

-matchbox car in a feeder
-reading glasses
-boxcutter
-1/2" shock absorber bolt (yup- owner was a mechanic)
-pencils, pens
-a shopping list, written in Italian- guess what, the homeowner's dad only speaks Italian
-sheetrock screw
-Jimmy Hoffa?

 

[Lake Girl]

Jimmy Hoffa

I know when I have had problems with spillage, I screen them but I screen everything as I transfer pellets from bags to buckets for storage inside (and to reduce dust and fines). Found a small rock in unopened, undamaged bag. If the homeowner can rule out all the possible errors within their own home, where does that leave them? Somewhere in the supply chain... Sophie mentioned no rips, holes in the bags.

 

[sheetmetaldan]

I have a few strong rare earth magnets hangin around the house doing nothing, think I will place them near the bottom of the hopper for some cheap insurance against metal objects! Anyone invent a rock magnet yet?

 

[charly]

Cleaning out my Esse Cook Stove last year , I'm running my shop vac which sits outside and a hose comes in through a window by the stove.. I'm cleaning the passages around the oven itself... So I shut the vac down and hear something in the hose as I move the hose around... Turns out to be this bolt... Was it in the hose from cleaning the garage floor or the stove? I sent a picture to Esse, nope , not their bolt... Well this year I was cleaning it out and laying flat against the inside smoke chamber was a 3/8's inch flat washer.... so now I know the bolt was in the stove too.. So I figure the workers in the factory must throw some bolts and washers through the air just to cause a disturbance for maybe someone welding on an open stove.. A little factory fun...

 

[Sophie]

fossil - since we always check our bags for damage and found none, and based upon 1) the fact that pallets are being recycled in the manufacture of wood pellets, and 2) the forum participants' exhaustive and unbiased review of the evidence, I think that we can pretty safely narrow down the source of the pallet nails to the manufacturer....if you hear sudden screaching from your stove in the future I hope that your stove doesn't suffer too much damage....

http://www.palletcentral.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=362&Itemid=125
http://pressrepublican.com/0100_new...od-pellet-operation-ready-to-start-production
(broken link removed to http://infohouse.p2ric.org/ref/23/22728.pdf)
http://www.pelheat.com/Wooden_Pallet_Pellets.html
(broken link removed to http://www.forestbusinessnetwork.com/2241/wood-pellets-a-growing-industry/)

 

[fossil]

Neither of my stoves ever screeches...nails or no nails. Got no augers, hoppers, or motors.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

not saying the brand you bought uses pallets for pellets,once again the taunton mass plant uses hardwood pallets in their mfg. the metal is pulled out and is also recycled,including the strapping to hold pallets together. i would guees every so often one or several nails will slip thru.

You best pay attention to what ScotL is saying about it not entering the input side of a pellet press and come out as a recognizable nail, he makes multiple thousands of tons of pellets every year.

He doesn't buy them.

The pictures he provided from his own system shows what a pellet machine does to anything entering its feed system, after leaving the press and being bagged is where that nail got into the bag.

As for things getting into a hopper that's also a different matter.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Neither of my stoves ever screeches...nails or no nails. Got no augers, hoppers, or motors.

I'd rather have the nail in the stove than a nail where the chain saw can find it. But maybe that is just me?

 

[Doug MacIVER]

You best pay attention to what ScotL is saying about it not entering the input side of a pellet press and come out as a recognizable nail, he makes multiple thousands of tons of pellets every year.

He doesn't buy them.

The pictures he provided from his own system shows what a pellet machine does to anything entering its feed system, after leaving the press and being bagged is where that nail got into the bag.

As for things getting into a hopper that's also a different matter.

good point, there are nails in trees sometimes as well, aren't there.have a great weekend

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

good point, there are nails in trees sometimes as well, aren't there.have a great weekend

And they would get pelletized and wouldn't be in the shape that Sophie had. Those dies make short work of everything that enters them.

 

[Sophie]

You best pay attention to what ScotL is saying about it not entering the input side of a pellet press and come out as a recognizable nail, he makes multiple thousands of tons of pellets every year.

He doesn't buy them.

The pictures he provided from his own system shows what a pellet machine does to anything entering its feed system, after leaving the press and being bagged is where that nail got into the bag.

As for things getting into a hopper that's also a different matter.

I really don't care about the relationship between pallet nails or rocks and pellet presses - I don't work at a pellet mill and have no idea of how they operate. I don't have pallet nails hanging around my living room and I have no reason to put a pallet nail in my stove's hopper. My concern is that I was sold a bag of pellets that contained a pallet nail that may have screwed up my expensive stove that I depend on as my sole source of heat.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

I really don't care about the relationship between pallet nails or rocks and pellet presses - I don't work at a pellet mill and have no idea of how they operate. I don't have pallet nails hanging around my living room and I have no reason to put a pallet nail in my stove's hopper. My concern is that I was sold a bag of pellets that contained a pallet nail that may have screwed up my expensive stove that I depend on as my sole source of heat.

I wasn't even hinting that you didn't have a reason for concern, but that doesn't make what was said incorrect in any manner, if you want to know what you can do about it you need to go after the pellet manufacturer your pellets came from after being certain you didn't have any of the loose material that you found anywhere except from that bag.

I think that contacting the manufacturer was mentioned rather early on in the thread.

We were discussing where and how that nail could get into the bag.

I certainly hope you have another means of staying warm than just that pellet stove or that you have a supply of spare parts and a means of supplying electricity to operate it.

 

[smwilliamson]

Freedom Fuel - we bought 4 tons 4 years ago at Home Depot in Concord NH. (Right after we bought the stove we had a tornado and ended up w/3 years of firewood so we just started using the pellet stove this year.) I know they have a bad reputation, but we never had any problems with them - the fines weren't even measurable - it was more like dust.

Have you found corn in yer freedom fuel yet? They mix a whole bunch of crap into that pellet to make up for the rotten wood they use. Reclaimed wood such as pallets is a bad idea for residential stoves.

 

[PoolGuyinCT]

Have you found corn in yer freedom fuel yet? They mix a whole bunch of crap into that pellet to make up for the rotten wood they use. Reclaimed wood such as pallets is a bad idea for residential stoves.

They were super corny 3 years ago, if I can find my old phone ill post the pics.. The story is they only use corn to clean the dies.. Bullchit.. They were marked super premium.. Should be called freedoms mule.

 

[jtakeman]

They were super corny 3 years ago, if I can find my old phone ill post the pics.. The story is they only use corn to clean the dies.. Bullchit.. They were marked super premium.. Should be called freedoms mule.

Cleaning the dies is usually at the end of the run. I tried several bags and different batches. All that I tried had corn in the mix. Must a scored it really cheap. Cause corn "is" more expensive than wood fiber!