Pellet Fuel Selection

Pellet Stoves use biofuel products from used pallet, saw dust, wood chips or other wood product that usually can end up in our landfills. Small wood pellets compariable to what we link with animal food, averaging about one inch to 1.5 inches long and approximately .25 inches in diameter, are produced by squeezing the waste material into a size acceptable for pellet stoves.

Fuel that is used for pellet stoves a couple of grades of pellets.. The premium grade makes up almost 95 percent of the fuel made, where as the standard grade makes up the what is left which quite often is used in agriculture as animal bedding. To prevent jamming and or bridging from occurring in a pellet stove, manufactures product pellets to meet the best grade standard for range. The optimum favorable deminsion is usually smaller then 1.5 inches in length and preferably even less then 1 inch to advoid bridging from occurring of the augar of the pellet stove where the pellets drop onto the auger. The ash content of Premium grade pellets will be no more then 1 percent when the pellets are burned. If there is a large amount of bark combined into the pellet fuel, there will be a higher amount of ash content. The lighter in color the pellet fuel are indicators of the amount of bark, e.g. very light means no bark, very dark means a lot of bark. High grade pellets can be made from both hard woods and soft woods. The type of wood that will be used will be determinedby the local source of wood that the pellet mill has available for their production process.

It normally is a good idea to test burn several manufactures of pellet fuel before making your finale pick to settle on, which brand performs best for your pellet stove. Before you stock up to keep your home warm for the winter. Different brands of pelletswill have different costs. Often the lower cost pellets can be a better value for your money, don't decide strickly on price Inspect the pellets as you empty the sack full into your pellet stove, make sure there is not a lot of loose fines in the bottom of the bag although some sawdust will will not be abnormal. A lot of pellet stoves do not feed these loose sawdust very good, nor do these loose sawdust produce much heat value as saw dust fines usually just turn into fly ash, meaning more intensive cleaning is necessary to keep you pellet stove air passages from being constrained. Some consumers will screen the saw dust out of the pellet to assure correct pellets flowing from the auger. Make sure the pellet fuel you are purchasing are equivalent to or are premium grade, as this information should be listed on the bag. Most pellet fuel manufacturers belong to an organization called the Pellet Fuel Institute./p>

A not so uncommon question that is ask over and over, can my pellet stove burn corn. The answer is yes maybe, but you will need to mix with the corn. Kernals of corn produce more heat and could The heat from corn is greater then from wood pellets and can shut off your stove, so be careful not to be too aggressive with setting the heat selection to high. Remains from the burnt corn has a lot of a substance left over that are called clinkers. Clinker are very hard and will builds up in the burn pot and have to be removed manually, usually with a scraper, causing frequent scrapping of the clinker then would be experienced with residue from wood pellets. If these clinkers are not removed, air flows are impaired and the pellet stove does not function correctly. Most manufactures of pellet stoves do not recommend corn to be burned in their appliances as they are aware of the possible problem the end user may have. If you do decide to try to burn corn, start with a limited quantity mixed thoroughly with your pellets. The rule of thumb is not to exceed a 30 percent to 50 percent corn to pellet fuel ratio. You need to ask yourself, why do I want to burn corn? There really is only a couple of answers. First, unable to locate a adaquate source of pellets in my area. Second is the price of corn a lotcheaper than pellets to warrant the extra work.

The use of a pellet stove can save you considerable amount of money for heating your heating needs compared to the use of normal gas or oil type of products or electrical heat. It is very important that you read the owners manual supplied by the manufacturer for all operating instructions with regards for the periodic maintainance (recommendations. It is always prudent to procure your pellet stove appliance from a company that deals primarily in stove appliances. Often they will advise you to call the manufacturer or a dealer of pellet stoves in your area. Any stove store are internet site that do specialize in stove product that did not sell you the pellet stove will not assist you as they have no desire or obligation to assist you. Some manufactures will offer assistance to you but in very limited manner, other manufacture will not assist you at all, as the manufacturer relies on the company that sold you the stove to do any warrenty work and or answer general questions. often, when you want the most help and or advice is in the main part to the heating season when the manufacture is having their greatest call volume and quite often will not respond to your call swiftly. Saving money is important, but if your pellet stove appliance does not will not function properly, or you have to hire a tecnition to fix or repair your stove, how much money did you save? A good service technician can often walk you though a dignosis of your problelm without even showing up at your door, and have your pellet stove appliance back up and running in a shorter space of time..