» Why make Your Own Pellets?

Burning Pellets

(8 posts)

  1. wire guy
    Member

    Thanks to all the info i have made a fair amount of nice pellets. I have been making them out of used horse bedding. Mainly kiln dried pine, hay, and horse apples. I finally fired up the pellet stove and they did not work so well. I got way to much ash. About 20 - 30 times that of hard wood. I would have to empty the stove twice per day. Any thoughts?

    Posted 1 year ago #

  2. zx6guy
    Member

    Hi Everyone,

    I've been looking into getting a mill and making my own as well. But I have read that some people are having problems getting, non-wood pellets to burn cleanly. The last thing I want to do is get a machine, make excellent pellets that will not burn well.

    I have a Whitfield Advantage II stove. Anyone burning pellets made from grass hay, (what I expect to use) in this type of stove?

    Admin, I will be in NH later in the fall, hope to be able to stop by.
    What I would like to do is get some hay pellets made or buy some and put them through the stove. I'm just south of Ottawa on the St Lawrence River in Ont.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  3. wire guy
    Member

    You can buy hay pellets as a test. Agway sells them, hay stretcher is the official term

    Posted 1 year ago #

  4. wayne
    Member

    z X6guyI I am right accross the river from Prescott ,Ontario, come on over and see the set up I've got. You aren't an hour away from the sounds of it.

    I researched pellets stoves a bit before I bought one and researched pellet machines (albeit not enough, I made the mistake of buying from PP) but back to the stoves....I bought a US Stove Company stove called "American Harvest" it was/is made to burn wood/corn/biomass pellets. I am VERY pleased with its performance. It drops the pellets into the firebox, it has an agitator that keeps "clinkers" from building up and also this agitator seems to keep a nice fire always stirred up. Also it has only one auger that feeds the pellets in to the fire box (some stoves have two augers, one too many) and the auger runs perfectly horizontal (some push up hill) running flat like that keeps fines from plugging the auger tube, running up-hill can plug up real easy. Yes grass pellets produce more ash than wood pellets but considering the price of hay pellets I made versus storebought pellets , I don't mind cleaning the bugger every day. How often did anyone ever clean a wood stove? The answer may be to add some wood sawdust or hammermilled paper to lower the ash output. My brother -in-law in North Carolina called me no less than 3 times last winter to thank me for convincing him to buy the same stove. I am currently running low on my supply of free sawdust but the hay on my property is finally being harvested so I am about to begin stretching the sawdust with hammermilled hay and paper.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  5. zx6guy
    Member

    Thanks Wire Guy, i'll take a look around and see if I can find an Agway not to far away.

    Wayne, that sounds like an excellent Idea. I'll talk to you later in the week, maybe we can get together on the weekend or something. The Winfield does not have an agitator which I understand does a good job for other fuels.
    Yes, finally got my hay off as well and in good shape. Got lots left over from the other hay burners, (horses) LOL.

    Richard

    Posted 11 months ago #

  6. wayne
    Member

    Richard, go to www.tiredironsculpture.com and you can email me direct from there. You can send me your phone # and I can give you a shout. Or I think my # is actually on that website...should be. I do have a small Festival I am selling my creations at near here on Saturday but I should be around Friday Sartuday eve and Sunday...

    wayne

    Posted 11 months ago #

  7. zx6guy
    Member

    Hi Wayne, sorry, been busy and not had a chance to get on here.

    Thanks for the reply, I'll take a look at that web site.

    Richard

    Posted 11 months ago #

  8. admin
    Key Master

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    Posted 10 months ago #

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