Pellets vs Wood

[dave1949]

Has anyone tried to produce their own pellets? What is the equipment required and can it reasonably be bought by the home-owner? Most of us have trees and thus fire-wood. Some of us would like to enjoy the practicality of pellets rather than handling logs. Can we turn our logs into pellets?

Not without handling them

There is a thread under General/Attachments/Pellet Mill Attachment
Dave.

 

[Steve C]

Even at those prices pellets are cheaper on a btu to btu basis:

Propane $1.70/gallon @ 92000 BTU/gal = $314.13 per 17million BTU*
Pellets @ $250/ton @ 17millionBTU/ton = $250 per 17million BTU (ton)**

*Assuming propane has 92k btu/gal (estimates vary)
**Assuming that wood pellets have 8500 btus/lb (estimates vary)

If you burn 6 tons that's $384.78 that stays in your pocket...

I suppose, but my Propane furnace is 95% effecient I don't think my pellet stove is anywhere near that.

I still liked buying the pellets better when they were $120 a ton

So I need to burn more to save more, I am going to crank that sucker up, I could use the money!

 

[timswi]

Has anyone tried to produce their own pellets? What is the equipment required and can it reasonably be bought by the home-owner? Most of us have trees and thus fire-wood. Some of us would like to enjoy the practicality of pellets rather than handling logs. Can we turn our logs into pellets?

They are pretty much sawdust with a binder. Don't know what it takes to make them, but probably not DIY.

 

[timswi]

Even at those prices pellets are cheaper on a btu to btu basis:

Propane $1.70/gallon @ 92000 BTU/gal = $314.13 per 17million BTU*
Pellets @ $250/ton @ 17millionBTU/ton = $250 per 17million BTU (ton)**

*Assuming propane has 92k btu/gal (estimates vary)
**Assuming that wood pellets have 8500 btus/lb (estimates vary)

If you burn 6 tons that's $384.78 that stays in your pocket...

I cant possibly validate any of that, but it sure was an impressive analysis

 

[dave1949]

I cant possibly validate any of that, but it sure was an impressive analysis

I thought so too. It inspired me to get out the calculator and figure out Steve could be paying himself $0.03+ per pound to carry his pellets to the stove
Dave.

 

[Steve C]

I thought so too. It inspired me to get out the calculator and figure out Steve could be paying himself $0.03+ per pound to carry his pellets to the stove
Dave.

great! I am employed then!

but wait! you have to correct it for the efficiency of the pellet stove/furnace. I suspect that I am making closer to $0.02 per pound

 

[dave1949]

great! I am employed then!

but wait! you have to correct it for the efficiency of the pellet stove/furnace. I suspect that I am making closer to $0.02 per pound

I was hoping that would give you a chuckle.
Dave.

 

[mbohuntr]

We burned wood for a very long time, when we sold the house, we were burning about 14 cords/yr. While it cost nothing but time, I have to admit I enjoy being lazy and loading the pellet stove. We used to have a big Quadrafire, but by spring, the sound of pellets dropping into the chamber drove us nuts. The house we have now has an older Englander that feeds from the bottom. MUCH nicer... We use about 3 1/2 tons/ season.

 

[Steve C]

I was hoping that would give you a chuckle.
Dave.

I make 80 cents for every bag I carrry in from the barn!

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Mine has a 5 speed blower motor and 5 speed heat output (rate of pellet feed). The only other adjustment is the damper control. I'm not sure I understand what you mean by electrical adj pots. This stove works extremely well even on the low setting. I don't think it has been used that much. We use it for backup heat because I can run it off my portable generator. Also when the wind chill is -25 degrees we fire it up for comfort. In the three winters we have been here we probably have run it less than 30 hours. I love the stove. Not something I would have bought but it came with the house. Once you have one you are addicted. Does yours have the handle that cleans the heating chambers? I don't know about hauling it outside. It's pretty darn heavy.

Sorry I've not responded sooner.

Look at the attached pic. At the top of the controller one can see the small pot near the top left marked as combustion air. Normally the slot is pointing vert. One can adj the blower speed to help fine tune the combustion airflow. Might be preferable over over dampening the exhaust airflow. Further down and on the right there is another pot that makes small adj to the pellet flow rate. If you have a t-stat connected you may need to adj the pot to insure when the stove is idling (room temp reached the set point) that pellet flow is just adequate to keep the fire going.

Not sure what you mean by handle that cleans the heating chamber. There is a rod under the pellet hopper lid. Pulling on it cleans the heat exchanger tubes. In my installation ash gets past the baffles in the air passage and a lot settle into the exhaust plenum. No easy way to clean out so that is why I took the stove outside, drilled a couple hole so I could get a tube into the area and blow. With exhaust fan running my stirring of the trapped ash, via blowing air into the chamber, made for easy clean-out. Needed to plug the holes afterwards.

I'm pushing 70 and did this myself with the aid of a handtruck.