Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

[MTboatguy]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

We use a pellet stove as our primary heat source in the winter.... and we are on our 5th ton this winter. Only 1 ton for the year I'm assuming your just getting something as supplemental heat? Either that or it stays in the 60's in the winter where you are.

Those baskets BTW are a serious joke.

PS... its always funny to listen to folks inform everyone about what they don't really know... like how you have to clean them like crazy...lol the most maintenance mine requires is filling it once a week, and a 5 minute cleaning once every two weeks....oh yeah, and I store mine in the basement, so no going out in the cold, or even outside for that matter.

Oh yeah... and all of the components are DC...so you can build an easy battery back-up for when the power goes out.

I live at 6000+ feet in the rockies, my lowest recorded temp this year have been 26 below, as I stated I have a generator, as well as solar, do you people actually read the entire thread before you post? I am looking for feedback and ideas, I am not stupid, I know there are far more people out there that have far more experience than I do, which is why I asked the question..

Thanks for your feedback.! My current temp is sitting at 16 above, believe me, I know what I have been doing for the last 15 years is draining, which is why I was smart enough to ask the question..I won't see the 60's until at least late June!

 

[perchin]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

Thanks for mis-reading, and taking what I wrote so far out of context....LET me simplify... 1 ton won't last an entire year...not even just as supplemental heat... they are easy to maintain... your not stupid, and I was not reffering to anyone here being so, I simply meant all the nay-sayers about pellet stoves in general.

Sorry for daring to respond with experience... as you were.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

I think there may be some misunderstanding going on here, I keep my house cooler than 99% of the people I know, rarely and I mean very rarely do we ever heat the house up past 65, which is T-Shirt and short temps to me, I run around at 20 above with t-shirts on, in 15 years I have never burned more than 2.5 cords of wood so a ton of pellets in the right configuration would last a long time for my wife and I..

As I said, perhaps it was just a misunderstanding..

Now excuse me, while I go add some more chocolate syrup to my thumb!

 

[ramack19]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

I have a normal wood stove and I am considering installing a Wood Pellet Basket in it, so I can just purchase and use wood pellets instead of the steady grind of cutting a splitting wood all summer long, I have been beat up enough and the older I get, the idea of hitting the local hardware store and picking up some pellets is starting to look very appealing, in addition to getting rid of the dirt and bugs that come along with split firewood, anybody have any experience with these..?

Pros? Cons?

I know I can get a ton of pellets for about $250 around here, which would last me a full burning season and if we wanted to buy a cord of wood(lasts 2 months) it would be close to the same price seasoned and delivered. My burning season runs from late Sept to Late May most years..

Thanks.

Hey,
Just curious how the basket worked or is working? I'm thinking about buying a basket and burning pellets this winter. Because of health reasons I haven't been able to restock my supply for this winter.
Thanks,

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

Hey,
Just curious how the basket worked or is working? I'm thinking about buying a basket and burning pellets this winter. Because of health reasons I haven't been able to restock my supply for this winter.
Thanks,

Wow,

Talk about a blast from the past! Yikes, I hope this does not get closed, but I can tell you, after two seasons, we absolutely love ours, it has worked out great, the basket is so easy to use, and it puts out all of the heat we need, in fact it will make us open doors and windows in the middle of winter when it is about 10 above, so I have no regrets at all, some of the best money I have ever spent.

I would recommend a basket to anyone who is thinking about it!

 

[ramack19]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

Hey MT,
Thanks for responding. Yeah, ressurection of an old thread, but it is of value. I live in the Denver area and heat with wood logs. But this winter I'll not be able to and am looking for another source of wood. So I started looking at burning pellets in a non-pellet stove.

How many bags do you go through in a day? 3-4?

Not sure why my post and your reply is not visible.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

They have the system set up to not display old threads, by the way they have it set up, I am the only one that can see anything new because I was the original poster of the thread.

Now to the amount of use, we normally go through about a bag a day and that keeps us quite comfortable. If you have further questions, send me a private note through the system and we can take the discussion there.

 

[Fun Times]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

MTboatguy, I'd like to apologize for the inconvenience of disrupting your conversation. After further review of the situation of bringing back up old threads that would normally violate forum guidelines, we've come to realize that under unusual circumstances such as this one, Sometimes it's more appropriate to just let certain threads carry on since the original poster is still an active member and has responded to carry on a conversation in a timely manner. Please accept my apologies.

 

[Volphin]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

They have the system set up to not display old threads, by the way they have it set up, I am the only one that can see anything new because I was the original poster of the thread.

Now to the amount of use, we normally go through about a bag a day and that keeps us quite comfortable. If you have further questions, send me a private note through the system and we can take the discussion there.

I am very interested in your setup as well. Although it doesn't get as cold here in TN, we still want to add a stove to our home to mitigate some of the rising gas costs.

 

[PiratePast40]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

We have an older model that's about 20 years old. A bag of pellets lasts about a day and a half for us. I take the fans apart every other year and clean all the lint off the blades to restore burner and circulation flow. Also run a sweeping brush through the flue to keep it reasonable clean. Yes, they require a little maintenance but are really efficient. My only complaint would be the noise when the auger is running. Might not be as bad with a newer model. The newer ones come with some great ignition and temperature controls. Don't have to use fire starter with those.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

Actually guys, what I was discussing with the other poster, is a basket that sets in a regular wood stove and allows you to burn pellets in the wood stove, the basket I purchased has been quite good, you fill with pellets, light and get it burning, when you need to reload you pull the burned pellets forward in the basket and use a small shovel to load new pellets in the rear.

The reason we went this direction, we couldn't cut and chop wood any longer and we were tired of the mess of wood.

 

[ramack19]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

MT,
I was going to ask what model of stove you have, but you have just answered my question! My NON-pellet wood stove is a 2-3 yr old Wolverine stand-alone. I think these baskets will work well in the older stoves that have more of the inlet near the bottom opposed to the newer EPA rated stoves that have the secondary burn tubes at the top of the combustion chamber. My stove is the latter. I'm just not sure or convinced that the newer stoves can burn pellets well if the majority of the intake air is on top of the pellets.

If I have time this week, I plan to call one of the basket manufacturers for info. I'll post what I find.

Volphin:
What is your setup?

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

My stove is not that old and is an EPA rated model.

 

[ramack19]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

My stove is not that old and is an EPA rated model.

Sorry, I remembered incorrectly. I was thinking that you had the 20 yr old stove. Upon re-reading, it is Pirate that has the 20 yr old stove. Good to know you have a newer stove. Off hand, do you know your mfgr and model number?

 

[MrBigStuff]

Re: Anybody ever use a Wood Pellet Basket...?

After burning split wood for 10 years, I switched to compressed sawdust bricks and have never looked back. The Geo Bricks are canadian hard maple sawdust with no additives whatsoever. They burn so clean and hot that I only emptied my wood stove once per ton and have not had to clean the chimney in 4 years! I used to have to clean it 2x per year with kiln dried and more like 4x when burning seasoned firewood. Compared to stuffing the stove with split, I only put4-6 of these bricks in there and it's just as hot. They come bagged in 40lb bundles and have 50 bundles per ton IIRC. The whole shebang comes on a pallet that is shrink wrapped so you could leave it covered outside but I just bring them in. No bugs, no splinters, no stacking and re-stacking. Most places here will sell individual bags so give them a try, I bet you never go back to conventional logs...