Best wood pellets on ther East Coast

Darren · #21 10/07/12, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plowpoint

My Father has a 5280 square foot house and uses a lot of wood pellets to heat it and we looked into a PTO pellet maker for our tractor to save on the cost of buying pellets. In the end the cost was just too prohibitive.

We would need a chipper to get the whole process started ($2500), then a hammer mill to help break down the wood into something that could be pelleted, ($3000) and finally the pellet roll mill ($5500). That was $11,000 right there.

Then you have the problem of moisture content. To make pellets, you need the wood to be in the 20% range. To burn it, you need it in the 6% range. That would mean you would need to dry your wood down to 20%, but no more, then process it into pellets, then after making the pellets, further reduce the moisture content down to 6%. We could never think of a cheap, non-labor intensive way to do that with any consistency, and with pellets that would be critical.

Then there was the issue of production. The PTO Pellet Machine at $5500 could only produce 640 pounds per hour. So that step alone would take 3 hours of work, saying nothing about chipping the wood, running it through a hammer mill, and getting the moisture content down to 20% to get it to that point. Then there is the issue of drying it on the other end of the pellet maker which would be even more time.

In the end we deduced that producing home made pellets would just not be worth it when you can buy it ready to go at $200 a ton. I think there are ways to skimp a little on the production costs, but the quality would suffer and you would not get a consistent pellet and pellet stoves really require that.

I think in the right instance pellet stoves are a good alternative. In my father's case it works quite well, but for me, I think there are better choices. But after looking pretty hard into making our own pellets, I am convinced making them yourself is just not financially viable.

The local pellet plant buys sawdust. If you have asource of sawdust that eliminates the chipper and hammermill. In this area, getting sawdust isn't a problem.

where I want to · #22 10/07/12, 02:18 PM

The more ash left over, the less the heat generated. I used to use one brand (Lignetics) but then from one year to the next their quality went way down. It does make a huge difference in heat output and how often you need to clean.
I don't know what is available in your area but I would ask around at the places that sell more than one type or ask stove shops what they recommend.
The other thing that makes a difference is keeping the stove cleaned and having a good outside draw.

Plowpoint · #23 10/07/12, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darren

The local pellet plant buys sawdust. If you have a source of sawdust that eliminates the chipper and hammermill. In this area, getting sawdust isn't a problem.

It is here.

Before the pellet manufacturers moved in we used to get bedding for the cows pretty reasonable, maybe 30 bucks a cord. Now it had quadrupled since they are buying it all up. Last year alone our bedding costs were $80,000!!!

That would eliminate the hammer mill and chipper, but do you really think it would be worth it still if you had to buy sawdust and still make the pellets?