Does anyone know how to make handmade pellets? Not exactly like what a pellet machine can do, but something similar that I don't have to use a machine? I have tons of leaves and no money to buy a pellet machine at the cost of over $4,000. Any homemade suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It doesn't have to be perfect, just has to work. Please advise.
By Loleini
Grass and leaves can be pressed with a simple lever and plunger setup with a pipe or bucket to form.They will need to dry after pressed because some moisture is needed to make the briquettes stay together.Used cooking oil makes a good binder but with enough heat [generated by pressure] the plant material releases a natural binder. These materials produce more ash than hardwood but the ash is potash and can be added to compost pile for fertilizer.
I am building a wood gasifier now to produce electricity for house and greenhouse and will use the heat bi-product to heat greenhouse and home. The 'smoke' generated by burning the biomass in low oxygen is mainly h and co which is used as fuel for the generator engine, the exhaust from the engine being mainly co2 can be fed into greenhouse or back into pyrolysis zone where it is stripped of one o molecule and turned into co, then fed back into gas stream to run engine. It is all really much easier than it sounds.
I found a great link. 3 videos 1st one should be just what you are looking for. Hope it helps, I will build the double lever soon.
wn.com/
this is not the same for using in grills for food consumption. That has to be chemical free.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Is there a cheap way of grinding up old boards so they will fit in a pellet stove to burn?
Tracy from ME
Would a wood chipper work?
Not something I would even consider doing as your pellet burning stove is created and designed to burn commercially prepared pellets and the money you think you are saving on pellets will mean nothing if you have a house fire or wreck your stove.
It wouldn't be worth the trouble--I think pellets are smoother and denser, and the board bits would probably burn up too quickly to be very efficient besides jamming the auger. Pea coal doesn't work either, totally rusts out pellet/corn stoves.
Yeah, this isnt a way to save $. Would probably just burn up your house/stove.
Sometimes you can get discounts if you buy a whole pallet of the pellets.
You can use a wood chipper to grind your wood into small chips. It doesn't cost much. A wood chipper looks like this: www.pellet-making.com/
How much does a wood pellet mill cost?
By Mike
You can find the information you need online. There are many types of pellet mills and the cost varies. One site had prices for a small mill starting over $1800.
It's as per what production capacity you want, if you want a small one, it will not cost so much, here is one of the suppliers,you can consult them. victormachinez.com/
generally it depends on the production capacity you required
I bought a small pellet machine and I am having trouble getting good hard wood pellets. Soft wood pellets and also newspaper pellets come out fine. Can anybody tell me how to get good hard wood pellets please?
By Bob from Canada
If you haven't found some already, there are a couple of Canadian sources:
www.canadiantire.ca/
www.canadiantire.ca/
The wood needs to be dried very well and then pulverized. Instructions are here. www.google.com/
What is the psi required to compress dry sawdust into pellets for my stove? Also, to what temperature should the sawdust be heated?
Rufas from Saskatchewan, Canada
Don't know info requested but don't use wood that has been treated with the sealant etc.
Please use small flat die mill to make sawdust pellets.
I am looking at picking up a small pellet mill and have access to free softwood dry sawdust, eastern white pine. I have several questions. Has anyone done this? Other then the sawdust, what else do I need? I keep reading other people's posts about using a binder.
I have one pelpro that works really well, and I'm thinking of adding a second one in an addition I am putting on. Thanks.
How do you make pellets out of shredded paper for a pellet stove? We have a new Englander pellet stove and just purchased a Stak pellet mill and are trying to make pellets from shredded paper. When we put paper into the hopper it shreds the paper to dust. Please help. We are not sure what we're doing wrong.
By Shanna
Here's a link to a site that has instructions for making pellets out of paper. One of the things it says is to not use an office paper shredder because the paper pieces will not be small enough.
I want to know if there is a way to make wood pellets out of scrap wood from my wood shop.
William
It is possible. Read here www.bestpelletmachine.com/
Are pellets made from sawdust (cherry, oak, walnut) and newspaper safe for use in a BBQ grill?
By Bruce
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
I was wondering if anyone knew if you could make homemade pellets out of newspaper that you could use in a wood pellet stove.
