Fuel for the coming 2019 -2020 Season - New England - in Connecticut

[Flyer 304]

Hello to All and to those in the New England area.

I haven't posted here in a while and I don't know if you are still running the Wiseway.

Just wanted to let you know about a couple brands of pellets that I have tried recently that do everything a good bag of Douglas fir does, but they are available here in CT and a lot more affordable.

As you may have followed from some of my previous posts, I made up some burn baskets that had side plates and were not like the OEM basket. These worked to some extent when a good dry Douglas fir was found. 

With other pellets these baskets would clog up and reduce burn time before you had to poke at the basket.

Anyways there are (2) brands of softwoods in CT that are both Eastern white pine. Actually (3). Vermonts been around awhile and burn well for my GW-2014 and almost 35' of pipe on my GW2014.

The other (2)  brands I sampled in march 2019 are  Matra from Canada and the  Wood& Sons from Maine. 

Both have burned excellent in my stove and with the plated burn baskets I made.

 The Matra are lighter in color and are up to 7/8" in length.

The Wood & Sons are on the short side and a darker tan in color

With both  pellets my stove will run showing a flue temp of 700 to 750 at the factory thermometer location with the damper opened almost 3/4 of the way. 

The Wood  & Sons  burn like the Matra and may be even more consistent with the burn baskets I made that have the plates.

 I do not have to tickle the burn basket at all before going to bed, the stove just motors right along.

 The pellets burn quicker due to shorter (smaller) size and drop onto the secondary as needed to keep the temp constant. Only see a fluctuation of 50 degrees  throughout out the night. With this fuel and the plate basket, the stove is running like Gary said they should when he designed the stove. No tickling the burn basket, no buildup, no large volume of ash. before bed, I just top off the hopper, check the burn basket, and pull out the burn plate to check it, close it all back up and let it run.

First time since I've had the stove to have it run like this with this type of consistency. Your mileage may vary, but I have tried quite a few brands available locally.

I did run 4 tons of the Easy Blaze softs this past winter, but when I went to get a few more bags to hold me over, found that they had supply issues and those hold overs bags were not the same product I burned 4 tons of.  Not to be bitten again, I tried the Vermonts and they were cleaner running than the  first Easy Blaze I had run 4 tons of.

 That's how I found out about the Matra and the Woods & Sons Eastern Pine softwoods. 

Dealer ran out of the Vermonts so it was experiment time to keep house warm. But what a pleasant surprise to have (2) products that burn almost identical with one from Canada and the other from Maine. The Matra as mentioned are a little longer. 

If you try the Wood& Sons, being that they are of a shorter length, I would recommend narrowing the gap of your burn basket if you are using the OEM basket (depending on how it was adjusted for etc fuel being used), as they will drop to the secondary quicker and if your gap is wide may end up choking out the stove with the secondary plate building up.  Open the gaps back up if they are not dropping quick enough. 

Committed to  4 tons of the Woods for the season and already have them tucked in the basement.

 As mentioned this has been the first time with my stove I had to do nothing but feed it and empty the ash pan. Do my regular clean out and vacuuming of the pipe from stove to chimney clean out after running 5 days straight. with my burn basket and these Wood & Sons, its working out to about 4 lbs an hour with an indicated 700 degrees on my setup.

Just wanted to pass it along, so in case anybody wanted to try something different on one of the cooler days before the season comes in here, so you have an alternative to try. 

As mentioned I am running a burn basket made up with side plates to that I'm using with the Wood's & Sons. It has less volume and the orientation of the gas on the bottom, is work well with the shorter pellets.

The burn baskets were posted in late 2017 or early 2018 and were my take from those shown by another Wisestove user in the group.

So I finally have a combination for a no fuss stove. Just clean it every 5 days and suck out the collected ash in the stove pipe between the stove and connection to etc horse pipe that connects to the 6" Class A stainless.

I have not tried running at a low temp yet so I cannot give feedback yet. One item noticed was that after shutdown to pull stove from pipe for the regular cleanout of fly ash, the wall of etc 4" stainless  pipe between the stove and the connection to the 6" chimney, there was black soot that I did not see with other fuels. I've determined that during shut down as the amount of fuel is reduced in the feed hopper above the burn basket and more gaps for air rather than solid fuel, some pellets are smoldering  before dropping fully into the burn basket and this increase of smoke is being drafted out the pipe and accounting for the darker soot seen.

Hope this provides some alternatives for pellets if available to you, that may work for your installation. Better to test burn other products now before the season is upon us.

Take care   

[Flyer 304]

FYI to all, 

As mentioned about the burn baskets I made up, being a take on those of another Wisestove user had shown on the site.

Credit is to James Paget of Oregon who had posted back in 2017.

Sterling

[Dave R]

The burn baskets appear to be very well made and clean looking. Have you ever tried drilling holes in the side plates to increase air flow?
I am still spoiled in the northwest picking up cheap Doug fir. July price for Bear Mountain was $199 A ton. Golden Fire was a few dollars more. It runs a little hotter because it can have a small amount of ceder. My observation was a noticeable increase in max temp.

[Flyer 304]

Hello Dave, 

Sorry for the delay as I have been busy at work that I haven't checked in on the site fro a while.

Yes I have Swiss cheesed the side plates of the burn baskets  and filed small flutes on the ends so the air can be drawn in between the side of the burn chamber inner walls and the outer walls of the burn baskets.

Next time I start the stove up I'l post pictures of the one basket I drilled. 

New fuel is working like your Douglas fir. Increased burning temps, lower ash, longer burn and with less fuel as the custom baskets have a smaller volume.

the Woods & Son pellets are on the short side and I think this helps with the Wiseway stove. drop a bit sooner, helps keep temp up as ash and clinkers aren't forming as much in the burn baskets with this fuel and the baskets I made. If I were using the OEM baskets, would probably have to narrow the gaps otherwise too many pellets would be dropping  too soon with this fuel.

Finally the stove is burning as Gary said it does. Given I'm in New England and running almost 35' of vertical pipe from the basement, glad to have the stove doing what it should and not having to fiddle every couple of hours.

With the first tons  of Easy Blaze pellets last year and using the OEM basket, thought I was doing good and was able to have the stove easily run overnight while I slept and never dropped in temp. The Woods & Son, even better in combination with my burn baskets- burns longer, cleaner, and more heat output. At the end of last years heating season when I first tried some of the Woods, found that with etc Woods & sons, I have the damper adjuster on the stove open almost all the way and would still run 600 to 650 easily. On really cold evenings have it opened a litter over half and stayed at 700 with no more that +/- 25 degrees as pellets dropped or wind passing the chimney.  Redid some of my piping this year so I was able to remove over 14" of horizontal piping which helps even more with draft, lees work for the stove. Think they say for very foot of horizontal, you have to add 3 feet of vertical. Ruunig stove today with pellets that were open all spring in Summer in the basement. Just cooking along.

Well, that's it from now.

I will snap a pic of the basket being used the next time I fire stove back up from cleaning.

Take care

Sterling

[Flyer 304]

Evening to All,

Dave, attached are a couple images of the burn basket I made and Swiss cheesed the side plates.

Fired it up yesterday and shut it down this am before heading to work. Gave it a quick cleaned , snap the pics and fired it back up for the weekend.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Sterling

[Dave R]

Damn, I wish I had the tools and wherewithal to make those baskets. Awhile back I looked for s.s. steel with high resistance to heat, but I had difficulty finding any in the amount I was looking for. Combine that with no experience in welding, it left me with appreciating what others can do. Wilco country store, down the road from me, has an October sale of Bear Mountain($199 a ton) and Golden Fire($209 a ton) douglas fir pellets. The Golden Fire can have a small amount of cedar. It noticeably burns hotter. This is a benefit of living a state with the largest Douglas fir forest in the US. This is the first time I have seen a sale this late in the year. I am already stocked up, but maybe I will add more for next year.

I have about 2 or 3 feet of horizontal 4 inch pipe going through a wall with about 13 feet of vertical pipe. I have no trouble getting draft, but I have very little wind to deal with.

I have no issues with the Wiseway and I love its uniqueness and functionality, but it seems this stove is not for everyone, based on the reviews I read.

[Monique Robert]

Hi flyer 304 I would like to know what kind of metal you are using for your Wiseway pellet baskets. Gary told me they used 330 steel, 1/4” round. The steel quality of the baskets they sell now is so low (a magnet even sticks to it) the baskets burn out at the bottom within 3 -5 months. They charge 65usd per basket and with shipping, it costs me a lot of money per season. I’m in the Northwest Territories and use my stove 8 months of the year so I am not lighting and relighting every day hence it is not the torch burning them out. I need a high quality basket like the way Gary used to make. What are your prices and what steel do you use? If you don’t use 330, do you know someone who does?

Thanks for your quick reply as I am now running out of baskets and do not want to support the crappy ones they have now.

[Flyer 304]

Good Evening and sorry for the delay.

The burn baskets shown are made from 316 Stainless plates as are the rods.

Don't know what fuel you are using but for this season I am using Woods & Sons Eastern  White Pine softwoods and  using them with these made up baskets. The Woods pellets are averaging less than 1/2" for a length, the combination has been working very well as the pellets are smaller than most of the other brands I have tried. If pellets are larger than 1/2" in length, they won't drop through the custom baskets quick enough to keep the heat up. That's why last year I was running the OEM baskets with the wider gap set to keep heat up with the other brands of Pellets I had then. Still had to tickle the basket now and then, but at least it worked.

Currently this season I am going about 3 to 4 days before the stove starts to roll back on holding temp. I close up the damper a little to raise it, but that becomes a stop gap as it will start to roll back again. Simply shut down the stove and give it a cleaning and I scrape out the carbon that builds up in the lower back wall portion of the feed hopper just above where the burn basket sits in the burn chamber. 

So, I have a good combination this year with the fuel used and using etc baskets I made up. 

I am running almost 30 feet of pipe so I typically run the stove so its indicating 700 - 750 on the stoves thermometer. running a little more heat for the length of chimney I have.

I did have a surprise last week when I went to shut down the stove for a cleaning when it had started to roll back the temp.

In removing the burn chamber with the burn basket, there was the surprise of a large nut on a 2 inch piece of threaded rod (or cut off bolt) sitting in the burn basket.The only way it could have gotten there was from somewhere in the feed hopper area. My only thought was that this nut was used to keep the relative anlge for a pice that was being tack welded and it was never removed before it got closed up. Nearest I can figure, this was under the plate that is the lower feed chute part of etc feed hopper that dumps the pellets into etc lower feed hopper above the burn chamber. Left me scratching my head for a little bit.  

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Have a good evening

Sterling

[Flyer 304]

Forgot, here's a picture of etc nut & Bolt that came loose an fell into etc burn basket