Why Is Wood Pellet Burning Relatively Straight Forward?

Many people are familiar with the traditional log fire, logs fires in either an open fireplace or enclosed stove have been used as a home heating solutions for centuries. However, using wood as a fuel source in this way has many drawbacks and negative features. Firstly, there is quite a lot of work in collecting the wood, chopping, storage in a dry place and finally carrying the wood up to the stove. Getting the fire going is also another challenge. Even seasoned wood is not ideal for combustion, therefore it can up to half and hour or even longer to get the fire up to temperature and generating sufficient heat. And one of the main drawbacks after carrying out all that work is most of the heat is still lost into the atmosphere, and constant loading of the fire is required to maintain temperature. From an environmental point of view there are also many negatives. Burning logs creates a large amount of smoke and particulates, this is due to poor combustion results due to a high moisture content and low surface contact and low density. Today, to be able to use biomass and wood on a large scale will require much better combustion results to reduce fuel consumption and improve air quality. Pellets can provide this and many other benefits.

Wood Pellet Fuel and Burning Pellets

A wood pellet is simply a compressed form of the same wood residue, this could be from logs, chips, sawdust or practically any other source of wood. Through the pellet production process a fuel is created with a very low moisture content, high density and large combustion contact area. Pellet fuel also flows like a liquid, and can be easily metered into the fire, making pellets suitable for automatic combustion systems. All these features combine, to make a fuel which is viable on a large scale with low fuel consumption and no visible smoke once the fire is at temperature, which with pellets only takes a few minutes. Pellets can be burnt in the same basic stoves as logs, and the user will have a much easier time lighting the fire and will also gain a significant heat benefit. However, this is not really utilizing the true advantages of pellet fuel. Modern pellet stoves and boilers require only 5 minutes of maintenance a day to clean the ash draw and fill the hopper. Then the pellet stove will happily feed the fire with pellets when required. Some units can even be operated via mobile.

Wholesale Wood Pellets and Bulk Buying

Some wood pellet fuel consumers prefer to purchase their pellet fuel in bulk, and have one delivery a year. This is suitable for some consumers, but not all. Firstly pellet storage is an issue for such a large volume of pellets, and also buying first time from a new company. It is always advisable to purchase a sample before a large order to guarantee pellet quality, and to see how the pellets work in your own pellet stove.

Wood Pellet Manufacturing and Facts

The wood pellet manufacturing process does effect pellet quality and wood pellet burning. A quality pellet is not defined by its ash content. A quality wood pellet is defined by its density, fines percentage and moisture content. Pellet quality is very important. Low density pellets produce more ash, more smoke and less heat. In the next few years torrefied wood pellets will begin to enter the market. These are superior in every aspect and will help pellet heating become a serious market contender with oil, gas and electric.

The Wood Pellet Production Guide © PelHeat Ltd - Why Is Wood Pellet Burning Relatively Straight Forward?