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Small Pellet Mill WILL IT SAVE ME MONEY OR NOT

 
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i have been looking into getting a used pellet mill or proabley building my own pellet mill. so i can heat my house and make pellets for my animals. im not sure if it is a worth wild project because of all the labor in making wood small enoff to run in the mill or where i can get it for free. i would still have to buy all the stuff to make pellets for my animals and i still have to power the unit im woundering if buy the time that is all done i might be wasting my time i have been looking into rocket mass heaters and im not sure if a pellet stove is even in the ball park of engery consuption of a rocket mass heater.

so im at a stand still tell i find out what to do any informtion would be a blessing thank you
 
steward
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If you don't have a pellet stove, consider how the investment in such a stove would impact your decision. A multi-fuel pellet stove would allow use of other materials besides wood/sawdust. There are all sorts of materials that can be used-hay, grass, leaves, among other things. These must be sized to produce pellets. A lawn mower can handle some of this material, a chipper shredder can handle leaves and hay. Cleaning the material before putting it through the pellet mill may be needed to remove rocks lest you damage the die or roller. A winnow would be desirable if you are gathering leaves or grass in a rocky area.

I read somewhere that the average home in the US requires 50 million BTU of heat for a season. Wood pellets burn efficiently, but you are still looking at 10k pounds of pellets. Sawdust is kinda hard to get a hold of: a slow economy means slow lumber mills, less sawdust at the same time pellet stoves are selling well because of high oil prices.

If you can get the stove, pellet mill, shredder or hammer mill, and winnow for a fair price, and have the time to process a few tons of material, you can heat your home for the cost of running machinery. With the equipment, there is the opportunity to pelletize material for paying customers, or even rent the equipment if you dare.

If you can produce your own pellet fuel in sufficient quantity to supply all your own needs, there is a return on the investment in just a few years.
Is it also worth the time and effort?
 
marty reed
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you know i never really thought about selling pellets im trying to get together a club this summer for like minded people that want to be more self sufficant and build all of the projects for way cheaper than you can buy them. we can build a pellet stove preaty cheap and a pellet mill also. i think it will be a worth wild project and plan on moving forward thanks for the information Mr Peavey
 
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