I have a pellet burning stove and keep several bags of pellets on hand. I
don't have enough hives to justifying using this method but it sounds
useful for the larger enterprises. I plan to try it anyway. Thanks for
the info.
 
Doug Henry, Lockport Manitoba
 
On Thu, 31 Oct 1996, MR MARK G SPAGNOLO wrote:
 
> Hi:
> I have been following the discussion on smoker fuels.  Here at Kona
> Queen we used to use wood scraps.  It gave a nice smoke, but we use
> literally tons of fuel every year, (fifteen full time beekeepers for
> nine months of the year and nine for the other three months), and the
> expense was enormous.
> We now use a commerical product designed for a pellet stove.  This
> stuff is pressed and extruded wood chips.  It kind of looks like
> rabbit droppings.
> We purchase it in bags on a pallet.  It is kind of hard to start, but
> a lot of newspaper and some forced air from the compressor blown
> through the bottom of the smoker fixes that problem.
> The only modification to the smoker is the use of a screen on the top
> to keep the "pellets" from blowing out the top.
> This fuel with burn all day and even into the night.  I have had my
> smoker stay lit for two days straight!
>