DIY Pellet Lift/Elevator

I heat the detached garage and the house with two pellet stoves. They consume over 3 tons of pellets each winter. I have 2 tons stacked 5' up in the air in a "Pellet Loft" to clear some floor space. Underneath the loft is storage. I needed a good way to get the 2 tons up from the floor to the loft without calling in a small army. It was one of the design flaws I first discovered about the loft. After a flash of brilliance last week I decided to fab a pellet elevator with some stuff I had laying around and a $30 trip to Home Depot.

I've tested it with 200lbs of pellets (5 bags) and it worked fine. It lifts from about 9" off the floor to 7' high. Oh, as an aside... it's fun to sit on and ride.

If anyone want's a better description, or parts list... I'll post it. If there is no interest then I'll not post a description or parts list.

That's a brilliant idea. Do you like pellet heat?

I do like the pellet stove heat, except for having to carry the bags into the house from the garage. Buying 4 tons of pellets a year (delivered to inside my garage) saves me over $1000 per winter in heating costs on the power bill. Needless to say the wife's ecstatic about that. I also like having a source of heat that's not going to be chewed up by, or a target for termites leaning up against the outside garage wall. It's clean, bagged and stacked as apposed to found, bucked, transported, stacked, cut, carried and burned. I also like that I have a source of energy storage. It gives me peace of mind. I'm looking into buying a pelletizer and making my own from hay/straw and chipped up pallets. By using pellets I have a better idea of what my heating costs will be during a winter and can budget for it during the year.

I've had the stove roaring full blast and it keeps the house warm down to -10F. After that... start closing off the rear parts of the house (I have a 2220sqft one level home). It's more difficult to force the heat around. Like all wood stoves, it's not as "even" a heat as a force air furnace. A few well place ceiling fans would help, and they are on the project list. I use a bag a day, average, during the winter, a bag and a half during extremely cold days.

There is only one pellet stove that I know of that doesn't need electricity to run, the Wiseway Pelletstove, I'm saving for one of those to eliminate the need of electricty.

So, the one drawback is that most pellet stoves require electricity to run. In case of a power outage you're up a creek unless you have a generator or battery/inverter backup for the stove during the outage. I've monitored the power draw on my stove, 705 watts when the ignition is touching off the pellets and 105 watts when it's just burning. But, I do have a generator/inverter and will be wiring the house in the spring to run on an inverter system powered by my Prius. There some things I like over wood stoves I've used in the past. The heat is easily controlled by a remote electronic thermostat. The outside of the stove doesn't get so hot that it will burn your hand. This is NOT true for the viewing glass window. But for the most part it is safer to have around little children.

Maintenance on the stove is minimal for something that runs 24 hours a day. I do have a good parts box built up to do immediate repair when needed. All in all, I'd say on the scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, I'd rate pellet stove heat like any other wood stove, about a 7 to 8.

I am interested in what you did for your elevator. I recognize the HF hoist, and as you can see in my post (the Enginooity one), I'm using it to lift my loft stairs, but want it to do double duty as a freight elevator for my loft.

Thanks in advance.

I wanted to do this on the cheap... so that said, here is some of my rational.

Parts List:

• (1) Harbor Freight, 44006 800 lbs winch
• (1)1" 3/8" wire rope
• (1) Wire rope clamp.
• (2) 9' lengths Schedule 40 1 1/2" PVC conduit
• (1) 8' Length of Schedule 40 2" PVC conduit
• (4) 2" - 2 3/4" stainless steel hose clamps
• (4) 1 1/2" Conduit clamps
• (2) 1 1/2" Halex Conduit hangers.
• 4 3/8"X3" Lag screws
• (4) 3/8" Washers
• (8) #10 Crown head 4" screws
• (2) 8' 2X4s

First, I lag screwed the 2X4s vertically to the wall studs. Washers spreads the load.

• This is going to be changed to shorter pieces of 2X4 mounted horizontally

The guide tubes for the elevator are made from two 8' 1 1/2" Schedule 40 conduit.

A 2' section of the 2" conduit is slipped over the 1 1/2" conduit. This forms the capture tube

The 8' conduit sections are screwed to the to the 2X4 using the conduit clamps and #10 screws. These tubes must be mounted 14" apart, and parallel with each other.*1

The capture tubes can now slide up and down the guide tubes.

The elevator shelf is made from two lengths of 3/4"X6' angle iron. The iron is cut into 3' pieces. Then two pieces are notched at 45° at 13" and bent to form a 90° angle. The piece cut from the angle iron is then welded to the bend to solidify the "L".

Three more 17" sections are cut and welded to complete the shelf form.

Using a Die Grinder, a slot is ground into the top and bottom of each of the "L". This slot accepts the hose clamp.

The shelf is held onto capture tubes by four 2" - 2 3/4" stainless steel hose clamps slipped through the angle iron slot and around the capture tubes.

The top rail of the shelf is drilled to accept the 3/8" cable. The cable is inserted and formed into a loop via a wire rope clamp.

When affixing the self to the guide tubes, use a level. Once level tighten the hose clamps.

The shelf now will slide up and down the guide tubes on the capture tubes.

Affix the winch however you want/where you want and run the winch cable to the wire rope.

Now... you're in business.

*1. These guide tubes are not the strongest things in the universe. There is some flex outward from the wall when the shelf is loaded. IMHO, not enough to worry. But, if you want stronger guides, then use metal tubing for the guide tubes. I'd suggest 1 1/2" metal conduit secured with metal clamps.

I like the storage idea to create moer useable space underneath it. I just hope you built it strong enough to hold up that amount of weight.

I always thought the biggest downside to a pellet stove was having to haul them yourself or paying a delivery charge !

Are you using softwood or hardwood pellets ?

I have heard that pellets made from softwood and/or straw/hay burn much quicker and produce a lot more ash. Some pallets are actually made of hardwood, so if you have a source for these, it would be better.

I like the storage idea to create moer useable space underneath it. I just hope you built it strong enough to hold up that amount of weight.

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Me too, but it's been holding now for about 4 years. No worries here, it's plenty robust. I'm thinking of doubling the size to 8'X8' in the spring. That will hold almost 5 tons. I've a daughter that is an architect, she's run the load bearing weight calculations for me. I'm using good engineering practices to design/build the pellet holder.

theoldwizard1 said:

I always thought the biggest downside to a pellet stove was having to haul them yourself or paying a delivery charge !

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I agree, it's a pain. I haul only a half ton at a time. I tried hauling a ton a couple of times; it wasn't a good idea, especially after I factored in the fuel costs. Having them delivered to inside my garage is wonderful. It is less cost than four trips to pick them up. I'm about 25 miles from the middle of nowhere. Then I just put them away.

Are you using softwood or hardwood pellets ?

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I buy "North Idaho Pellets". They're a fir blend.

I have heard that pellets made from softwood and/or straw/hay burn much quicker and produce a lot more ash. Some pallets are actually made of hardwood, so if you have a source for these, it would be better.

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It's a balancing act between BTU per bag and costs. As example if a recipe burns hotter then it also causes the stove to use them faster and may cost less. That means more hauling more bags. If the blend is less expensive, fine, but I've not seen that to be true. So, I'll put up with a little more longevity and more ash. It's not been a showstopper for me.

I have a source for both hay stubble as well as pallets. But the cost of a pelletizer is pretty pricey. It would take about 2 years of energy savings to buy the pelletizer. After that the cost of energy would be low.

I also heat my 40x50 shop with pellets. I dont have room to leave them on the pallet, I find every nook and cranny to stack bags also. This year, I started buying 20-30 bags at a time from menards. I started buying in late august, when the cash flow was good. Moving a small amount of bags is alot nicer than lumpin 2 tons in one day

thank you for posting this information

LEVE said:

But, I do have a generator/inverter and will be wiring the house in the spring to run on an inverter system powered by my Prius.

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You're a regular MacGyver.

tractordude said:

I also heat my 40x50 shop with pellets. I dont have room to leave them on the pallet, I find every nook and cranny to stack bags also. This year, I started buying 20-30 bags at a time from Menards. I started buying in late august, when the cash flow was good. Moving a small amount of bags is alot nicer than lumpin 2 tons in one day

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Is buying them at a Big Box Store really cost effective ?

theoldwizard1 said:

Is buying them at a Big Box Store really cost effective ?

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I watch for the sales, I paid 3.47-3.65 per bag. My heating and A/C place sells "designer" pellets at $4.25 per bag. This will be there last year selling pellets, as the profit margin and the storage space dont equal out. It dont seem like alot but .50 cents adds up fast when you need 200 bags

You getting much better prices than I have found down here. TSC will order pellets for 5.00 a bag if I order them by the pallet (50 bags, 1 ton). In this area TSC stopped floorsplanning wood and pellet stoves. Store managers have to oder pellets to keep in stock instead of having the warehouse automatically sned them out. I'm the only buyer of pellets at my local TSC buying 2 tons a year and the manager will not keep any in stock.