In the interest of disclosure, I am a Director of Maine Energy Systems.
When my MESys 4000 (wood pellet fired boiler system) was installed and ready to run, we loaded 3,120 pounds of wood pellets carefully into the fabric pellet storage bin in my basement. My bin is designed to hold 3.2 tons of pellets, but I took what was left in a delivery truck when the day was over.
MESys large delivery truck
The boiler ran well producing heat and domestic hot water as it burned pellets at the rate of roughly 100 lbs/day in very cold weather. When the pellet burner indicated it had burned 0. 64 US tons of pellets (1,280 pounds), I removed the ash for the first time and marveled at how empty the storage bag looked. There were no pellets above the pyramid base.
I couldn’t help myself, I got out the tape measure and the old geometry book to try to determine the volume of the pyramid shaped base of the bag system. The volume of the pyramid (6.6′ square by 3.3′ tall) proved to be 47.4 cubic feet, a volume that would hold nearly 1900 pounds of pellets. Sure enough, what was left and what had been consumed totaled what was initially loaded. It’s always fun when arithmetic works.
Fabric bin, 3.2 tons
A couple of weeks later, Rodney brought the 20-ton delivery truck to my house, attached the hoses and added 5,500 pounds of pellets to those remaining in the bin. The delivery took less than an hour and left me a bin mostly filled with pellets. I shouldn’t need another delivery until spring is in the air.
Dutch Dresser