Burning Wood Pellets in a Dickinson Newport Solid Fuel Heater on a Sailboat

When we installed our Newport solid fuel heater there wasn't a lot of info online about burning pellets in it. Most people just said, "yes, you can burn pellets!" but didn't elaborate. After sailing across the Atlantic and spending a bit of time in cold anchorages in Ireland we got the hang of burning pellets in our heater, and we love it. This video details out how we do it to make life on a small sailboat a little bit more comfortable. Here are the pellets that we buy from Amazon:
Flame Genie FG-P20 Premium Wood Pellets for Fire Pits
amzn.to/3duqV6L
We burn through about a 20lb bag a month having a 2 hr fire 20-25 days a month.

[@aired-downdisconnected4125]

I have this same stove in a cargo conversion trailer. Works awesome. 👍

[@jamesmorrison7847]

Regular wax paper cups are both kindling, and can hold a nice amount of pellets to get your fires going.

[@reefrunnersailing]

Good to know!

[@kerir8477]

Wow, you guys crossed the Atlantic. That is awesome, congratulations! Keri Reiter - former student :)

[@johnlupo9577]

Great stove. If you make or buy a small basket to place the pellets into they will get a good airflow under them.👍

[@edvarnadoe4308]

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire! Enjoy Ireland. Congratulations on the Atlantic crossing. Take care

[@pa_maj.MARTINI-van-MAN]

At 5:07 when the hot gasses ignited, I don't like that, I could imagine the glass exploding out under pressure; although it probably looks worse than it actually is. I guess the pellets burn far too hot so loading the stove up would be a bad idea. Personally I think I'd prefer small wood/logs or sticks and load the fire up properly but less frequently but hey! if you enjoy or don't mind reloading almost constantly then that's Good to. Cheers for letting us see how you like to use this little wood burning stove.

[@aired-downdisconnected4125]

Other woods do this too. I keep a small flame going while I reload to prevent this.

[@pa_maj.MARTINI-van-MAN]

@@aired-downdisconnected4125 When I had my wood stove, I too made sure that I had some flame going, or I left the door open a little until it caught alight.

[@jorgemaertz9841]

Yeah! It works , but for safety, you can build a Shute with a mixer add a timer to amount feed material , this way you don’t have fumes coming into your cabin ,ain’t can be operated with 12 volt . The good part timer will give the right amount of material , Now the bottom there is another option to collect ashes , rise up a screen to collect the ambers and ashes . . Good luck . Nice warm heating you can run all night .

[@CarlSchmitter]

You are experiencing hot back-gassing at 5:07. This is due to the quick gassing of kiln dried pellets. Thegasses are oxygen starved .Try opening the lower damper to allow more oxygen into the stove. You can get more information about hot back-gassing online.

[@rickkwitkoski1976]

Get a funnel with about a 2" diameter and LONG spout. Pour your pellets into the stove through that. Easy and no mess!

[@1218omaroo]

I'm looking to replace my current Eberspacher 4kw diesel heater with a more "ambient" solution - either solid fuel or diesel with a transparent flame door. I'm currently leaning towards the Refleks diesels over solid fuel as I don't believe that solid fuel in such a small heater provides any sort of overnight-long solution in very cold weather. The diesel does.

[@chad2886]

While I don't sail or own a boat I have that stove in my truck cap camper and love it. As the Maine'rs would say, it'll cook ya right outta deer and in areas I don't get cell signal it's also the entertainment. I typically burn hardwood when I can but the pellets seam like a better and less messy alternative to the engineered flaky bricks I sometimes have to burn

[@paulkajtna7799]

Please make a video to give owners of truck campers and Sprinter van campers, the idea of using this multi fuel heater. You can buy a 40# bag of Anthracite coal in ‘rice’ size at Tractor Supply and in any community of Amish people.

[@tylergamester2179]

I'm considering to get this stove for my truck cap. Do you have any pictures of your setup? Also do you still recommend it as an option?

[@briansomes6023]

Get a stainless steel cutlery holder it has holes in it I use it in my wood stove works really well

[@richardvalitalo3670]

Thanks for showing, seems like a lot of effort & danger of skin burns. Propane for me.

[@jbsanger696]

Great video

[@LifePrepared]

Hand sanitizer makes a great pellet starter. It is just thick enough to stick to the pellets and lights really easy.

[@reefrunnersailing]

Brilliant!

[@benderbender1233]

secret to burnin da pelletes ina woodstove is to knot let flames go out. da WOOOSH!!! is way more dramatic in my old potbelly & fills da old airstream wit smoke. get it goin like u did but keep adding wile flame is strong until ya get a big ole pile. ✌🙂

[@MogleCorp]

Thank you. Your video encouraged me to complete the installation of my Cubic Grizzly log burner on my vessel. The log burner is installed, just lacking the chimney. Using wood pallets sounds like a good idea. One question. Are the pallets generating any black spots or arches on your deck? I will try to order a chimney today.

[@reefrunnersailing]

I haven't had any stains or marls from the pellets. I paid close attention to heat the first few burns and so far so good.

[@sherrilaliberte1939]

Would a metal water ladle work better for putting the pellets in? Also, I thought there was a tray for full size stoves. Might be able to figure out how to get a tray to put a larger amount of pellets in

[@harrymills2770]

He's making loading pellets as awkward as humanly possible. I wonder if he's making videos because it's all his wife will let him do while she runs the boat.

[@gregfawcett5152]

Nice...have you measured the heat at the cabin top where the chimney goes through the fiberglass with a thermometer?

[@reefrunnersailing]

Nope just my hand, warm but not hot.

[@gregfawcett5152]

You might want to go to Dickinson Diesel Heater...best install ever. I will be coming out with another video this winter (in Seattle) as we are supposed to have a lot of snow and it will show the completed install with a lot of blizzard like conditions.@@reefrunnersailing

[@reefrunnersailing]

@@gregfawcett5152 Why? our solid fuel works great in Maine and Ireland...

[@spiritualoutdoors7759]

I like it, nice job.

[@svintheanajones88]

Cozy!

[@nonyayet1379]

how many pounds will the firebox hold? thinking feeding it every hour or 2 would get real old real fast in an artic climate

[@reefrunnersailing]

You might try a different method in the Arctic then...

[@emailjlira]

@@reefrunnersailing I am wondering if the Alaska model Diesel or one of the other diesels would do well too?

[@nonyayet1379]

2 hours per pound of pellets? is that a safe calculation? how many btu's?

[@reefrunnersailing]

2 hrs per handful of pellets.

[@HotGritz910]

I think these are too expensive for what it is at $500. But you gotta have heat, especially on a boat.

[@ineverhadthemoney7857]

hello I use a used toilet paper roll and put Vaseline on 1 end or cardboard used toilet paper roll and light the Vaseline //it works great I head with a corn stove for 20 years //

[@brunostromme9904]

whats the longest burn time you could get??

[@reefrunnersailing]

I usually kept it going for 2 hours. Whats its hot I add pellets every 10-20 minutes.

[@jorgemaertz9841]

Make sure you have smoke detectors, and fire extinguisher , you never know

[@kccarrtheoregonhillbillyhi4803]

Squirt hand sanitizer on the pellets they light just fine