New England Wood Pellet

One of the largest pellet mills in New England had a two alarm fire last night. The initial call went out shortly after nine. Crews were on scene until well after midnight. The automatic fire alarm was tripped and an employee called in the fire. It was indicated that it started in an electrical panel. The cooler was kindled and the first extinguished. This was a delicate task because pellets absorb water and the cooler is not designed to hold that much weight. The fire then moved to a storage silo outside the building. More ladders were called in. It is fortunate that Jaffrey had recently moved their water line further up Old Sharon Road so it could be used in this situation.

Picture taken from NEWP entrance 8/11 am.

At some point in the early morning hours a re-ignition occurred in one of the raw material storage bins behind the facility. Crews are still on scene to extinguish this silo.

Picture from WMUR

An employee commented that about the time the call went out last night Jaffrey had been experiencing brown-outs due to the severe thunderstorms moving through the area.
This is a very high demand year for pellets in New England. Mills run twenty-four seven to try to keep up with demand. This could close NEWP for several weeks putting a crimp or at least a delay in supplies. The good news is that they should still be able to receive raw material supplies so that when they are back up and running they have ample sawdust to work with.

Picture from WMUR

Update The remaining silo that was smoldering was extinguished then emptied. Fire fighters are shoveled out the largest (80 ton) silo, that held finished product, by hand. Over two dozen towns responded to the site over the last 22+ hours. Two firefighters sustained minor injuries.

For video coverage see WMUR at http://www.wmur.com/news/17155015/detail.html

BIG THANK YOU to all the firefighters that responded and helped with this situation. Crews from 25 towns responded. Some of those from volunteer departments. The last crew pulled out around 1:00am this morning.

All firefighters did a great job containing the situation, preventing injury, and saving the equipment from damage where they could.

Silos are a little wet, but o.k. Some equipment inside may need minor repair but NEWP is confident that they will be up and running in a very short amount time.

NEWP-Wood Energy Day

Over this last weekend I attended New England Wood Pellet's Wood Energy Day at it's new Schuyler NY plant. (Note- They will not be having it in August at their Jaffrey plant as they have in years past.) This ten million dollar ten acre plant is up and running five days a week now. It supplies New York, New England, and probably down to New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This plant has a great supply of raw material, a sawdust dryer similar to the one in their Jaffrey plant, and four pellet mills that I saw. Fully ramped up it can produce 100,000 tons a year. Enough to heat approximately 25,000 residential installations.

Outdoor raw material storage
Conveyers to move raw materials to storage silos
Storage silos that are mixed before heading in the plant.
They also let us walk through their testing lab. Many pellet manufacturers test their incoming raw materials and finished product. This is done in house by the participating manufacturers. There is not an industry requirement, third party, or outside source. You may keep that in mind when trying to compare products based on the testing data from each. This does help New England with quality control and helps to keep their product consistent with their expectations.
Their facility is heated with radiant floor and powered by a Harman PB105.

Sawdust Dryer

Pellet Mills- (open)

The guts...

Off to the Bagger

Stacked by machine and down the conveyer to the warehouse or onto a truck for delivery to your local dealer!

It was great to see many tons stored in their warehouse and in their yard.

They can store about 2000 ton in the warehouse, have outside storage for even more, and they also have a silo that will store 300 tons unbagged product behind the facility.

There were many pellet stove and boiler/furnace manufacturers on hand as well as local dealers to demonstrate their wares. The areas congresswoman also made an appearance.
One comment on a conversation that I had with a company rep about a new practice for NEWP. New England has joined other manufacturer's in bagging their product in multiple bags. Lauzon is an example with their Northern and Cubex brands- same pellets- different bags. I personally do not agree with this practice as it sometimes leads people to believe that the product in the different bags conform to different standards. I have already seen this rumor mill spinning about NEWP products. That one bag is better than the other or more "premium" than another. In fact it is just a marketing tool. Period. They make one product. The product is the product, and the bag is the only difference. Anything else is just plain rumor and marketing.
It looked like a successful day for New England Wood Pellet and we were pleased that some of the staff took time out to show us around.

Pellet Forced Hot Air and Boiler Systems

(Harman rep with Bulk Fuel Bin and PB105- Reno HPBA March 2007)

Harman has long been the front runner in the pellet stove marketplace. It's underfired feed system has given us some of the largest btu, lowest maintenance pellet stoves available in the US. That coupled with Harman's strong coal, and wood furnace background lead to the introduction of their whole house pellet systems. The PF100 Pellet Furnace was first released in 2004. This innovative unit was the first pellet furnace to be made in and for the US market. In the fall of 2006 it was followed up with the PB105, the first pellet boiler manufactured in the US. The fall of 2007 showed continued innovation and promotion with the bulk fuel bin that Harman designed to work with both of their whole house units, as well as their P-series pellet stoves.

The PF100 contains the same control, feed, and venting systems as the Harman freestanding and insert stoves, just on a larger scale. It has an impressive heat range from 0 to 112,000 Btu's. The unit itself holds 160 pounds of pellets, or hook up Harman's latest innovation the bulk feed bin for 1400 pounds of hands free use. It's large ash pan means that cleaning needs to happen only after three or so tons have gone through. This is a great system that many people add to their homes for central heat. Some replace their old system entirely, while others leave their old system in place as a backup and simply install the pellet furnace in series by tapping into exisiting plenum systems.

Many areas use hot water, and forced hot water heat systems. While they had to wait a little longer it was well worth it. In 2006, Harman released the PB105. This unit will heat water up to 120C with a heat range of 0 to 112,000 Btu's. The optional hot water coil gives an added benefit of heating domestic hot water. Again using Harman's control, feed, and heat transfer system from their stoves and inserts. This unit has an extra large ash pan, and pellet hopper, as well as the ability to direct vent using a four inch PL rated pellet stove pipe. The bulk fuel bin may reduce filling to once or twice a month!

Harman's latest innovation gives us a glimpse of the future. The bulk fuel bin is designed has a small footprint, and is designed to be fed from bagged fuel, as the vast majority of pellet fuel is delivered in this manner. It is a step in the direction of elminating the bag, and moving to a bulk feed and delivery system. We may learn a great deal from Europe about bulk pellet fuel systems. They have pellet trucks that deliver fuel in much the same way as we have oil and propane delivery trucks here in the US. There are a handful of dealers and consumers who buy bulk pellets using bulk sacks, or other bulk deliveries such as rail, and I suspect that this method has room only to grow. New England Wood Pellet received a grant a few years back to purchase the first bulk pellet fuel delivery vehicle. Grain silos have been the predominant fuel holders in the US. Europeans often make wooden bins, or pellet closets that may be similar to what coal bins or closets were like in the late 1800 and early 1900's here.

In the coming years we may see other companies follow suit with similar boiler and forced hot air pellet systems. Central Boiler has recently released a multi-fuel outdoor system, Tarm offers an imported boiler or furnace system as examples. Europe's wood pellet leads the market as far as wood pellet boiler and furnace systems with many innovative and viable designs in place, but with people like Dane Harman behind the US market keep an eye out!

New Pellet Mill Opened in Schuyler, NY

New England Wood Pellet, which started producing pellets in the early 1990's, has opened a new pellet manufacturing facility in Schuyler, New York. New England Wood Pellet moved to New Hampshire from Massachusetts in the late 1990's. Since then they have added a sawdust dryer to expand their raw material options, a truck dump, and an on-site warehouse which has helped them ramp up production and accommodate 150,000 ton annually. The new mill will have the capacity to run 100,000 ton per year although it is unlikely that it will start with maximum production. The company also has a contract with a Canadian company that ships unbagged product into Massachusetts, where New England Wood Pellet has a processing facility to bag and distribute product in a New England Canadian branded bag.
The Jaffrey, NH plant services most of the New England states, and the New York plant will primarily focus on serving New York state. “There is opportunity here in the region for raw materials, a work base and a place for the market to grow,” Plant Manager Paul McCarthy said Friday at the grand opening of the facility at the Schuyler Business Park.
The new mill will employ around 20 people, and cost almost 11 million to build. The plant had it's grand opening on December 7, 2007.