BUILD A DECK... WITHGROCERY BAGS

(Page 2 of 2)

June/July 2000
 
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We found plastic lumber kind of clunky to work with... carries like deadweight, lacking the live springiness of wood. But so what? It will last forever and won't poison your earthworms, lettuce and tomato plants or you.

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For information about Trex, dial (800) BUY-TREX or visit www.trex.com . Phoenix Recycled Plastics can be reached at (610) 940-1590 or on the Web at www.plasticlumberyard.com . Ecodeck is available through Environmental Building Products, Inc., (303) 470-7555; www.environmentalbldgprod.com

Dear Mother,

We are considering a pellet stove as a primarysource of heat. However, a colleague told me that thepellet dust is a significant problem for peoplewith asthma and other sensitive upper respiratory conditions,Is this true?

Donna R.

Wood pellets are made largely from clean, white-wood sawdust that is a byproduct of furniture or lumber production (on the West Coast from fir and cedar, on the East from mixed hardwoods). Manufacture is a two-part process: First, the raw material is dried. Then it is ground and forced through an extruder under pressure and sufficient heat to melt resins so they solidify on cooling into solid pellets.

Many people sneeze on breathing raw, resinous sawdust. But dust is not produced in the palletizing process, and the final product is firmly compacted enough so that it does not produce dust on being poured. Indeed, pellets are being poured today from the bag into stove hoppers located in a half-million living rooms worldwide. If dust were a problem, we'd have heard about it in many languages by now.

To perform properly in the auger- or gravity-feed system of a pellet stove, the fuel must be of a consistent dryness, size and pourability, and it must lack dust or fines (which can be a problem when using low-quality dry field corn, a popular pellet fuel substitute in many corn-growing areas). If you find any dust in your 40-pound bags of pellet fuel, demand your money back and get another brand.

Do you have a question that only MOTHER can answer? Log on to www.motherearthnews.com . In addition to our "Ask Mother" section, we now offer our best archived articles, bulletin boards and much more!

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